"Come on worms, wake up! "A scream sounded in the barracks as water was suddenly poured out on everyone who hadn't woken up.
Ralph woke up and looked around, just to twitch the corners of his mouth.
It was still night, but some soldiers were shouting and throwing water at anyone who did not wake up with a hose.
Ralph didn't hesitate and got up quickly, even so the soldier splashed water on him.
"Why !?" Ralph shouted.
"This is not your home, organize your bed!" The soldier screamed as he poured water on someone else.
Ralph suppressed his anger and made the bed.
"My God, you look like kids, don't tell me you didn't expect this. What? Do you think that because you have these skills you are superior? Do you think you will receive different treatment? I have news for you! You are just worms that don't know how to defend yourselves! "
A man got angry and tried to attack the soldier who was shouting with stones that suddenly came out of the ground.
The soldier was not flustered and drew a stun gun, knocking the attacker down effortlessly.
"Ha! Look, at least one of you has some fiber! But that is useless without proper training! Your miserable presence is mandatory on the training ground, you have ten minutes to present in uniform and with the shave! And cut your ugly hair too, there are machines for that in your closets. " The soldier shouted and withdrew, leaving everyone stunned.
Ralph took a deep breath and went to the closet itself, after opening it, he discovered that there was a hair clipper, but he doesn't remember having one before ...
Victor also noticed this and commented:
"They must have put it here while we slept ..."
Ralph thought the same thing, and realized that if they were an enemy, he would be dead ...
After cutting his hair without hesitation, Ralph created a mirror with his skill, and saw the disgrace he became with short hair.
"Sigh ..." Ralph shook his head and put on his uniform and put on his boots.
Victor seemed to be ready too, and the two left the quarters together as they went to the training ground.
But what caught the attention of the two, was that the women seemed to have had to cut their hair too, as they were all with shoulder-length hair.
Ralph thought this was fair, if women were treated differently, it could lead to discord.
Only after everyone had reached the field, a lieutenant of robust stature shouted:
"Today you are going to learn the basics of how to behave like soldiers ... Maybe some of you have served in your countries and know this, but you had to go through training again."
Soon after, a translator spoke the same thing in Spanish.
In fact, Portuguese and Spanish are very similar languages, and it was no problem for anyone to understand the other language in a rough way. But it seems that it was decided by the superiors that a translator is needed.
After the translator finished speaking, the training started. It was basically about parading and how to walk in formation in a synchronized way. Then the training included weapons, such as carrying them properly during a parade or training tour.
The carriers only had a break when the sun came up for breakfast, and then the training continued until lunch.
Lunch was basically the same for everyone. Rice, beans, meat, salad and juice.
"Hells, how is this going to help us fight beasts?" Victor asked out loud.
Ralph laughed and said:
"Perhaps the beasts would be frightened by our synchronized steps."
"Haha, maybe. But honestly, this boots is uncomfortable like a rock, it feels like I'm barefoot whenever I walk."
There was no cafeteria, everyone ate outdoors, some sat on the floor, others made tables with their skills.
"Why don't you make us a table? Can't you create things out of nothing?" Victor asked Ralph.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not a God, it's impossible to create things out of nothing. My ability is to create illusions." Ralph spoke as he sighed.
Victor was surprised for a moment, and replied:
"But then, how do those guys manage to create flames and water out of nothing?"
"I don't think it's out of the blue, everything that is needed to create water or flames is already in the air, I believe that their skills just "build" it."
Victor's eyes shone in illumination.
"But after all, what is your skill?" Ralph asked Victor.
Victor stopped eating and raised his hand.
Ralph looked at his hand closely, but realized something was wrong. He was slowly floating upwards.
"Levitation, so what? Cool, isn't it?" Victor said with a smile.
Ralph swallowed his own saliva, that was more than cool.
"Honestly, all of this is looking so strange, it's like we've been played in one of those animes of heroes with special powers." Victor spoke while eating.
Ralph did not disagree, since he is correct.
"Here, take this piece of steak, I'm not that hungry." Ralph said as he offered Victor a piece of steak.
Victor's eyes lit up as he took the steak with his fork and brought it to his mouth, just to bite the empty fork.
"Hahaha" Ralph tried not to laugh.
"You got me on that one." Victor laughed too.
