Chapter 25

A Chapter by BrynnaW.

At dinner, Aiden playfully crossed his arms and glared at me. When I asked him what was wrong, he simply shook his head and said he’d never forgive me and that I may have permanently damaged his manhood. I called him a wimp and flashed an innocent smile. Aiden lunged at my stomach. His fingers tickled me and I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from bursting out laughing or crying from pain. I was in his arms again. Slowly, a finger traced the sensitive cut on my pale cheek. He gave me a questioning glance but I offered him no answer.

After dinner, I worked out with everyone else in the fitness room. I got a chance to work with the weights before going on the treadmills. My thoughts disturbed me but they were all I could focus on while I was on the treadmill. I began to doubt that any of us would survive the war. But, what haunted me the most was the fact that if I did die and there was a God and I didn’t believe in Him, I would go to Hell or if there wasn’t a God, what would happen to me? If thoughts could kill, I knew these would.

Once we were allowed to leave the fitness room early I nearly jumped for joy. That night, Aiden didn’t bug or try to wake me. A blessing even though, doubts continued to drive me insane in my sleep.

It was morning, my skin was more sensitive than the day before and I felt hot from a fever. Aiden tried to put his arm around me during breakfast but I pulled away from him and wouldn’t explain why. To make it even worse, while our commander reviewed the announcements and rules for the drill, Aiden tried to hold my hand. I pulled it away from him because it felt hot and sweaty and I didn’t want him to think it was gross. I tried to apologize to him but the commander turned to me and yelled for complete attention. Since that didn’t work, I gave Aiden a look of sympathy but he didn’t even glance at me. We took off into the forest once the commander blew his whistle. Because I had to make sure they didn’t get the flag, I took a position near the forest edge.

The rifle was shot, I prepared myself. Surprisingly, they didn’t show up immediately as I had expected. It wasn’t until about seven minutes or so later that a member of the other team tried to sneak their way past me to get the flag. From behind, I pushed him flat on his stomach and continued to hold him down on the ground but another man came to the forest edge. The first person was released so I could tackle the other. He had been expecting me to throw a punch at the back of his head, he ducked and elbowed my back. Somehow, he managed to get me into a head lock. Almost from habit, I kicked his crotch while driving my elbow into his stomach. Harriett tried to run past me for the flag but I kicked her legs out from under her. The fighting proved to be a distraction because I neglected to see someone pass me. A rifle was shot again and I realized that I had failed to keep them from the flag. My team accepted defeat while the other team cheered and roared with laughter. The commander congratulated them and released us from an early break. Everyone sat at the same table and, for the first time, discussed what they thought the war would be like. Were we ready? How many of us would die? No one had any answers, only more questions. I didn’t join the conversation, most people thought that I had joined the army to die in the first place. The conversation changed to a heated debate on why God was letting this happen. Evie and Harriett sat next to me but they also joined the debate. Aiden sat on the far end of the table but Aiden, too, was quiet.

After every group but mine left the cafeteria, our commander entered with two big boxes. He looked at us for a while before speaking:

“Okay, Soldiers… Atten-TION!” Our commander yelled over the argument and everyone immediately stood perfectly still next to the long bench.

“Humph. Sit down and no interruptions! The army works differently than it did before. When you get to the army base you will see how it is laid out. Yes, there will be showers and flushing toilets. When you first arrive tomorrow, this group will be placed in one of their three groups. Every three days, one group goes out to the camp that’s about fifty miles from the war. Women take showers every other day as do the men, opposite days from the women though. You will all be in the same room again and, also, in the same bed order. Don’t even think this was your last day of drills. This was nothing compared to what you’re about to do so, just call this a… warm up.

“Now that I finished that… in these boxes are your uniforms. As I call you, I want you to come up here, grab them, and sit back down. Clark, Cox, Davis… Evans isn’t here anymore so… Foster, Kerr, King, Lee, McCarthy, Reed, Rowe, Scott, Seymour, Smith, Spolsdoff… Stone isn’t here… Turner, Wells, Williams, and last but not least, Wright. Tomorrow morning you will put these on and wait outside the gates for the jeeps. The jeeps will drive you to a jet that will take you to Scotland. Right now and after dinner you will go to the fitness room. Do I make myself clear?” The commander finally finished.

“Sir, yes, sir!” My group yelled in unison. I looked back down at my uniform. It was a pixilated camouflage for the shirt and pants. On the front of the shirt on a small strip on the right hand side was my last name.

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