Chapter 23

Rod's POV

I sat in my bed staring at the ceiling. It's morning and today I have to take the Anecode Assessment. I am certainly not looking forward to it. Hmph, if this goes like my physical exam yesterday, well then…huh, I don't want to think about it. I sat up and looked around. Recruits didn't get the pleasure of sleeping in a supply depot, so we all had to lie down on hard wooden boxes. Or at least it felt like it.

I rose out of bed, opened up my chest I had been given, and took my clothes out. Putting on my tan jeans I noticed other people waking. I threw on a white t-shirt and walked out the door.

Suddenly a loud siren went off. I jumped and tripped over my own feet. Huh, and there's the wakeup call. I continued down the stairs at the end of the hallway. And now to the cafeteria. Entering the lunchroom, I stepped in line. Man, this feels like I'm in school again.

I yawned, still tired from going to bed late last night. I got lost wondering the halls and embarrassingly had to ask for help. Approaching the counter I was handed a plateful of some sort of brown mashed potatoes. Groaning to myself I sat down at a table in the back.

You'd think for being so much further in technology, that they'd have better ways of serving food. Looking down at my breakfast, I slowly raised a spoonful to my mouth. I quickly put it in my mouth and swallowed. Uh, nasty.

"Hey!" a voice yelled from behind. "This is my table!"

I turned around to see an angry short guy marching toward me. I rolled my eyes and got up. Moving to another spot, I sat down, annoyed. People here are so immature! "Hey that's my table!" I mimicked.

I continued to shove food into my mouth, irritated. Ugh, where's Nicky? I didn't see him this morning. Eating the last bit of my food, I stood up and hastily rushed out of the cafeteria. I didn't feel comfortable being around so many people. I guess I'd better go find him.

Wondering back to the bedrooms, I searched around.

"Hey Nicky?" I said, checking each bed. "You in here, man?"

I continued to walk around the room, until finally finding him. Nicky was kneeling next to his bed with his head bowed and arms folded. The heck is he doing?

"Yo man, what's up?" I asked, approaching him. After a couple of seconds, Nicky stood up and turned toward me.

"Sorry Rod. I was just praying," he responded.

"What the crap do you mean? You never went to church," I questioned, confused.

"Oh, no of course not. A guy last night told me that the Xel'Naga are coming down to take over. He said if we don't worship and pray to them, then they would enslave and kill us," Nicky said, shrugging. "I thought it better to be safe than sorry."

"What?!" I said. "Ugh, Nicky these Xel'Naga people don't exist! Stop believing everything you hear."

"But, I just wanted to be sure."

"Okay whatever, just go down to the lunchroom and eat something," I replied, rubbing my temples. "Then we need to go take the assessment."

"Sure," Nicky said, slumping his shoulders. "See ya in a bit then."

"I'm going to head down, is that alright with you?" I asked, following him out of the room.

Yeah, I don't care," Nicky said, dryly. I watched him walk away. I was about to call out and say something, but decided against it. Eh Nicky'll be his proper self soon. I'm not even worried.

I strolled down the hall, thinking to myself. Until I realized that I had completely forgotten where I was told to go. Perhaps it was in the same place as my last test. I turned directions and headed back the other way.

Finally I reaching my destination, I stepped through the glass doors and approached the girl at the desk.

"Hey—" I started.

"Are you here for the Anecode?" She asked.

"Uh, I-I, uh; yes. How did you—" I said, stunned.

"Your name Rod?" the girl responded.

"Uh yeah that's right."

"Good. Doctor Slove will be with you shortly," The girl said. I stood awkwardly for a second, losing myself in my thoughts.

"Take a seat Private," she said, looking up from her paperwork. Embarrassed, I did as I was told, rolling my eyes. Fine, I'll "take a seat." After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the same black guy from before came into the room and called out my name.

I rose up and followed the man through the door and down a couple hallways. He brought me into a small room with a large computer.

Sitting me down he said, "Okay, the Doctor will be with you in a couple minutes. Please wait patiently."

I sat and waited for a while until Slove finally decided to show up. Without wasting anytime, he handed me a rectangular object with cords coming out the bottom. The device felt like a grip on a pistol.

"Keep a good hold on this until we're done," he said. I nodded. The doctor pulled out a curved piece of medal from a drawer. And just like the object I was holding, it had wires extruding from the back. "Okay, you're going to have to wear this over the back of your neck."

"Alright," I said, letting him put it on me.

