by John Darling
My eyes had barely opened all the way and it would take me a few more minutes to come completely to my senses. It was rather difficult to do so with the drill instructors yelling in our faces, and the continuation of the flickering lights and annoying sirens, The drill instructors took roll and made sure everyone is awake. They escorted us to the stairwell or rather made us “move with a sense of urgency” to the stairwell.
Thirty seconds later, I found myself down on Deck Two again, inside the O Course area. Instead of doing the course, Commander Knight informed us that we would be doing some of his famous physical training (PT) before breakfast. Lieutenant Ward instructed us to form up into ranks with plenty of room to move around without hitting one another. Commander Knight pushed a five-foot high metal platform out from behind one of the obstacles and stood up on it.
“Today’s first exercise will be jumping jacks! Ready, begin!”
And just like that, the PT began. In unison, the entire class, including myself, jumped up and down while flailing our arms out from our sides. Commander Knight counted to fifty and then switched to lounges. He counted to the same number and then moved to another exercise. We cycled through push-ups, sit-ups, planks, flutter kicks, and squats. It was more than enough to get me to the point of puking. Doubling over, I tried to hold back the contents of my stomach. Unfortunately, I embarrassed myself and drew everyone’s attention by contaminating the gym floor.
I hadn’t performed this intense of a workout in a long time and I could painfully see that I was the only one having issues. Commander Knight instructed someone to get a mop to clean up my mess and moved into a series with us. As a result of my upheaval, he informed the class that he would go “easy” on us today in order for me to get up to speed. Although that sounded like a good thing, I felt that I’d just put a target on my back. The last thing I want is to be labeled as the wimp who can’t keep up. I wiped my mouth and glanced over at Alexei next to me. Besides, that position is already taken.
“Good workout everyone! Hit the showers and I’ll see you all in the chow hall!”
Lieutenant Ward escorted our class out of the O Course and back up to our rooms on Deck Five. He gave us ten minutes to shower and change into a fresh set of PT gear, which consisted of the black shirt, black shorts, and sneakers we had been issued for training. Like I’d been promised, I had several sets in my room and put a new set on once I was done showering. Alexei finished a few minutes after me and the two of us walked over to the mess hall for breakfast. We each got a tray and went through the buffet line. I only got a little bit of food, since I didn’t feel like eating too much before we went through the O Course. I also didn’t want to make a fool of myself again.
Alexei, on the other hand, was beaming from ear to ear and piled on so much food onto his plate that he practically needed a second one. The rest of the class came into the mess hall a few people at a time and the OICs waited for all of us to finish eating before escorting us back down to the O-course. A OIC I haven’t seen until now addressed our class.
“Everyone stretch on your own and get some water if you need to. We’ll get things going here in a few minutes. A reminder that you must get through the entire course without stopping. Failure to do so will result in removal from this training class.”
I looked over at Alexei and watched as he put his head down. Several other recruits looked over at him as well and it was obvious he was worried about getting through the course. He hadn’t made it through yesterday, and to my knowledge had never completed it all the through a single time. I knew he didn’t want to be here, but if he wanted to leave it should be on his own terms and not because he can’t get through an obstacle course.
“Listen up boys and girls! Here are the groups.”
The drill instructor began reading off last names from a clipboard, telling each group to line up at the starting line of the course in order. Lieutenant Ward began sending groups through the course. I looked around at the decreasing number of remaining recruits and patiently waited for my name to be called.
“Jones, Gonzalez, Flashman and Petrischev, you’re up!”
The four of us slowly approached the starting line. No one ever said anything about this being a race, but from the vibe these guys are putting off, I think it’s about to turn into one.
“Take your marks. GO!”
Just before I heard the “click” of Lieutenant Ward’s stopwatch, my adrenaline kicked in. I sprinted to the first obstacle and got to the rope before the other three. I made it over the wall and up onto the high beam much faster than I had yesterday. Getting a jump on the other three guys like that surprised even myself and it gave me a huge confidence boost. Halfway across the high beam, I heard one of the recruits grunt and I know my thin lead was not going to hold for much longer. Suddenly, I felt a force hit my arm and I lost my balance, immediately causing me to fall off the beam as the other recruit pushed past.
“OUT OF MY WAY!”
The ten-foot drop caught me off guard and I had no time to brace myself for impact. My body hit the water hard and I immediately swam back up to the surface. That asshole freaking pushed me right in, just so he could get ahead of me. Some teammate he is. Alexei ran across the beam and looked at me as I reached the edge of the pool and lifted myself out. At least he’s moving at a good pace.
Now soaking wet and pissed off from being knocked down, I took a deep breath and ran toward the barbed wire. I quickly dropped onto my stomach and crawled as fast as I could. Rage fueled my desire to catch up and I passed Alexei a few feet before the end of the wire. From what I could see, Alexei wasn’t as struggling as much as he had been yesterday, a great sign. My full adrenaline resurfaced again, and I resumed moving as fast as I had been before falling into the water. If there’s one thing I’m determined to do right now, its catch up to the recruit who pushed me. I will not let someone make a fool out of me like that and get away with it.
