Disclaimer: Me don't own StarCraft.

A/N: I finally got Brood War! I'm not too far in the campaign however. Man it is so sweet, Medics kick ass. Make's things so much easier. I just got Battle net too, if you wanna play a newb than look around for HellMarine at the USWest gateway. Pay attention to this chapter, this is the only time you will get a neat little list of the character names and descriptions! By the way, the Drill Sergeant is a total asshole and there is heavy language not to mention racism and sexism. Let me tell you my views are not reflected in this story, so don't say I'm a son of a bitch who is a horrible person. Semper Fi.

The No Feel Soldier

By

FoolishBlue

Chapter 2: Training

"Stand up you worthless pieces of maggot shit!" The Drill Sergeant's shrill voice seemed to crack the air like thunder. John, not wanting to get on his future Drill Sergeant's bad side, stood immediately in the dusty old recruitment bus. The Drill Sergeant, nasty expression on his face, looked over the 56 new Marine recruits.

"You there! Faggot!" The Drill Sergeant walked up to John. John felt a tightening in his gut.

"Y-yes?" John replied.

"Did I hear a stammer in that?" The Drill Sergeant's face was only half a centimeter from John's. John felt like throwing up. He had never been more afraid of another human in his life. John had every reason to be afraid however. The Drill Sergeant was definitely imposing. He was 6'5 high, body rippling with stim pack-induced muscles, and looked as though he could snap a Battle Cruiser in half.

"There was no stammer…"

"I thought so." The Drill Sergeant walked away from John. When the Sergeant was at the front of the bus he turned around. "My name is Drill Sergeant Joseph Patterson. When talking to me, the first and last words out of your mouth will be 'Sir'! If I walk into the room, I better see all you at attention, facing me, standing so straight it hurts. You will refer to yourself in third person as 'the Private.' If I say 'Dead man,' I want to hear 'Kill who Sir?' Am I being clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Every recruit yelled out.

"Damn Straight I am. Now get on out of this fucking bus and I will assign the Barracks you shitbags are going to be livin' in." When John and the other recruits heard this, they all hustled outside, bags in hand, while making sure they were up so straight, it hurt. It wasn't pleasant outside. The ground was dusty and rust colored, a sandstorm raged, and besides a couple of Terran buildings, it was barren and empty. John got the feeling he had literally stepped into hell.

When everyone was outside, Patterson walked out and gave every recruit a cold stare. "Why the hell aren't you cocksuckers in a pretty lil' line!"

"Well Sir, You di-" The young recruit who had said this was silenced to a punch to the face. The recruit staggered, but managed to keep his balance.

"Did I say you could speak!" Patterson asked threateningly. The young recruit only shook his head. "Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, get into two lines, girls in one, boys in the other!"

Not wishing for any punishment, the recruits quickly did so. John noticed there were as many women as men. Shrugging off the somewhat awkward feeling, John stood up straight, waiting for something to happen. Patterson gave everyone one more cold stare before pulling out a clipboard.

"When I call your name, you will stand to my right in an orderly single file line! If you don't understand, speak now!" Patterson yelled. No one spoke.

Drill Sergeant Patterson began to call of names, last names first, first names second. John stood for only 30 seconds before his name was called. John quickly ran up and got into the back of the line. After the Sergeant had called 12 names, male and female, he motioned to a single armored Marine.

"He will lead you pansies to your Barracks. Listen to him or be hurt by him."

John along with the other 11 recruits in his unit ran forward to the Marine. When they reached him, John noticed the Marine's face shield was down, causing the Marine to appear cold and emotionless.

"Well what the hell are you damned kids waiting for? A warm welcome? Follow me into the depths of hell." The Marine said as he turned around. The Marine bounded off, the young male and female recruits just behind him. John sputtered and gasped against the sand filled wind. He already hated whatever planet he was on.

In roughly 30 minutes, the recruits had reached the Barracks. John wanted to bend over and just take a deep breath, but he knew that probably wasn't the smartest idea. The Marine rushed the recruits inside and assigned them beds almost immediately.

The Barracks was, like all Confederate Marine buildings, cramped and strictly professional. The room was in a rectangular shape with 12 beds strategically placed along the walls to allow a space in the middle, which allowed the Marines to get up and rush outside. There was a shower area that had 12 showerheads and clear glass stalls. Connected to the shower area was the bathroom area. The Bathroom area had 6 urinals and 6 toilets and 6 sinks.

