I'll Stay
Ch. 10 The Exercise
Pov: O'Brien
Exercise… Exercise.
I don't know how long this chant ran through my mind, but I only knew when it stopped.
A light shone across my face as I woke up from my deep sleep. My body ached as my arms stretched.
Ugh… I feel awful…
My eyes adjusted to my surroundings, I was in a forest somewhere. Giant trees surrounded me with the sounds of small birds and animals to follow suit. Only the animals that made the sounds were unseen.
This environment always gave me chills. In fact, I felt especially colder than usual. I looked over myself to see that I was only in my briefs.
What the heck happened?!
The only thing that ran through my mind was a voice I thought I had dreamed.
Exercise? Wait, is this-?
"Hello?!"
A familiar shout filled the air. It sounded close. Wasting no time, I shot up to find the source.
I passed a few trees to be greeted by the sight of a panicking marine. He was still in his outfit from the training last night. (Lucky him) His hands were scratching furiously at his scalp, and I could hear his mumbling.
"Great! Now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere alone! Knew I should've gotten out of this!"
I sighed at his reasoning and almost made myself known. Only another voice beat me to it.
"If ONI is involved, you should always read the fine print."
It was one of the Spartans, but I didn't see him. The young marine with me panicked when he saw me and pointed at me, "Was that you?"
"No!"
The voice from before rang out, "Up here!"
Instinctively, I looked up along with Pate.
Above us hanging from the side of a tree was the spartan known as Tom. He was in his training uniform as well, smiling as looking down on us.
Why am I the only one out of uniform?!
And if he wasn't showing off before, he now jumped from one tree to another around us as he made his descent. Finishing off with a front flip to right in front of us.
"Isn't this great?!"
I didn't know what to make of this, "What? What's great?! You know something we don't?"
Tom laughed, "If you guys haven't figured it out, we've been teamed up for the next few days. Maybe longer."
Pate spoke up, "For what?"
"Survival! living off the land of reach! We'll find out more when they decide to talk to us."
Tom then directed his hand to a small earpiece in his ear. I felt my own ear to see if I had one, I did. Pate had one too by the looks of it.
Just then, the sound of one of our instructors came through.
"Everyone's awake, so I will explain this once. All of you have been separated into three teams based on Jorge's analysis of you yesterday. Each one of you must make it back to base by the end of the week. During that time, you will have nothing but whatever you find out there to live off of."
We did basic survival training in ODST, but a whole week with nothing sounds like a pain! We got-. Well, nothing…
"And I'm sure I don't need to warn you about the local wildlife here. With that in mind, you will all need to move within the hour. Tom, your team is directly to the south. Carter. Your's is southeast. Johnson, you are in the south west. It's up to you whether or not you all meet up before making it back to base. Then again, you may not. I expect to hear a report within the week, in person. That is all."
I was trying my best to process everything that was told to us, but I hated the thought of it. As if going seven days across Reach's environment wasn't enough. I was probably going to be the only guy to do it without a shirt or pants.
Tom was the first to talk, "That John sure is something else. We'll, no since wasting time. We'll need to find some food for the road, and some tools. We need Flint, wood, water, and some directions. He said we were South, so we're heading North. See whatever you can find. I'm gonna climb the tree to look for some water on the way."
Before we could say anything to him, Tom rushed up the tree he was leaning against.
I looked at Pate, he was just as dumbfounded as I was. Each of us sighed in defeat and rushed to look for anything. Anything.
The next thirty minutes were spent looking for what the super soldier asked for. Wood wasn't hard to find. But finding flint proved difficult, as there weren't any exposed rocks to look from.
I did however happen to come across something that could help, skeletal remains of what looked like a deer. We could use some of it for tools, but that was all I could picture. It was old, and picked clean, so I wasn't too concerned about picking up some was all I could find, and I brought it back to where I left the others.
When I arrived, Tom was there. He was already working on a stick with some twine.
How did he-? Forget it, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Ah you made it back… What you got there?"
"I got some wood. Few big sticks and some small ones, I also go some bones for any tool we could make from it."
Tom smiled at the news, "Good, I could use some bone pieces and small sticks for the bow I've been making. Got some of the fiber from some plants nearby to make string for it. Did you happen to find any flint?"
"No. I didn't see any rocks for that matter."
He chuckled, "Not to worry, I can make some fire with this bow if need be."
A break of a twig announced the arrival of the private. He had a big bundle of wood in his hands, looked like he was struggling.
