Chapter 2: First blood (Kevin)
We wake up after our first night at the base. It wasn't too bad since we are already used to the military life. The training we did back at home for the past 4 months was useful after all.
"Well, guys we should hit the gym. Get it out of the way early," said Bruce.
"What do you mean get it out of the way?" asked Thain.
"Did you read the back of the slip you were given? It outlines all the rules," said Bruce.
"I was so excited yesterday, I must have missed that," said Thain.
"Well, basically we are expected to go to the gym 4 times a week. Have gun range practice 2 times a week. And oddly enough help put part of the base together 1-2 times a week. Whatever that means," said Bruce.
"I don't like how it says 1-2 times a week. You can't give a range like that since most people will see it as 1 time. And It's not really clear at all what we are supposed to do," I said.
"We will figure it out. Perhaps even on our way to the gym," said Revin.
I look around the room and notice Hawkeye isn't in the room. I begin to do what I usually do and worry about worst-case scenario. "Where is Hawkeye?" I asked.
Thain looks at his watch and says "He was likely up an hour ago to go do his thing. He will be back any second now."
Hawkeye immediately walks into the room as Thain said he would. I always forget that those 2 lived together since the start of the war. It feels like the war has lasted years but It's only been 10 months.
"Let’s go get jacked boys," said Thain making his way to the gym.
"Bro. You can't go to the gym in your boxers," I said to Thain who is standing outside the door only in his underwear.
"Says who?" asked Thain.
"Says the military code of conduct," I laughed.
"That's gay," said Thain still standing outside.
"Put some goddamn pants on!" yelled a feminine voice.
"Hi, Taylor!" Waved Thain without a care in the world.
You can hear a couple of chuckles from outside the barracks. Thain comes inside and puts clothe's on and we head to the gym.
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We arrive at the gym and see a man standing in a booth. Bruce walks up to him and the man hands him a notepad.
"Sign your names," said the man. We each sign our names and proceed to the gym.
"What do we do first?" asked Revin.
Thain grabs a pair of 3-pound dumbbells and starts making it seem like he's struggling with it.
"Yeah! Feel the burn!" yelled Thain so the whole world can hear.
Everyone in the weight room starts to laugh.
"Should we do legs first?" I asked trying to ignore the laughing.
"I don't do legs," said Thain.
"Too good for legs?" asked one of the guys from yesterday.
"Nope. Just don't like doing them," said Thain.
"Your probably just too embarrassed to show everyone how weak your legs are," said the guy.
Thain looks at the 3-pound weights and looks at the guy and says, "whats your name?"
"Nile. I'm surprised I'm good enough to know my name," said Nile.
"Cant you just let us be?" I asked.
Nile starts to laugh like an idiot.
Hawkeye let's out a deep sigh and says, "leg press challenge. Nile verse Thain. Let this be the end of it."
"I thought you'd never ask," said Nile walking over to the leg press machine.
"Ladies first," said Thain pointing to the leg press.
Nile shakes his head and says, "load on 300 pounds to start with,"
"Minimum of 5 reps," said Cucumber jr who is at the gym too.
Nile lays on the leg press and pushes the sled up 5 times.
"Your turn," said Nile.
"Uhh. 350 please," said Thain.
The leg press is set to 350 pounds and Thain pumps 5 reps no problem.
"400," said Nile. The leg press is set to 400 pounds and Nile struggles to do 5 reps.
"450," said Thain. The leg press is set to 450 pounds and Thain lays on the machine and gets ready to start.
"I admit that I lost. You don't need to do anymore," said Nile softly.
Thain gets off the machine and reaches out his hand to Nile. Nile looks around and sees all the people in the room watching. He turns away and leaves the room.
"Fuck the spectators," said Thain.
Everyone who was watching pretended like they weren't watching.
"Fuck it ab day," said Thain.
"We gotta warm up on the bikes man," I said.
"Where are the bikes?" asked Bruce.
"On the platform," said a guy.
We see stairs leading up to a platform with all the cardio stuff facing the weight room.
"Damn. No chicks," said Bruce.
"I'm sure some will show up soon," said Revin.
We walk up the stairs and hop on the bikes. We look down at the weight room and see a guy get on the leg press.
"Monkey see monkey do. Now he's going to try one up you guys," said Hawkeye.
The guy raises the weight of the leg press more.
"Shit. He didn't even work his way up. He's fucked," said Thain.
The guy pushes the sled up and it immediately crashes down on the bottom and makes a loud crash. The guy screams and I notice the safety bar broke off and he is stuck. The 5 of us race down to him and try to push to sled off of the guy.
"We got this boy! Come on!" yelled Bruce
We push with all our might and the sled starts to move up.
