I don't really care much for doing this so I'll just come out and say it. Gundam belongs to Bandai. I own this particular spinoff. So there... That wasn't too hard.
Gundam:
The dark era:
Chapter 4:
The recruits:
"Damn it, Lee! That's mine!"
The argument that had broken out between Chris and his older brother Lee disrupted Fex's peaceful state of being. He stopped staring at the fields long enough to turn around and see what was the matter. Lee had snapped away one of Chris's CDs' and was taunting him with it. He was keeping it just out of Chris's reach. Soon Fex grew bored of watching them bicker and argue. His gaze began to wander. Looking around the arguing brothers he saw Kat, a girl he vaguely remembered going to middle school with, sitting on the bench in front of the hanger. She didn't look very happy. She just sat there reading with her long red hair coming down both sides of her head. She wasn't doing anything, so Fex decided to leave her alone. Fex looked past Chris and Lee, into the hanger. He looked into the sub-room to the right. There were three men conversing at the table. One with brown hair, one with blond hair... and one that strangely looked like Fex. They were almost identical, really. The only difference that set them apart was that Fex had blond hair and the guy in the hanger had black hair. Besides that, the resemblance was eerie. In the sub-room to the left, a red-haired guy with a bandanna was talking with general Treize...
"These are for you, Howie." Said Treize, handing him a mysterious box.
"Who is this from?" Asked Howie.
"I'm not at liberty to tell you that Howie. Besides, that's not all. Come." Treize led him to the next room.
They passed out of Fex's sight.
"You're Fex Anderson, aren't you?" He heard a voice say to him. It was Kat.
"Yeah."
"Remember me?" She asked. She looked happier than before. "Proctorville middle school?"
"Kat? Yes, I remember you."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Fex Anderson?" Interrupted Lee. He had given Chris's CD back. "Aren't you the son of that pacifist dude who got incinerated about a decade ago?"
"Yeah, that would be me..." Fex responded.
"Then why are you being recruited into the military?"
"I don't know, but..." He made his hand into a fist. "Listen, there's something a lot of people don't know about my father..."
"Hello, everyone!" Called Treize. He was being followed by the red haired guy. Kat became moody again. "I believe you all have acquainted yourselves. Now meet your captain, Howie."
All at once, they said "Hello.". He could only come up with one response.
"Tch!"
Treize laughed nervously. "Well, um... It looks like you will all get along fine, um... Good luck!" Then he took off in a jeep.
"I've heard of him." Lee whispered sidelong to Fex. "He's an infamous criminal, well know and liked in gang world. It's rumored that it's next to impossible to go to a large city and not find at least one girl that he has raped."
Chris joined in. "I heard he escaped from new Alcatraz."
"You're shittin' me."
"No, I'm not."
Fex looked around Chris and Lee to take a peek at their captain. He had red hair and seemed slightly older than Fex. He was wearing beat up suspenders and a sleeveless white t-shirt. He also wore a long bandanna around his head just below the hairline. It was probably long enough to reach the ground if the wind wasn't making it flap around in the air. He had a hole in his suspender's and a hole in his t-shirt, and around those holes, there was what appeared to be long dried blood. The hole in his shirt revealed he was in good shape. He also had two .45s holstered in the front part of his suspender's. He was looking up and appeared to be thinking hard.
"Come on, girl..." Lee elbowed Kat. "Don't deny it. You're checking him out." Kat quickly denied it.
"No! I'm not! I wouldn't go for a sick bastard like him!"
"Come on, girl..." Lee repeated. "You want him to be your boy toy. You want to strap him to a bed, naked, and..."
Suddenly, Kat kicked him in the face and sent him flying a few feet away. He landed on his face and she walked over and stood on his back.
"Say one more word and I'll RIP YOUR FUCKING TESTICLES OUT!"
Chris raised his eyebrow's high and elbowed Fex. "Now that's my kind of girl." He said, lighting a cigarette. "If Lee ever stole one of my CD's, I could sic her on him and he would give it back before she ripped his testicles off."