I caught up to the second recruit in our group and made it to the zip line just before he did. I didn’t let my intensity drop and set my sights for the next guy ahead of me; the guy that had taken me out. I arrived at the first cargo net and scaled it as fast as I could. From a distance, I could see the first recruit halfway across the wire. I’m not going to stop now. I got to the wire and made my way across in record time. Yesterday, I had taken my time to get through all of these obstacles but today I was taking a more aggressive approach. As I shuffled across, I heard an odd noise and looked down only to find that first guy struggling to get his entangled foot free of the net. This is my chance for payback.
I was only a few feet above him and I couldn’t help but laugh. Seeing him fight with the net was one of the best things, and forms of justice I have seen in a long time. However, in the few seconds I spent enjoying the moment, my momentum slowed down. He wiggled his foot out of the tangled mess just as I caught up to him. We are now neck and neck as we both jumped off the net. A 100-yard sprint was all that stood between us and the finish. We both took off and I put every ounce of adrenaline, hate, and fire into my tank. There is no way I’m going to let him beat me.
We were matched stride for stride coming down the track. I got up on my toes and pushed off the ground for maximum leverage. We were now within ten yards of the finish line and still tied. I put my head down and thrust my body forward as we passed the finish line.
“10:40 for Flashman and Jones.”
Damn. We tied. My anger for wanting to beat him resulted in getting a really good time. It’s amazing what you can do when you’re pissed off at someone. However, being the good sport that I am I went over to him and offered out my hand. After all, we are still on the same team and training for the same fight.
“Hey man, good sprint.”
He looked at my hand and turned away. I watched him snarl in disgust as he made his way over to a group of guys, who all seem to know each other. In fact, all of the recruits done with the course are all separated into little groups. Have clicks alrea
dy been created? And was it really that insulting for me to offer a handshake? I mean, he was the one who had pushed me. He should be the one to offer me a handshake. I grabbed a bottle of water when a thought popped into my head; Alexei is still out there.
I looked back at the course, hoping to see Alexei near the finish, but I don’t see him. Several OICs are yelling at other recruits to finish and I continued to scan through them for Alexei. After catching my breath for a moment, I began jogging back through the outside of the O course.
“Hey! Where are you going, Recruit?” the OIC at the finish line called out to me as I ran past him but it didn’t slow me down. I continued to run and found a group of OICs yelling in one direction. I made eye contact with the leader of the pack, Commander Knight, and then looked up to see who they were yelling at. Unfortunately, Alexei was frozen about halfway up the rock wall. He’s going to be in serious trouble if he can’t get to the top.
“Recruit Flashman, return to the finish line and wait with everyone else!”
I ignored Commander Knight’s order and went around the other OICs to the bottom of the wall. Commander Knight yelled at me again as I put my foot on one of the red rocks and began climbing.
“Get down from there now! That’s an order!”
Once again, I ignored his order and climbed further up the wall. I got within a few feet of Alexei and asked what the problem was.
“I can’t do this, Trevor. I’m afraid of heights, and this is not something I’m going to be able to do.”
The OICs briefly stopped yelling while I climbed, but resumed as soon I as started talking to Alexei.
“And those guys down there aren’t helping.”
I noticed the closest colored rocks were slightly out of Alexei’s reach. Perhaps he can make it if he lowered himself down a few steps and then went up the other side. Although I had the feeling it was going to take some convincing to get him to move at all.
“OK, Alexei, take a deep breath and close your eyes,”
He did as I asked, and let out a long breath.
“OK, open them back up. Here’s what I want you to do. Go down three rocks, and then shift over to the rocks under me. I’m going to lead you to the top. All you have to do is follow my lead and climb up every rock I reach for in the exact same pattern. Sound good?”
Alexei looked down and immediately started shaking his head from side to side.
“No I can’t, I can’t do this. Just let me get down. I want to be on the ground. I want to leave this place.”
The OICs taunted Alexei, telling him that it was time for him to give up and how he didn’t have what it took to be a Strike officer if he couldn’t get up a wall. They were really doing their best to break him.
“Alexei, look at me. You can do this. Lower yourself down one step. Just trust me, you’ll be OK.”
He took another deep breath and slowly lowered his left foot down onto the green rock I was pointing at. His body was shaking and if anyone should be in a harness right now, it was him. However, I was determined to talk him through this; he was not going to fail if I had anything to do with it.
“Good job. Now, start moving to your right and follow my lead.”
Alexei slowly followed my instructions. I moved up the wall one rock at a time and looked down after each step to make sure that Alexei followed the same route. As we moved, I motivated him as much as I could. I’m going to get him through this.
I reached the top and hurled my body onto the platform. As soon as I got to my feet, I turned and reached out to grab Alexei’s hand. He cautiously stretched his arm out and I helped pull him up onto the platform. It wasn’t easy, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he may be lost a few pounds.