When John saw the bathroom area, he felt his cheeks blush slightly. He would have to shower in front of 11 other people, 5 of which were women. John felt somewhat relieved that he wasn't a woman and wouldn't have to deal with people staring him the entire time. At least, he hoped he wouldn't have to.

"Recruits! Stand by your assigned beds and make friends with everyone! They just might save your life one-day. Training starts tomorrow. Until then, make friends, unpack, and stay here. Anyone one caught making dominant sexual advances onto each other, consensual or not, will be shot on sight. Do you understand?" The armored Marine yelled.

"Yes Sir!" the recruits yelled. The Marine then turned around and strode out the Barracks, sealing the door behind him.

When everyone was sure he was gone, they unpacked their bags. John hadn't packed anything, seeing as he left his planet almost immediately after the Zerg attacked, besides John was poor and didn't have anything to pack.

"Man, I don't know what the fuck I was thinking when I signed up." A young male recruit with short, black spiked hair, pale skin, a thin figure and glasses said.

"Was it something along the lines of 'Ooooh the Marines! I'm gonna be strong!'" A male recruit with shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes replied.

"No, I joined because I'm tired of office work. Need a thrill you know?" The recruit with glasses responded.

"I hear that!" A huge male recruit with a shaven head and ebony skin said. The recruits chattered among each other before looking up at John, realizing he hadn't said anything yet.

"Hey you there, guy with the freaky golden eyes! Why did you go into the Marines?" John looked up at the recruit with glasses who had said this.

"My name is John and I'd rather not say 'bout why I joined." John responded. He had always had a strange appearance. Golden eyes, white skin, shaven head, and average build. He personally liked his eyes, but it seemed to freak many people out.

"Quiet guy huh? Come on, tell us!" The blonde haired recruit said. A few other recruits murmured in agreement.

"I don't want to say." John said. John's irritation was increasing.

"He's probably trying to impress some girl back on his planet." A female recruit with short spiky black hair and blue eyes said with a smirk. Several recruits laughed.

"I'm not trying to impress anybody." John retorted.

"Sure, we believe you." The female recruit's voice was sarcastic. More recruits laughed.

John said nothing in reply and laid down on his cot, eager to fall into unconsciousness.

"Seriously, why don't you wanna say?" A male recruit with tousled brown hair and brown eyes asked. John sat up slightly to stare him in the eye.

"My past, not yours." John replied monotonously.

"Yuh-huh. So tell us. Oh wait, you're criminal aren't you?" A female recruit with slightly below shoulder length blonde hair and hazel eyes said.

"I bet he killed some chick, after raping her of course." The recruit with ebony skin said.

John stood up from his bed. That did it, he wasn't going to take this anymore. John swiftly advanced on the recruit's position and grabbed him by the collar. "Don't even joke about that. I would never do something so horrible." John hissed. The recruit stared at him with amusement.

"A'ight, a'ight. Settle down man." Said the recruit, prying John's hands from his collar. When John didn't have a death grip on the recruit's collar, the recruit looked at John. "So what you join for?"

"Dammit…If I tell you, will you shut up?" John asked, annoyance more than obvious in his tone.

The recruits gave a subtle nod of their heads and some folded their arms. John gazed around.

"The Zerg hurt some people I knew, and I'm getting even." John said, while turning to his bed and walking towards it.

"So a revenge trip huh?" A female recruit with short red hair, and green eyes said more than asked.

"Call it what you will." John said while lying down on his cot, closing his eyes. The recruits fell silent for a moment.

"Now, that kid has a real reason to be here. I'll bet my last pack of cigs that he'll be the best Marine here." Said the male recruit with glasses. The rest of the recruits murmured in agreement. John was about to fall asleep when a recruit shook him out of his dazed state.

"Hey you guys, we gotta know each other's names if we are gonna live. Call me Jacob Lowell." Said the recruit with dark hair and glasses. John nodded and stood from his bed.

"Abraham Jackson." The male recruit with shoulder length blonde hair gave a curt nod.

"Ya call me Ali, jus' Ali." The man with ebony skin patted his chest.

"I'm Erika, Erika Bright." The female recruit smiled at some of the recruits.

"Lindsey Rachich." The female recruit with slightly long, blonde hair crossed her arms and leaned on a wall.

"I'm David Leaner." The recruit with tousled brown hair said with a half-hearted smile.

