Chapter 32

Rod's POV

I lay staring at the ceiling, thoughts whirling through my mind. So much had happened this week. I had fallen in love, I was given a transmitter from Tenny, I took a bunch of tests, and yesterday started the injections. It had been quite the week.

I couldn't etch the feeling of the lasers zapping through my arm. Ugh, and now I'm going to have to take those stupid Selethicks for the next two weeks. And that's if my body cooperates. I looked over at the holographic clock beaming out of the wall. It read 7:05.

I sighed. I'm supposed to go get shots today at ten and then later check up with Doctor Borgous. I sat up and grabbed an undershirt from my suit case I was given earlier. Throwing it on, I stood up and headed out the door. Guess I can go get something to eat. Moving down the stairs, I entered the lunch room. There was already half the facility there.

I moved into one of the shorter lines and waited for my food. I glanced around the room looking for anyone I could recognize. Seeing no one I knew, I turned forward. Noticing there were a couple feet between me and the guy in front, I stepped closer.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity, I finally made it up to the counter. The lady standing there handed me a tray full of nasty looking worms in a pile of brown mush. It didn't take long for the scent to hit my nose. I gagged, giving the recruits behind me an opportunity to mock me. I continued on, grabbing a can of soda. I could still hear the two morons snickering to each other.

Sitting down at a round table, I took my spoon and dipped it into the worms. Giving it one last disgusted look, I scooped it into my mouth. I chewed down, feeling the squish of the bugs. The taste was atrocious. I struggled to keep it in my mouth. Breathing in through my nose, I swallowed. I cringed, feeling the slimy maggots squeeze their way down my throat.

"Hey, you pointed their heads down right?" I colored man asked, passing my table. I gave him a confused look, still managing to swallow the food. "Heh, well if you don't the worms have a chance to crawl back up your throat. It's easier to show them which way to crawl."

My eyes widened, and I started panicking. I grabbed my throat, terrified. The worms do what?! I could feel them wriggling inside my esophagus. The man must've seen the horror on my face, because he started laughing. He approached my side and put his arms around my stomach.

The soldier began to do the Heimlich remover. It didn't take more than twice for the worms to come barreling out of my mouth and onto the table. I heaved in and out, still overcoming the shock of almost chocking. He slapped my back and sat down at my table.

"Well you're not the first guy to do that," he said, dipping his spoon into his food.

"Yup okay, I just lost my appetite," I said pushing the tray away from me.

"Huh, well in that case," he said, scooping the worms off of my plate and onto his. I groaned.

"Man how do you eat that stuff?" I asked, holding my stomach.

"Well, when you get into physical training, which by the way you don't look like you've started, your always hungry," he said, filling his mouth with mush. "I don't know if it's all the running," taking another lump of worms. "Or if it's the weird after effects of the Selethicks." He said gobbling all the food down. "But I would die to have this much every day."

"Ugh," I said, giving him an awkward look. The man swallowed again and cleared his throat.

"But anyways, my name's James," he said, reaching across the table to shake my hand.

"Rod," I responded, shaking.

"So, where are you from?" James asked, scraping off the last of the mush.

"Urthe," I said.

"Urthe?" he said, giving a confused look. "Hmm… never heard of it."

"Well I'm not surprised," I said, shrugging. "We hadn't really ever gotten out of our own solar system."

"Huh, then how the heck did you make it here?" James asked, stacking our trays on top of each other.

"Well some Zerg creatures had made it down to our planet. Of what I heard they were trying to look for a planet that was easy pickens, so they could expand their swarm or something," I said, trying my best to remember what I had heard back on Urthe. "Then the Orange Terran came down and killed all the Zerg. I guess they decided to take me with them for some stupid reason."

"Nice. That's pretty cool," he said, picking up the trays and dumping their contents into a trash bin nearby. Flames rose up from the mouth, burning all the scraps. "Most of everyone's backgrounds here are all the same. Once you reach the age of eighteen they ship you off to a training camp."

"Wait so you guys don't have a choice?" I asked, stunned. "You have to fight?"

"Well… no," he replied, sitting back down. "But it's highly encouraged. I mean there are other jobs that need done, so no not everyone joins the military. But most do. It's an easy way to live. The Orange Terran provides your every need. You can go to parties whenever you're off work, go downtown and customize your weapons, drop down to one of the Taverns and have a good time. The Orange Terran has you covered. All they ask in return is that we fight without question. And Plank's a good guy. I'd follow him any day."

"Yeah, but you are risking your very life, all the time," I said. "Who's to say you'll live to see the next day?"

"Well yeah, you're taking a chance, but I think it's worth it."

"I guess if that's what you want to do, but I didn't get the luxury in choosing. I was thrown into this mess and expected to act accordingly," I said.

"Huh, that blows man," he said. "Sorry about leaving in hurry, but I gotto go to training. See ya around."

"Alright, have fun," I said, waving. Ugh now what am I going to do. I did not expect military training to be so dull. You'd think we'd be doing things all the time. I looked around the room, looking for Nicky. I guess I better not speak to soon. It looks like once I hit the actual physical drills I'll be busy all the time. I mean people are out on the training grounds all day. Ugh that's probably going to be me soon. Not seeing Nicky I started to get up but then heard someone call my name from behind.

