Three months later.
Hannah scrambled out of bed after silencing the buzzing alarm and sighed with relief when she saw that it was 4 AM and still dark outside. Two sets of clothes and backpacks had been dumped on the floor between her and Sophie's beds. Hannah nudged Sophie awake. 'Take two,' she said with a thin smile while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Sophie yawned and clumsily got out of her bed. The two girls went about their daily ablutions before pulling on their light blue training t-shirts, 'Seven and Eight,' Hannah said cheerfully before they headed out towards the training compound.
They arrived with fifteen minutes to spare and noticed four trainees waiting at the gates chatting amongst themselves. As Hannah and Sophie took turns greeting their fellow trainees, the two remaining trainees showed up. 'Looks like everyone's here', Hannah said as she gave the gates a quizzical look. The instructors usually arrived before the trainees so they could make an example of the last trainee to show up, Hannah had a feeling that something wasn't quite right.
At ten minutes past five, the group spun around as they heard the three training instructors sprinting towards them. Mr. Norris, the head training instructor lead the pack with Mr. Hidetaka and Miss Roberts following in close formation. They quickly brushed past the eight waiting trainees, Hidetaka swiftly unlocked the gates and went through while Bruce and Roberts turned around to face the awaiting trainees.
Bruce made a grand gesture of glancing at his inexpensive casio wristwatch before tutting. 'You're all ten minutes late,' he said, with mock disgust. None of the trainees were stupid enough to argue with him, being singled out on purpose was the worst possible thing you could do in basic training. 'You have twenty seconds to stand to attention at your beds,' he roared before adding, 'and I have a surprise for the last one to get there.'
The trainees scrambled as if a bomb had gone off, friendships were forgotten as everyone scrambled towards the gates. Hannah was pleased to near the front of the pack but as she was sprinting past the instructors, Miss Roberts reached out and grabbed her wrist holding her back as the remaining trainees charged through the gates. Hannah tried pulling her arm free but it was no use, Jane Roberts was an ex-SAS drill instructor who had a grip like a vice. All Hannah could do was stare at the ground between her feet and wait for her captor to set her free.
'What's the matter dear?' Roberts mocked in a faint South African accent, 'Having a little cry?' Hannah shook her head, it all made sense to her now, this had all been planned to test her resolve since she had quit on her previous attempt at basic training.. Bruce nodded once to Roberts prompting her to release her grip on Hannah's wrist. This was the part of the job Bruce hated the most, watching Hannah rub her wrist, clearly fighting back tears before sprinting off towards the training hut inside the compound.
Hannah was the last to stand to attention at her bed, catching sympathetic looks from the trainees around her who'd seen what had happened but were silently thankful to not be in her shoes. Bruce and Roberts arrived a just seconds after Hannah, Bruce put on a brave face before approaching the daughter of his best friend. 'Were you the last to arrive, Adams?' he asked, contemptuously. Hannah gave him a sullen look before nodding 'Too afraid to speak, Adams?' Bruce boomed. Hannah muttered a quiet 'No,' while trying not to meet his gaze.
'Did your lazy bum of a father not teach you any manners, Adams? You will refer to me as sir while you're in my care, is that understood?' Bruce barked. Hannah could hardly believe the words coming out of his mouth but managed to muster up some courage and shout 'Sir yes sir.' 'Better,' Bruce replied, with a calm voice. 'Welcome to basic training, otherwise known as 100 days of hell,' he said, addressing the group of trainees.
'For the next 100 days, everything you need to know, we will tell you and everything you think you know, you will forget. You will fall down several times, but you will get up. You will be pushed beyond your limits but you will follow instructions because for the next 100 days, we own you,' Bruce spat, while pacing from Hannah's bed to the first, glowering at each trainee as he passed them. 'Is that understood,' he sneered. 'Yes sir,' all the Cherub's replied, in unison. 'Take a good look at the person standing beside you, they will be your partner for the rest of basic training and I will hold you personally responsible if they quit,' Bruce said, while pacing his way back towards Hannah's bed.
Bruce walked right up to Hannah's face before barking out, 'Drop and give me 20, Adams.' Twenty push-ups weren't hard for Hannah to do, especially since she'd been on campus since she could speak and had taken part in several fitness courses. 'Yes sir,' Hannah yelled, before dropping down and counting the push ups as she did them. On her last push up she saw another pair of immaculately polished boots walk up to her side. As she was making her way up Hidetaka's drove one of his large boots into her back, forcing her down and pinning her on the ground. Hannah tried everything to push up against the weight of the boot but she just couldn't muster up enough strength. After straining for a few minutes she heard the Japanese training instructor's booming voice.
