Oh, heavens. Bronze never thought such a pain existed. When he hit his wrist against the chair, he thought he had felt the worst pain. Not anymore. The pain in his nether region was otherworldly. Such a pain should not exist. But it did.
Bronze wanted to yell in pain. All that came out was a wheeze. He fell to the floor, spasming.
"Oh my God!" Their class teacher gasped and screamed in shock. She had arrived only to lay her sight on such unsightliness.
At that point, Silver's survival instincts tingled. He instantly knew he had a narrow margin of escape.
Ignoring his pain and sucking it up like a big boy, he held the watch tightly and bolted for the exit. His exit; the big, widely-opened window.
Silver ran all the way back to the hood. Luckily enough, he found his mother by an alley. She was sober. A very rare sight. He quickly ran towards her.
"Mama! We are in danger. We have to move." He said.
His mama looked at his rough, injured, bleeding physique with a frown but she did not ask any questions.
She went deeper into the alley and dug a little hole. She took out some money that was hidden there. Crisp notes. Silver was shocked.
"Where did you see the money?" He queried.
"I don't always lose. And you need new clothes and shoes. I wanted to get you some for your birthday."
Silver's eyes watered.
"You remembered."
Sharon smiled and hid the money in her clothes. "Let's go. Before they catch up to us."
Together, they ran away from the city, passing through alleys and hidden shortcuts only known by a select few, until they reached the outskirts of the city. From there, they hitched a free ride in a moving poultry truck. Since they had no specific plan as of that time, they were more than willing to go anywhere the truck was going as long as it was farther than two cities away.
They spent three days inside the truck that never stopped moving. Within that time, they had killed a hen and eaten it raw.
Finally, on the third day, the steadily moving truck finally slowed down. To mother and son, it signified it was time for them to bounce again. They snuck out and joined the crowd of people at the outskirts of this new city.
With the money and expensive watch in hand, they managed to exchange the watch for quite some amount of money with which they bought a house and basic amenities as well as some foodstuffs. Things in this city were cheaper anyway.
Silver never went back to any school. His mother got a job and so did he. They didn't earn much but since they had their own permanent shelter and some food stored away, they could save some money for other things like clothing and emergencies. For a little while, Silver was actually happy. He did not live in the streets anymore, he did not have to constantly be on his toes, he was even able to make friends with two weirdoes who really loved and had a flair for music.
Life, for once, was good to him.
Unfortunately, Sharon quickly reverted back to her old ways of being drunk and high and eventually gambled their house away.
_________________________________________________________
Bronze woke up later that night in a big hospital in pains. His whole body ached. His mum was seated by his side, crying silently. He could hear his dad's muffled voice outside, yelling at somebody on the phone.
"Mummy?"
Chance looked up immediately and hugged him and burst into tears afresh.
"Mummy! I'm sorry. I lost the watch." Bronze said.
Chance shook her head, while still hugging him. She rubbed his back.
"No, baby! I'm sorry I did not take you away from that horrible school long ago. What were they doing when…."
Bronze did not hear most of it. His mind was stuck on that watch.
"Mummy, the watch. It got stolen."
"I know. I know. Mummy and Daddy will get it back for you. Don't worry about it."
"His name is Silver. And I tried to protect the watch and…."
"Shhhh….. I know. I was told everything. You did your best. It just…." Chance paused and sighed. "You did what you could."
"But it was not enough." Bronze said.
"No, baby…"
"I'm not strong enough. I'm bigger than he is, but he threw me over his head very easily."
"Oh my poor baby." Chance exclaimed and hugged Bronze again.
The next day, when Chance briefly left the hospital to bring some of Bronze's stuffs for him, Bronze looked at Hymn, his father.
"Daddy, when I grow up, I want to become a Soldier. I want to protect people that cannot protect themselves."
Hymn looked at his son. He contemplated mentioning the fact that there were many ways to protect people without becoming a soldier and that being a soldier actually limited his choices. But he saw a fire in his son's eyes. That fire was something he recognized. It was the same fire he saw in Chance that had attracted him like a moth to her in the first place. It was the fire he had to come to realize; always preceded great things; Great changes.
"Okay!" He responded.
"Don't tell mummy!"
"I know!"
****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ***
The clock's hour and minute hand hit 12 in all parts of Country E. Immediately, the trumpet tune began playing. Same as morning. The students quickly ran outside their rooms and stood in front of their doors. There was now a gap between rooms 300 and 302. It used to belong to the student that was now supposedly doomed to remain at the bottom of the social ladder for the rest of her life.
