The Volunteer

by J B Cantwell

  “Wouldn’t they?”

  Hector looked just as scared as I felt, and for once he went silent.

  “It’ll be okay,” Kyle piped up. “If the suits have jets on them, we’ll have a decent chance, and swimming won’t be a problem. Have any of you ever seen scuba gear before?”

  Alex slowly raised his hand.

  “Well, that’s good at least.” He turned toward me, and I must have had a terrified look on my face. He put one hand on my shoulder. “Trust me. I’ve done this before.”

  “With explosives?” I asked.

  “Well, no,” he admitted. “But as long as the jets are working, we’ll be in good shape. You’ll only need to use them; you’ll rely on them heavily versus your swimming strength.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I won’t worry.”

  But I did, of course.

  I went over to the closet and opened the doors. Inside, there were three standard sized suits, and one enormous one, presumably for Alex. I took one of the smaller ones and headed for the bathroom. I didn’t feel like getting naked in front of three guys this morning. There would be no humor in it.

  I closed the stall door and took off my boots and clothes. Stepping into the thing was easy enough, but pulling the one-piece suit up over my body was more difficult than I’d imagined it to be. Finally, after a couple minutes of struggling, I zipped up and left the stall.

  In the mirror, my face looked white as a sheet. I looked down at my injured hand and wondered how long it would take to heal. The majority of the pain was gone now, but how would I fare with it in the water every day? I cupped my hands together and drank some water from the tap. It tasted of dirt and chlorine, but it took care of my dried out mouth.

  As I exited the bathroom, I saw that everyone else had already changed as well.

  “Alright,” Hector said. “You kids ready?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said.

  “You do know that she’s leading this mission, don’t you?” Alex asked him. Hector’s face went blank.

  “Well, that’s no surprise,” Kyle said. “Maybe it’s punishment for you falling asleep the other day.”

  “I wasn’t asleep,” I argued. I looked down at my suit and said a silent prayer that I might survive the next few days. “Alright. Let’s get this over with.” I opened the door and headed back toward the pool.

  Once inside the great room, we were greeted by stocky looking man. He also donned a wetsuit.

  Sergeant Michael Abrams

  Designation: Bronze

  “Soldiers!” he bellowed. “Which one of you is Taylor?”

  I took a step forward. “Me, Sir!”

  He walked over and stared me in the face. I tried not to flinch at the hardness of his eyes.

  “It takes real grit to go into a battle with explosives. What you learn over the next few days will keep you alive.”

  Battle? No one had said anything about a battle.

  “Taylor, I’ll expect you to be a strong leader for this group. You will undoubtedly have many challenges before you.”

  “Understood, Sir,” I said, sweating beneath my suit.

  “Follow me.”

  We fell into line behind him and made our way to the shallow end of the pool.

  “Okay,” Abrams said. “Everybody in.”

  My eyes widened, but I tried not to show any fear. Where were these jet suits Whittaker had been talking about?

  Not surprisingly, Kyle went ahead and took a few steps down into the water.

  “It’s warm,” he said, but it wasn’t a statement made out of pleasure. It was, instead, a concern.

  “Yes,” Abrams said. “There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s sheltered from the elements in here. There is no way we can make it as cold as the water in the lake. You will just need to deal with it. Taylor, you next.”

  Watching Kyle, who was able to stand in the shallow water, I inched my way over to the edge of the pool. Then, not wanting Abrams to have to shove me in, I took the first step down.

  The water wasn’t warm at all like Kyle had said. To my bare feet, it seemed just a few degrees above frigid. But as I took a few more steps down, I realized that my suit served to warm me, and my tension eased.

  “All the way down, Taylor,” Abrams said.

  I took the final step into the water and tried not to panic. It felt so strange, being nearly weightless. I bobbed up and down, trying to get used to the sensation as Alex entered the pool.

  “Whoa,” he said as he made it all the way in. He let his enormous body slide all the way beneath the surface. “Weird.”

  Hector stood at the top of the stairs, a look of panic on his face.

  “Come on, Hector,” I said. “If I can do it, you can.”

  He looked at me desperately, then nodded his head. He must have been fighting hard to take each step, because he looked like he was about to flee at any moment.

  Abrams came into the water, himself. Aside from him and us, the entire warehouse was deserted. This did not help my confidence.

  “Okay,” Abrams said, dunking his shoulders in like Alex. “Everyone get your bodies completely wet now.” He held his nose and dunked his head under the water, coming quickly back up to the surface as if it were nothing.

  Kyle did the same, again with no problem.

  It was my turn.

  I took one last glance at Alex, held my nostrils closed with my hand as the others had done, and dunked my head under the water.

  It was a strange feeling, filled with sensation and sound that I’d never felt or heard before. The water was cool against my skin, and I was surprised that it didn’t make me shiver. Everything sounded muffled, and there was a faint trickling of water that I could hear, too. I wanted to open my eyes, but I was too afraid to.

  I surfaced and watched as each of the others came up for breath.

  “Good,” Abrams said. “Now, each of you will practice lying on your backs in the water. Team up.”

  Our backs?