'Come on Adams, one more push up. Are you telling me you can't even do 20 push-ups?' he mocked with a thick Japanese accent. Hannah felt tears rolling down her cheeks but repeated the training chant to herself, 'This is tough but Cherub's are tougher,' while she continued to strain against the boot, giving it everything she had. 'You're soft Adams, are you sure you don't want to run out those gates to your mommy again?' Hannah didn't respond, she was entirely focused on the task at hand, ignoring everything around her. All of a sudden Hidetaka lifted his boot, causing Hannah to bolt up to the starting position. She quickly scrambled to her feet before staring at Bruce and yelling, 'Twenty push-ups, sir.'
Bruce gave Hannah a pitying look, her face was a mess with sweat and tears streaming down. Peering into Bruce's eyes, Hannah saw that he wasn't doing this by choice and nodded once to tell him that she was okay. 'You look like you could use some water, Adams.' Bruce said while fighting the urge to give Hannah a hug. 'Miss Roberts, would you kindly fetch some water for the trainee?' Bruce ordered, stepping away from Hannah's bed.
'My pleasure,' Roberts replied before she left the hut briefly, only to return with a large fire-hose. Hannah saw what was coming but knew better than to try move out of position. Roberts stood in front of Hannah and swiftly twisted the nozzle, spraying her with a barrage of pressurised water from head to toes, soaking her to the bone in freezing water. Roberts then proceeded to drench Hannah's bed and the backpack that lay beside it. Satisfied with her handiwork, Roberts twisted the nozzle shut and left to place the hose back in place outside the training hut. Hannah couldn't help but shiver, it was still fairly cold inside the hut and being drenched with freezing cold water didn't help.
'Well then, let this be a lesson to anyone who thinks about quitting for no apparent reason,' Bruce continued calmly, 'Basic training is hard but you have to get through it if you want to stay at Cherub and it will not get any easier the second time around. Now get out there run the assault course, we'll discuss the schedule after you get back — and remember, if you're not puking, you're not running hard enough.' Hannah followed the other trainees out of the hut looking defeated with water and tears dripping on the ground around her. Sophie gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and the pair quickly found their way to the front of the group as they had both ran the assault course several times around and knew all the little secrets that made it a bit easier.
One month later.
The eight trainees had fallen into the routine of basic training after copping several punishments for the most menial mistakes and lapses of judgement. Close bonds had formed between partners, each knew the other's skills and shortfalls; and often relied on the other to complete several of the tasks the instructors had set for them. Besides this, the group had really come together as friends. Donnie and Jacob, one and two, were the show-off's of the group, constantly trying to better each other and finding new ways to do things often to the displeasure of the instructors. Three and four were Alvin and Clyde, they were confident without being cocky and often got the top marks in the less physical tests. Dolly and Patrick were non-identical twins and were numbers five and six. At the start of training, they usually kept to themselves but as training progressed and everyone grew comfortable in each others company, they started to open up a bit and join the group's few conversations. Of course, Sophie and Hannah were seven and eight. They were the only trainees who had experienced basic training before and the group usually came to them for help if they needed anything. Everyone thought that Hannah was a born leader and she fell into a motherly protective role right off the bat.
The trainees were in their groups, lying prone on the ground. One member in each group was peering through the scope of a huge sniper rifle while the other stared into the lens of a digital range-finder. Their targets were life-sized metallic silhouettes with bullseye's painted on them. None of the trainees would have any problem making the mark from close range, but from a mile away the targets were barely visible and the shooter had to adjust their aim to cover several factors such as wind and even the curvature of the Earth.
'Jacob!' Roberts yelled with a stern voice, 'What is the purpose of this exercise?' Jacob looked nervous as he cocked his head sideways to look at Roberts. Everyone hated being picked on to answer the instructors' questions because they knew their answers could be twisted around by the instructors to mean anything and often ended up in punishments. 'To learn how to accurately pick off targets from a long range, ma'am' Jacob replied warily. Roberts placed her hand across her face in frustration while muttering, 'Can someone please explain to Sherlock here the real purpose of this exercise?'