"keep going!" yelled Bruce.
We push the sled up enough for Cucumber to pull out the guy. We get the sled to the top and Thain kicks the stopper out. We let go and I find myself shaking with adrenaline. The guy stopped screaming but starts shaking uncontrollably. My guess is he is going into shock. There is nothing I can do to help him at this point.
"Help is coming, just hang in there," said Cucumber.
I look at the leg press and see that he set the leg press to 650 pounds. What the hell is wrong with this guy. The guy starts screaming again louder than ever. I look and don't seem to see any visible damage anywhere on his body. Captain Cooper runs into the room and kneels down to the guy.
"Where does it hurt!" Said Cooper. The guy screams and gives no response. Cooper looks at the leg press for a moment and looks back at the guy.
"Show me with your hands where it hurts," said Cooper.
The guy sets his hands on each leg and screams, "I can't move my legs!"
Cooper looks over to the leg press again and stands up. He grabs a knife from his belt and holds it over the guys' right leg. Everyone freezes and doesn't know what to do.
"Wait! No! I don't want to die," yelled the guy.
"Of course not," said Cooper as he let's go of the knife letting it fall. The guy quickly moves his leg to dodge the knife. "Cowards never want to die," said Cooper.
"Are you insane!" yelled the guy.
Cooper crouches down closer to the guy and says, "yes. yes, I am. The shit recruits pull to avoid combat may be what made me insane. Now tell me. Was it for the attention, or did you think it would get you out?"
The guy speechlessly stars at Cooper. Cooper grabs the guy by the collar and pulls him to his feet. The guy seems to be standing without any problem. The guy is so terrified of Cooper he still hasn't said a word.
"Where is it again that you hurt?" asked Cooper.
"Nowhere," said the guy softly.
"Wow! Your legs are healed already. Show me how to heal super quick," said Cooper whos tone is playful.
"My legs were never hurt. I was faking! Alright!" yelled the guy.
"You say all right but I'm too your left! Are you playing games with me boy! Let's play a game that I call DROP AND GIVE ME 50!" yelled Cooper.
"But I didn't say all right!" said the guy.
"Do you think I'm def boy! I have perfect hearing! Maybe I need to get my eyes checked though cuz I don't see you doing pushups," said Cooper.
The guy gets down on the ground and starts doing pushups. Cooper sits on the guys back.
"I forgot my book. Tell me a story," said Cooper.
"I don't know any stories, sir," said the guy.
"Then make one up," said Cooper.
"I can't sir," said the guy.
"Unless you have something wrong with your head you can. Watch. There once was a coward who faked an injury to get out of a war. He was dumb and didn't realize that the medical staff would be able to tell that he wasn't actually hurt. The coward's awesome captain wanted to teach him a lesson so he didn't call off the emergency team," said Cooper.
Suddenly a women followed by 2 men with a stretcher run in the room.
"Oooo I'm sorry. I didn't know they would send in sweet ass baby Ruth," said Cooper.
"I told you not to call me that coop," said Ruth who is blushing.
"Silly me. I wasn't thinking. All I was thinking was how mad you will be when you find out this young fella faked his injury," said Cooper in his sweet talk voice.
"Do you have any idea how much work it is to rush here! We are very short on staff and if anyone had an emergency right now they would have to wait! You are a selfish coward ass wipe who needs some balls! Come with me right now! Your going to work at the hospital for the day!" yelled Ruth.
"You can have him for the month. Just make sure he still has time to get all his training and stuff done if that's not too much baby Ruth," said Cooper.
"I didn't sign up for this," said the guy.
"I'll make it a year if you complain again in front of this nice lady," said Cooper.
The guy follows Ruth out of the room. Cooper turns around and starts to do a magician bow saying "thank you, thank you, thank you very much. I'm here forever,"
Thain starts clapping and cheering alone to be an ass.
"But seriously. Go back to whatever you were doing," said Cooper.
We go back onto the bikes and I'm still shaking from the adrenaline. I'm pretty surprised the 5 of us lifted that 650-pound sled with our arms. There wasn't much to grab either but we still managed.
"My babe senses are tingling. Let's move to the back row," said Bruce.
"You thirsty bro?" asked Hawkeye.
Bruce chuckled and moved to the second row of bikes and we followed. "My arms hurt like a bitch now," said Thain.
"Yeah, I pulled something too. Didn't get much warm up in before that shit happened," said Bruce.
"There are no warm-ups in battle. Keep that in mind, "said Cucumber who just got on a bike beside me.
"That is very true," said Bruce.
"That was your guy's first conflict. It wasn't battle but it was still a conflict. You did well to work together and lift that sled," said Cucumber.
"I don't think any of us even thought about it. We just acted," said Revin.