"Having fun out here?" Asked voice behind them. It sounded like Fex's voice. They turned to greet the man behind the voice. It was the man Fex remembered looked like him, except for his black hair, and his two comrades. He extended his hand. Fex shook his hand. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rapter. I am in charge of the J.T.M.S. and the training you will receive." He pointed to his blonde friend. "This is Taylor. He is second in command only to me. If I were to die or if my presence was needed elsewhere, he is who you would go to for your order's." He pointed to the brown haired one. "This is Doc.. He'll be your doctor, in case you haven't figured that out yet. He'll help you if you get hurt. He'll also perform autopsies for you." The breeze be became more violent. Rapter looked up. "Ah. It appears our ride has arrived." Their helicopter was descending down to land in the field. After making contact with the ground, the helicopter opened it's cargo door.
"Let's go, lad's!" Doc. yelled over the sound of the propellers. "Our destiny awaits!" They entered the helicopter and it closed the cargo door and took off.
Shortly after the flight started, and after some brief small talk among it's occupant's, Rapter began pacing back and forth and instructing them on what they should do after they reached camp.
"Okay! Upon arrival at the Joint. Tactical. Munitions. Squad. boot camp, which should be 2000 hours, you will proceed to the weapon armory. There you will choose one sidearm and a holster to carry with you at all times. From there, proceed to the barracks. There are places for you to freshen up in there. Get a good night's sleep. In the morning, You'll be instructed in the effective use of firearms. This will last about 5 days. Then you will how to drive tanks and other military vehicles, such as the C.A.T.E.R.P.I.L.L.E.R. That's another 5 day course. Then you will take the flight course, and last but certainly not the least, the mobile suite course. All of those are 5 day courses. But... my personal favorite is the 'special' course. That one will take a while. You will repeat this pattern over the next few months. Then after you have completed your training, you will be transferred to General Treize's base in northern Spain. Any question's?"
Silence from the recruits.
"I'll take that as a no. Fine, socialize until we get to the camp." Rapter sat down.
Fex took notice of what everyone was doing. Rapter was in another discussion with Doc. and Taylor. Kat was trying to get some sleep. Chris and Lee were having a conversation. It went something along the lines of "Do you remember the time we caught all those fish?". His gaze went into the corner. There was the captain, Howie, and his unusually large bag of possession's. Howie felt he was staring at him and pierced him with his gaze. Right from the moment they locked eyes, Fex knew he was not looking at just any old person. Fex even feared for his life looking at the guy. Nevertheless, he was determined to find out more about him.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. That jolted Fex out of his sleep. He woke up to discover he had drooled all over himself. He looked up to find out who had his shoulder in a death grip. It was Taylor.
"Wake up, kid." He said. "We're there."
Fex turned around on the bench and looked through the tiny window in the side of the helicopter. Down below he could see two buildings and the landing pad. One of the buildings about forty feet tall and about eighty feet long. It looked like a bunch of hotel rooms. The other building was short and didn't cover much area, either. It kind of looked like a large shack. There was a single light between the short and tall buildings, but it projected a lot of light. On the helipad, Fex could see the people waving them down. They were pretty close to the window, so Fex realized that they were pretty close to landing...
The helicopter came down with a big "Whomp!". The whole aircraft shuddered. The cargo bay opened.
"Welcome to the J.T.M.S. boot camp." Said Rapter, not sounding very welcoming. "I trust all of you will be killing machines by the time you leave this camp."
The recruits filed out.
A guy in front of the large shack was waving for them. "HEEEEEEEEY!" he called. "OVER HERE!"
"Oh, man. I can't wait to see what he has in store for us." Joked Lee sarcastically. They quickly ran over to see what the man had to say.
"You are going to love this," said the man, looking through his keys to find the exact one that matched the door. "This is where we keep all our weapons and ammunition. We've also got some other things in here, too. Look around and see what you like best." He unlocked the door.
It was dark in the room at first. All they could make out was a bunch of shelves with undistinguishable objects on them. But then the man flipped the light switch on. On the shelves, there were hundreds of weapons and holsters.
"Well..." Said the man, walking between the shelves. "...it's all here. You've got your full pick of whatever you want to take with you throughout your campaigns. You'll be issued standard equipment for your missions, but here you equip yourself with any weapon you see here. They tend to be handguns...revolvers...light sub-machine guns..."
"...Sawed-off shotguns." Chris said. Then when everybody turned to look at him, he was holding up a shotgun in his hand. "Found what I want already."
"Good choice. The rest of you guys take your time..." He pulled around behind a store-like glass display, full of handguns. "There's no need to rush."
