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Bella entered the lecture hall, leaning on the crutches. Everyone immediately turned to her with curiosity and Heidi's face instantly blossomed with a smile, which she didn't even try to hide.
"Sit down." Zafrina pointed at the seat next to her.
Bella gently sank down into a chair. Captain Cullen detained her in the medical bay for almost a day and after making sure that Bella got only some ligament tear with a complicated name, but not the fracture, he let her go, prohibiting any serious stress on the leg. However, even with all the desire, Bella couldn't run or jump, she felt helpless and invalid with those idiotic knee-pad and crutches.
"Bella, you look like a war veteran!" Bree Tanner said merrily, sitting behind them.
"Shut up!" Sergeant Young called for the silence. "Recruit Swan, all recruits must be in the audience fifteen minutes prior to the lecture. Entire platoon was here on time, but you came at the same time instructors did. Stand up, Swan!"
Taking crutches, Bella slowly got up.
"Recruit Swan, a Marine may not execute the order of the commander only in case he was killed. You look too good for a deadman, though. If you can't go fast, you should come out beforehand. Sit down, Recruit Swan. One more delay, and the whole platoon will be punished."
"Yes, ma'am." Bella replied and sat down heavily in her seat. Sergeant Young said.
"Who of you, devil puppies, know what Amtrack is? Recruit Tanner!"
"It is a railroad corporation, ma'am." Bree answered without delay.
"Of course, Recruit Tanner, we are studying here these damn trains." Sergeant Young twisted her already crooked mouth. "Amtrack is a military amphibious tracked vehicle that is used by assault airborne battalion for landing on land, transfer from amphibious ships to shore during operations in the coastal zone and the subsequent combat support. You can see it on the screen.
Bella looked at the photo, which appeared on the projector canvas behind Sergeant Young, and saw something eerily huge, looking like a can or a tin box on tracks, with armed Marines with rifles jumping out of it.
"Soon you'll meet this baby closely." Sergeant Young said. "This is Amphibious Assault Vehicle 7A1. AAV-7A1 for short. It entered the service in 1972. It was used during operations in Grenada, the "Desert Storm" in Iraq. The crew consists of four people: the driver, commander, rifleman and a crew member who is settled in the back of the machine. The landing party is located in the aft and consists of twenty-five marines. AAV-7A1 is able to move on land and sea due to two water jets, equipped with turning mechanism. Amunition of Amtrack consists of the M242 Bushmaster automatic cannon and the Mk-19 grenade launcher. Private Reno!" She hissed suddenly, interrupting her extremely difficult for understanding monologue. "Do you have a dictaphone inside your brain?"
"No, ma'am." Victoria calmly replied.
"Then why the hell are you not taking notes, bus staring at your fingernails?" Two-Face inquired.
"I know it all already, ma'am." Victoria did not flinch.
"Do you? You think too much of yourself, Recruit Reno." Sgt. Young grinned. "What is the difference between the usual Amtrack and the commander's Amtrack?"
"There is no tower in the commander's Amtrack, ma'am, and most of the area is occupied by communication equipment." Victoria replied promptly. The crew consists of three people plus five radio operators, three staff- and two combat commanders.
Sgt. Young grinned.
"How much does the basic version AAV-7A1 weights?"
"50200 pounds, ma'am." Victoria said, clearly trying to demonstrate drill instructor her intellect and superiority over other recruits.
"What is the thickness of the armor?"
"About two inches." - Victoria replied.
"The speed on land?"
"40 miles per hour."
"On the sea?"
"8 miles per hour."
"Cruising range?"
"300 miles."
Victoria was clearly pleased with herself, because the whole platoon was looking at her with admiration. Bella even caught herself thinking that now Victoria is really worthy of the furor she made.
"How many grenades does ammunition of Mk-19 grenade launcher have?" Two-Face asked a new question, but this time Victoria did not answer.
"Recriut Reno, if a recruit declares that she knows everything, she must be ready to take the examination on all questions of the course." Two-Face strictly said, with her voice sounding ominously. "How many grenades does the ammunition of Mk-19 grenade launcher have?"
"One thousand two hundreds, ma'am." Victoria replied not so confidently than previously.