A few girls start walking up the stairs to our platform and under Bruce's breath he says, "hell yeah."
"All men that are not in the front cardio stations move to the front ones! The back is for the ladies!" yelled Cooper.
"damnit," said Bruce.
We move to the front bikes and pedal the rest of the hour.
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We shower up and make our way to our barracks.
"Guys! Wait up!" Said Cucumber. "Yes sergeant?" asked Bruce.
"We have new orders. Your squad is to be geared and ready for battle in 20 minutes at the helipads," said Cucumber.
"That wasn't long," I said.
"What wasn't?" asked Cucumber.
"Our time here. We just got here and were already being sent on a mission," I said.
"Welcome to the army trooper," said Cucumber before walking away.
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We quickly gear up and get to the helipad.
"Today you will be accompanying me on a scouting mission. We will be checking out medium danger areas near the base. Only engage hostiles when I say, and stay close to me. It will just be the 6 of us and I want to come back with all 6," said Cucumber jr.
"We get to take a helicopter!" yelled Thain excitedly.
"No. We need to be stealth, so we go on foot," said Cucumber.
"I'm not so much in the walking mood," said Thain humorously.
Cucumber shakes his head and says, "we will be driven some of the way. But then It's all on foot."
"Today will be a bow day," said Hawkeye getting a feel for the bows flex.
"You're bringing a bow?" asked Cucumber.
"Also a colt and a sniper. But I’ll have my bow out," said Hawkeye.
"If you can't kill someone at 60 meters, Then you will be a liability. It would be more comforting knowing that I have actual firepower with everyman behind me. I mean no offence and I'm sorry if I did. But perhaps it would be best if you brought a Thompson or something," said Cucumber.
Hawkeye quickly draws an arrow and fires it. "I will admit that was fast. But is it fatal?" asked Cucumber.
"Go see for yourself? That birch tree about 75 meters is what I aimed for," said Hawkeye.
"That's pretty far. Did you hit it?" asked Cucumber.
"Go see," said Hawkeye.
We go over to the birch tree and there is no arrow in it.
"Well, you missed the birch. But the arrow is pretty deep in the tree behind it. I'm sorry but no bow," said Cucumber.
"Not very observant sergeant. If you look you will see that the feathers on this arrow are almost completely gone. Did you think about what might have happened to the feathers? And you missed this," said Hawkeye putting an arrow through a hole the size of the arrow in the birch tree.
"Ooooo Cucumber just got burned," said Thain.
"Your arrow actually went cleanly through a tree with about a 6-inch diameter. At that distance. Good enough for me," said Cucumber.
"I can put an arrow right through a person. And at medium range I can likely hit a hostile more accurately and quietly than your Thompson," said Hawkeye.
"Truly amazing. We wasted enough time though. Let's get moving," said Cucumber.
We get into a willies jeep and head out for our first mission.
"Remember. This is not a shoot on sight mission. We are only checking to see if there is any hostile activity in spots that have been active before. Stay on your toes, get your finger off the triggers until your ready to shoot," said Cucumber.
"Shouldn't we be ready in case we are ambushed?" asked Thain.
"It doesn't take long to move your finger to the trigger. If you leave it on there... Let's just say accidents happen," said Cucumber.
"Should I have even brought my browning on this mission? If we don't intend on being in a gunfight then why should I lug this thing around? especially if there will be a lot of walking," said Thain.
"Yes. You are the squad gunner and the squad gunner brings his LMG. It doesn't matter whether we intend on fighting or not. This is war. Not everything goes as planned and you have to be ready for anything," said Cucumber.
Cucumber seems to be letting off a frustrated vibe in his sentences. I can't tell if It's because we are asking stupid questions. Or if he just doesn't like us.
"Sergeant, are you mad at us?" asked Bruce. "No, I'm not mad at you guys. I'm just frustrated," said Cucumber.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frustrate you with my questions," said Thain.
"That's not what it is. These orders just seem questionable. I don't know why HQ would send you guys for this mission. You have no experience and not much training. Sending you basically alone on a mission is less than ideal. Especially since you guys are so important," said Cucumber.
"Don't worry sergeant! Experience isn't everything! Remember this is the next brown brigade yours with! We got the spirit, willpower and heart to fight! We won't let you down!" said Revin in an upbeat tone.
Cucumber chuckles.
"Sir. You said we are so important. Why are we so important?" asked Thain.
"Because of your potential. You guys are expected to play a big role in this war. A Lot of people are counting on you," said Cucumber.
"I don't get what it is that makes us be so important. We are as overrated and overhyped as it gets," said Bruce.
"I guess we will see," said Cucumber.