Howie was standing in the dark corner next to the door. Fex pointed at him.
"What about him? What's he doing just standing there?"
"Already armed." He said casually, pointing to the two .45's that he had holstered in the front of his suspender's.
"Okay."
Rapter and Taylor came in at that moment.
"Hey, Max! Did you get those special orders in yet?"
Max was in almost in a giddy state. "Yes! Yes! Yes! We just got your weapon's in yesterday!"
"Let's see 'em."
Max went into the room behind his counter. When he emerged, he was carrying a handgun and a minigun. He handed the handgun to Rapter.
"Here you go. You'll like that, it's one of the most powerful handguns on the market." Then he propped the minigun up onto the counter. "This is yours, Taylor. It took 'em a while to get this one, but they got it. We don't get a whole lot of portable miniguns around here. This one has four barrels, it also has a selector on it for rate of fire, so you can switch between 2,600 rpm (rounds per minute) or 4,100 rpm. The gun is loaded with 750 round cans through the back...here. When you are out of ammunition, discard the empty can and slam a new one in there. You'll know it's loaded when you hear a clicking sound. There's a laser sight underneath the barrels here, which should make it easier to aim. Your trigger and handle are located next to the loading mechanism, to the right. Mounted next to the barrels on the left is the foregrip. There's an arm hook here at the bottom of the gun, below the loading mechanism to the left." Max tilted the hook up. "You put your arm in this thing to make the gun more controllable when you fire it. Try it, why don't ya'?"
Taylor slide the arm hook over his left shoulder and grabbed hold of the rear grip with his right hand and the fore grip with his left. Then he struck a combat pose.
"It's so light." Taylor commented.
"Yes. The thing itself is made out of a new type of alloy found on the moon. That gun weighs about eighteen pounds, which is a lot lighter than other miniguns. You should have no problem carrying that around a battlefield fully combat loaded. The results should be worth it, too. And there's more..." He went back into the small storage room. He came out carrying a package marked 'Caution! Explosives!'
"They also sent a few extra things with it, it seems..." Said Max, looking down at the box. "A few tools and parts, a pump action rocket launcher, God knows why that's in there, and what appears to be...napalm jelly."
"Well..." Said Rapter, holstering his new pistol. "Thank you for getting these for us, Max."
"The pleasure is mine. Tell me if you figure out what those parts are for."
"We will." Rapter and Taylor left.
Meanwhile, the others had been busy looking at sidearms. They had come up with their pick's. Lee was first.
"Hey, this is a automatic pistol, isn't it?" He asked. Max had to take a good look at it.
"Well, let me see...Yes, it is. That's a Glock model 18."
"All right, I'll take this, then."
"Okay." Max typed something in on his computer. "I've marked that one off. Go to the quarters."
Fex was next.
"All right, let me see...The Beretta 92." He marked that one off in his computer. "Next!"
Kat showed him her gun.
"Good. Good. The FN 'Five Seven'..."He marked off. Then he marked off Chris's Maussburg pump and everyone but him left.
The door opened. Chris and Lee both gasped.
"This is...our barracks?"
The whole thing looked like a five-star hotel. It had nice, neatly arranged tables and the room smelled nice. There was a television, a phone, and nice beds. It even had two ceiling fans. It wasn't what you would expect out of military rooms.
They all put their backpack's next to their corresponding beds. Then they unpacked some of their thing's and put them in the closet. Then they had to take showers. There were two, so, naturally, only two could go at once. Kat and Chris went first.
Fex was once again observing his surrounding's. To his left, Lee was sitting on his bed flipping through channels on the television.
"Damn! All they have on here are government channels!" Lee said, waving the remote up and down. He flopped back over his bed. "I'm bored..."
Fex moved on. In front of his bed were the two separate bathrooms. He could see steam coming underneath both doors. Then he turned his head a little more to the right and he saw Howie sitting in his dark corner. It was so dark in that corner that he could not see Howie's eyes'. Fex noticed the extremely long bandanna he wore. The back end would reach the ground if he stood up. However, his cloth's weren't very well taken care of. It looked like it had been shot up. Through the hole in his shirt, he could see Howie's very fit body. Howie was examining one of his two .45's. On the grip of the .45, Fex could see some sort of symbol, even though he could not make out what it was.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Rapter and Taylor were working on their own guns. Rapter said something odd.