"Exam's failed, Recruit Reno! In ammunition of Mk-19 grenade launcher there are eight hundred sixty-four grenades." Sergeant Young said and walked between the rows to Victoria, then said through teeth in her face, "Eight hundred sixty-four grenades! Nobody can know everything, Recruit Reno. And that's normal. Abnormality is that you think you're fucking Jimmy Neutron and all others, including your instructor, are idiots! If ordered to take notes, you must take notes, even if you've heard something somewhere. Because it's an order! And because there is always something that is not written in Wikipedia!"
"Aye-aye, ma'am!" Victoria responded with difficulty.
"To knock the arrogance out of Recruit Reno, Recruit Reno will scrub the barracks today. And until a handkerchief, which I'll pass over the floor, will remain snow-white, you will lick the floor clean with your long tongue!" Two-Face pierced Victoria with her look.
"Aye-aye, ma'am!" Victoria shouted, her cheeks reddening.
"Let's continue." Sergeant Young instantly calmed, having restored her authority in the platoon. "Some Amtracks also come with the sets of elongated charges of demining."
By the end of the lecture Bella could barely held in a conscious state. She started to get sleepy from such an abundance of numbers, terms, unfamiliar acronyms and obscure words. Afraid that drill instructor will catch her sleeping, Bella rubbed her eyelids, pulled her hair, painted girls in crazy outfits in a notebook, but it was all in vain. Her head drooped, sounds alienated and Bella plunged into sticky nap, until Zafrina shoved her after a while.
"Swan! Young is calling you!"
Sleep instantly left Bella, and she jumped to her feet as a lightning, dropping crutches with thunder.
"Recruit Swan, since there is no use of you right now, you become my administrative assistant." Two-Face said.
"Aye-aye, ma'am!" Bella cried out with all her alacrity so that sergeant wouldn't guess about what she was doing the last third of the lecture.
"Everyone is free. Recruit Swan, go to the desk. You're going to fill out reports." Sergeant Young ordered.
All recruits spilled out of the auditorium in a noisy stream, happy that the inquisition was finally over, as Bella obediently moved to the table.
Sergeant Young threw a bunch of forms in front of her and showed how to fill them out. Then she took her cell phone out of her pocket and made a phone call:
"Hey, Paul. Sorry I couldn't answer, I had a lecture. I was just wondering, have you heard from Uley? He promised to call me a week ago. You don't know anything? Right. Me, as usual. Fresh meat's here. I'm wiping their snot with it. All right. Good luck, brother. Call me if you have anything."
Putting the cell away, she looked at Bella, who buried her head in the reports so that it didn't seem like she overheard drill instructor's private conversation.
"Recruit Swan, do you know how to do at least anything?" Two-Face asked suddenly.
"What do you mean, ma'am?" Bella lifted her head.
"Well, you run fucking badly. Not able to pull yourself up. You do push-ups God knows how, too." Sergeant Young said, her "evil" half turned to Bella as if on purpose. "You fall on a straight surface. You are crying because of the foolish injury like a blonde, who broke her nail. You sleep in the lecture. And you probably can't fight as well."
"Yes, ma'am." Ashamed Bella confirmed.
"So what can you do at all, Swan, except other than to talk and take tests?" Young repeated her question.
"Shoot, ma'am. I know how to shoot."
"Shoot?" Two-Face grinned. "A children's water pistol?"
"No, ma'am. With a hunting rifle" Bella said. "And with a combat pistol. My father is a police officer, and his best friend was a hunter. I went to hunt with them in the forest."
"What did you hunt for?"
"For hares and deers, ma'am." Bella said, remembering how Harry Clearwater taught her to shoot, how Bella, Seth and Leah competed who are the most accurate, shooting in Charlie's favorite cap, hanging on a bough. Charlie then swore for a long time because of the torn to shreds cap, and Renee laughed merrily. That happened two years before Renee ran away from Forks with Phil.
"Did you shoot?" Two-Face asked in the meantime.
"Of course, I shoot." Bella replied.
"I ask did you shoot animals."
Bella hesitated and said.
