Chereads / Echoes of Valor: A Sergeant's Descent / Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Break of Dawn

Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Break of Dawn

Her body shivered as it rose in temperature. Her throat ached. Her body ached. Punch. Kick. Eyes bleeding. Their laughter haunted her ears. Drip. Drip. Drip. Thick red blood oozed down her cheeks. He pushed her. She hit the floor. Her sight going black. A crack. She felt it. But she didn't. Blood seeped out of her head. Nothing was visible anymore. All gone. Their laughs. Their eyes. Thank god. Was she dead yet?

Annalise woke up in a cold sweat, she could already feel the heat. The shivers. "Not again.". Her usual response, she never let others know. She didn't want a repeat of that  again. Never. Just the thought of it made her breathing stop. She stood up, showering. She had to train some of the cadets today. With him. With Xander

The loud thumps of steps were there. The echo. She was ready. She was in a comfortable uniform. Now to deal with the cadets. Her door creaked open. The hallways had barely any windows. The lights slowly dimming. They needed to have the bulb changed. Most of them needed the bulb changed. As she walked down these hallways she ran her hand along the paint ripping off the walls due to the steam and mould. She didn't think anyone would ever improve this part of the barracks.

She walked out to the field. Xander already had the cadets running laps. They looked exhausted. Not like Xander nor Annalise cared anyways. She walked over. "You're late, Gold." Xander spoke up. It hurt her ears. Maybe because of the fever? Or he was just a pain in general. "No worries, Bull." she snapped back. The cadets finished their lap, coming back to the centre. None looked familiar. Though there was a few that seemed fine after whatever the hell Xander decided to do. "Cadets. How many laps?" Annalise didn't waste any time, she was so done with all of this already. A surprisingly decent cadet spoke up, "10, Sergeant Gold." they boy stated. "Your name?" Annalise liked the way the boy responded, he looked young, but he seemed nice. God why did she even care? Not like it'd affect anything. "Henry 'Roger' Smith, ma'am." Henry said, full of confidence. Annalise took it back, he seemed too cocky. It would kill him on the field. Literally. 

It wasn't long later when Xander wandered off, getting bored of the cadets, and Annalise just made them do drills. They were so weak it was boring. 'Even cat's are stronger than this'. That thought repeated through Annalise's mind. She ended training, laying back on the grass. Andrei found her. The cadets ran off to change for lunch. "You look pale Ann, you doing good?" he stated. Of course that was the only reason he walked over. It always was. "Doing amazing." she stated simply. "I'd disagree but you do you. Meeting in 5 be ready." Andrei then got up and left for the briefing room. God damn he was just so annoying.

She opened the briefing room door. Everyone was seated, and now, so was she. "Now that everyone's arrived, let's get this done with. Annalise, in a day's time, 0500, we're sending you out to a bar out in Saudi Arabia." He got straight to the point, Cairo was shocked. "You sure she should go? I mean I could- I'm from there after all-" he was instantly cut of. "Are you arguing with me Lieutenant?" the room went quiet. "I'll do it. If it get's me away from you lot." Annalise instantly mentioned. 

It left most of the room shocked, and Andrei was pleased. "Wonderful. Now let's get into what you'll be doing." He stated, opening a presentation. "Ismat Almasi is our target, he's a well known terrorist, all for the kills. He's a psycho, and Gold, you'll be in that bar to bring him in, lure him in, and then once we know you've got him we'll come put him in cuffs." Andrei quickly briefed over the next mission's goal. "I'm sorry what the fuck? You've lost your damn mind!" Xander quickly snapped. "Xander, you sit down right now." Andrei quickly snapped back, making Xander slowly sink back into his seat, still fuelled solely by rage.

Not long after the briefing had ended Annalise ended back up in her room. How? She doesn't know. When? She didn't know that either. She hadn't paid attention to anything since they discussed the mission. She laughed to herself as she flopped back onto her bed. She gave out to exhaustion, the fever catching up to her. This was going to be a long week.