Tyler slowly lifted his head, blinking at the unexpected sunlight pouring in from the window next to his bunk. He looked around the room, most of the other cadets were either getting clothed or just laying in their beds, playing on their phones.
Tyler shifted to pick up his own phone and check the time on it, it read:
5:53AM
"Just a few more minutes, and the drill sergeants will come knocking down the door" Tyler chuckled to himself. Deciding that he didn't want to be caught in bed and not ready, he groggily pulled off his sleeping bag and grabbed his burgeon to change into a fresh uniform. Once he was fully dressed, he started putting his boots on, giving them a quick check to make sure there wasn't any dirt of smudges of them before putting them on.
"Yo, Tyler, you don't happen to have any polish left do ya?" Tyler looked up to the bunk beside him and saw his friend, Mitchell, looking over his boots with a cloth and a metal tin of boot polish that looked as though it was almost gone.
Sighing, Tyler replied, "Seriously Mitchell, you need to stop using so much polish, you realise that you don't need THAT much at a time right?"
"I know, but i just want to make sure my boots are clean that's all"
"Yeah, if you keep this up, you'll forget to clean yourself too" Tyler chuckled, Mitchell replied by throwing the dirty polish cloth at him. Tyler caught it and threw it back at Mitchell, who began to put his boots on.
Tyler grabbed his beret and checking it over, making sure it didn't have any fluff on it before putting it on, and readjusting it on his head. Tyler scanned over to the other side of the room, and spotted Dylan, Chris and Jeremy cleaning up there beds and putting no their own uniforms.
A few minutes had passed, the officers had come in to wake the cadets up and check the rooms. Once the inspection was done, they sent the cadets on their way to the canteen to get breakfast. Tyler Sat with his friends and chatted about what their plans were if they actually got jobs and their own homes.
Tyler wanted to work in a war museum in London, and to have an apartment/flat there all to himself.
Mitchell wanted to make his own company and make lots of money, and live in a big house on the city.
Both Dylan and Chris wanted to continue on working in the army and hopefully get high positions on the army.
Jeremy just said how he hoped he would at least make enough money to move out and away from his overprotective mother and uncaring father, and plus help his sister out as well.
After breakfast, the cadets did their usual ritual, showering, cleaning their teeth and lining up outside the building, ready for the announcement from the colonel. Eventually, the colonel walked out and stood in front of the big group of cadets.
"Good morning cadets" The colonel said to the kids, who in which replied with a loud "Good Morning" back.
"Today, we begin our first day of training, and remember, don't expect to get a break like in school, we expect you take pull your own weight and to help others if they really need it"
"Our first exercise is to find an enemy base deep in the woods and grab any intelligence and combatants we find, so you WILL be on your guard at all times, just because your firing blanks doesn't mean you will sit back and expect no trouble."
"I must warn you, the woods we are about to step into have had a lot of strange happenings over the decades, people going missing and sightings of big animals in the area, so you must stay together at all times and Always keep eyes on the back of your heads, do you understand?"
"YES COLONEL!"
After the colonels speech to the young soldiers, the officers sent them to the armoury to grab their rifles and kit they would be carrying with them for their trip. Some of the cadets chatted about the potential danger of the woods, but quickly dismissed it, at least most of the did, the exceptions being Mitchell who was quite literally quivering in his boots.
I didn't help when Jeremy started talking about the local folklore about the woods.
"Apparently, the Native Americans had some sort of bond with these "Wolf People", so much so that they would help each other in times of need. but when the settlers came in, they tried to force the natives out of their homes, but the wolf-men fended them off so that they could escape to another tribe"
Chris just laughed and patted Jeremy on the shoulder, "I know you like all those old hocus pocus stories but my god!, do you actually like believe in all that stuff"
Jeremy just shoved Chris slightly.
"Hey, it interesting, plus iv'e got some good stories to scare people out of their pyjamas" Jeremy chuckled.
"Look guys, the natives were probably talking about some giant wolves or something, it could be just that, but if we all just stay together and keep each others backs clear, we'll make it through this exercise, okay?" Tyler said to the group, they nodded in agreement.
"Hey guys, looks like they're taking us there in those trucks" Dylan said, pointing to several groups of cadets jumping into a few big trucks.
"Alright guys, lets go, i guess we'll find out what's in those woods soon enough" Tyler said, jogging over to the closest truck, his friends right behind him.