035 Heat

Character: Emily

Emily sat down I the grass, taking a long drink of war from her canteen. She stared up at the sun in the cloudless sky. She wished the heat wave that was currently assaulting the academy would end soon before they all baked alive. Emily watched one of the other cadets fall to the ground, exhausted, beside the track near by. She shook her head, fairly sure that they wouldn't last much longer in the physical exercise. They would either drop out or try to find a way around the requirement.

Emily looked to her side as Sarah sat down, slumping down onto the ground. Emily was as close to friends with the woman as she'd been with anyone in he entire life. Not that that was saying much. They sat in silence, avoiding conversation as always, just knowing that being near someone else repetitively at least gave the illusion of being social. The two had never been big on talking, Sarah had never backed Emily up in a fight, and they never helped each other with school work. Still, they were what Emily considered friends.

"You know they're going to find out what you did," Sarah spoke up. "They'll find out it was you that did that to Kingston and they'll toss you out."

"Let them," Emily grumbled. She'd stop caring long ago about what would happen to her. She wasn't willing to suffer the insults of the stuck up fools that were learning here. They were all arrogant jerks that didn't seem to understand what was at stake. "I'm getting tired of this place all ready."

"You haven't even been here a year," Sarah pointed out. Emily could tell she was surprised. "Are you really giving up like that?"

"I'm not giving up," Emily countered. "Giving up would be leaving. I'm staying until they kick me out. I signed up for this but I'm not going to fall into line and be the obedient little mindless sheep they want me to be. I'm not going to stand around and let fools who don't take the responsibility they are training for seriously pretend they know more about duty than me."

Sarah frowned but didn't say anything. She'd heard Emily complain about how the students neglected to understand their responsibility before. "So for how long has your plan been to injure people until they throw you out of the academy?"

"It was never the plan. I don't think being an officer was ever right for me but the fights are just natural for me. Every time they say something that dismisses the people that suffer because of their choices or show how stupid they are my first reaction is to knock them out. It's not a plan."

"If you don't think that being an officer is right for you then why did you come here in the first place?" Sarah asked. "If not an officer then what?"

"I had to come here, I wanted to prove that if I wanted to I could try to be an officer. If it fit better for me then I would try to stay, but I don't feel like it fits," Emily explained. "From here I'll either become a normal marine or an ODST, not sure yet."

Sara frowned, apparently not understanding but letting it go. She looked across the field and sighed. "Here they come. Told you they'd find out."

Emily looked across the field to where a couple of the MPs that guarded the academy grounds were talking to their drill instructor. "Well, looks like I'm getting out of today's run."

The MPs moved toward them and Emily watched them carefully. "Are you Emily Aldura?" one of them asked.

"That would be me," Emily said standing up. "What do you want with me?" She knew why they were there, but there was no point in admitting guilt if you didn't know what they were going to accuse you of.

"You're to come with us, Cadet." They didn't give any further explanation. Emily just nodded and followed them as they lead the way toward the main offices. Emily glanced back only once at Sarah sitting in the grass. She just sat there and watched Emily walk away. Sure, she didn't expect Sarah to come to her aid or come to her defense, but there was nothing. She just sat there and watched as they led her away to whatever her future might be. Emily turned her attention back to where she was walking and on whatever was waiting for her in the offices.