Hannah knew the answer but didn't want to take the bait, she felt her heart sink when Roberts pointed directly at her, 'You, little miss perfect, explain why we're here on this gorgeous Sunday evening.' Hannah gulped before turning to face Roberts, 'While learning to handle a rifle is important, it's highly unlikely that we'll ever be in a situation to use such weaponry. I believe this is an exercise in communication and trust, ma'am,' Hannah replied knowledgeably. 'Excellent answer, well done Hannah,' Roberts said. Praise from a training instructor was very rare and Hannah looked extremely pleased with herself, much to the annoyance of Jacob. 'Jacob, don't you think Hannah deserves a reward for that answer?' Roberts continued feigning innocence. Jacob wondered where this was going as he nodded, 'Yes, ma'am.'
'Hmm, I seem to have run out of sweeties, oh I know, give Hannah your range-finder,' she commanded. Jacob gasped, the range-finder provided valuable information to the sniper, without it they'd have to get seriously lucky to even graze their target. He reluctantly clambered to his feet before pacing towards Hannah and placing his range-finder on the ground next to her. Hannah gave Jacob an apologetic look while mouthing the word sorry. The training instructors tried everything they could to create friction between the trainees as practice for what might happen on a real mission.
'Good,' Roberts said, pausing to yawn before continuing, 'Now, each of you is required to hit your target once. If you miss, you must rely on your partner's use of the range-finder to tell you how to adjust your aim. Also, because I'm feeling mighty generous today, each of you gets three free hits, after that you owe me a lap of the assault course for every miss, understood?' The Cherubs looked at each other uneasily before replying 'Yes ma'am.'
A lap of the assault course took fifty minutes to complete and left you feeling knackered afterwards. Donnie and Jacob stared blankly at each other, 'How many rounds in the mag?' Jacob asked, feeling guilty that he'd gotten Donnie in trouble as well. Donnie hit the button to release the magazine and counted the number of rounds loaded, 'Twelve, six each which means that we'd have to run the course a maximum of three times,' Donnie said, feeling a bit less worried. Jacob smiled uneasily, 'Piece of cake, right?' he said, trying to diffuse the awkwardness between the pair.
Miss Roberts cleared her throat loudly, 'Just so everyone has a fair shot, you'll shoot in order until you either run out of six shots or hit the target,' she said, before staring down at Donnie, 'Shoot when you're ready.' Donnie held his breath, trying to remember everything from his weapons training as he tried his best to line up the minuscule target before squeezing the trigger gently. 'Miss,' Roberts roared. Having no range-finder was a severe crutch as both Donnie and Jacob missed all six of their shots in quick succession. 'All right you two, make your way to the assault course, three laps each,' Roberts said calmly, before prompting the next shooter to shoot.
The remaining pairs had no problems hitting their targets, relying on their partners. It was Alvin who took the prize though, hitting his target in a single shot leaving everyone amazed but later admitted that it was a fluke. The six trainees who had been spared from punishment were making their way through the watery soup and dry crackers they'd been served for dinner when Donnie and Jacob returned from their ordeal looking absolutely shattered. They were drenched top to toe in sweat and mud and headed straight for the showers to clean up without saying a word to anyone.
When the pair returned and sat on the dining table, Mr. Hidetaka showed up holding two trays with opaque plastic lids. Everyone realised something was wrong as they heard the rattling when the trays were placed on the table. As the two boys reluctantly peeled back the plastic lids, all they saw in their bowls were six empty bullet casings, the one's they'd shot earlier in the evening. 'You don't come for dinner in time, you don't deserve dinner,' Hidetaka chimed before casually walking out of the training hut. The boys stared dejectedly into their bowls, at the verge of crying but too proud to shed tears in front of everyone else.
Hannah felt sorry for the pair and made her way to Jacob's bed after dinner to check up on him and try cheer him up. 'Hey,' she said, in a soothing voice, 'Are you all right?' Jacob was sitting on the edge of his bed and looked up to see the gloomy expression on Hannah's face. 'I don't need your pity,' he sneered, standing up sharply to face her off. Hannah shook her head, 'Don't be stupid, I was just trying to be nice,' she said frustratedly. Jacob glowered at Hannah, 'Will you for once in your life stop acting like such a stuck-up bitch?' he yelled as he raised his fist sharply and clocked her in the face.
It happened too fast for Hannah to block, Jacob's fist came crashing into her jaw, knocking her off balance and sending her scrambling backwards into the next bed. 'Oh god!' Jacob gasped as he stared with wide-eyes. Hannah was clutching her mouth, her teeth had bitten hard into her lower lip splitting it open and releasing a torrent of blood into her hand. Bruce came running in, having seen the entire incident on the CCTV but still paused a second as he saw the scene before him. Hannah was sitting on the edge of a bed with a bloody hand clutching her mouth while his son stood over her apparently frozen.