"Yes, ma'am. I shoot… a deer."
"Did you kill it?"
"I wounded it."
Bella said and broke into a cold sweat. Unlike the story with a cap that memory was not joyful.
She was fourteen. Harry's dogs tracked the deer. Bella was the closest to him. She'd convinced herself then that she was in love with Seth, and she really wanted to impress him. So when the deer appeared among the branches, she took aim and fired. The deer fell on its side and twitched. Blood gushed from its neck. Charlie didn't go with them that day, and Harry was the first one to jump up to her. The deer kept convulsing and wouldn't die. Bella threw up, and Harry shoved her away and shot the deer.
She never went hunting with Clearwaters again and told Charlie she preferred to sit in a chair with a book much more than to wade through the bushes and wander through the dirty untrodden glades. She never told her father about the deer.
"From what distance did you shoot?" Sergeant Young inquired.
"I do not remember, ma'am." Bella replied, wishing she had remember about the case at all.
"I think there were about a two hundred feet..."
"Did you really wound a deer from a two hundred feet distance?" Two-Face hemmed. "Leave the reports, Recruit Swan. Go after me. Let's check, if you lied to me or not."
Sergeant Young led Bella to the training ground behind the barracks and ordered to wait. Five minutes later, Two-Face appeared, carrying a rifle on her shoulder and a training imitation of a human torso in her hands. Hanging it up on the hook, Sergeant Young went to Bella and took the rifle from shoulder.
"This is M14." Two-Face explained, showing Bella unpretentious in appearance, compared to those they had been shown in a lecture, rifle.
"It was widely used during the Vietnam War, and is now considered outdated. But for you, it's okay. Since you can't stand, you'll shoot in the lying position." Sergeant Young said.
Quickly but thoroughly showing Bella how to load a rifle, in what position to lie, how to hold the M14, so to not break nose with a kickback and how to aim, Sergeant Young shoved her the rifle and walked away.
Bella took the rifle in her hands. It was much heavier than the one that Harry taught her to shoot with.
Carefully following Two-Face's instructions, Bella gently lowered herself to the ground, put the rifle on a prop, pressed the buttstock to her shoulder fossa and aimed.
"Fire!" Sergeant Young ordered and Bella fired, twitching even before the shot sounded.
The bullet had passed far away from the target.
"Press the buttstock to cheek and don't twitch during the shot. That makes a bullet go to the right. Also don't lean heavily on the buttstock with your cheek, or the bullet goes to the left." Two-Face said. "Second attempt."
Getting ready, Bella took aim again, this time pressing buttstock to her cheek.
"Fire!" Two-Face ordered.
Bella shot and the target was untouched again. Shit, she can't even do what she used to do very good! Two-Face'll punish her for lying, thinking that she made up the story about the deer to enhance her reputation, and she'll have to wash the barracks along with Victoria.
"Shoot on the exhale. Press your knees to the ground." Sergeant Young admonished her with sharp cries. "Third attempt!"
Bella pulled herself together. She remembered the malicious grin of Lieutenant Cullen and words of Sergeant Young that it was time to stop being a spotted mouse.
She has to do it now.
Bella lay the finger firmly on the trigger.
Holding her breath, she took aim, burning with her eyes the damn target.
"Fire!" Sgt. Young gave the order.
Bella fired, exhaling.
And... miss!
"Shit!" Bella couldn't resist.
She warily eyed Two-Face and suddenly saw that she was laughing not angrily at all.
"Recruit Swan, were you seriously going to show me sniper accuracy now?" Seeing Bella's stretched face, she explained. "I saw all that is needed. You did hold the weapon in your hands. You can shoot and you like it. Your technique is shit, but it's not a problem if you want to learn how to hit the target. You're free to go, Recruit Swan. You'll fill the reports in the evening after dinner."
"Yes, ma'am." Bella said, a little confused by her words, returned Two-Face the rifle and went to the barracks.
"Swan!" Sergeant Young called her. "Forget about that deer!"
Bella turned around and saw Two-Face shooting in the target, standing. The bullet hit the mannequin in the heart area.
Lowering the rifle Young looked at Bella and said: "Here you will learn to shoot people."