The thing was, no matter how good she was at whatever she did or chose to do, the fact that she had quit the army was a permanent blotch in her public record. The mere idea that she could not even survive through first year of school, how was she going to expect her potential employers to believe she would not bail as soon as things got tough for the company or organization? How could they even be sure she was going to make profitable decisions when she was required to? Who would want to be led by someone with such weak will? What was the assurance that she wouldn't be the one to demoralize the entire organization whenever obstacles arose?
What about when she wanted to get married or be in a relationship? A simple search on the country's Internet will immediately show her basic profile and the time she entered each school she had ever attended and when she graduated or quit any.
The military was a big deal. So, it would be written in bold, highlighted letters to put special attention to it. The fact that she quirt less than a month into the Hero's Academy will also be highlighted in red. An obvious bad sign that really screamed, 'Look at me. I am a failure.'
Nobody wants to associate with failures.
(A.N: You should get the point by now. She's obviously, unmistakably doomed.)
The students stood outside in a straight line outside their room doors and waited for five minutes. Just then, a clear, calm, beautiful voice that was sure to come from a beautiful lady, echoed through the walls of the second floor.
"Good day students. My name is Three-starred Officer Keel. I will be taking you throughout your first year on basic Gun handling. Right in front of each of you lies an empty board in the shape of a gun."
Only then did most of them notice that there were fifty-two huge, heavy-looking, piece of wood in front of them, resting on the wall opposite them.
"They are heavier than regular guns. Inside your rooms, you will see full on body weights that you will wear every single minute of your life for the next one year. The weights vary for each person. Approximately three-tenths of your total body mass. You have three minutes to go back into your rooms, follow the guidelines and put them on. Move it."
They hurried back into their rooms.
Silver looked on his bed and noticed a full swimsuit. It was black and glossy and definitely skin-tight.
He walked towards it, pulled off his uniform and put it on. It wasn't the first time he was wearing a swimsuit. Nothing much to it. He put it on.
"Tight!" Bronze yelled as he put on his. He looked at himself and could not help but notice the bulge down there. Not an erection. The cloth was just skintight.
(A.N: IF you don't understand, you are too young to be reading this. Where are your parents?)
"Damnit! There are ladies here too!" He complained. He looked at his uniform that he had pulled off. He began to put it back on.
"There's no way I'm going back outside like this. I would die of shame." He muttered as he tried to put on his uniform as quickly as possible.
Three minutes was up.
"Three minutes up." Officer Keel announced.
Most of the students had arrived. Many of the guys had come up with the same solution. They had put on their uniforms over the skinsuits.
Silver, Wood, Eyepatch and the seven ladies did not bother with their uniform. They had left it on their beds.
Bronze was the last and only late erson among them. He bounced out of his room on one foot. He was still putting on his other boot.
"Baldhead. You owe three laps." Keel's voice resounded. Bronze stood straight, sighing as silently as he could. "Many of you must be wondering why the weights are in form of swimsuits and why they seem light. The answer to the first question is none of your business and as for the second question…"
She left that part unfinished. Instead, there was a finger snap and almost immediately, most of them hit the floor.
"Uh!"
They groaned. The abrupt increase in total body weight had taken them all by surprise. The increased weights instantly dragged a majority of them to the floor. They gasped or grunted.
Those that fell struggled to rise back to their feet. Those that didn't struggled to maintain a proper posture. Needless to say, it had become a hard chore.
"As I said before, you will wear this every minute of your life for the entirety of your first year. You will only put it off when you need to take a shower and it must not be separated from your skin for longer than ten minutes, twice a day. AM I Clear?"
The 'Am I Clear?' question led to a confusing stream of answers.
"Yes ma!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Clear!"
"Yes…..ma…am?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Hell Yeah!"
Woody's eyes involuntarily opened wide. Sh*t! Why did he just say that? HE knew he just f*cked up with that response! It was way too different, way too obvious, way too loud!
There was no way Three-starred Officer Keel did not hear that odd response.
"What the hell is with your response? Have you never answered to a female officer?"
"No ma'am!" Bronze answered.
"You will refer to me and every other female Officer as Sir. AM I clear?"
"Yes ma..Sir!"
"I can't hear you. AM I Clear?"
"Yes Sir!" They all yelled in response.
"I believe you know where the shooting range is. You have five minutes to get there." Officer Keel said. There was a pause, then, she said something that made them panic. She said;
"Your time started two minutes ago."
"F*ck!" Bea shouted and turned to run. She barely took her first step.
She fell straight on her face.
Boom!
"Oof!" She had not adjusted to her new weight.