The next day, nothing happened, except I heard a rumour that Large, the training instructor, had some contacts with the SAS, (he had possibly been a sergeant?) and was recruiting a unit to help with the training. I hoped to hell it wasn't K Unit. That would cause some awkward questions.

I went to bed at 9, figuring that that would give me about 7 hours sleep if nothing woke me up. At about 4, half an hour before I had decided to get up, someone walked into my room. The reason I knew this? They had woken me up by stubbing their toe on the door and swearing. It wasn't very loud, but it was enough to wake me up. I lay on my side pretending to be asleep. As soon as they turned their back to me, I leapt up and closed the door quietly. They heard the click of the door closing, span round and dropped whatever they had in their hand. It made a muffled thud, sounding as if it was was made of cloth with something heavy inside of it. I flicked on the lights. One of the training instructors was there, with a rucksack on the floor next to them.
"Kid, turn the light off!"
"Why?"
"Just do it." they practically growled at me. I complied, then sighed.
"So why are you here?"

"I need to give you your stuff." I held my hands out, hoping they'd get the hint. They indicated the rucksack they had dropped earlier.

"It's all in there." I walked over to it.

"Thanks." With that, they walked out the door. I looked at my clock. 4.15. I figured I might as well start the day now. I looked in the bag on the floor. A light blue t-shirt with a 2 on it, some trousers, some muddy socks and underwear, and some torn boots. I decided not to wear the underwear, socks and boots, because if it was anything like the SAS, I wouldn't want to be at a disadvantage. The rucksack had all sorts in it. I picked it up. It was lighter than I was made to carry at the SAS camp. It looked like I was in for an easy start.

At 5.05, I was ready. I figured that arriving early would look good, but could end up doing some form of exercise till the others turned up. I walked out the door at 10 past, and arrived at quarter to, a few minutes before a massive instructor, who I guessed was Large from the fact that he looked well over 7ft tall. He looked surprised that someone was waiting for him.

"What are you doing here?" he barked at me.

"Waiting for basic training to start, sir." I remembered someone had mentioned him being a sergeant, so didn't exactly want to get on his bad side immediately. He still looked puzzled.

"Why are you up so early?"

"Something went bump in the night. Right into my door." Large raised an eyebrow.

"How did they meet the door?"

"They, sir? I never said it was a person."

"How did it meet the door then?"

"Well, it sounded as if they stubbed their toe on the door. I never said it wasn't a person either. Sir" He looked ready to murder me. At that point, the person who was in my room earlier walked up.

"Large, the SAS unit is here."

"Bring them up here Kasakov. You, get in here." I followed Large into a concrete box. No windows, no heating and 10 rusty beds with numbers by them. I walked to the bed with a 2 on it. I placed the rucksack by the head of my bed, and stood at ease by the foot. Large walked in, with a unit following behind him. Damn. I recognised three of them. Trust my luck. Now I had to hope they didn't recognise me before I could get a chance to talk to them. Large was obviously giving them a tour.

"... and finally this is where the kiddies will be sleeping. As you can see, we already have one here." I was still standing at ease at this point. Large walked up to me suspiciously.

"What are you doing?"

"Standing at ease, sir." I replied, staring a a point just above his left ear.

"Why are you doing that?" It was easier than standing at attention.

"Seemed right, sir." He looked thrown.

"Well these are K Unit, the best the SAS has to offer." He swept an arm behind him, indicating the four soldiers. "They'll be training you for these 100 days."

"Why?" Large looked thrown by this.

"Why?"

"Well, you said they were the best... Yet they're here training us 'kiddies'. Why?" Eagle was looking proud, but was receiving silent daggers from the rest of the unit. Large looked like he was going to explode.

"That doesn't matter. All you need to know is that they will not go easy on you. These 100 days will be the worst of your life." I doubted it. I'd spent two weeks being called 'double oh nothing' at hell on earth, and seen Jack blown up in front of me. For an experiment. Large walked out, leaving me alone with K Unit. Eagle skipped over. Yes. Actual, proper skipping.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Alex Cub." I told him. Wolf span around at that, and Snake looked up from his conversation with the last member of the unit.

"Cub?" Eagle asked. "Didn't we spend two weeks with a ki..." Wolf had ran across the room, and clamped his hand over Eagles mouth.

