"Give me 2 more reps you Sissy. Did you think that anybody gives a fuck about you because of your looks. Guess what nobody gives a fuck" shouted a man dressed in the drill instructor uniform in the boot camp near the ear of a young and handsome man around 19 years of age.
"Yes sir" shouted the man in high pitch. "I can't hear your voice" shouted the drill instructor once again near the ear of the young man. "Yes sir" shouted the young man yet again as he pushed himself hard to complete the 2 reps.
Just as he completed the 2nd rep the drill instructor made him run to the next course where he had to climb the rope using only his arms while enduring the shouts of the drill sergeant. He was then made to lift a cement block weighing around 10 kgs and made to run around the ground and by the end of the gruelling training the young man layer flat on his back not paying attention to the taunts of the drill instructor.
—————————————————Scene change————————————-
Shouts could be heard from the sides cheering on the two men as they engage in a fight while wearing headgear, boxing gloves and bulletproof jackets. The same young man could be seen taking blows and giving blows to his opponent. During one of the exchange, the man whom the young man was fighting used a feint with his left fist making the young man on guard towards his left while the other person gave a clean punch to the right side of face of the young man almost knocking him out had he not worn the head gear.
Furious with himself the young man's nervousness reduced a lot and started to fight in equal terms with the other man and started to focus more on body shots and reducing the mobility of the other man before finishing him off with a hook and passing the test.
The young man was tired and so were everyone who took the test along with him. The drill instructor said that it was the Final test and it continued for 54 hours and completed with a simulation of getting caught up in building demolition and despite the pain and tiredness most were looking forward to completing it as once it was completed they would officially complete the first phase of their training for US marine.
------------------ Scene change -----------------
The same young man could be seen doing training exercise in advanced infantry training in the school of infantry. The location was in North Carolina. Apart from intense combat training and weapons training to get the recruits battle ready there were many psychological test conducted and a group of 14 were chosen by the training instructor as the best in the class and the young man was selected as the fifth.
The young man could also be seen giving a good impression towards the instructors and smiling while talking with his friends from the camp.
------------------ Scene change ------------------
Hot weather with warmness every once in a while and sandy winds are a normal scenery which every marine faces when they get deployed at California and Mexican border.
The young man could be seen walking alongside his squad in his camp talking about their duty to guard the highly volatile border which was filled with Mexican drug smugglers, cartel members who breach border to enter US soil and finally those who enter the US soil illegally i.e illegal immigrants in search of jobs.
The young man looked a bit older and more matured than when he graduated from the School of infantry as he had already completed a tour being stationed in Okinawa Japan. Though he had participated in a few training exercise he had not actually involved in any combat.
Like the past few weeks the young man and his group patrol around the border when a member of the group was alerted by a shade of light he saw flashing against against a rock.
"Yo, I saw a flash near that rock. Let's check it out" said the member to Young man. The Young man informed the other members and started walking towards the rock alongside the other group member.
It was only a check to meet the protocol and they were not vigilant and these flashes happens always making the other members to not follow those two. Just as they walked 500 metres away from the group and near the rock when a man sprung up from behind the bushes which were near the rock catching both the young man and his team mate by surprise.
As his team mate was near the bush showing his back unguarded the man first stabbed his thigh and dropping him down his knee before slashing his neck to kill him.
The young man was so shocked that he did not react for a few moments which the attacker took to his advantage and proceeded to slash towards the young man.
With the sudden arrival of the knife towards his face the young man shook himself off and blocked the knife welding hand with his wrist, however got slashed in the process.
The blatant inexperience showed in the fight with the attacker for the young man as he barely escaped the slashes made by the attacker.
The young man did not have time to pull his gun nor could he try to shoot his assault rifle at such a close range and second he reaches for either of them, that moment of distraction could get him killed as his attacker was an expert.
With his mind blanked from the sudden life and death situation a stroke of luck seemed to kiss him as a rattle snake which had been underneath the rock seemed to have been disturbed by their fight and the attacker who was near the snake was the first one to be kissed by its fangs.
Though it couldn't reach him, that few moments of distraction was all that was needed for the young man to snap into action as he took his side arm out and shot the attacker in centre mass.