"Attention!" A sergeant shouted suddenly, it was Jorge, who Ralph had met earlier.
"You must go to the training ground immediately, the physical training session will begin!" Jorge screamed loudly and then left.
Ralph finished eating and went with Victor to the training ground.
"Run!" Jorge suddenly shouted.
"???" Everyone was puzzled.
"Are you deaf? I told you to run." Jorge shouted as he pointed at the field.
Half the training ground was full of obstacles, barbed wire and puddles.
"If you don't finish the entire circuit in 10 minutes, you will be assigned to clean up the entire military base. One note, you all have to reach the end of the circuit, if one of you is missing everyone will go!" Jorge said and shot up with a flag, indicating the beginning.
"One more thing, you are forbidden to use your skills during the circuit!"
"This is crazy, we just had lunch!" Victor spoke as he ran.
Ralph also started to run.
The first obstacle is a large area with barbed wire, they had to crawl under it.
Looking might seem easy, but it wasn't. Almost everyone failed with only a few making it past the first hurdle, all who passed were veterans.
Ralph swore secretly, the mud under the wire was not as simple as it looked, there was certainly some kind of chemical glide.
"Waste! All of you, go clean up! How do you plan to clean the base in these miserable conditions?" Sergeant Jorge shouted.
Ralph took a deep breath, he was very tired of the physical effort, unlike Victor, who almost passed the first obstacle and was not even sweating.
"Cheer up, I'm sure you will improve over time." Victor said to Ralph and hurried to the showers.
The showers were collective, and had no walls to separate men from women.
This infuriated all women, but the men suggested to define who would go first, thus avoiding confusion.
The women won the coin toss, and cleaned up first.
After that, the men also showered and dressed in another uniform that was already prepared for them, as if the military were already waiting for this result.
After they were both ready, both men and women went to the main courtyard, under Sergeant Jorge.
There, cleaning equipment was waiting for them, and there was no order as to where to start, only that there was a time limit to be completed, and that they could not use skills.
Ralph, fortunately, was used to helping out at his house, so he was familiar with the cleaning equipment.
Still, he was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to clear the entire military base within the time limit.
"What do you suggest?" Ralph asked Victor.
"I think we should start with the showers, that place was a mess after we used it." Victor said as he loaded two buckets of chemicals.
Ralph nodded and started bringing a broom and mop to the showers.
Some had the same idea as them, but not everyone has the same practicality as Ralph.
The rest of the day was all about general cleaning, but when the sun went down, time was up for all carriers.
"It seems that I underestimated you, to think that you wouldn't be able to clean even half the base, I have no words to express my admiration." Jorge shouted from the dais in the courtyard.
Everyone was tired of cleaning, especially Ralph.
"Well, that would be your punishment for not completing the circuit, I never imagined that you would not be able to complete this task either." Jorge spoke while spitting on the floor.
"I never imagined a day that I would need to punish men and women for not carrying out a punishment. You will have to spend the rest of the night washing your uniforms and boots, they look exactly like your performance." Jorge shouted and left.
The uniforms that were clean when picked up, were now covered in dirt, in addition they would need to wash the previously used uniforms.
Fortunately, they still had dinner, but they would not be allowed to eat until they finished washing their uniforms.
Ralph could barely stand up after he was finished, and walked with Victor's help to the place where dinner was being distributed.
It was two pieces of meat, bread, cheese and juice.
Ralph didn't care what the food looked like and ate it up quickly.
Seeing this, Victor laughed and said:
"If you continue like this, I'm sure that when the training is over you will have a decent body."
Ralph didn't pay much attention and leaned against a corner with his hand over his belly.
"Hicup" Ralph burped.
Ralph never imagined that eating after so much effort could be so pleasurable, it was as if the ugly floor had become a comfortable bed, Ralph's eyes were almost closing.
"Wake up, worms, you're still not allowed to rest." A thick voice woke everyone who was dozing.
"Tsk, to think that you would be so weak, how the hell did you get those skills? Many more capable men than you died fighting these monsters."
It is not as if everyone were that bad, some had good results as novices, while others had already served in the armed forces. But in the eyes of those on the front lines, they are all useless.
"The commander ordered all the carriers of skills to appear at the east wall at this moment, fouls will not be accepted!"
