All the recruits. Nearly five thousand of them stood outside on the green, well-cut grass, cooking under the hot afternoon sun. They stood; postures straight, chests puffed up, faces raised up and expressionless, and in an ordered arrangement of rows and columns. They were positioned and then numbered according to height. The shortest ones stood in front, and the tallest at the back.
This four thousand plus recruits had come in, in groups of five to six hundred every single day over the week. Bronze and Silver were among the third batch of the third batch of the third day.
(A.N: NO, that wasn't an error! Triple 3s sounds nice, doesn't it?)
"Attention!" A slim, tall one-starred soldier yelled.
The recruits unanimously raised their left legs and stomped their feet on the ground.
Boom!
The one-starred soldier stood in front them quietly for the next five minutes, looking for the first person who would show a single change in their facial expression.
After those grueling five minutes, without saying anything, he grinned and walked away, leaving the four thousand-plus recruits of varying shapes and sizes to keep cooking under the sun.
This wasn't the first time a Soldier would come and go in this manner. Across the time span of the past twelve hours, thirteen men and three women had passed in uniform. They either yelled for 'Attention'; warranting the booming sound of synonymous stomping feet, or began singing the country's anthem followed by the Militarian Pledge.
It had been a week since they began training. But all they've done was run ten miles every day while strapped to fast-flying trucks. The trucks were to ensure they were not too far behind. Anyone who was too slow or got tired would be dragged the rest of the way, until they crossed the finish line.
Needless to say, too many recruits visited the insanely large medical department with broken bones and ribs, cuts and bruises, cracked skulls, twisted body parts, someone even had a punctured eye. It scared the shit out of everyone, except the medical personnel. They didn't even pay him much attention. They simply stopped the bleeding, bandaged him up and went their way after telling him to do his best not to lose the second one as well.
Bronze was among the very injured ones. His enhanced physique ought to have helped him scale through, but he was being too nice. He kept helping everyone around him, until they dragged him down with them. By the time, he could get back on his feet, he had been dragged almost half a kilometer by the flying truck he was strapped to. By then, he had been cut and bruised by the uneven terrain. He especially had a big gash on his right arm.
The nurse who attended to him dabbed a gel-like liquid with a soft cotton cloth and told him;
"Don't stress your arm too much. It will be completely healed by tomorrow morning."
Bronze nodded in response. Already, he could feel the effects of the liquid.
Silver and some others got absolutely zero injuries right from the first day. There were various reasons for this. Some of them were used to running such ridiculous distances across equally uneven terrains for whatever reason it might be. Some were unfairly gifted with enhanced physiques like Bronze but unlike Bronze, were unconcerned with those that slowed down or got dragged. Some of them could even fly. They had the most unfair advantage. Silver expected the soldiers to beat those ones down and instruct to run like all the rest but the Soldiers did no such thing.
The next day though, Officer Bridgestone came along and said everyone was required to run with their two feet. As many of them as flew the previous day, they all paid an essential visit to the hospital this day.
After three days of running and hospital visits, most of the recruits adapted. There were more finishers, less serious injuries and more small cuts and bruises.
After the third day's race. Bridgestone summoned the uninjured recruits and yelled at them;
"You f*cking idiots! What did I say about unity and oneness?"
Majority of the recruits looked confused. When did he ever mention unity or oneness?
Officer Bridgestone realized his mistake and as a result, his angry voice got louder.
"You f*cking noobies! Even if you were too deaf to hear me in your mama and papa's house, don't you have the common sense to read the brochure sent to you along with your admission letters?"
The confused looks on the recruits reduced by about half. The other half managed to look more confused.
Bridgestone's face reddened from the angry words he was barely restraining himself from spurting out. He looked around, through the recruits and finally singled Bronze out.
"You!" HE pointed. Every recruit in that area tensed up. "Baldhead!"
Everyone touched their heads to ensure they hadn't lost enough hair over the past few days to be tagged bald.
Bronze's spine chilled immediately. He knew he was the Baldhead. He instinctively touched his right shoulder that was broken by the Officer in one move.
"Why are you still standing there?"
Bronze quickly moved forward from behind and stood in front of Officer Bridgestone.
"Stand beside me."
Bronze stood beside him at a respectful distance.
"Teach these buffoons what I've personally taught you twice."
Bronze legs shook. Oh No! He blinked in fear and gulped hard. He took in deep breaths to calm himself down. Bridgestone wasn't that patient though.
"Are you deaf?"
"No, Sir!"
"Then, speak! Loud!"
Bronze dragged in a huge amount of air, filling his lungs and then he opened his mouth.
"You will respect your colleagues, seniors and superiors. You will love each other like little girls love their Korean-blooded pop stars and little boys love their action figures. You will respect, and defend and even die for one another. Why, you ask? Simple! Because we are not a group of people in the army. We are one person. Greater than any individual, family or rivalry." Bronze shouted.