"I suppose I should tell my name as well. Kate Young." The female recruit with red hair and green eyes said before continuing to unpack.

"Iris Remmelton." A female recruit with short brown hair said.

"I'm…um, Carlos Hending." A male recruit with black, matted hair and gray eyes said as though embarrassed.

"I'm Emily Swallowtail!" A somewhat perky female recruit with blonde hair tied up into a ponytail and ocean blue eyes said.

"I'm Sam Darkreckon." An extremely thing, pale recruit with jet-black hair said.

"John…Ackerson." John said slowly. He felt his lips tug into something of a smile when everyone introduced themselves. John then laid down in his bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

"All of you up! You have two minutes to shower and another two minutes to put on your uniform! After that get the hell outside!" Said the harsh voice of a Marine Drill Sergeant.

John mumbled a "Sir, Yes sir" and sluggishly rolled out of his bed. He jogged down to the shower area with the rest of the recruits into the shower area. John paused for moment and gave a somewhat uneasy glance at the recruits, they to, looked a tad bit nervous about showering with the opposite sex in the same area, especially the shy Carlos Hending. John paused one more moment before pulling off his clothing and stepping underneath a showerhead.

The rest of the recruits looked at John and did the same. John looked at the knob by the showerhead, he turned it and cold water blasted full force onto John's skin. The water was anything but refreshing. It was more like the feeling of being burned alive while in below zero temperatures when you have no clothes, along with the feeling that your skin was trying to tear itself off your bones with the sonic cleansers blasting against you.

John gritted his teeth in pure frustration as the cold, soapy water splashed against him. He made sure to avoid looking at the women recruits even though they did all that was humanly possible to appear decent with no clothes on.

After 2 minutes the water shut off, and John, feeling quite awake now, was dried off instantly when sonic waves blasted away the water drops. John jumped out of the Shower area and to his bed where a solid gray uniform was waiting for him, neatly cleaned and ironed. John quickly put on his uniform and tried to make himself as presentable as possible. When everyone put on his or her uniforms the Drill Sergeant glared at everyone.

"A-tent-tion!" He yelled. The Recruits snapped up, arms by their sides, standing up straight as possible. The Sergeant eyed everyone as he walked through the isle of recruits. The Sergeant stopped at John, maliciousness in his eyes. "What is you name!"

"Sir, John Anderson sir!" John yelled out.

"Anderson is a fucking pussy's name, from now one you're Private PissBucket! Clear?" The Sergeant eyed John, waiting for a reaction.

"Sir, Yes sir!"

"Why'd you join the Marine Corps Private PissBucket?"

"Sir, to slaughter the Zerg sir!" John yelled.

"So you're a killer are you!"

"Sir, No, but I will be sir!"

"Damn straight you will be. If your not I will slit your throat and piss down your neck!" The Sergeant glared at John one last time before turning around to face the other recruits. "This man, no matter how much of a cocksucking faggot he is, has his head screwed on right! You will be killers, warriors without fear, killing machines! Do you or do you not understand!"

"Sir, I understand sir!" Yelled the Recruits as one.

"Damn right! Before anyone says anything, I am neither racist nor sexist, I am fair, but tough. I do not care if you're a beaner, nigger, cracker, whore, slut or a bitch. You are all the same useless meatsacks! Do you understand!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The Recruits yelled again.

"You there, slutty bitch!" The Sergeant turned and walked up to Kate Young. Kate gave him a look of shock by the way he referred to her.

"Sir, yes sir?" She asked, anger almost hidden in her tone.

"Do you think I am Sexist! Do you think I consider every woman in here a whore who probably fucked every guy in High School? Do think I consider every woman in here a tool of sex and nothing else?" The Sergeant yelled.

"Sir, I think you are a sexist sir!" Kate yelled firmly.

The Sergeant reacted by grabbing her breast with his left hand and grabbing her throat with the other. He forced her against the wall, and constricted both his hands until Kate's pain was obvious. "Let me repeat myself so you empty headed sluts can understand! Do you think I am a sexist?"

"Sir, no sir." Kate sputtered.

"I can't here you! Scream your answer like your having a fucking orgasm with one of your boyfriends back home!" The Sergeant screamed in Kate's ear.

"Sir, no sir!" Kate screamed. The Sergeant let go of her and turned around, ignoring her coughing and sputtering. The Sergeant then walked up to Ali.

