It was five o'clock in the morning. No one was in a good mood. Faces were not smiling. They were tense, nervous and sleepy. Even taking a step, let alone walking, was torture. The profanity and abuse from the professors had gone beyond the limit. We had only been out of the shithole for a few minutes. Of the 60 people who had given up in the first week, there were 184 who dropped out. Many started walking towards the bell tower after the count.
In this training there was no concept of forced departure except death. It was impossible to be expelled. When a person felt he could not go on, he would go to the bell tower at the edge of the forest, put down his helmet and ring the bell three times. Then he was never seen by anyone again and left the island instantly.
Yakup managed to suppress his nausea and stay up for the count. In the first week they had slept only four hours and hardly sat down except for the theoretical lectures. Many people's bodies couldn't take it and they rang the bell before the first week was up.
Major Kaya came to the training area and looked at the 160 people left behind. Their spirits had withdrawn and they were staring ahead with faces not unlike those of the dead. Yet they could feel their will to live even forty meters away.
"To the mess hall!"
The faces of the soulless men suddenly took on color.
Major Kaya added.
"You will go crawling."
---
Yakup was sitting in the dining hall with the candidates in his ward, sweeping the breakfast plate in front of him with lightning speed. There were four eggs, salami, sausage, fermented sausage, 250 grams of cheese, honey, jam and butter. With breakfast he was taking in 10,000 calories a day, but he was still losing weight.
Major Kaya entered the mess hall and surveyed the candidates. "You sons of bitches! You eat like Manukyan's ten capitalists, but we still haven't seen you do a shit thing!"
The sign at the entrance to the cafeteria read, 'The easiest day was yesterday!' Yakup had learned the truth of this saying the hard way in the past week. Halfway through the 80-kilometer tempo run on the first day, he looked like a lame dog and was on the verge of fainting. In any case, he managed to finish in 190th place and achieved a great success in his own way. He thought that would be the worst day, but he was wrong. Eighty kilometers was just a warm-up and this warm-up increased by one kilometer every day. The next day, after running eighty-one kilometers, they did heavy strength training without food and water, and then went to the theoretical classes without resting.
The classes were intense. Instructors from mysterious organizations hidden in buffer zones explained in minute detail about the ecosystem of Paradise and everything one needs to know about Paradise and the Arkar Race. Researchers from the People's Defense Collective, the Biogenetic Research Association, the AEtheric Research Institute and Human Development Agency gave theoretical lectures.
For example, the content of the Paradise Ecosystem and Geography course: Understanding the ecosystems and geographical features of the various regions of Paradise, shaping survival strategies accordingly, categorizing areas of Paradise according to their danger levels, understanding the characteristics of climate types, vegetation and water resources, knowing the energy lines of Paradise and their effects on monsters, learning about hidden traps and natural hazards. After the Ecosystem and Geography of Paradise, there was the Biology and Behavioral Analysis of the Monsters of Paradise course. In this course, the anatomy and biological structure of Paradise monsters, the analysis of the Monster Nuclei and their biological code, monster behavior; knowing hunting, defense and reproduction strategies, and the behavior of packs under the leadership of the Alpha Monster were taught.
In addition to these two courses; Survival Strategies, Weapon Making and Engineering, Aether and Beast Science, History and Geopolitical Connections of Paradise, Psychology, Advanced Strategy and Tactics, Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Operations and Defense Management, Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence and Effective Leadership.
The courses were so difficult that even Yakup, who had a successful school background, was five points above the 50-point threshold. This made him fifth out of 160. Those who did not pass the threshold did not eat the next day and were stoned.
The winner was Tengan Kaede from Kyoto with sixty points.
Careful not to touch his foul-smelling hands to his mouth, Yakup held the bread in his mouth with a napkin. The delicious aroma emanating from the hot milk was whetting his appetite even more. He was about to drink the milk when he saw Boris, Tengan Kaede and his friends from the Defense Forces, Intelligence Officer Go Yongsun and Commando Ahmet from Baku.
They were coming towards him.
They all had a glass of milk in their hands.
"Yakup," Boris said.
"Yes?" said Yakup, putting the milk back on the table. He continued to chew the bread in his mouth.
Boris took a deep breath. He looked at Yakup with light blue eyes like ice. Frankly, most of the officers here were so handsome and talented that Yakup felt like a peasant among them.
"Will you be our brother?"
"Excuse me?"
Yakup paused for a moment.
Then he realized what he meant.
"I want you to be my brother," Boris said firmly. "I owe you my life."
"Anyone else would have done the same. You think you owe me because I was the first to react, but it was your friends who carried you for several hours that saved your life. Not me," said Yakup.
Boris looked at him for a while. He licked his lips and then looked at the candidates from the eighth ward sitting a few tables away. Among them were candidates from Istanbul and Hatay, with whom Yakup was trying to get closer. A few days earlier, the wards had been shuffled because of the high number of leavers, and Yakup ended up in the same ward with other people.
"There were drownings in the eighth, first, third and fifth wards because no one wanted to risk themselves and dive into a pit full of shit. I owe you my life, and so do the rest of my brothers here. The day will come when we come out of this training safe and sound, and we must strengthen our bonds to help each other and look out for each other no matter what."
Kaede took out a needle and handed it to Boris.
Without hesitation Boris pricked his index finger with the needle.
"Join us."
He poured a few drops of his own blood into the empty glass and handed the needle to Kaede beside him. Kaede was an expressionless man in his seventies. He was twenty-three years old and a member of the Kyoto Defense Force. After pricking his finger with the needle, he put a few drops on it and handed it to the next person.
"Boris is right, Yakup," Kaede said coldly. It was impossible to see any expression on his face. "Think of it as more than looking out for each other and act accordingly."
Yakup nodded and took the last needle and pricked his finger. They had endured many hardships together and would continue to do so. Maybe here he would find the brotherly and family love he never had in the outside world.
His mother had died of cancer when he was five and his father when he was ten. So he hadn't felt the love of family for a long time.
The blood filled the glass halfway. Kaede stirred the glass with a spoon and put a spoonful of blood in everyone's glass of milk.
"Cheers!" Kaede said, a slight smile appearing on his cold face.
"Cheers!"
Who knew?