"I love it!" Bridgestone yelled. His eyes burning passionately. "Did you all f*cking hear him?"
The recruits did not dare to dilly-dally on their response.
"Yes Sir!"
"In the army, we are a person. We do not discriminate, we do not incriminate and we absolutely do not leave our comrades' bodies dragging all over the harsh terrain just because we are selfish. Let me tell you, in the army, there is only selflessness. If the meal is not enough, you let the others eat, at the expense of starving yourself, if there's not enough water, it is better for you to stay parched than for your comrade to stay parched, if they be too tired and injured, you let them hitch a free piggy back at your expense. Why? Because in the brutal war, you will only have them to cover your back. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sir!"
"Good! If I see as much as one person getting dragged longer than fifty meters without any help, you are all f*cked. ALL! Do you understand?"
The recruits raised their voices again and yelled affirmatively in response.
The concurrent days after that, Officer Bridgestone stayed true to his words and meticulously watched each daily run.
The trucks moved faster and the distance run got longer with each concurrent day, some recruit or the other would fall out of rhythm or tire out and fall and immediately, those sharing the same truck with him or her would hurriedly pull such a person back up and help the person find a befitting rhythm.
In the end, they all still got punished because someone got dragged for fifty-one meters or so. With the fatigue that built up towards the end of each race, there was never a lack of recruits who fell behind and got dragged. Their punishment was zero sleep. TO ensure nobody got any sleep, they were gathered outside and ordered to stand straight through the night.
Then, come morning, before dawn, they would start their drills which was basically a longer race again.
It was a painful sequence of rinse and repeat.
Currently, they had been standing through the night and through half the day and still were standing with absolutely no end in sight.
Legs were aching. Uniforms were soaked with sweat, making them wet and sticky. Their throats were parched and their bellies grumbling.
The only thing keeping them from breaking was their wills. But even then, those hardened wills were already cracking.
As sunset arrived, they finally succumbed to the temptations. Their wills broke apart and they began to fall like flies in the presence of insecticide.
It all started with a thin dude and a tall lady and like a domino, others dropped as well. The last thing on many minds was the 'I don't care what happens', thought.
Bronze was not yet down. His enhanced physique had helped him weather the storm through the first couple hours. But after that, he had remained standing because he felt it was embarrassing for him to give up first even though he had an unfair advantage over so many others. But that thought only saw him through the next two hours. After that, he reminded himself that he was now in the army and that if he wanted to rise quickly through the ranks, he had to impress the superiors early on. This thought process motivated him enough to last the few hours until the first person dropped. Then, he refused to give up because he saw Silver, who was quite the distance diagonally in front of him, still standing straight. He convinced himself that if nothing changed soon, he will go down as well, as his body seriously needed rest. But first, Silver must have fallen.
Officer Bridgestone finally showed up, accompanied by hundreds of medical personnel and several flying trucks that were now playing the roles of ambulances. Soldiers and student-soldiers were also on the field helping the medicals out.
They moved fast and efficiently while Officer Bridgestone watched quietly. After there were no more recruits lying around on the ginormous field, Officer Bridgestone opened his mouth and addressed the willful fifty-three still standing.
"You all still standing. I want to congratulate you on finishing your screening."
The recruits did not respond. No looks of surprise or shock or understanding or whatever. Nothing. Absolutely no expression could be seen on any of their faces. They were way too tired to think straight. Heck, they were too tired to even comprehend what Officer Bridgestone was saying.
"You lots have survived through the grueling process and have remained standing. You have earned the right s to boast that you are now students of the Heroes Academy of our great Country E. You have earned the rights to be sponsored by our great country and its magnificent leaders. You will have the rest of today and the whole of tomorrow off to rest, recoup and get your striped student uniform.
"After tomorrow, you will start proper training, going through proper drills that will turn you into superb war machines that destroys our enemies and protects the great citizens of our country from both internal and external invasions, terrorism and militaristic unrest.
"Starting from right now, you will have access to your designated rooms, will be given your personal belongings as prepared by the army. These will include your guns, knives, boots, water bottles, emergency snacks, and a watch that holds your personal intel. It will also be used to convey any and every important information that concerns you. Do you understand?"
No response.
Officer Bridgestone smiled and said loudly; "Dismissed."
Less than half of the fifty-three recruits made it to their dorms. They collapsed on the way and were immediately carried off to the hospital by robots that had appeared out of nowhere. Bronze was among them. What could he do? He had never suffered in his life with the exception of his scuffles with the devious Silver back in kindergarten and nursery school.
Silver dragged his feet to his newly designated room, led by a robot that beeped annoyingly. As soon as he confirmed his identity, he went straight to bed and immediately collapsed on the bed. He could have just taken the easy way out by letting himself be carried by the robot, but he was not willing to be at anyone's mercy. Man or robot. As for the Officer Bridgestone's invigorating speech about oneness and unity and dying for each other... arrant bullshit.