“Trevor… why are you doing this?”
“No one should be left behind. We’re a team. Now, let’s get to the finish.”
Getting through the rest of the course was not easy, and it took much longer than it probably should have. However, we made it and all that stands between Alexei from finishing was the 100-yard sprint. As he stepped off the second cargo net, I began cheering his name, hoping that other recruits from our class would join in. At first, no one did, but as Alexei slowly jogged toward the finish, about a dozen recruits came over and joined us on the run.
“Alex-ei! Alex-ei!”
We continued to run and with each passing yard, more recruits joined our pack. Alexei fed off the energy, lengthened his stride and picked up speed. Other recruits joined in the cheer and I noticed that about a third of the class is with us now. Even some of the OICs joined in. I had expected more of the class to support Alexei since he was a part of it just like all of the other recruits, but seemed like there was some tension between some of the members, an unhealthy amount of competition. Maybe it was the environment we’ve been thrown into, or the fact that we had just learned that zombies actually exist. Could it also be possible that people are afraid to help one another? I had to admit I was a little afraid of going out into the field, but I wasn’t not going to let that stop me from getting through this training.
Our pack crossed the finish line and Alexei immediately threw his arms up into the air. Everyone who had run with us clapped as he fell to the ground. I immediately knelt down next to him.
“Are you OK?”
“Just give me a minute, I… I need to catch my breath.”
Alexei smiled as he fought through his heavy breathing. Commander Knight ran over and looked down at him, and then gave me a dirty look.
“All right everyone, settle down. I’m happy to see that Recruit Petrischev has figured out the O Course, it’s about damn time. As for the rest of you, I want everyone to take the next hour to stretch out and relax. Lieutenant Commander Bradshaw will be leading the classroom discussion this afternoon.”
Alexei got to his feet and Commander Knight dismissed a rather motivated class. I was about to leave with everyone, but he told me to stay behind.
“Lieutenant Ward, take the other OICs and go get some coffee. Recruit Flashman and I are going to have a little chat.”
Everyone cleared out of the O Course like it was on fire while I braced myself for the conversation. There’s no way he can kick me out of this training because of what I just did, is there?
“Trevor, I understand your family legacy around here but that does not entitle you to disobey a direct order from your Commanding Officer. I don’t know how much military training you have and frankly, I don’t care. You follow my orders or you’re gone, understood?”
I cleared my throat and sternly replied; “Yes, sir.”
Commander Knight stormed off. I understand his point but I disagree with him. If the right thing is to disobey orders, then I’m going to do it. If I hadn’t gone after Alexei, he would still probably be stuck on that wall.
I went back to our room and found Alexei napping in his bed. I decided to do the same and climbed into my own bed. Alexei’s alarm clock woke the two of us up forty minutes later and we headed down to lunch together. He didn’t say much while we ate, and I thought it was because he was a little groggy from the short power nap. After lunch ended, Lieutenant Ward rounded the class up and escorted us down to the classrooms for the brief.
“Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lieutenant Commander Bradshaw and I’ll be teaching you over the next few weeks.”
We all stood up at attention as he walked in and then took our seats. Unlike the other Drill Instructors, I noticed Commander Bradshaw was not as buff as the others and a little bit older than most of them. He looked like he was in his late forties, or early fifties, and of average build and slightly above average height. He set up a computer on the podium in the corner and connected it to the projector in front of us.
“Before we jump into today’s brief, I’d like to give you a little background on myself. Just like all of you are doing, I went through combat school and served as Strike Officer in the field for two years. I was actually stationed in this region and serve
d with the Heat Devils. That’s the name of the Strike Team that operates out of this base and why you see a Striker pin here on my uniform until my Intel pin. After those two years, I switched divisions and went to Computer Engineering School in Tokyo. I became an Intelligence Officer and ironically, was stationed here again. I’ve been working here ever since.”
Commander Bradshaw pointed to the two pieces of insignia on his left breast pocket and then asked if anyone had questions, but no one raised their hand. Everyone looked like they were about to fall asleep. My eyes were starting to get heavy as well, and I hoped Commander Bradshaw’s presentation would liven up a bit.
“All right, so today we’re going to discuss the main breakdown of S.T.O.R.M. The organization is made up of ten different divisions, two of which are ones I have experience in; Combat and Intelligence. All ten divisions are dispersed throughout the globe among our two hundred and twenty-eight bases and work together to achieve our missions. The globe is broken down into fifty-two different Regions, and all of the bases in each Region report to their respective Region Command Center. The fifty-two RCC’s report to High Command, which is the main control center of our entire operations. They make sure that each Region is performing up to standard by making sure that they have the necessary money, supplies and manpower to succeed.”
Commander Bradshaw flipped through about a dozen slides with various logos, pictures, and locations of bases. I barely caught any of the information since he flipped through them rather quickly.