"Got some wood, didn't know what exactly you needed! We can leave behind whatever you want!"
Tom walked over to help, "Thanks, but we don't need too much. Save some of the smaller sticks for arrows and a couple of the big ones for kindling. We can find more when we make camp."
"Yes sir! Also I found this."
The marine held up a small rock, it was dark grayish rock.
Lucky noob found flint!
"I remembered in school that sedimentary rock formations would be the best place to look! I came across a cliff face with some limestone and a little bit of scrounging I found it."
I sighed, "Save the lecture for the classroom. Are we ready?"
Tom laughed, "Easy O'Brien, we'll get there soon enough. This is practically a vacation, and I don't want to put it to waste."
Easy for you maybe, at least you have more clothes than I do.
As I finished this thought, a loud roar filled the air. It was distant, but it didn't give Pate and myself any comfort. Before we asked the question, Tom answered.
"Gúta. They are peaceful if left alone. The only thing you would need to worry about are the males. Very territorial, but as long as it isn't mating season, we should be fine to sneak through."
The PFC asked, still worried, "Is it?"
"Is it what?"
"Mating season?"
"No. At least we better hope not. I've needed a vacation for a while now."
I rolled my eyes, "Oh yeah? When was your last one?"
"Oh, about a decade ago."
Guilt built up in my mind as I put two and two together. The last time was with his family before his world fell, but Tom didn't seem to mind the question. Something I was starting to see become a trend of all Spartans I've met. Was there nothing that could shock them? Any self preservation?
The words of the Doctor echoed in my mind.
Perfection only a Spartan could give…
Thom sprinting ahead of us.
"Come on guys, let's get some breakfast on the way!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thom hunted for an hour and came back with a Deer.
Technically deer are an invasive species for the environment of Reach. Same for my world. But like most animals from Earth, earth almost had no place for them. The only wilds left were found in Africa and South American rainforests. Even those environments had been in danger the last couple of centuries. So we made due with supporting their population off worlds.
Most of this was successful, but the animal gene pool quickly changed to suit their environment and color palettes for such animals changed. For my world, the palette became mostly hot colors. Deer were red. Reach was another matter. The furry was gray, the eyes were gray, even the muscles underneath were gray.
The Marine and I laid witness to the super soldier at work. He cleaned it like it was nothing. Gliding through each step like a machine. Even I wasn't as skilled back home.
Even so. This wasn't enough to distract my thoughts on the Spartans. If we were going to be stuck together for the next week, I wanted to at least hold a conversation during that time. And I sure as didn't want to only talk to the Private.
"So, did you do this growing up?"
Thom paused for a moment mid slice of a leg, and continued.
"No, I picked this up in the military. This isn't the first time us spartan lll's have been thrown into these wild's alone. In fact, this brings back some memories."
Pate also wanted to know more about our mysterious teammate, "What did you do then? Or, what did your parents do? You know, before this."
Thom gave a chuckle, "My parents were restorers."
Pate and I shared a look as neither of us knew what that meant. He continued anyways, "Restoration of lost art. You know, things lost in the wars of the last few centuries and before that even."
"Can't say I'm much of an expert on that. The only painting I can recall was in school was the Mona Lisa, and that the original painting was destroyed in the-."
"Let me stop you there. It wasn't that kind. I mean sure we did some like that, but we tackled a bigger challenge. Video games."
Any wonder I had for the spartan washed away like a great flood. Of all things this conversation could have gone. Pate however ate it all up.
"Really?!"
"Yep! We preserved data like that from the last four centuries. Even some from the second renaissance of gaming from 2325. Some classics like Demonwalker and Fish simulator 2355. But nothing was more treasured than the games from the golden age, most of them have been lost to time. Nobody can play a lot of them. Some were lucky to be salvaged from corrupted data."
I rolled my eyes, "Big whoop. Games get old and put in the trash."
For the first time, the soldier's face darkened.
"That's my parent's work you're talking about."
For the first time, I felt fear being next to him. As he looked down at me, I could see him peering into my soul.
Next thing I knew, Spartan just shrugged and resumed his focus on preparing the meat.
"But to each their own."
I didn't strike up a conversation the rest of the day, not during the meals, or after. It was a long time making our way through the woods. Eventually we made it to the edge of it before the sun had set.
"It's getting late, I'll take the first watch you two."
"Ok"
"Yes sir."
I had no choice but to stay near the fire, and cover myself with leaves. It was all I could do to keep warm…
End Chapter