"Do you think I am racist. Do you think I consider everyone with colored skin a crack snorting criminal? Do you think I am in the KKK? Do you think that I will down trodden you until your mind snaps?" The Sergeant yelled.

"Sir, no sir!" Ali yelled, he had seen what the Sergeant did to Kate and he apparently didn't want the same, if not worse, treatment.

"That's right! I will not put down the niggers in this Barracks or the woman. No, I will crush you all! I see no difference in all of you, you are all the same worthless pieces of shit who fuck your mothers and fathers!" The Sergeant glared at everyone before jerking a thumb to the door. "All of you cocksucking, family fucking, meatbags get outside right now! We start training with a nice easy jog."

The "nice easy jog" was actually a 6-mile sprint in the hot, early morning sun with over 30 percent of your own body weight in lead strapped to your back. John, being naturally fast, finished in the top 5. Gasping, he dropped to one knee and took in ragged breaths of the horrible, hot, dust filled air. A bad mistake, for the next thing John knew, he was on his back, pain coursing through his face. He tasted the coppery tang of blood in his mouth and felt a painful throb in his nose. It was broken.

"Did I give you permission to be a pansy!" Sergeant Patterson yelled.

"Sir, no sir!" John stood and despite the revolting taste in his mouth and throbbing pain in his nose, he stood at attention.

"Sweet Jesus, your nose is broken! I'll fix it for ya!" Sergeant Patterson yelled as he reached up to John's nose. He jerked it to the side and pain pounded into John's face, but he did not show it.

"It's still broken, let me fix it." He jerked it to the other side and more pain lanced through John's face. "There good as new! Did that hurt Private Pissbucket?"

"Sir, yes sir!" John yelled, ignoring the pain in his nose the best he could.

"Then why did you show no pain!" Sergeant Patterson was only inches from John's face not exactly a comfortable situation.

"Sir, the Private believes that if he shows pain, the Sergeant would only hurt him more sir!"

"You are a goddamn genius!" The Sergeant turned to the panting and gasping recruits. "You will show no pain, if you do, you only get more pain!"

"Sir, I understand sir!" The Recruits yelled.

"My god, you all must be goddamn geniuses! Congratulations, as a reward you all get to do fifty pushups. Count off from fifty, get to it meatbags!"

John and the rest the Marine recruits dropped down and began. When John finished, he wanted to just roll over and rest, but his desire to graduate and kill the Zerg would not let him. He jumped up and stood at attention, his nose still hurt, but he managed.

"Now you will train to learn the most important thing in this fucking world, how to fire a C-14 Gauss Rifle! The shooting range is a short run from here, follow me!" The Drill Sergeant yelled. The run was another two miles, thankfully there were no weights this time. When John reached the shooting range, he stood at attention, despite how badly his legs burned with fatigue.

John took a look at the range. It was a huge field with several targets about 100 feet away. There was no vegetation and the sand seemed to whirl through the air and target John's lungs

"All right you maggots! Come and get a Gauss Rifle and five clips of ammunition! When you have one, hold it four inches from your chest in a diagonal position!" Sergeant Patterson yelled. Everyone rushed up and grabbed a rifle and stood at attention, rifle in a diagonal position, exactly four inches from his or her chest.

"This is a C-14 Gauss Rifle it is the finest firearm the Confederates posses. It uses a series of high-powered magnets to project bullets at super sonic speeds. The Gauss rifle is rugged and long lasting, in fact it may very well outlive most of you. There are two types of ammunition, ten-millimeter, super dense, hollow, armor-piercing T-543 rounds and ten-millimeter, uranium depleted, mushrooming, heavy damage, sabot U-238 rounds. The T-543 rounds have shorter range and are better for enemy human forces that are wearing Neosteel armor. The U-238 rounds have longer range and can tear through just about any Zerg carapace. Do you understand?" The Sergeant neatly explained.

"Sir, yes sir!" Barked the recruits.

"Now, do as I do, and bitches, you will do pushups and listen until we are done! Remember, a rifle, is not a gun! This is my rifle!" The Sergeant grabbed his rifle, and the men did the same, the women were on the ground doing pushups.

"This is my gun!" the Sergeant then grabbed his crotch. Though it was humorous, nobody laughed.

"This is for fighting!" The Sergeant grabbed his rifle again.

"And this is for fun!" The Sergeant grabbed his crotch again. "Now repeat!"

"This is my rifle! This is my gun! This is for fighting! And this is for fun!" The Recruits then did exactly as the Sergeant did.

