Present Day

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The next day K-unit woke up at the crack of dawn, packed their packs and began their seven day trip through the woodlands to get to their next exercise. All they had with them was what they could carry, which was quite a lot. They had seven days to get to the first checkpoint. Anything longer gets your unit binned.
Eagle being Eagle talked the entire first day, mostly to himself as no one felt like replying. Wolf was at the front, leading the unit, with Eagle behind him, Snake next, and Cub, with much persistence at the back. Snake would have preferred to have Cub in front of him so he could keep an eye on him, but the teen was adamant. The unit had tried to get the kid to talk before they went to bed the previous night, and got nothing. In fact the boy seemed to have learnt more about them than they did about him. He has a strange way of turning the conversation away from him without anyone noticing. After about an hour of prying the kid told everyone he was tired and needed sleep. No one argued with that. The bags under his eyes were getting more and more noticeable each day, and besides they all had an early start, and a long day ahead.
The unit travelled thirty-two kilometres before deciding to call it a day, and prepare for bed. They had two tents with them. Snake and Alex in one, Eagle and Wolf in the other. Wolf had told Snake about Cub's nightmare, only because he thought if it happened again he might be able to get him to talk. It wasn't to embarrass the boy. They all just wanted to help him. But to help him he needed to talk. They have all been trying really hard to gain Cub's trust over the time he has been here. They know that they won't get anything out of him due to what they did to him the last time he was at the camp.
After a cold dinner of survival rations they all went to their respective tents to sleep. Snake didn't fail to notice that Cub was waiting until he fell asleep until he did. He also didn't fail to notice that the boy had set himself multiple alarms during the night. It was hard not to hear the soft buzzing noise when being so close to each other in a small tent. Of course when Snake brought it up in the morning the teen said he didn't realise he had it on, and it wouldn't turn off. Lies.

The rest of the second day went much the same, with Eagle talking non-stop, and Wolf telling him to shut up. Alex stayed silent at the back of the pack, his panting getting heavier. Snake tried to get him to stop multiple times and take a quick break, but Cub was adamant to keep on moving. They only did thirty kilometres before setting up camp.
"Come on Cub, just let me give you a check up. You're clearly not fine", Snake said for the millionth time that day.
"I'm fine. Just drop it. All of you. Okay? Stop acting like you care because you don't. You didn't the last time I was a part of your unit and you don't this time. It's fine honestly. You don't have to pretend. I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys in the morning", the teen snapped. The three soldiers watched as their youngest member went inside the tent, zipping it up rather aggressively.
"Well... that went well"
"Shut up Eagle", both Snake and Wolf said in unison.
"Yep, sorry".

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