I had no idea how long I had been asleep. When I finally woke up, I realized I was no longer tied down. Taking the opportunity to scan the room, I stood up to stretch. The stuff bed that I woke up on was placed in the center of the room. A small window was letting in light and showed that it was day time.
Besides the bed, there was a small dresser on the opposite wall from the bed and a door opposite from the window. I looked down and noticed I was wearing a set of simple grey sweatpants and a sweatshirt. When I checked the dresser, I saw it was lined neatly with the same military uniforms that I had seen the day before.
'I guess I'll go ahead and change.'
Unfortunately there was no mirror for me to check myself out in. While dealing with the unfortunate lack of a mirror I decided to try the door. It opened right up into a hallway that extended in both directions. Doors dotted the hallway, each having a name plaque. Checking the outside of my own door, I saw a plaque with the words, 'Private Whiles'.
'Huh, I officially have a rank now.'
Not knowing which way to go, I took off towards the right. After waking down the hallways for around five minutes, I ended up at a set of double doors. Bracing myself, I opened the doors.
The doors opened out into a large, circular field. Men and women could be seen doing various different exercises. Some were running, some were challenging obstacles, and others were even doing combat drills.
A small tent was set up to my right. Inside the tent was a man sitting at a desk. His name tag read 'Sergeant Gallan'. I started walking to the tent as he looked up.
"It's about time you joined us, Private Whiles. Welcome to basic."
The Sergeant pulled a whistle out of his pocket and blew on it.
"Line up maggots! Private Whiles finally decided to drag his lazy ass to join us! Since none of you decided to make sure he got up on time, everyone will run 15 laps around the compound! NOW!"
As I looked around, I noticed looks of distress on my new comrades faces. I raced to join them as we started running around the field. At first, it wasn't so bad. After the second lap, my opinion had changed. My new uniform started to feel uncomfortable as the sweltering head bore down on me. I never even realized I was out of shape until this moment.
By the time I made it to the fourth lap, I was starting to lag behind. A woman, who was just ahead of me, turned around as she noticed my plight. She slowed down to match my speed before speaking to me.
"Don't worry, Whiles, only 11 more laps to go."
The words she said seemed a bit rude, but it didn't come off that way to me.
"Of course you would say that. I'm dying over here but you've barely broken a sweat!"
I could barely get out the words in between my labored breathing.
"Usually, those in this life path have a background in physical activity. My father served in the military, so I would often be forced to run drills at home. What about you?"
She chuckled as she smirked at me.
"Mom's… a secretary, dad's a te-teacher."
It was taking everything I had not to drop to the ground on the spot.
"My name is Pratt, by the way. Hey, look at that! We're on the last lap!"
I would have cried out in relief had I not been about to pass out from over exertion. Pratt kept pace with me as we finished out the last lap and then fell back into line. The Sergeant blew his whistle again before he announced that it was time for lunch.
I took note from the others and marched in line behind the Sergeant. We entered into the only building around, which also housed the dorms. After passing all of the dorms, we came to an intersection and took a left. Not much time later and we reached the canteen.
#
There was no one in the canteen except for us. The room contained a few tables and chairs, along with a full service vending machine. I followed the others into line and waited for my turn. Finally, my heart started to calm down now that I was no longer running. When I finally reached the vending machine, I got a cold fruit juice to drink and a sandwich.
When I turned around, I saw Pratt waving her arms to get me to come over to her table. After walking over and sitting down next to her, I noticed a few other people at the table looking at me. Pratt, then proceeded with introductions.
The first person Pratt introduced was Alex, the second one was Lisa, and the third was Mallory. Since the five of us were all in a similar situation, we started to get along really well. Unfortunately, lunch was soon over. Fortunately, Pratt had told me that after lunch was military strategy and not more physical drills.
We made our way through the building and came upon a large lecture hall. Inside the hall, the lecturer was already waiting. As soon as the last person sat down, the lecturer finally began to speak.
"The first thing that you need to know about strategy is to know your enemy as well as you know yourself. This minimizes the risk of failure…"
I listened closely as the lecturer continued to speak. We weren't allowed to have anything to write on or with so I did my best to pay attention. After an hour, I was almost in overload over all the new information. Finally the class ended and it was time to do some more physical drills out in the field.
Another few hours of exercise went by first, and then dinner in the canteen. When I finally made it back to my dorm, I almost immediately fell asleep.