"That is your rifle from now on, nobody else's. You will name your rifle a girl's name if you are a man and a boy's name if you are a woman! When we finish today's training, you better have a name for that rifle of yours! Everyone, man a shooting station!" The Sergeant harshly yelled.

The Recruits rushed forward, jacked in a clip of ammunition, and leveled their rifles; John was one of the few who did it right. The Sergeant quickly corrected everyone while viciously insulting his or her intelligence.

"Everyone will fire their clip of ammunition in burst of six shots at their target on my mark. Mark!" The Sergeant barked.

The sound of 12 C-14 Gauss rifles going off at the same time was deafening. John, having used a rifle before, did much better than the other recruits. Out of 6 shots, 6 hit the target and out of 6 shot, 4 hit the black area around the bull's eye. John let go of the trigger for a moment, realigned his rifle and squeezed it again and again the impaler bullets struck their mark.

"Goodness gracious, you must be a mother-fucking shooting prodigy! You better keep up this shooting Private Pissbucket or else you are out of my beloved Marine Corps!" The Sergeant had yelled this into John's ear, but thankfully the roar of the Gauss Rifles had almost drowned out the Drill Sergeant's harsh voice, almost.

The shooting kept up until everyone had expended his or her ammunition. John was one of the top rankers in accuracy. When everyone was done, the Sergeant filled everyone into a neat row, he then proceeded to ask everyone what they had named their rifle.

"What's your rifle's name son?" The Sergeant asked John not screaming at the top of his voice for once.

"Sir, Her name is Sarah sir!" John replied. As soon as John heard the fact that he would have to name his rifle, he named it after his ex-love, Sarah.

"Very good. Pissbucket, you are so far doing the best out of this entire group, you get to do twenty-five pushups. Starting now!"

John immediately dropped to the ground and did the twenty-five pushups. When he was done, his already sore arms hurt like hell.

"Now we will begin the second most important part of your training. You will learn how to drive a CMC 300 powered combat suit. Follow me to the Engineering Bay, its only five miles from here." The Sergeant bounded off when he had said this, the Recruits closely in tow.

John was exhausted, never in his life had he ever done anything so psychically tiring. Even if he did well, he was punished. Taking a gasping deep breath, John pushed himself into an all out sprint while slinging "Sarah" over his shoulder. His heart hurt and it was equally painful to breathe, but John didn't slow. He would not slow. His desire, his want, his need to become a Marine kept him going. John ignored his pain, he pushed himself to his own limit and even further. John would, he will become a Marine and he will kill as many of the Zerg as his body and mind would allow.

In a little under an hour, John and the recruits had reached the Engineering Bay. And soon they were inside, donning the heavy suits of Neosteel while in a neat little row, facing the Drill Sergeant. The room in the Engineering Bay was rectangular and made completely of cold steel. The lights were bright and almost blinded John, but he manged to ignore them for the time being.

John found it extremely difficult to move, and even harder to stand upright. Then almost as he thought this, the suit became air-light. John frowned, wondering how the suit became so light, but then he remembered that a small fusion cell in the back powered the suit. John looked down at himself, he was easily a foot taller with the suit on, and almost twice as bulky. The suit was a steel gray with absolutely no dents, scuffs or scratches. The suit was brand new, this was definitely a good thing.

"Alright, listen up meatbags! That suit you are wearing is a brand new piece of the finest Confederate hardware. The armor is roughly eleven inches thick of grade-A Neosteel. The shoulders are oversized to house a temperature regulating system, and they provide even more protection for your head from the side. Most of you have probably noticed an empty space underneath your arms. This will stored your Stim Packs, twenty in each slot. Your suits are not filled with Stims yet, but we'll cover that later. If you all look into your helmets chin areas, you may notice there are several switches. The red switch will activate a Stim Pack, the green switch will roll down your face shield, and the blue switch activates a built in COM system. On your gauntlets, near the wrist area, there is several other switches. You pry open the armored housing around the wrist computers and from there you can change COM channels, pull a universal computer attachment cord for hacking into basic computers, and change the pressurized gel layer's density. This system is on your right wrist."

"Your suit is capable of completely deflecting all small arms fire," Continued the Sergeant. "And your chance of surviving a moderate grenade explosion is seventy-five percent. If your suit is punctured, a small balloon like layer will inflate around the wound and inject a steady flow of non-side effect painkillers to prevent the wound from getting worse until you reach a medic. Do you understand?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The recruits yelled.