  I looked at Alex. He nodded, and I moved through the water toward him.

  “I’d better go first,” I said, realizing that, as leader, I had to show courage no matter how frightening the circumstances may be.

  I dunked my shoulders and leaned backward. His arms supported my back and thighs, and I let my body float upward until I was lying, horizontal, in the water.

  My ears submerged, and for a moment I started to panic. I felt so out of control this way, unable to hear or see what was going on around me, flat on my back, so vulnerable. For a moment I thought Alex might drop me, submerging the rest of my body into the water.

  But he didn’t. Abrams was saying something I couldn’t hear. Instructions maybe. A moment later, Alex lifted my shoulders and stood me up again. This time my ears had filled with water, and it was an uncomfortable sensation. I shook my head around, but noises around me remained muffled.

  “Your turn,” Abrams said, looking from Kyle to Alex. Soldier Williams, dunk your shoulders before you lean back. And Taylor, just hold him up as best you can. You’ll find it not as difficult as you might think. The water will help him float.”

  I glanced at Alex and raised my eyebrows.

  “Umm … Okay.”

  He bent his knees until all but his head was submerged. I moved around to his side, and he leaned backward.

  Abrams had been right; it was easier to hold him up than I would have thought. Still, Alex was two hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle. I focused my efforts on holding up his back while the rest of him floated in the water. It was the best I could do.

  “Now,” Abrams said. “Bring them back up.”

  I put my hand on Alex’s shoulder, and he immediately found his footing on the bottom of the pool. As he emerged from the water, he shook his head, too.

  “As you can see,” Abrams said, “floating can be relatively easy to do, and it can save your life if you end up swimming in dire circumstances. If you can turn yourself over, you will almos
t always be able to float along the top of the water. Just remember, if you’re on a ship or other craft, and you find yourselves needing to jump into the water, do everything you can to remove your boots and as much clothing as you can. It will weigh you down. Trust me.”

  And I did.

  The lesson went on for another hour, during which time we learned to submerge without holding our noses, and to float on our stomachs along the edge of the pool and kick our feet with all our might.

  By the time we were done, I found myself starving. It hadn’t seemed like so much effort at the time, but as I exited the pool, all I could think about was getting warm and stuffing myself with mash and crackers.

  “Lunch is at 1200 hours. You can go back to the barracks to hang up your suits in the bathroom. Be ready for another lesson by 1400 hours. Dismissed.”

  I had been getting used to the water, but I was still thrilled when it was time to exit the pool. My fingers and hands were pruny from the prolonged exposure under the water. I looked down at my hand. It didn’t hurt like I had thought it would. I removed the bandage to let it air out. The flaps of the skin where it was held together by stitches were white, but the stitches held.

  I couldn’t wait to get the wetsuit off.

  Kyle was the first one out, and he handed each of us towels, smiling.

  “That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?” he asked.

  We all looked at him like he was crazy. He shrugged and walked away, back toward the barracks.

  I rubbed the towel against my hair, and as I held my head sideways, I felt a warm sensation as the trapped water trickled out of my ear. It was a great relief, and I tilted my head toward the other side, which soon released the water in that ear canal as well.

  Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  I followed Kyle out of the swim room and back toward the barracks.

  “See?” he said as I fell into step beside him. “Easy as pie.”

  I grunted.

  “I don’t know about that. But it wasn’t as bad as I feared.”

  I turned back to find Alex and Hector silently following us. Both of them looked rather shell-shocked, an unusual expression for Alex to wear on his face.

  “You guys okay?”

  “Yeah, we’ll be okay,” he said. Hector stayed quiet.

  “Well, I guess we’d better get used to this,” I said.

  In that moment, I realized why Hector hadn’t been assigned to lead the group. It didn’t matter how long he’d been in the silo learning about explosives. What mattered was courage, and he seemed to be falling short. At least today.

  His eyes were wide as they caught mine. I nodded, and, after a few moments, he nodded back at me.

  “You’ll be alright,” I said, smacking him on the shoulder. “We all will.”

  Chapter Ten

  We spent the next three days learning the basics of swimming, which was easy enough, at least in the shallow end, and soon it was time for us to be outfitted with scuba gear.

  I was surprised that this lesson was taking place after dinner. Usually, that time was reserved for explosives study. But not this time.

  Outside of the pool, the equipment was heavy and awkward. Kyle helped us strap air tanks onto our bodies, and then Alex helped him with his. Alex was the only one who seemed to have no problem carrying his tank, and he was able to walk around easily, even in his flippers.

  Abrams had each of us line up on one of the concrete benches that surrounded the pool, this one at the deep end.

  While it was true that we had made progress in our swimming abilities, the idea of the deep water made me nervous. Hadn’t Abrams told us that we would sink, even with just our boots on? How were we supposed to get around with all this heavy gear?

  “You will see,” Abrams said, “that on the sides of your main tank are two smaller receptacles. These are your jets. You can use them to navigate under the water quickly. When you set the grenades against the pipeline, you’ll want to get out of there fast, even though the explosives are on timers. I trust that you learned about that, even in the short time you were all at the silo. Is that correct?”