Ralph's eyes were red, but he got up and started walking towards the east wall with Victor.
Being angry wouldn't do any good, since he didn't want to give up on the first day or fight who knows about his ability.
When he reached the wall, Ralph saw a large projection on the wall, with José on a dais beside him.
"Finally you arrived, I thought I would need to wait for you to rest." José spoke coldly.
Nobody dared to reply.
"The reason I called you here today is to destroy this image of heroes that you must have in your head. Maybe you thought you were special because you carried special skills, right? Well ..." José pointed to the projection , a video had just started.
In the video, three men were fighting a three-meter-high beast, it looked like a minotaur and carried a wooden log with one hand.
-This looks more and more like a game ...
Ralph thought bitterly.
The three Men were not using weapons, but skills. One of them could create flames out of nothing, another seemed to have control over the wind while the other had nothing apparent, but managed to lift a wooden log as if it were a feather.
José suddenly paused the video and said:
"How many of you think they will win? Raise your hand."
About 2/3 of the carriers raised their hands.
José then asked:
"How many of you think they are going to lose?"
Almost everyone else raised their hand, except for a few exceptions, like Ralph.
Victor didn't raise his hand either.
After that, the video rolled again.
The man who controls the flames cannot create flames bigger than a basketball, neither does he seem to have good control and cannot launch the flames in the direction of the beast.
The man who controls the wind does not do it with great precision and sufficient power, and cannot harm the beast.
Only the man who managed to lift the log could fight the beast and cause some damage, but he was in imminent danger and if a single blow from the beast hit him, he would probably die.
As the video continued, the expressions of those with skills fluctuated without ceasing, and finally the end came.
The man who controls the flames managed to get close enough to the minotaur to hit an effective attack, which infuriated the beast and made it divert the attention of the man who was struggling with the log. The beast spun the wooden log it held very tightly towards the man, killing him instantly.
The man who controls the wind then took advantage of the situation to unbalance the beast, giving the man with the log the opportunity to hit an attack on it's head, but that was not enough to kill it.
The minotaur let out a powerful roar, making the windman's eardrums burst. The beast took advantage and hit him with an empty hand.
But before the beast could turn around, another attack hit her in the same spot on the head, destroying her skull and finally killing her.
The remaining man, tired, releases the log and falls to the floor exhausted.
The video then ends.
"So, who won and who lost?" José asked the carriers.
The carriers were silent. Two people died to take down a single beast, can this be considered a victory?
Ralph thought for a moment and came to a conclusion: The beast lost, but the human side also lost. Two men for a single beast, this is certainly unfavorable for the human side.
Even so, Ralph didn't raise his hand, he hoped that José still wanted to speak or show something.
"Looks like you guys haven't come to a conclusion, huh. Well, introduce yourself, Lieutenant Marcos." José spoke.
A man suddenly climbed onto the platform, it was the same man who was fighting the minotaur with the log.
"This is Lieutenant Marcos, he was the one who killed the video beast." José explained.
"It's been three weeks since he killed the beast, he got his first ability the day before the fight."
-First?
Ralph noticed a detail.
"After killing the minotaur, he gained another ability, but he was not satisfied, he continued to fight every beast that stood in his way, and achieved a unique feat in South America, he killed 7 beasts!"
Everyone swallowed their own saliva.
"He was assigned to this base to assist in your training, but don't think he will teach everything. He also doesn't know much about the platform, he will just try to teach you how to survive in combat." José spoke and waved to Marcos.
"I hope we can get along well from now on." Marcos spoke while looking coldly at the carriers.
Ralph had a bad feeling, as did all the carriers, but he kept his composure.
"After finishing basic military training, he will accompany you in intensive training, which will be the real training." José spoke with a smile.
"I was already forgetting, an official name has been decided for people with special abilities. They will be called Walkers from now on, but don't ask me why, since I have no idea."
"If someone doesn't understand something, you can ask the translator, he will explain it to you." José pointed to the translator next to him.
"Very well, you are excused!" José spoke and got off the platform with Marcos.
Ralph sighed, these officers looked so carefree.
Ralph shook his head and said to Victor:
"Let's go to sleep, I bet they'll wake us up in the morning like before."
Victor agreed and went to the dorm with Ralph.