"So... that guy... he's the son of..." Then he just stopped.
"What guy?" Taylor asked.
Rapter just waved his hand. "Nah. Forget about it."
Howie had his eyes closed, but he could tell there was someone on the bed behind him. He heard a voice behind him.
"Howie..." He knew who the voice belonged to. It was Rose. He felt behind him. He felt her long, slender, smooth body.
"I thought I had lost you..."
"No...You'll never lose me, Howie. Never..." Howie didn't know why, but he felt odd about that. "Let me see your face, Honey."
He turned over on his other side. He had a wide grin on his face. He slowly opened his eyes. And as they opened, the grin disappeared and was replaced by horror. Rose's face had been busted in and her brain's were oozing out, covered by maggots.
"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!"
Howie flung himself out of bed. His head hit the table and he heard a loud cracking noise, not from the table, but from himself. He hit the floor hard.
The other four lights in the room came on almost instantly.
"What the hell was that?"
"What was that noise?"
He heard footsteps outside. Then he heard someone kick the door open.
"WHAT IN HOLY FUCK WAS THAT?" He heard Rapter yell at the top of his lung's. Despite his being mad, Howie felt somewhat relieved.
"Whoa. You okay, man?"
Howie looked up. It was Lee. Howie nodded. Lee left. Then he went and told Rapter.
Howie then noticed that he was drenched in sweat and that big drops of blood were coming from his forehead. But they weren't coming from any kind of cut...
They were coming from underneath his bandanna...
Fex went to check up on him. When he got to the corner, he saw Howie holding his hand over his forehead.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Nothing you should be worried about." Howie answered in a grouchy tone of voice. Fex took a closer look at Howie. He was panting and sweating heavily. His eyes were wild, crazy eyes, but Fex could tell there some other sort of emotion behind those eyes, wanting to seep out. He had no idea what made the guy tick. His motivation's were a mystery to him. He knew nothing of what he wanted.
"What are you doing?" Howie asked him. Fex just shook his head.
Later that morning, the new recruits were out on the shooting range.
Rapter began drilling his new recruit's.
"All right, you asses. This may or may not be your first experience with a firearm. The difference here though is that you are in the military now. Make sure you are at least familiar with our weaponry. I'm gonna' give you some time to practice." Rapter pointed downrange. "The closest target is for handgun and shotgun practice. The next target is for machine gun shooting, about a hundred yards. The next two targets are for assault rifle training, 200 and 300 yards. And the range beyond that is for hitting targets with the sniper rifle. If you want..." Rapter moved so he could get a clearer view of what he was pointing at. "...There's a target on that hill over there. It's about 800 yards. If you think you can hit it, take a shot at it. Now, any questions?"
Chris raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. MacMurray. What is it?"
Grinning mischievously, Chris shoved a cigarette into plain sight and said "Can we sacrifice someone? Make 'em high and send 'em downrange?"
Taylor pointed an invisible gun at him. He pretended to fire it. "Jack off, stupid motherfucker."
Chris just flipped him off and lit a cigarette. This was enough for Rapter.
"Enough. I've had enough of you dumbasses. Get your asses in gear and fucking do what you are fucking told. Get to work, all of ya'."
They finally, reluctantly, got to work practicing with their new gun's.
Two hours pass...
Fex was lying on the cold concrete. Did I pass out? Fex really had no idea what had happened to him because he was completely stoned and drunk. All he could remember was after Rapter and Taylor left, and they had started practicing, some general from the alliance had come and started a little party. He had beer and whiskey and all kinds of stuff. Cigarettes, big Joints, Reefer. None of these mixed with firearms, and that was very obvious. Fex could barely see Lee firing a machine gun, not very well, either. Through an intoxicated sound barrier, he could hear gunfire close-by. It was Howie...and he was shooting both of his .45's at the same time accurately! No small feat...especially with someone who was drunk. He saw Chris wobbling around with a bottle of Scotch, but he couldn't see Kat...