  Nobody answered.

  “I said, is that correct?”

  “Yes, Sir!” we all said, exchanging nervous glances.

  He walked down the line, then, and fitted a full head mask to each of us, complete with speakers and microphone.

  “Now, you should find that you’re each breathing comfortably. Is anyone having trouble catching their breath?”

  While the truth was that I was having a little trouble, I didn’t dare raise my hand.

  It’s just nerves.

  Right.

  Abrams walked up to Kyle.

  “First one in?”

  Kyle nodded. “Yes, Sir,” his voice crackled through my earpiece.

  While he seemed happy enough to accept the challenge, he still wore a worried look on his face. I guessed that maybe his swim experience hadn’t happened with a forty pound air tank strapped to his back.

  Abram’s put his hand on Kyle’s mask.

  “Now, just let yourself fall backward. Even if you sink, you’ll be able to breathe fine. Got it?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Abrams pushed him backward into the water, and just as he had said, Kyle sank all the way to the bottom.

  Abrams pulled on his own microphone. “You okay, soldier? How’s the water?”

  I could hear Kyle breathing fast, but he said, “Just fine, Sir.”

  I stared into the water after him, then turned back around. I was next in line.

  Abrams didn’t ask me if I was okay, if I was ready.

  “Off you go, Taylor,” he said instead, and pushed me into the water.

  The sensation of sinking was terrifying in the darkness. But then I remembered my jets. I searched my suit and grabbed hold of the handles, pressing the buttons on the joysticks so that I shot upward so fast I crested the top of the water.

  “Hey, take it easy, Taylor. Something you’ll all need to learn is to reserve your jets. They can get you out fast, but only if you have enough juice in them.”

  I gradually let myself sink again, this time holding tight to the jet handles. The underwater sounds were different now, even more muffled than during a regular swim lesson. I could just barely hear the filtration equipment in the pool, instead hearing the bubbles emerge from my air system as I breathed.

  Soon enough, Alex had been pushed into the pool too, his massive body landing on the cement floor right beside me.

  “You okay?” I asked, as much to myself as to him.

  He smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

  “You bet!”

  He looked so ridiculous, so elated, that I couldn’t help but smile, too.

  We would be okay.

  Hector came last, giving a small yelp as his body hit the water, his breath hard and fast as he sank down next to us. Kyle floated over to him and put his hands on Hector’s shoulders.

  “No problem, right?” he said to him. “Just like I told you. You can breathe fine.”

  I could hear Hector trying to catch his breath.

  “Take it easy, soldier,” Abrams’ voice came from above. “You’ll use up all your oxygen that way.”

  “Okay, Sir,” he said in between gasps.

  I floated over to him until he could see my face through his mask.

  “You’ll be alright. If I’m okay, you’re going to be okay. Got it?”

  Hector nodded, and his breathing gradually slowed.

  “Okay,” I said. “What next, Sir?” I called through my mic.

  “First, all of you turn on your headlamps. You need to get used to using them. That lake won’t be as bright as in here, and this mission will be carried out in the darkness of a new moon.”

  I reached up to the right side of my helmet and clicked on the light. I was surprised at how much power it had; I felt comforted by it. Three more lights came to life beside me.

  “All of you take h
old of your jet handles and practice moving around in the pool. Stay in the deep end so that you don’t surface. You need to see what it’s like to be completely submerged.”

  Somewhere overhead, the lights in the building clicked off, and we were under cover of complete darkness, intended to mimic the inky black of a night sky.

  Once I got started with the jets, I found that it was easy to move around. I remembered, though, Abrams’ warning about using up all the fuel for them, and soon I turned them off again, deciding I should learn to move around with just my flippers as well. Just in case.

  “Taylor, you’ve got the right idea,” Abrams said. “Everyone turn off your jets and start moving around on your own steam. Kick with your feet, just like you did over the past few days of training. You’ll find that you can move quickly through the water with your fins.”

  I did, and, finding that it was relatively easy to get moving with them, too, was comforted. It wasn’t as fast as using our jets, but it was way faster than kicking with our bare feet.

  I found my way over to the wall and turned to push off it, wanting to see just how fast I could actually go. Kyle swam up beside me.

  “Care for a race?”

  I laughed, realizing that I was perfectly comfortable in the water, much more so than I had been during our regular swim training.

  “You got it.”

  “On the count of three,” he said. “One … two … three!”

  I pushed as hard as I could, but Kyle was immediately in front. Any nerves he might’ve had had clearly evaporated.

  I didn’t give up, though. I found myself on his tail, and within thirty seconds we were back in the shallow end.

  “Come on!” he called through his mic as he touched the wall. He turned fast and raced back in the other direction, passing me as he did so.

  I turned as soon as I hit the wall and pushed off with my legs again.

  But it was no use. He was too far ahead, and by the time I got close enough to see him again, he had already reached the deep end wall.

  I stopped trying and just floated along now. My breathing was hard, but it was good to realize that I had another option for escape in case my jet packs ran out. I might not be as fast as Kyle, but I could survive.