"I have to scan your eyes real fast, kay?" the man stated, putting welding-like goggles over my eyes. A quick flash of red illuminated my view. Seconds later Slove removed the device from my head.

"Okay then, now that that is over, we can continue on with the questions," he said, retrieving a clipboard from the table behind him. "Well let's get started. I am going to give you a series of words. You tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. First word: Death."

"My future," I mumbled, unenthusiastically. The doctor huffed, obviously irritated.

"Son, will you please cooperate. I have a lot of things I need to do and don't have time for stubbornness," he responded.

"Eh, sure," I said, halfheartedly. The man huffed again and continued to question me.

"Again, what do you think of when I say death?"

"Bodies," I answered.

"Love," he continued.

"Family."

"Hate."

"Tests," I said, slightly sarcastically. Slove must not have noticed because he carried on without mentioning anything.

"Open."

"Box."

"Closed."

"Door."

"Alright, we're done with that," the man said, flipping the page. "Now into more important matters. Do you want to be here?"

I hesitated, but then responded quickly, "Yes." Hoping he wouldn't catch my lie.

"Have you ever participated in any kind of military training before?"

"No."

"Do you know what the Zerg are?"

"Yes."

"What do you know about them?" he asked, adjusting his glasses.

"They're scary. They like to kill things and are really dangerous. You guys are at war with 'em," I said, being completely truthful.

"Do you know who the Protoss are?"

"Yes."

"What do you know of them?"

"Not much, if anything at all."

"Well tell me what you know."

"They have shields and shoot lasers," I said, simply. Slove sighed and continued to write my answers down.

"Which Terran unit interests you most?"

"I don't know," I responded. I never really cared.

"Try to think of something."

"Uh, ghosts probably," I said, shrugging. Man I don't know. Ghosts seemed pretty cool.

"Why?" the man asked, spinning his pen between his fingers.

"Pff man, come on. I have no idea," I said, annoyed. "Because they have mind powers."

"Okay," he said, looking down at his paper. "Do you consider yourself an easy learner."

"Yeah, sure."

"Any other units you take interest in?"

I thought for a minute. This might be pretty important that I answer this correctly. Reapers are really cool. It'd be awesome to fly around in one of those things… Or maybe one of those amazing marauder guys… Hmm nah.

"Private?" Doctor asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I-I think Marines are cool," I said, feeling rushed. Oh crap, that was the worst thing to say. Marines are the worst! I've heard all kinds of terrible stories about what happens to them.

"Okay that'll be all. Tomorrow Seargent Major Baker will notify you on what you need to do and where you need to go. Lucky for you, you get the rest of today to relax. Enjoy it while it lasts," Doctor Slove said, taking the device off my neck. He took the thing in my hand and set it on the table. "Can you make your way back?"

"Yeah," I said, wanting to take back what I had told him. Great I've just dammed myself. Now I have to be a marine! If I ever see Crip again, I'll never hear the end of it! Standing up, I walked out of the room.

I suppose I better go find Nicky again. I don't want him to miss this. After finally arriving at the cafeteria, I looked around for my friend. He's got to be here somewhere. I checked the lines and then started patrolling around the border of the room.

Not seeing him, I decided to head to the bedrooms. With any luck, Nicky would be there. I headed down some stairs and continued on until reaching my destination. Seeing Nicky next to his bed, I approached.

"Hey man, have taken the Anecode yet?" I asked, slugging his shoulder.

"No, I was waiting for you," he responded, dryly.

"Oh, sorry bro," I said, feeling guilty for not waiting.

"Eh, don't worry about it. It's not that big of a deal," he replied, looking upset.

"So is there anything you need?" I asked, regretfully.

"Huh, what the heck could you do for me," Nicky said, leaving the room. I felt like going after him, but left it alone. What is with him? Seriously, he hasn't been like this sense the day he wet his pants in first grade… Eh, whatever. He probably doesn't want me breathing down his neck anyway.

I walked out into the hall, and made my way to the showers. I guess sense I have a whole day to do nothing I could start with cleaning myself up. Dang, today is going to be a long frikken twelve hours.

Hey Everybody! I finally updated. I am really really sorry for the long wait. The moment I was done with the chapter I sped through a revision and uploaded as fast as I could. I had a real hard time writing this chapter. I don't know why... writers block maybe? But whatever. I will NOT take this long next time. Or I hope not. School is coming up in a few days so I may have just lied to you.

Anyways please review! You guys are one of the only reasons I still write. lol.