"Our new Life"
I sighed as I sat down inside my little pod and looked around, tapping my foot on the ground below me. As I sat inside my little pod, Miller looked at me from his.
"Hey, Oakley."
"What is it?"
"How are you holding up?"
"Not very good, I think you can say the same about you."
"You're correct."
"I always am."
"Cocky as always, Oakley."
"That's not the correct definition of it, idiot."
"It isn't?"
"Yeah."
"Oh.."
"Maybe you should've listened in school."
"I never went to school."
"You didn't?"
"Well, sort of, I dropped out because we ran out of money."
"Oh."
"Mhm, yeah."
"How did you pass the mandatory entrance exam for the armed forces then?"
"I'm not that dumb, Oak."
"I guess you're right.."
"Say, how about you?"
"Huh? What about me?"
"You seem quite well educated and all that, why did you join the army and not go to University?" Miller asked, I don't blame him, I was probably one of the most educated people in the squad other than Ashton. Because of that, I got a few nicknames like"Scholar " or"Savvy ". I didn't hate the nicknames really, I actually quite enjoyed them.
"Well, that's because I failed the University Entrance Exam, So I thought of the army instead."
"You failed? How? You're quite clever."
"Well, my parents wanted me to go to a prestigious university, so i tried enrolling there and you can take a guess on what happened next."
"What happened next?"
"Well, They told me it's okay, I was surprised they took it quite well. So I focused my sights on simply finding a job."
"And you thought of the army? Of all places?"
"Well, yeah, I wanted to be an Engineer, but they assigned me to the Infantry."
"Why the infantry?"
"I don't know, maybe I ran out of luck?"
"I mean, this year has been quite bad for infantry in terms of casualties."
"That's true, maybe they just wanted some people to fill up those empty spots."
Our conversation was interrupted by Prince and Elliot, Prince immediately butting into the conversation.
P: "So then, what are you all talkin' about?"
M: "Nothing much, Prince."
E: "You guys gettin' hungry?"
O: "I'm starving. If I don't eat in about 20 minutes, I'm going to eat Prince in his sleep."
P: "Why is it always me?!"
E: "Probably because you're the most talkative one."
P: "Shut up!"
M: "Let's cook something then, hopefully enough these field rations don't taste like shit."
E: "I tried the biscuits, they taste fucking horrible."
O: "I'd rather eat nothing.."
P: "You're eating, I'm not being eaten by you, you would be cannibal."
The four of us all made our way into a little spot in the trench. The shape of the spot was circular. The makeshift roof that was above us was a camouflage net with some wood holding it up together. Underneath that net were some basic amenities like wooden chairs and tables, a mirror with a bucket to shave our beards and two chalkboards, one had a map of the region around us and the other was empty.
We all pulled up a wooden chair and put it around the wooden table, settling down. I opened the bag which contained our rations, the packaging was bare-bones, not like it mattered in the first place. I looked inside and was disappointed but also not surprised, if there is a word for that. I took out the contents of the field ration. Inside was a wooden spoon, eight boxes of biscuits, very generous, an energy bar, jelly, jam, a chocolate bar, powdered milk, salt and pepper sachets, sugar sachets, soup, cheese spread, and the 2 main entrees.
P: "This does not look bad!"
E: "Steer away from those biscuits unless you want to know what fish vomit tastes like..."
M: "How do you know the taste?"
E: "I smelt it before."
O: "Oh god.."
We all heated up our food, joking and telling stories to each other. After about 10 minutes, our food was all heated up. I took a scoop with my spoon, putting it in my mouth. I chewed on the food, Prince looking at me anxiously. I swallowed my food, then looking at him.
O: "Sleep with one eye open."
P: "No!"
O: "I'm joking, It's not bad, but it's not good.."
M: "As i expected.."
E: "Well, this is the army.."
M: "I heard the Gallenans have some amazing field rations."
P: "How good are we talking?"
M: "Miles better than this."
P: "I want to try some!"
We all eventually ate our dinner, joking and playing cards throughout the night. I thought to myself, maybe joining the army wasn't a bad idea..