"Good, now recruits, take one shuffling step towards me. The Recruits did so, but most tried to take a large step in order to move the heavy suit. Bad idea. The suit had a series of hydraulics and servos that allowed you to move normally with little effort, thus, the people who tried to move with extra effort lost control and fell over. John was one of the few who had fallen over.

"My god, you bunch of brainless, cocksucking, lesbians can't even take a single step while wearing 1547 pounds of Neosteel! You're even more pathetic than I thought! Why if it weren't for dickheads like you, there wouldn't be any deaths in war!" The Sergeant swiftly advanced on Erika Bright who had fallen. "What the fuck do think you are doing, trying to offend me! What the hell are you doing in my marine core? You should be home, sucking your boyfriend's dick, or fucking somebody else's husband! What are you doing?"

"Sir, I fell sir!" She yelled out.

"Then what the hell do you think your doing on the ground! Get the fuck up or get the hell outta my sight!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Erika swiftly jumped up and managed to keep her balance. John and the rest of the fallen recruits tried to scramble to their feet.

"All of you who fell, freeze exactly as you are!" Sergeant Patterson barked.

John cursed under his breath and froze; he was halfway up in a not so comfortable position. Patterson gave everyone a cold stare, he then walked up to John and kicked him down, and proceeded to do the same to every recruit that had fallen.

"Get up!" He yelled at John. John braced himself up with his hands and pushed himself up, only to find that he was kicked down again. "Get up!" Sergeant Patterson repeated. John tried again and again he was kicked down. "If you don't get up, I'm gonna take your pretty lil' rifle, ram it up your ass and pull the goddamn trigger!"

John gritted his teeth and attempted to stand, when the Drill Sergeant tried to kick him down again he braced and took the kick. John didn't fall, despite the repeated kicks to his suit. John stood and snapped at attention. Patterson gave him a cold glare before turning to the rest of the recruits and doing exactly what he did to John. Soon everyone was standing, waiting for his or her next command.

"Good job maggots. Now, drop and give me 200 pushups!" The recruits dropped their jaws before dropping to the floor. John found a single pushup extremely easy thanks to the powered servos in the suit's joints and strength enhancers. Hell, 50 pushups were relatively easy. When John finished however, his arms were burning and he felt weak.

"Maggots, walk around, get used to the suits, this is the closest damn thing you will get to a break the entire time you will be here on my little planet. Use it well." Patterson than pulled out a collapsible chair and sat down, eyeing everyone. John walked around for a while and when he was confident, he began to jog, then run, then sprint all out. He loved his armor, fluid strength and speed enhancements and 11 inches of Neosteel to protect him. He was perfectly designed to slaughter, maim and rip apart the Zerg.

After about 20 minutes, John could move without telling the difference between suit movement and normal movement. He began a series of punches and strikes and found that it was surprisingly easy to execute despite the bulky armor.

"Alright bastards, were going down to the shooting range now. We gotta teach ya how ta shoot." Patterson said, folding away the collapsible chair. John frowned, didn't they just train on how to do that? Maybe there was a different way to shoot with the armor on? John shrugged it off and quickly followed the Sergeant who had just donned his own, more beat up, suit of neosteel. John gave a small look of amazement. How long was that? About 1 minute and 20 seconds? It took almost 20 minutes to suit himself up.

John chinned a control in his helmet and rolled down the faceplate in his armor, he felt invincible, even though he knew he wasn't. Sprinting ahead, his rifle in hand, John took a deep breath, it was much easier to run now that he had his suit on. In about 20 minutes the recruits had covered the 5-mile run back easily. John quickly rushed forward to a shooting station on command and slapped a fresh clip of U-238 rounds into his rifle. Awaiting further orders.

"Take you rifle and hold at your hip in a broad legged stance, it's one of the only ways the suit can take the recoil. Another way, is to hold the rifle up to your shoulder and drop to one knee. Hold the rifle at your hip and fire six rounds at the target. Mark!" Patterson barked. John went broad legged and held the deadly rifle at his hip. He pulled the trigger and fired off a six round burst. The high velocity rounds flew through the air, creating mini sonicbooms, before ripping through the cardboard target. All six shots had hit around the bull's eye.

John smiled. He would be a weapon, a weapon to destroy what stole everything from him. He couldn't wait to go to war.