Kat felt sick. Not only because of the alcohol, but also because a man had just used and abused her. When everybody else was stone drunk, the guy who had made them drunk took a plastic bag and pulled it hard over Kat's head so she could not breath. Then he dragged her into his truck and drove to the trailer she was in now. And now she was lying on the bed, completely naked, staring up at the ceiling. She was mad, and she was going to do something about it. She looked at the desk next to the bed. The man was not only dumb enough to bring her gun with them, leave it loaded, but he was also dumb enough to leave it on the desk next to the bed. She rolled off the bed onto the floor. Her entire body ached from the times when he had hit her. She reached up and grabbed her pistol from the desk. She got up and slowly wobbled into the kitchen. She could hear opera playing from the kitchen. She came upon the sorry sight of a naked man dancing in the kitchen. He was obviously still highly intoxicated. Kat raised her gun and turned the safety off. He felt her presence behind him. He turned around and looked at her like a dumb drunk. "Heey-eesh..."
Kat aimed low and deprived him of his testicles. He looked down with a shocked look and then looked back up at Kat, confused. Kat fired again, and the bullet hit the man in the forehead. The bullet came back out the back of his head, and along with that, his brain's emptied out, too. She would not have to shoot him again.
She located her cloth's on the table and put them on. The keys to the man's truck were on the table. She took them. She noticed the lit candles on the counter. She took one and dropped it into his garbage, setting it ablaze. Then she got out and got in the truck while the fire spread around the kitchen. And as she drove off, the entire trailer was engulfed inflame.
One week later...
Vehicular training...
Howie emerged from the shower. He wrapped his towel around his waist. He heard the others chatting in the room. As he opened the door, he saw Chris and Lee conversing next to the doorway. Then he saw Fex talking to someone on the phone. From the tone of his voice, it sounded like he was talking to one of his younger sister's. And on the other side of the room, sitting on her bed, was Kat. She had turned of her light, adding to the dark cloud in the corner of the room. She was resting her arms on her knees, creating a cradle for her head. Howie decided to talk to her.
"Hello, Kat." She looked up just enough to catch a glimpse of him. She growled.
"Hello..." She spoke reluctantly. "One thing I want to get out the way, before we have a full fledged conversation...I hate you."
"Fine." He responded. "Just let it be known that the feeling is not mutual."
"I don't care, okay. I don't fucking care, you get it? Stop talking to me. I fucking hate you. Go suck yourself."
"Hateful, aren't you? Why do you hate me so much?"
"Why do you care?"
Howie made a mocking-type gasp. "I know why you hate me. You hate me because..."
They heard a horn outside. The vehicle training session was about to begin.
A few minutes later they were sitting in front of a large armored vehicle with a big gun turret on top.
"This is what you are going to be taking out today." Began Rapter. "This is the C.A.T.E.R.P.I.L.L.E.R. It's an armored transport vehicle for our troops. One pilot, one systems operator, one gunner, and twenty-four troops can fit there. There are 8 stretchers stored in the back. There are mechanical doors on both sides. The vehicle is propelled by the treads underneath it, similar to a tank's. The only difference is the treads are directly underneath the vehicle so noone can hide underneath it. Any mechanical maintenance is done inside the vehicle. The gun turret houses two 20 mm guns with 280 rounds each. Each gun cycling rate of 80 rounds per minute, which is terribly slow, but each of the 20 mm rounds are extraordinarily powerful, making up for any other defects the gun may have. People have been known to take down leos with these things, if you know where to hit them. Now that you know a little bit about the C.A.T.E.R.P.I.L.L.E.R., here's the drill. You guys are going to take turns driving the C.A.T.E.R.P.I.L.L.E.R. around a mock urban battlefield to see how she handles. This afternoon we're taking you down to the range so you can experiment with the 20 mm guns. On Wednesday, we're going to introduce you to our main tanks.
Mr. Anderson, you're the first to drive, so climb on in and get in the driver's seat. Everybody else get in behind him and watch him."
Fex noticed inside the tank it uncomfortably narrow, a really tight squeeze for twenty-four soldiers and equipment. The gun turret also looked like it would be quite tight for the gunner. He slid into the driver seat and put on the seatbelt, which was obscenely tight considering Fex was certainly not fat. The front window was just a rectangular slit with bullet glass in it. The pedals and the wheel were also insanely small. Rapter slid in the next to him.
"I'll handle the systems." Is all he said.
"Why is everything in here so damned small?" Asked Howie, half chuckling.
"It's 'so damned small' because that's the way it's fucking built." Answered Taylor.
"Hey, don't bite my head off, for Christ's sake."
