Drill Sergeant

Chapter 8

AVA's pov

"HURRY UP COME ON, GET UP, DRESSED AND READY TO GO!! LETS GOOO!" A figure burst through the door yelling.

My body jumped alert, surprised and scared. Laura and I were completely lost and dazed off into half-sleepiness. Harper however jumped straight out of her bed and was already moving around the room reaching for her uniform and such.

The figure approaches us, further yelling. Their voice getting louder and louder. Trying to get a grip on myself, I sit up and direct myself towards the bunk bed stairs.

In attempt of getting down from the bed, my foot managed to slip on the cold metal step causing me to land on my hip. Well I'm no longer sleepy I'll tell you that. 

I try to get up but the pain in my hip becomes sharper and sharper as I move. Laura tries to help me up but the person rushes her off and observes me in the floor.

"GET UP! C'MON GET IT MOVING!"  I could tell now that it was Miller. Her figure casted a shadow over mine. I managed to push myself off the floor and begin to dress and make my bed, trying to ignore the agonizing pain that I felt in the lower right side of my body.

The Sargents continue to rush us through the process until we all head out of the bunker. People from the other bunkers are being rushed as well, while they make their way to the open training field.

A few of them were already in the field, aligned and facing their platoon leader in a position of attention. When we were all ready Carter went in front of everyone to instruct what we were doing.

"Today begins your first day of the red phase, which include combat skills and familiarization of equipment." I watched as he paced back and forth as he spoke.  His body standing tall and right. Even in the poor sunlight you could see the flawless bone structure this man possessed. He turned, facing the platoons, his gaze ran over each and every member. Momentarily for just a nanosecond, it looked like his gaze had lingered on mine but it was probably just me imagining stuff, I am way too exhausted.

He continued to walk "Since it is your very first day, we will specifically focus on building up your physical capabilities so that you are able to grasp the basics of combat with no problems. Is that understood?" He paused.

A weak 'yes drill sergeant' was heard. He looks around to see some people in the platoon yawning or drifting off into oblivion. "IS THAT UNDERSTOOD, COMPANY?" he spoke loudly and clearly.

"YES DRILL SERGEANT!" Everyone snapped.

"Once you have achieved your optimal physical strength we will begin combat training with Sargent Miller." His glance becomes cold and the tone he uses sounds like he's describing the most bitter of people. "We will begin with a 5k run, for those of you who don't know that is approximately 3 miles. The milage will increase as we train for phase red. After the run we will incorporate full body high intensity training. Now on my command. COMPANY!-"

"PLATOON-" the platoon leaders echoed.
"LEFT-" the echo for the command was heard once more. "FACE!" The whole company turned left.

Part of me was anxious. I had never ran such a distance, the longest distance I've ran was from my mail box to the front door and it was because a dog was chasing after me. I just have to hold myself together, I can do this! Its just a bit of running.

"Forward, march!" We began to march at a regular pace trying to maintain our stride as organized as possible. "Now when I say 'double time, march' the whole company is expected to jog. THERE IS NO STOPPING OR SLOWING DOWN! MAINTAIN THE SPEED AND FORMATION!!" Carter instructed as he marched.

"COMPANY! DOUBLE TIME, MARCH!" The whole company began jogging. At first it was easy, I couldn't feel a single thing. Then the subtle pain that remained from my fall came back. My jogging turned into a fast pace limp.
The unevenness of my pace was slowing me down.

I tried pushing myself but the pain just became bigger. My lungs felt like I was about to burst and I was going to collapse on the floor reaching for air like a fish out of water. The people behind me noticed the slowing of my pace and began to jog past me, it wasnt long until I was at the end of the formation struggling for air and to keep up.

Sweat began to drip down my face and I could feel the pockets of sweat under my arms. I was kind of glad I was in the back no one here to see me. But of course like always, I had to speak too soon.

Somewhere along my limping jog Carter had noticed the fact that I was now way behind and was breaking formation.

"What's wrong?" He said in a totally even tone. This jog was nothing for him he wasn't even breaking a sweat. " I hurt my hip this morning, Sir." I answered panting and in between harsh breaths.

I guess I was expecting so pity or sympathy but instead I got- "and..?"

AND?!! what more do you need, my whole body weight landed on my hip the least he could give me is a praise for making it this far into the jog. "LETS GO!" I look at him. He was dead serious. "COME ON! CATCH UP! FASTER!" I evened my stride which caused more pain to surge through the right side of my body.

You can do this Ava! Just push.

Even with all my efforts the group was way ahead of me and there was no way I was going to catch up to them. In my dreams- Two hands grabbed me at the shoulders making me jump. "LET GO! PUSH YOURSELF! YOU CAN DO THIS!" He began to run faster pushing me until I caught up to the rest of my peers.

After that he disappeared from behind me and began to jog with the rest of the company. Once we made our 3.1 mile mark everyone was commanded to stop. The whole
company was gasping for air and looked exhausted, besides Harper she looked like she could do about twenty more miles and of course the Sargents.

They marched us over to a resting area where we were able to get water and rest for about five minutes. Laura and Harper sat with me.

"Oh my gosh! That was way too much, I cant feel my feet." Laura said after taking a sip of water. "My feet feel numb. I feel like I'm walking on air and I'm going to fall at any moment." I responded.

"How's your leg? I noticed you limping earlier." Harper gestured towards my leg. "It still hurts. My body feels hot and sticky. My lungs are about to collapse and these stupids sergeants wont stop pushing and yelling at us!" Harper and Laura's eye both go big and I pause.

I slightly turn my head to see a pair of combat boots standing behind me. AMAZING...

"Could you guys excuse us?" Carter cut in without a doubt. Laura and Harper both nodded their heads and left with concerned stares. As soon as they were gone he came around the wooden picnic-style table and bend down in front of me. He silently took my leg and straighten it out and began to apply a leg brace that God knows where he got from.

"I can do it myself." I said taking the brace with my own hands. He cleared his throat and
stood up. "I just wanted to tell you that just because others seem like they are doing fine doesn't mean that they struggled any less than you do." my hands stopped mid way and I looked up to meet his eyes.

"First mistake you made when you came here was to do a comparison. I see the way you look at everyone else, especially Smalls. Yes, those
people maybe at a different level than you are at now but that doesn't mean they haven't had it hard. I imagine once they were where you are now, focus on your success and no one else. Push yourself rather than belittling yourself, you can unlock great potential if you do. Now, hurry up and put that on training will resume in 2 minutes." He finished saying before he rushed away to gather the rest of
the Sargents.

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Haiiii, hope you all are enjoying your week. For all my readers that just started school again, remember to stay safe and wear your masks. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter <3 and drop a comment saying whats your fav song atm :)
-LP