Chapter 18

I ran the course again before heading over to the Cafeteria for dinner. As we walked there, Aiden and I saw the jeeps coming back to the camp with twenty more soldiers-to-be. They bustled about unsure of what to do until their commander made them follow him to the Cafeteria. We continued to watch the new recruits inside. They each picked a spot to themselves and made sure that they weren’t five or so feet close to the other person. Did I act that way? I asked myself self-consciously. Evie and Harriett joined us again which was fine with me. We didn’t talk much during dinner because there, really, wasn’t much to talk about. We did the same exact things that day and we had the same views on it. About five minutes after the newbies left, my friends and I went to our building. There were five people already in there when we went inside. They minded their own business and so did we. We sat on our beds and tried to think of something to talk about. Aiden’s bed was to the left of me, Evie was to the right, and Harriett, after you skipped the walkway, was in front of me; we made a T-shape. Evie was tall and skinny with blue eyes that stood out from her brown hair. Harriett was a short, skinny, brown-eyed, black haired woman that had a habit of tapping her right thigh when we were in line for the course.

Gradually, our group entered our mobile building. Someone shut the lights off and we fell asleep, filling the room with the sound of snores and light breathing. Aiden did not wake me that night; I was grateful to him on that fact because, even without him waking me up, I got out of bed sore and tired with slight bags under my eyes. For breakfast, we received milk and gooey oatmeal. My mouth gagged from distaste but I still managed to get the stuff down with some milk. We met our commander on the way to the course.

“The course isn’t over there because the newbies took that one. Follow me.” He told us. Our commander led us outside the camp fences and to an exact replica of the course inside the camp. The commander blew his whistle to make us get into a single, straight line. I stayed where I was but everyone got in line behind me, including Aiden.

“You seem to enjoy the front and, plus, if you mess up, I can laugh at you and know what not to do.” He laughed when he stepped behind me.

            I looked at the guns, bullets, and helmets that had been set out. Approximately twenty guns, MAG’s, and helmets were scattered on the floor. I reach down to pick up a gun I had used in an old video game that I had sold long ago to make money. The AK-47 felt light in my hands but the MAG’s in my pockets weighed down the legs of my cargos and the camouflage, cloth covered helmet dipped under my chin. I was ready so I glanced over at the commander. He stuck a whistle in his mouth and pulled at the stopwatch around his neck. The whistle blew and I ran.

Author's Note

More coming soon!