"Be quite back there. Let sergeant Anderson concentrate." All eyes shifted back to Fex. "Well...we're waiting, sergeant."
Fex knew little about driving. When his father was still alive, people would drive him places. But that age was over for him now. Fex wasn't a kid anymore, and he planned to become an adult in the military. He was going to become an adult...
He punched the accelerator.
One week later...
Flight training...
Three CAH-16 helicopters crept down the valley while one FB-25 circled overhead. Howie and Taylor were in the lead chopper, Fex and Kat were in the left wingman position, and Chris and Lee were in the right wingman position. Rapter radioed in from his FB-25.
"Okay. Beyond the next turn is the target range. Gunners, concentrate and make sure to hit your target's. Pilots, keep your birds straight and steady, make sure your gunner's get a good shot at their target's."
They all replied."Roger."
They made the turn...
And just as soon as they had made it, a cacophony of cannons being fired, missiles being launched, and things exploding everywhere erupted. And from somebody's radio blared Tchaikovsky's "Overture 1812". The flames from the ground painted the halos' fuselages an eerie orange. Rapter was laughing at them from his plane above...
The halo group exited the valley. Rapter was still laughing. Howie lashed out.
"What the fuck are you laughing at!"
"Look what you guys did!"
They looked back to survey the damage they did. They hadn't hit a single thing. Lee voiced his outrage.
"We missed every single fucking target! We didn't hit a fucking thing even though we emptied almost every single fucking round we had!"
"Well, I told you to concentrate, didn't I? We'll work on this, but for right now, let's head back to base. Next time, you might actually want to listen to my fucking instruction's."
They turned around and headed back to the airfield.
One week later...
Mobile suite training...
The leo mobile suites were going up the elevator. Rapter, in his custom-built leo, started telling the group how to control their machine's.
"The leo mobile suites you are in now are new models. They've been equipped with a new, state-of-the-art system that makes them incredibly easy to control. This is called the 'X' system." They reached the top.
"Good. Now I'll switch your systems on and we'll see what you can do."
The lights and systems came on. And it felt weird for the newbies. It felt like they were out of their bodies, and that their bodies were now the mobile suites.
"As you can probably feel..." Explained Rapter. "Your bodies feel at one with your machines'. This is because of the 'X' system. In order to operate the system, you need only to think of an action and take it."
That gave Lee an idea. "You mean..." Lee's mobile suite gave a jerking motion and then brought it's rifle down on Chris's leo.
"OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" Lee just laughed.
"HAHA HA! SO IT WORKS!"
"WHY, YOU...!" Taylor got between them.
"Hey! Knock it off!" Although that wasn't a good example to start, Fex caught on.
"I see..." He said, thinking of an action. When he had thought of one, his leo thrust forward and fired a burst with his rifle. He printed excellent results on the target at the edge of the hanger. And it had been so easy.
"Look at that reaction speed. Excellent." Howie commented.
"Wow." Was the only thing Kat could say. Then Taylor said something odd.
"It's not nearly as good as Zero-system." For some reason, Rapter became furious when he said that.
"FUCK IT ALL, TAYLOR! THE CONTROL ROOM...NOW!"
Rapter and Taylor met in the control room a few minutes later where they could still watch the mobile suites. Rapter was still furious.
"What the fuck were you thinking when you said that, Taylor? Were you even thinking at all? What the fuck?" Taylor just stood there, ashamed. "Next time, think, major. That's what your fucking brain is for."
"Well, sir... What I said out there was true..."
"The fuck it is! But that doesn't mean you have to tell the trainees that! They haven't even been on the field yet! Do I need to remind you that, MAJOR?"
"...No, sir. You don't."
"Good." He calmed down and watched the trainees practice. He lit a large cigar.
"Speaking of the Zero-system..." Taylor began, cautiously. "...A Blood-Curler ship set sail off the coast of France, recently."
Rapter took a huge puff out his cigar. "For whom?"
"Us, apparently. That's what General Treize told me."
"You spoke with Treize?"
"Yeah. He couldn't tell me exactly what they are doing, but they'll be docking in Spain soon after we arrive."
Rapter's face lit up with disgust. "Oh, god. You mean I'll have to speak to the Blood-Curlers? Tch! Those guys are overrated."
"No argument here."
"The type of warfare they conduct always has been and always will be obsolete. There's no room for the Blood-Curlers in this war..." There was a short silence.
