CHERUB : Fitting in

Sorry about the lack of updates, lots of things going on, as usual. I'll really try to get more of this story up!

The days of basic training seemed to meld into one, one long, continuous day of torture and exhaustion. The cold sapped at our energy, but no one dared to start flagging. The hours on the assault courses left us exhausted and covered in freezing mud. The lessons, no matter how interesting, made our heads spin. Large took great delight in making us suffer for the whole day. Our only comforts were hot meals and a warm shower if Large was feeling particularly soft.

Day 98. We were headed for a jungle in Malaysia for the final part of our basic training. I sat in the helicopter, my parachute strapped to my back, catnapping. Melanie sat beside me, chewing her nails. I wasn't surprised. If we failed now, then everything we had done over the last few 98 days would be lost, and we would have to start all over again. Already, two agents had had to drop out. One because of a broken wrist, the other willingly dropped out. I knew that I had only held on because I knew that I had been through the same thing before, and I had pulled through.

Large was passing around tracking devices, tying them onto the wrists on the agents in training. I only bothered opening one eye. Rest would be vital over the next two days. That much I knew. Large's voice boomed throughout the aircraft:

"Now, my little cupcakes, we are coming up to the drop points, enjoy your stay in the jungle!"

The side door to the cargo bay of the helicopter was wrenched open. Steadily, two by two, the agents took the leap. I threw my pack out before me, like the others had done before letting myself fall. It was blissful, falling through the air. I tugged on the release cord. The parachute met the air with a sudden wrench to my shoulders. I closed my eyes as I saw the ground rushing up to meet me, letting myself go limp. I collapsed into the sand, folding the 'chute in behind me. A muffled thump a few metres away told me that Melanie had also landed. Quickly unclipping myself from the parachute, I scanned the sands, looking for the telltale green of the bags. Melanie was already up and lugging her bag towards me as I located mine.

"Ok," I said, "Let's got through these packs and see what we can leave behind."

The packs contained a lot of junk, we soon found out. 'The complete works of Shakespeare' was only one of the completely useless things we found. Melanie held up a clockwork mouse with a look of distaste on her face.

"And what are we likely to use this for?" She asked sarcastically.

"I don't know, I used to use those for target practise..."

Melanie's look of surprise told me to shut up rather quickly. She held up a ping pong bat. "Ant this?"

"Fly swatter?" I suggested, shrugging.

We left with the bare essentials. Water bottles, knife, fly screen, compass, map, mission file, infrared torch and a tarpaulin. We had 10 hours to reach the next checkpoint, and that wasn't going to be easy. Melanie hacked her way through the jungle while I jumped through the trees. It was raining quite heavily by then, the afternoon starting to draw to a close. I stopped for a moment under the cover of a large leaf to check the map. Melanie stopped underneath me, panting. We hadn't stopped for the last five hours in the dense vegetation, and both of us were breathing hard in the heavy air.

"How far left to go?" She asked.

"Five kilometres roughly, if my calculations are correct." I replied, putting the map away and dropping to the ground. "We should be able to make it within an hour. Then we'll make camp and get some rest."

Melanie nodded before she trudged onwards. I walked alongside her, trying to see any easier paths through the gloom. All I saw was the dense vegetation. Hanging vines easily mistaken for snakes. Shadows thrown by the setting sun. I gritted my teeth. This was no time to scare myself with the surroundings.

Nearly an hour later, we cam across the river. With a sigh of relief, we saw the boat, our checkpoint. I started to set up camp while Melanie explored the little motor boat. A scream from inside it made me jump. I grabbed my knife, sprinting inside. Melanie stood there, cowering in a corner as a snake reared its ugly head. It flicked its tongue out. Melanie whimpered quietly in the corner. Fear was coming off her in waves. Slowly, silently, I drew my knife, taking aim. With a quick flick of my wrist, I launched the knife. The snake found itself pinned to the hull of the boat with the knife through its skull. Melanie let out a shuddering breath. I walked over to the snake, eyeing my work. The knife was off centre. I must be losing my touch.

"That thing was going to kill me!" Melanie gasped.

"It would have taken a while then. This kind of snake doesn't exist around here. The instructors must have put it here as some kind of sick joke." I wrenched the knife from the wall, running a finger over the damage to the wood to make sure it would still hold against the water. I slung the snake over my shoulder.

"How'd you fancy fried snake for dinner?" I suggested lightly, smiling at my horrified looking teammate.

I barely slept that night. I spent most of the time translating the mission file, which had been written in Japanese. Another trick of the instructors. All of the cherubs learnt a new language during basic training. I got landed with Japanese. The instructors must have found it funny to write the mission files in languages the cherubs barely understood. I was restless. I felt like something was going to go horribly wrong soon. It's always hard to shake that kind of feeling.

While Melanie slept, I took a closer look around the boat. Again, there was a ton of things that we didn't need. I started unloading them as quietly as possible. At least one of us had to be awake to keep the other one up. By the time I had finished, the sun was starting to rise, shining light on the treacherous path we were facing. Melanie crawled out of the tent we had managed to make out of the tarpaulin and huge leaves collected around the riverside. We had a quick breakfast of fruit, and set on our way.

I sat at the front of the boat, map reading, while Melanie took care of manoeuvring the vessel. Apparently her father had enjoyed playing with boats, so much that he had been killed in a sailing accident. Melanie had inherited his skills.

Several hours later, we came to an open lake. Without warning, the little boat suddenly lurched forwards, sending me hurtling back to whack my head off the cabin of the vessel. I glared at Melanie.

"You ok?" She asked, poking her head out of the cabin.

"Could you warn me next time you're about to do that?!" I snarled, rubbing my head.

"Aww, did I give the resident assassin a headache?" She replied in a babyish voice. My hands clenched into fists, but I remembered the mission.

"What do you want? A medal?!" I took a deep breath. "Just... don't do that again..." I muttered, going back to the map. The next checkpoint was supposed to be around here somewhere, but I couldn't see it. I frowned. Where could it be then? Had we taken a wrong turn somewhere?