The sound of gun shots alerted his team members who rushed to the scene to see their dead team mate and a dead enemy and was explained about the situation from the young man who had just gathered himself up from puking after his first kill and tears from seeing his team mate dead.
------------------- Scene change----------------------
Hot and dry weather, sandy atmosphere, narrow roads and small houses could be seen everywhere. Civilians walk around with Ak-47 strapped behind their backs and children were playing soccer amongst themselves.
On these narrow streets a Jeep could be seen passing through the narrow roads with a group of armed forces covering their faces with a shemagh in order to blend in with the people around them.
"Hey Lieutenant don't you think we are taking the wrong turn. We should have taken the previous turn" asked a man with a map open which contained the blueprint of the routes which literally looked like a maze.
"Corporal Sean, I am not asking your opinion. It's your duty to follow my orders. Do you understand" asked the lieutenant in an authoritative tone but his face was sandy and creased and could be seen that he was confused, tired and stressed as he was not used to the streets of Afghanistan and could not make heads or tails out of them.
"Yes sir" said Sean in a discontent tone while the rest of the team members were not happy as well with the lieutenant but did not show it in their face.
Just as the Jeep was about to take another turn which seemed to be the wrong one, yet again, Sean did not retort despite his discontent. He could feel that the new lieutenant was not used to field work as he was just a qualified professional who had completed training program and was not like his team members who had actual combat experience.
Within 2 minutes of this wrong turn, just as the Jeep was about to cross a small house, spikes extended from within the house taking everyone by surprise, making the Jeep's tyre get punctured and loose control before banging on a small house. This made the people inside the Jeep disoriented.
"It's an ambush" shouted one of the soldiers inside the Jeep. Sean's head was heavy and his ears were ringing from the crash. He quickly used his two way radio to inform the Base while trying to open the door of the Jeep. A smoke grenade was thrown inside the Jeep using a grenade launcher making most of them unable to breathe and start caughing making him unable to finish his report to the base get cut.
Unable to breathe with so much smoke in a closed space Sean tried to open the door of the Jeep to escape from the inside.
Before Sean could get out of the smoke and get himself together he felt a sharp pain and met with darkness.
---------------------- Scene change -----------------
Warm yet a stale smell, rusty and metallic taste in the air, sharp pain in the throat and sore arms that's what Sean felt like when he woke up and found himself to be suspended from a rod using chains. His Shemagh was removed showing the face of the same young man who seemed to be in his mid 20's and had a handsome look to his face.
As the Shemagh was removed, the facial features which showed a drastic difference from the locals outed their identity to being the foreigners and more specifically as the US Marine.
'Green eyes' that was all Sean could think of when he saw the man in his Shemagh covering his entire face with only his cold eyes visible. Sean felt like he was being watched by a venomous snake and felt chills down his spine.
The guy talked to another guy next to him in Pashto which is spoken predominantly by the Taliban. Sean instinctively knew what would happen to him.
"Name"? asked the guy while looking at Sean. Despite knowing that what would happen if he failed to answer Sean refused to say anything while gritting his teeth expecting to get lashed by the guy.
With a sarcastic laugh the guy left the room much to Sean's confusion.
After 3 hours the same man entered the room looking a bit tired, but Sean who was suspended from a chain looked far more tired and in pain.
"Sean Walker" said the man without much smile as if mocking Sean's previous resolve.
'What? How did he know? Did someone talk. That's impossible!!. We were trained to not talk during these cases nor are my squad mates pussies to break so quickly'.
"Now, why don't you tell me all about your base, security protocols, outpost sentries and patrolling routes, teams and their time schedule" asked the guy in the Shemagh with a cold eye and with a raspy voice as if he had a habit of clearing a phlegm filled throat with menthol.
----------------- At present --------------------
Warm morning with a clear sky, with sun out and birds chirping it could be said a perfect day for work, hunting, camping and adventuring however the air around one of the luxurious mansion within the Golem city was heavy.
Inside one of the rooms Sean Walker could be seen sleeping while his REM was visible while his body was twitching and sweating despite the cold temperature inside the room suggesting that he was having a nightmare.
All of a sudden his eyelids opened and he sat up quickly while breathing heavily and wiping the sweat trickling down his eyebrow before lying down on his back.
"Why now?" asked Sean to himself in a confused tone.