"So..." Asked Taylor. "Are you ready for the 'special' training next week?"
"...Riveted." Rapter answered, still smoking his cigar.
One week later...
"Special" training...
The first day of training, the "Special" training is what they called it. It would not be group work, it was one person at a time. Rapter and Taylor came early in the morning and picked Howie to go first. Fex and the others would not see him for a while.
This gave everyone time to think, time to speculate. They hadn't been told what would go on during the "Special" training. But mostly they speculated about Howie. Why was he important enough to bring out of Alcatraz? They thought they would never know the answer. Howie himself was a big mystery, a maze of unanswerable questions. Everything he did was calculated and had meaning. There was a story about everything, to his bandanna to his cloth's to his pair of .45's. Something was not quite right about him...
During the night, Fex had strange sexual fantasies involving Kat. This was odd for Fex because his life had been censored for a while, and sexual thoughts were uncommon for him. Fex decided to get Chris and Lee's opinion. They weren't surprised.
"Man, if there is anybody who doesn't fantasize about her, I would be surprised." Chris answered.
"Damn straight." Lee seconded. "Maybe this is good for you, Fex. Sexual intercourse is an aerobic activity. It'll help you get in shape for the missions ahead."
"I never said I was having sex with her. I never said I was necessarily going to have sex with her. I just said I was having fantasies about it."
Lee shrugged. "Well...yeah, I guess that could work out, too. But you have to admit that thisidea is better."
"What idea?" Asked Kat, emerging from the shower.
"Er...Um...Nothing."
Space was cold. There was a single ship cruising through it. A silent ship. A peaceful ship...
Suddenly...
"BOOM! BOOM!"
Two leos had ambushed the ship. Their cannon's began to rip the ship apart.
"BOOM! BOOM!"
The leo pilots did not care about the inhabitants of the ship. Lives meant nothing to them. Nothing. Not even little children...
Parents woke up to the cries of their little children. They could do nothing to save them...
Nothing...
Finally, the doomed ship accepted her fate. She imploded, leaving nothing left but scrap metal.
In their cockpit's, the leo pilots were actually cheering...
Fex woke up. It had just been a dream. But a very convincing dream. And he was sure he knew what it was about, too. That was his father's ship ten years ago. He remembered the images on tv. His father's peace corp breaking down quickly. The little funds it had left annexed. Having to live not exactly in poverty, but definitely not rich like they used to be. Having to care for not only himself, but for his two younger sister's, Diz and Mena. All this at six years old.
Fex got up and washed his face. He then noticed in the reflection that Kat was up also, sitting on her bed.
"What are you doing up?" She asked in a quiet and somber voice.
"...Nothing." He muttered into the sink.
"Nothing? Is that right?" She laughed. Fex did not respond. "How many years were we in school together?" This seemed like a perfectly random and useless question to Fex, but he answered it anyway.
"Four." He said as he walked toward his bed and sat on it. "Four horrible years. I couldn't stand you. I hated it when you talked to the football players. You would say," In his best little airhead voice. "EW! I don't like that stupid, blonde, Anderson kid! I hate the way he stares at me! EW! Don't let him touch me! EW! EW!" He ended his impression. Kat laughed again.
"You know, I actually remember that. You were a little runt back then. But...you've changed. You've gotten bigger, Fex."
Fex noticed something. They weren't facing each other. They weren't talking face to face. Fex decided to change that. He went over and sat on Howie's empty bed, facing Kat. He grabbed her hand's and held them. Then he looked her in the face.
"Let's get out of here." He said. Kat shook her head.
"No. You don't understand the balance, Fex."
Fex released her hand's. She laid back on her bed and continued to explain.
"The lucky ones die in battle. And the survivors fade out in insanity or despair. No matter what happens, everybody loses. That's just the way it goes. As long as war exists, this cycle will go on."
"But maybe we can end it!"
"End what?"
"End war! End this cycle of death and despair!"
Kat gave him emotionless look. Fex hated it.
"We can't end it..." The she shut her eyes and slept. Fex was speechless and couldn't move from that spot for the rest of the night.
The next day, Howie walked in, seemingly exhausted. He didn't say anything about the training. Rapter and Taylor took Kat for the 'Special' training that week. And the next week it was Chris, and the week after that it was Lee, until finally it was Fex's turn.