"Rod!" I turned around to see Nicky running up to me. "Come on don't you remember we have to go sign up for our classes?!"

The light bulb flashed on. I had completely forgotten. I jumped out of my seat and ran after him. We barreled outside the glass doors and toward the small rectangular building sitting on the other side of the campus.

"Dang when were we supposed to be there?" I yelled at him from behind.

"Ten minutes ago," he shouted back, dodging a patrol of marines. "If we don't get to our appointment Baker's going to be pissed."

"Ugh," I groaned. The last thing I need is Baker breathing down my neck again. We smashed through the doors and ran passed the front desk. Turning to the left we made a direct shot to the door at the end of the hall.

"Wait!" I said, before Nicky went crashing through the door. "Move in normally. We don't want to look like idiots."

Nicky nodded and complied. Opening the door we stepped in.

"Your late," the man said, sitting at the desk. "Because of it, you have both been assigned marines. From here on out your Selethicks will be pushed toward said marines. Maybe next time you'll be on time."

"Uh w-wai—"

"Get out of my office," he said, unsympathetically. We stood there stunned. "Now!"

Both of us turned slowly around and exited the room. I dropped to my knees This was my last chance of being something else. And I blew it. There isn't even a point anymore. I'm dead. That's it. I cannot possibly survive against the Zerg if I'm stuck being a marine. I was almost killed last time I went into battle with a marine suit. I can't do this.

"Rod…" Nicky said. You could hear the disappointment in his voice. "Come on. We've got to make it back for our Selethicks."

I stood up and hung my head. Letting out a big sigh we headed back to the main facility.

"What a letdown," I said, dragging my feet on the concrete.

"Hey you know what?" Nicky said, trying to lift our spirits. "It might not even be that bad. I mean really. What would you have picked that would make a difference? Either way we're going to be in a lot of danger. Plus that whole thing about marines dying more than anyone else is probably just a rumor."

I looked at him but didn't say anything

"We'll be fine," he said, patting my shoulder.

"Yeah, could be," I said, standing a bit straighter, but not feeling much better. "Let's just get this done."

Nicky nodded and we headed to the medical center. Opening the doors we walked in to face the same old grouchy medic sitting behind the desk.

"What can I do for you?" she asked going through some paperwork.

"We need to go take our second round of Selethicks," I responded.

"Alright you know where to go," she replied pointing to the back. "Proceed one at a time."

Deciding to go first, I made my way down the back hallway and around a corner. Walking in the room the doctor there greeted me.

"Hello private, you're early."

"Yup, is that okay?" I asked a bit worried.

"Oh of course," he said bringing out that familiar taser. "Okay so sit right up here and we'll get this over with. You remember that you can't go running around after I give you this right?"

I nodded, sitting on the stool.

"Good. We don't want you dropping dead because your brain overloaded," he chuckled and ran some files on the computer.

"So… I just got back from sign up. Does that matter if you know that or not?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah I know. It says right here on the computer," the old man said, plugging in the taser into a large robotic machine. "So you chose to be a marine huh?"

"More or less," I said, not wanting to tell him I was late and that he auto assigned me. Hmm maybe I could tell him it was a mistake and I was to be something else. That way I wouldn't be killed the moment I stepped on the battlefield. I smiled. But then my heart sank. Oh yeah, but what about Nicky? He would never forgive me if I ditched out on him.

"Okay now move your arm," he said, pointing the device at my side. He put the cold metal just below my rib cage and hit the button. I cringed as the electricity zapped my side. My fingers started going numb like they had yesterday and my head started twitching. From that point everything went down very quickly.

"This i-is still n-n-normal r-right?" I asked, shivering. I tried to gulp down all my saliva but couldn't. It was as if my ability to swallow was gone.

"Oh why yes, you can go ahead and spit down the sink," the doctor said, pointing to the drain. I stumbled over to it and spit all my saliva out of my mouth.

"T-t-tell my again w-why this i-is hap-p-pening," I asked, moving my fingers.

"Oh yeah, the chemicals are exploring the different commands of your brain. Every time something happens to you, such as shivering, your brain subconsciously tells your cells to do it. You can't necessarily control whether you shiver or not. The chemicals in the Selethicks are just finding the best way to… well… upgrade your body. It'll stop after a couple hours."

"O-oh, that's l-l-lovely," I said, sitting back on the bed. "W-why i-is it w-worse this t-t-time."

"Because, I am giving you a different kind of injections," he said, checking something off on a clipboard. "Last time you were here I gave you the basic foundation Selethicks which allows for these ones. This round of injections will help you significantly when you start building up your body muscles. It will enhance the ability for your muscles to grow. Even though you won't be training your body for a while this injection must be done first before the data Selethicks or it'll kill you."

I nodded, not wanting to say anything.

"Okay, take these pills in about an hour to stop the chemicals from taking over your brain and all you need then is rest," the doctor said, handing me a bag of small blue pills. I walked shakingly out the door. Alright, this'll be fun.

Hello Peeps. Not much to say... yes this was done poorly... yes I am lazy... and yes izwan... it is rushed.

Next one will be better :D