Sophie was just making her way out of the loo and had missed the entire episode, she looked confused as Bruce pointed towards her, 'You! Take Hannah to the medical centre,' he yelled. Sophie's eyes shifted from Bruce towards Hannah she gasped when she saw her best friend and rushed over in an instant to gently help her off the bed, narrowly avoiding the pool of blood and tears on the floor. As they made their way out of the training hut, Bruce shoved Jacob back down on his bed. 'Hannah, I didn't mean to—,' Jacob yelled with tears in his eyes before looking up at his father. 'What the hell have you done?!' Bruce yelled angrily. 'I... I didn't mean to,' Jacob whined with tears streaming down his face. Bruce could barely control his anger, 'ON THE GROUND, PUSH UPS, KEEP GOING UNTIL I GET TIRED,' he screamed. Jacob had never seen Bruce this angry as he dropped to the floor and started doing the push ups between sobs.
'Nurse!' Sophie yelled as the pair walked into the medical centre, with Hannah still clutching her mouth trying to stop the blood flow. Dr. Gabrielle Norris turned the corner and was taken aback by the scene. She quickly rushed to Hannah and led her to an empty bed in the ER before gently moving her clutched hand to examine the wound. 'That looks really painful, dear. I'm going to have to stitch that up,' Dr. Norris said with a grim look. 'I'll just go fetch a nurse to help with the injections, would you like me to ring your mum and dad?' she offered kindly. Hannah shook her head, 'They'd have gone home by now, I don't want to disturb them,' she said softly. Gabrielle nodded before leaving swiftly.
'That little shite!' Sophie spat when she saw the open wound. 'Wait till we get back, I'm gonna show him how to throw a punch.' Hannah shook her head. 'He didn't mean it,' she said quietly, 'he just lost his temper.' Sophie sighed. 'Look what that idiot's done —,' she said but stopped when she saw Gabrielle returning with a nurse. 'Okay honey, the nice nurse here is going to inject your cheeks with some anaesthetic, you'll feel your lips go numb in a couple of minutes,' Gabrielle said calmly as the nurse lifted the lid off of a syringe, tapped it a couple of times before gently injecting Hannah in the cheek.
Bruce arrived just as Gabrielle was done stitching up the wound, 'You won't feel much while the anaesthetic is in effect but you'll feel the sting afterwards, I'll ask the nurse to give you some pain relief medicine on the way out, okay?' Gabrielle said as she gave Hannah a reassuring smile. Hannah nodded meekly before saying, 'Thanks, doc.' Bruce greeted Gabrielle with a quick kiss before she explained the situation to him. Bruce walked up to Hannah's bed before asking Sophie for some privacy. 'Jacob's being punished,' Bruce said with a stern voice, 'You still want to continue with training, right?'
Hannah nodded, 'You're not getting rid of me that easily,' she said, with a lazy smile through her numb lips. Bruce chuckled, 'You're a tough cookie Hannah Adams, don't tell anyone I said that though, I need to keep face as a macho training instructor, yah know?' he said winking. 'I know it's not my place, but don't punish Jacob too hard, he's had a rough day and I'm not turning this into a huge deal,' Hannah said while sliding off the bed. Bruce nodded,'I've had him doing push-ups for the last twenty minutes, that should knock some sense into him.'
Everyone was asleep when the trio returned to the training hut, except Jacob, who was straining to complete his push-up. Bruce walked up to him and tapped his shoulder before lifting him up off the ground by his t-shirt and making him stand upright. 'Hannah's asked me to stop punishing you, go apologise,' Bruce said sternly, pointing Jacob in Hannah's direction. Jacob walked forward slowly towards Hannah but wasn't able to bring himself to look her in the eye. 'Hannah, I'm... I...' he mumbled before breaking down into a sob, 'I'm sorry Hannah, please forgive me,' he said after a few sobs.
Hannah pulled Jacob into a hug, 'Everyone makes mistakes,' she said calmly. 'I'm not going to hold a grudge, but I get one free hit after basic training,' she said cheekily. Jacob rubbed the sweat and tears off his face with the corner of his sleeve, 'Anything you want,' he said meekly.
Authors Note: I know not many people read these, I'd just like to apologise for the long chapter. Unless you like them this long, in which case, please let me know. Also I wasn't able to develop Sophie's character in this chapter as I wanted to introduce and reintroduce some of the main characters of the novel. Will definitely go a lot further into the relationship between Hannah and Sophie in the next chapter as the girls attempt the last four days of training.