It was two weeks into Training and Slate was noticing that it was getting tougher, this was its most obvious now that they were at the point where they're learning hand to hand combat and resistance to torture, And the resistance to torture was freaking him out, he saw what some of the groups looked like after going through that. They looked shaken up- hell some of them had physical scarring. He had no idea when his group was going to be going through it, but he hoped it wasn't anytime soon, he wasn't ready. Boy was he not happy when he found out that this week was their time to learn how to resist torture, he hoped that he would make it out without any physical scarring; the first one to start training was a girl he liked named Tanya. He hoped that she'd be okay.

it had been 10 hours since Slate last saw Tanya, He was starting to get worried, just as he began to worry, he saw a rather distressed Tanya, he started to walk to check on her, He wanted to make sure that she was okay.

"Are you okay Tanya?"

He didn't get an answer right away just incoherent moans, that concerned him greatly. What the hell happened? He wanted to know "Tanya." he tried again- just more moans, was she in shock? "Somebody get a Doctor!" Slate shouted.

Two men approached Slate, He started looking at then suspiciously.

"It's your turn mutt."

Why did he say that? Suddenly a burlap sack was put over his head, Slate began to panic and violently thrash about, as he struggled, he felt something stab him and started to go limp and started to fall unconscious.

Water, cold water woke him up, causing him to go into a panic and jerk around and realized he was tied down to a chair, he couldn't see anything though- the sack was still over his head. What was going on? He heard people talking, from what he heard they were talking about him and calling him a mutt why did they insist on calling him that? Before he could start asking questions, he felt someone grab his head and pull it back, which was followed by large amounts of water being poured in his mouth region, making him feel like he was drowning, this continued for almost an hour, the next thing he found happening to him was to things clamping onto him, next thing he knew was he was getting electrocuted , it was excruciating.

It's been almost a day since Gideon and Alex last saw Slate. Alex was so concerned and rushed to his father, when he approached the door and began to knock slowly, what was unfortunate was that when he knocked, it was at a similar rhythm to his father stamping documents. After a while Alex shouted through the door.

"Open the Door!" that caught his father's attention.

"Come in Alex." Alex opened the door.

"there's something important that I need to talk about with you."

"What is it?"

"Slate's been missing for almost a whole day."

"He's been what?"

"Missing for almost a whole day."

"When did you last see him?"

"In the mess." Alex said, something else he added was the fact that they were doing torture training, that caused his father to explode with anger, Alex started to see a different side of his father, a side he was sure he hadn't seen before. He started to think about bolting the door.

"Who said that you'd be taught how to resist torture!"

Alex started to say the drill sergeant's name, that made his father bolt out of the room, Alex stood there in confusion- what the fuck was that all about.

Slate's stomach growled, he was so hungry to the point where he was going to feel sick, it was made worse by the injuries that he's sustained. This was getting to the point where he was thinking that he was going to pass out- god it hurt, How long was he gone for? And how much longer would this go on for? So many questions with many unknown answers, he was hoping for relief. Soon it was too much and he passed out. He wasn't sure how long he was out for but he started to hear yelling. he could barely make out was being said though, What was going on? He tried to move his head up, he couldn't though, he was in too much pain to do so- what hell was happening? Slate the heard the door open, he began to wonder who it was. Slate tried to lift his head up again, he couldn't, he felt like he was going to pass out again. He heard a voice

"Huh?"

But he realized that is was Alex's father, he wasn't sure how to react. he tried to break the rope, but he couldn't, he needed somebody to cut them for him.

"Relax kid."

After that Slate passed out. The next thing he knew was that he woke up in med bay, he looked to each of his sides. He noticed Alex standing on the right side.

"Hey."

"Hi"

"How long was I out for?"

"About ten hours." this shocked Slate.

"It was pretty bad Slate." Slate was silent.

"Also my dad wants to talk to you."

"He does?"

"Yeah you were gone for 24 hours." that caused Slate to groan and his stomach to growl.

"Alex, can you get me something to eat."

"Sure." Alex said has he gave Slate a small jar of peanut butter, Slate wasn't happy, he wanted something else but he was so hungry at this point he didn't care, Alex also handed Slate a spoon, Slate started to eat the peanut butter quickly.

"How do you feel now?"

"so much better."

Alex smirked, he then heard what sounded like his father walking in. as Alex's father walked in, Alex walked out, this confused Slate- why would he walk out? Was there something going on with those two? Or did Alex's father wanted to speak with him alone? Whatever it was, he didn't question it. Slate started to see Alex's father standing next to him.

"Sir."

Alex's father stared at Slate. "Mind, telling me what the hell happened in the past 24 hours?" Slate began telling what he remembered from the beginning to the end. Alex's father left, but not before muttering something among the lines of "I'm going to shoot that fucking drill sergeant". Slate was left in shock. was Alex's father really going to have the drill sarge shot? and if so, would it be via firing squad? and would the trainees be the firing squad? The questions bounced in his head. Slate sighed, he started to feel tired, maybe a little sleep will help.

Slate was eating a jar of peanut butter, he was officially hooked on it now; in fact, he got a little defensive when people touched his peanut butter, Gideon was the main reason for that, he tried to steal it more than once, which was proceeded with Slate football tackling him more than once. Gideon walked over to him, Slate noticed this and gave a death glare "I'm not talking your damn peanut butter."

"Good."

"I just want to talk."

"Okay."

"So, halfway through training huh?"

"Yeah, it's crazy, also I've been wondering something."

"What's that?"

"Whatever happened to the old drill sarge?"

"Oh."

"Also, I see your hand reaching for the peanut butter drawer." Gideon started to act like that wasn't what it looked like.

"what? No."

Slate rolled his eyes

"Okay you caught me."

Slate smirked, no one touched his peanut butter without his knowledge

"Anyways Slate, are you ready for more hand to hand training?"

"Sure, wrestling hand to hand or boxing hand to hand?"

"Wrestling."

Slate wasn't surprised, over the past four weeks, Gideon told him about being on the wrestling team in his high school, this was going to be fun. The two began to circle around each other, everyone in the barracks noticed and began placing bets.

"$100 on Slate!" on guy shouted

"$50 on Gideon." another shoute. Slate and Gideon began to grapple, so far it seemed Gideon had the winning, but things could change and they did as Slate sweeped Gideon's feet, knocking him on the ground where Slate took the opportunity to pin him to the ground, Gideon then reversed rolling over. Slate in desperation broke the pin. Near the end of the spar Alex and his father walked into the barracks, the cheering suddenly stopped, Alex's father saw Slate had Gideon in a headlock.

"Ahem." Alex said, this caught Slate and Gideon's attention- this was now awkward.

"Are you two done?" Alex's father asked, Slate and Gideon nodded "Good, because I want you two to run 200 km in full equipment."

"But sir, the field is muddy and it's raining"

"Exactly." Alex's father said, this made Slate and Gideon sigh and go get their equipment, this was going to be fun.