The Imperials

two: dead man walking

Eight.

"Rise and shine princesses! Another minute in beauty sleep and I roast you on a spit!" Sergeant what's his name kicks his military steel toe boots under my bed against the metal frame. I sit up and manage to put my boots with sleep still dreading on me and fix up the bedsheets before standing at the end of my bed in an orderly fashion. Everyone follows suit.

"Everybody to the check out NOW!" The old thirty year old orders everyone as they do as the man says. I (along with my loyal pal twenty-one aka Alex) have been here for two months, which means we've already been infected by the military plague...as in obeying orders.

"Eight-" my eyes involuntarily role as I hear my number get called out by Seargent. "Did you just roll your eyes on me private?" His voice is a bit hoarse by all the cigarettes he and his buddies take a day. Seriously, if smoking were to be sugar, they'd be dead as diabetics right now.

"No Seargent." I rely carelessly. My hands locked behind my back and I cocked my head up slightly, looking straight into Mr. Kill Them All's eyes. "Yeah, sure." He replies nodding his head. A few seconds pass before he raises his hand and strikes me on my lower torso with a quick movement, causing me to fall on the hard cement floor and bawl. "Give me 50!" He orders. It takes me a bit to manage myself and start the common "touchdown give me" some pushups.

"Everybody here pay attention! Anyone who disobeys my orders, no matter how long they've been here, will end up just like how your comrade Eight did. Pathetic and not to mention slightly entertaining." He ends with a horrific smoker laugh, almost making me gag.

After 50 push-ups pass, I stand back up and clutch my stomach. "You okay?" Alex asks, watching me cautiously. I shake my head.

"Everybody follow me to the cafeteria." Sergeant takes everyone out from the dorm room and into a large cafeteria, sort of reminding me of one from that movie where he breaks out of jail with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Hey Alex, what's that movie where a guy escapes prison with Arnold Schwarzenegger?" I ask my comrade. His eyebrows momentarily furrow as he thinks, snapping his fingers when he finds out. "Was it that old 2017 or so movie called Escape Plan or something?" Before I could respond, Sergeant immediately stomps over and calls us both out. "Private Eight and Private Twenty-One, are you speaking with unauthorized permission?" His voice is like a lion roaring at his prey as the opposite animal attempts to steal its portion of deer meat.

"Sorry Serg-"

"I don't give a damn about your apology!" The man snaps at Alex and quickly strikes a punch against his face sending Alex to the ground. "You little- hey you piece of horse sh*t!" Without comprehending what I was doing, I lunged at the old turd face and threw a good hard punch across his wrinkled, ugly scarred face. My victory is short lived after his men quickly come to both me and Alex's side, restraining us and holding our arms back.

"Well, looks here. Little Mr. Brave here finally decided that after a few months of putting up with our bullsh*t, he wants to go full rebel mode on us! Congratulations Private Eight, you just made yourself a death wish!" Another hard blow targets my stomach, sending vibrations of pain all over my body. He again punches me straight across my cheek, cutting the flesh in the inside. I can easily taste the steel flavour of my blood, only to spit it on the old man's shoes.

"What the- Boys! Teach Private Eight a lesson, would you?" And in no time, Sergeant's men are surrounding me and mercilessly beating my body to the pulp. Blood builds in my mouth and I can feel the bruises quickly forming on my torso and arms and legs and probably my face already.

"That's enough." About five minutes passed when the guys stop kicking my guts and punching my poor beautiful face (yes, that was an over stretch but it's true). "Private, go get yourself together and meet everyone in the lunchroom. You have ten minutes." And with that, all the people leave, except for Alex. He was forced to leave.

When I finally manage to find the small men's washroom, I take a look in the mirror and judge my reflection. "You look like a dead man walking, Murphy." A young familiar female voice teases in my head. I smile involuntarily and grab a towel nearby, wetting with water. As I carefully take off the blood on my cheekbone, a sharp whip of pain instantly aches my face.

"Tell me about it." I murmur. I don't know who the girl is, so don't ask me. I mean, I do have dreams with a specific girl in it, but I'm not sure who it is. You can't determine the identity of someone by just seeing quick visions and her hair Color. But she's blonde. That's all I know. Ever since this private training base took me in two months ago and wiped half my memories, I've only been able to recall bits of my past. It kind of sucks. I don't even know why they took me. Who they are or what they want. All I know is that it's some sort of resistance against ADAM's eye, to train unlikely human beings into strong military soldiers to someday fight against ADAM and the men working for it.

And for the past time here, all I ever got to do was spar with my comrades or the sergeants, eat horrible stale food for meals and be constantly reminded everyday that I'm living in hell with people I barely know. Everyday new guys come in either bruised or dead for no specific reason why. However being here for long means I (along with best buddy Alex) have been able to determine the guards' weak places and find the easiest escape areas in this hell hole. So that's why we plan on breaking out. Tomorrow at midnight.

Authors note.

Sooo, how'd you like this one? I know nothing much either, but I hope you still want to continue reading this crap because I'm hella excited to get to the middle of the book. Stay tuned on Eight and his journeys.

Thanks.

Oh yeah and PLEASE UPVOTE AND COMMENT, spread the word of this story and get your friends to read it too. Thanks..again.

Stay golden!!!