"It's time for you to take the training, Fex." Rapter said as an exhausted Lee crashed onto his bed.
As they were driving, Fex asked them. "Hey, what's this training going to be like?"
Neither Rapter or Taylor answered him. They just kept on driving. They arrived at the docks soon afterwards. Odd. What kind of training could they do at sea?
They boarded a boat. There were all sorts of weird things in the boat, scary looking things. Why did they have things?
It was foggy out over the green water. It was probably going to storm, too. Nevertheless, Rapter kept on referring to the conditions as "ideal", adding that "it would bring out the full effect of the training". Fex was getting extremely nervous.
After what seemed like an eternity, Rapter stopped the boat.
"Go up on deck." He motioned to Fex, then he issued an odd order. "Take your shirt off."
Fex, reluctantly, did as he said. On the deck, Fex noticed a buoy so close to the boat that you could easily touch it. It had metal rod through the top of it, making a cross shape. Attached to this rod on each end were big metal clamps. There were similar clamps near the bottom of the buoy, too. Suddenly, Fex figured it all out.
Rapter, Taylor, and several assistants grabbed him. He struggled to get out of their grasp. He was yelling, screaming.
"ARE YOU GUYS FUCKING CRAZY?"
Fex struggling forced one of the assistants overboard, but he quickly recuperated and got back on the boat. No matter how much Fex tried, he couldn't get out of it. Eventually, he succumbed to his fate. He was forced on to the buoy and was strapped in.
The sensation of being on that buoy was terrible. He couldn't change position. He was in the exact same position as Jesus at the crucifiction. Not being in control was awful. He felt like the buoy would submerge any second. The rocking sensation made him sick to his stomach. Rapter had parked the boat just a couple yards away to watch him. Fex constantly muttered insults.
"Fucking vultures..."
The storm hit overnight. The rocking sensation became ten times worse in the turbulent waters. Fex was surprised he didn't sink.
The next day was more of the same, but worse. About noon, Fex noticed that Rapter and his assistants were doing something on deck. He was trying to sleep, so he was drowsy and couldn't see exactly what they were doing.
But he found out.
There was a crack and pain shot down Fex's arm. They had shot him. Bright red plasma spray out of his arm. Fex lashed out, but because of the position he was in, he sounded like an angry drunk.
"You fucking coxsuckers! When all this is done, I'm gonna' rip out your fucking intestine's and stomp on them!"
That didn't phase them.
Now, his blood would be dripping out of him...Sure to attract sharks. A pleasant thought.
And those sharks came in droves.
Fex woke up a day later, being dragged back on the boat.
"Is it over?" He asked, half unconscious. They took him below deck.
They threw him down on the floor and started beating the crap out of him.
"What the hell?" Fex protested, disoriented.
"What were you talking to Kat about the other night?" Rapter asked.
"What?" That question disoriented Fex even further. Partially because he had no idea why he would know about that conversation, partially because he wouldn't know why he would want such information. Fex knew what he had to do. He had to resist.
"We were talking about screwing."
Rapter kicked his face into the floor. "YOU ARE FUCKING LYING!"
From there on, the real punishment began. Rapter and his assistant's constantly beat him for hours without tiring. Taylor stood in the corner, watching.
Fex didn't give in, though. Through the hours he watched his face go from relatively undamaged to completely bloody. His entire body was filled with pain. His nose was clearly broken. But they just kept doling it out.
Sun was rising. Rapter broke a baseball bat over Fex's head. Now he was just lying there. Blood covered the floor. A knife was flung into the floor right in front of Fex's face. This got his attention. Rapter grabbed Fex's hair and made him look at him.
"If you do not tell me what went on in that conversation, I will cut you open, Anderson."
This was too much. Finally, Fex gave in and said "All right, I'll tell you.".
3 days later...
"PATHETIC!" Rapter yelled at his recruits. "YOU ALL ARE PATHETIC! THE ONLY ONE OF YOU THAT PASSED THE SPECIAL COURSE WAS HOWIE!"
Of course. Mister perfect, Fex thought.
"For your information..." Rapter continued. "WE WILL KEEP ON TAKING THESE COURSES OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNTIL EVERY ONE OF YOU PASSES!"
And they did so for another several months.
Whew! Thought that one would never end! Review!