"Sorry. Someone let him have sugar. And don't even think about licking me. You know what happened last time." I guessed that last part was for Eagle, not me. I was pretty sure I had not licked Wolf.
"Well, funnily enough, I spent two weeks in a muddy hell about a year ago. I thought you looked familiar... guess I had better things to do with my time than think about your ugly mugs." Wolf looked ready to explode, Snake looked slightly ...ashamed? and Eagle looked like he was laughing from underneath Wolf's hand. The last member of the unit just looked confused.
"You guys know this kid?" he asked.
"No. I'm actually a figment of your imagination. You should be proud. Imagining something this handsome is no mean feat." Snake and Eagle were laughing now. Wolf seemed to have calmed down, and was standing there with a smirk on his face.
"Hey, I didn't know you could be this funny." Eagle said, in-between chortles. I rolled my eyes.
"Should get to know me before insulting me for two whole weeks."
"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" the other member of the unit shouted.
"Hey, don't get your pants in a twist... What is your name again? I don't think we've been introduced properly." I extended a hand. "I'm Alex Cub, nice to meet you."
"Uh..." He looks unsure at what was happening.
"Forgotten your own name? Or forgotten what manners are? I suppose you don't get many with these three..." They all looked very indignant at this.
"I'm Jackdaw. Nice to meet you too." He shook my hand warily and looked as if he wanted to know how I knew K Unit. Luckily, Large walked back in with Kasakov. He seemed surprised that we were shaking hands.
"What are you doing?" Kasakov asked.
"Does no-one know what a handshake is any more?" K Unit laughed behind me, Kasakov smiled, but Large... Well. He turned around and punched the wall. There was a massive fist sized dent, and Large's fingers didn't seem to be bending the right way. If the language coming out of his mouth was anything to go by, they were broken. I had broken the head trainer, and it wasn't even 6am on the first day. Kasakov took Large off to the medical rooms. Not soon after, another trainee walked in.
"Was that Large with a broken hand?" K Unit simply laughed.

At about 7, everyone was here. All we were waiting for was someone to yell at us. After half an hour, Kasakov rushed in.
"Right. As I'm sure you we aware, Large is currently ...predisposed. So for now, I will take you through basic training, with the aid of K Unit here. They are Wolf, Snake, Eagle and Jackdaw. At 0545 every morning you will wake up. Breakfast is from 0550 to 0615. After breakfast, there will be some form of exercise. It may be press ups, it may be a run over the assault course. At 0800, lessons begin. You will have martial arts for two hours, then languages for another two. At twelve, there will be a half hour break for lunch if you are lucky enough to get it. If not, we will run the assault course. After these lovely activities, we will split into groups. You will alternate between Espionage, Survival, Weaponry, and anything else you may need, until 1800. Then, you will come back here for a shower. After you have finished, you will clean and polish your shoes. 1900 will be dinner. 1930 to 2030 is homework from your lessons. 2045 is lights out. Is that clear?" I was the only one that said anything (a quiet 'yes sir'). "I SAID, IS THAT CLEAR?" There was a much louder chorus of 'yes sir's this time. "Good. Any questions?" A scrawny blonde boy, who stood at bed 5, raised his hand tentatively.
"Which members of K Unit are which, sir?" he asked in a quivering voice. I didn't expect him to last too long.
"That's for them to know and you to figure out. First person to do it gets a special prize." That didn't sound too good. But, then again, if someone like the one at bed 5 got it, then they'd probably die while doing whatever they planned. But that's if it's bad. If it was good, then they could really use that... My thoughts were interrupted by Kasakov shouting at us to introduce ourselves to our partners. I turned to the person who was standing at bed one.
"Hi," I smiled, "I'm Alex Cub" I held out my hand.
"Corinne Politik" she replied, shaking my hand. "You were deep in thought a second a go. Care to explain?"
"Just trying to work out what the 'special prize' is, and how long before I claim it."
"You think you know who's who?" Corinne asked sceptically.
"No. I know who's who. I just need to know what the prize is."

"And how do you know?" I smirked.

"Magic."

The day passed remarkably quickly. We got in one round of the assault course before lessons started. It was easy. It was also covered in mud. Actually, everywhere was covered in mud. This place was reminding me of Brecon Beacons more an more the longer I spent in it. Though, at least I wasn't being called...

"Come on, you bunch of wannabe spies! Double-oh-seven? More like double-oh-nothing!" Wolf yelled. He must really want kids one day...