Everyone stays quiet for the rest of the ride. We arrive at the drop off point and we get out of the jeep. The jeep heads back to base and we are officially on foot.
"Stay close to each other and keep your eyes peeled. If anything seems suspicious you tell me, understood?" asked Cucumber.
"Yes sir," we said.
"Sir. This is a pretty suspicious pine cone. It looks dangerous," said Thain holding an ordinary pine cone.
"You done now?" asked Cucumber giving Thain the look that says It's really not the time.
"Yeah," said Thain.
"Follow me," said Cucumber.
We follow the sergeant through the woods cautiously for 25 minutes and come across what looks like an old camping spot. There is some wrappers laying around and firepit formed with rocks. Cucumber slows his speed and gives us the hand sign for eyes open, and stay quiet. We slowly approach the camp guns pointed forward with no sign of hostiles yet. We continue to progress until we reach the rock fire pit. Cucumber scans the area with his eyes and lowers his Thompson. Hawkeye crouches down in front of the firepit and feels the rocks and the ashes.
"Nothing still burning and the rocks aren't warm so this wasn't lit within the past 48 hours. But there is still a fair amount of ashes still which means it isn't that old either. I'm guessing this fire was lit 3-6 days ago," said Hawkeye.
"Well done. Spread out but stay within 20 meters of me at all times," said Cucumber.
I walk over to a wrapper and read the label. It's definitely German. The package size and shape looks like food ration packaging.
"Sir. German food ration package," I said.
"Regroup here," said Cucumber.
We walk to Cucumber and he says, "well that takes allies out of the question."
"Do we report back?" asked Bruce.
"I will radio base and tell them what we found," said Cucumber pulling out a small radio.
"Hedgehog base this is sergeant Cucumber jr do you read?" asked Cucumber.
There is a response in the radio and Cucumber starts telling them what we found and I can't help but notice Hawkeye staring at a large hawk in the sky.
"Nice hawk ehy?" I asked.
"Largest most beautiful hawk I have ever seen," said Hawkeye.
"Well, guys. HQ wants us to keep moving. So let's move out," said Cucumber.
"Sounds good boss," said Thain.
"On me," said Cucumber leading us further on.
We follow Cucumber through the woods for an hour without a word. You can feel the anxiety radiating from everyone as we move forward. Hawkeye puts his hand on Cucumber to get his attention then makes the signal for halt. Cucumber makes the signal for, do you see something. Hawkeye makes the sign for, be still and quiet. A few crows flee from a bush 50 meters in front of us and Hawkeye quickly draws his bow and waits.
"Not yet. Hold," Whispered Cucumber.
Cucumber signals get down and find cover quietly. There is a bolder to our right and me, Revin and Thain slowly get behind it while Cucumber and Hawkeye take cover behind a large fallen tree to the left. 4 hostiles walk out from behind the bush and they don't seem to notice us. We look at Cucumber for orders and he signals, stay low. Cucumber and Hawkeye are discussing something very quietly.
We can't hear what they are saying over here. Cucumber signals to us to stay down unless ordered not to. Cucumber pulls out a silenced M1911 colt and Hawkeye redraws his bow. Cucumber peaks over the log and signals to us disregard last order. Hostile count 5. You guys get your knifes ready. me, Thain and Revin pull out our knives and wait patiently. I see the first hostile walk past us without seeing.
My heart is pounding like a drum and it gets worse as 2 more walks 4 meters beside me. Cucumber and Hawkeye spring up from behind the log. Hawkeye puts an arrow right through the hostile in the back and Cucumber shoots 4 rounds into the hostile beside that one. The three of us immediately jump the 3 whose attention was on Cucumber and Hawkeye and we slit their throats. I watch as blood flows out of human beings neck at my feet. And I'm the one who did it. If he has a wife and kids back at home, they will never see him again thanks to me. Cucumber puts his hand on me to snap me out of it.
"The first is always the hardest troop. Get used to it and get your head out of your ass. This was likely a scouting party," said Cucumber.
"The blood on my knife, the bloodstained in my uniform. It will all wash out. But the blood in my memory will never wash away," said Hawkeye.
Cucumber radios HQ and requests evac.
"The hostiles were headed south. So the rest should be north," I said.
"We will be getting air pickup in T-minus 5 minutes. Let's head east and I will signal with red smoke when I see the heli. Double time," said Cucumber wasting no time leading us out of there.
We double-time through the woods for a few minutes and we see the helicopter. Cucumber pops the red smoke in a clearing in the woods and waves his arms. The helicopter lowers down towards us and we load onto it. The helicopter lifts up off the ground and we head back to base.
"How did we do for our first mission sarge?" asked Thain.
Cucumber looks out the window of the helicopter and says. "it's not over yet."
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