4:43 pm
I was in pain – when the sun touched my skin, it bubbled underneath. We were all lined up like we were supposed to. The drill sergeant walked down the line inspecting each of us. I could hear someone getting scolded for having long hair but I couldn’t to see who it was. I had to keep my head straight and stand tall.
The instructor finally got to me. He was a little bit shorter than me; I estimated around 5’11”. His vest looked like it would pop from the strain of holding his muscles which were impressive even for a soldier. His eyebrows were like thicket and had a flat top haircut; both were orange in color. He looked like his blood tasted like sweat. Standing before me he measured me up. I promised myself I wouldn’t get nervous but his unwavering stare brought some uneasiness. The inspection quickly turned into one of the worst situations of my life. Sergeant, as the other men called him, smiled at me and just let us stand there. The musclehead must have noticed. I kept trying to compose myself but the beating from the sun and the short man’s eyes bore down like the plague.
“Another clean rich boy sent to his worst nightmare,” he barked finally breaking the silence. He patted me on the shoulder and exclaimed, “It’s quite unfortunate you got picked, i’ve never seen skin this smooth!”
He wasn’t going to let me off quite yet. I could tell he was enjoying this. Fortunately, it seemed he did not notice any other unusual details this early on.
“What’s your name, young man?” He maintained the smile while asking me.
“Dwight, sir,” I responded, quickly and clearly. I did not want to give him any other way to harass me. He nodded and moved on to the next person. I wish I was able to relax but I was still tense for the rest of the inspection.
After the inspection we were sent to the bunk room where we were going to be staying. We were all going to have to deal with these conditions for weeks to come. No one spoke – we just sat or laid down. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts.
The next morning started with chaos. I woke up on the floor next to my bed. The sound of a stampede cluttered my senses. I shot up and panned my head around the room. The recruits were rushing to get uniforms and tied their boots. At the entrance was the sergeant, staring right at me. No expression, just a blank stare. I stumbled to my feet and rummaged through my stuff to get my uniform. I struggled, but was able to push on my uniform. I could still feel the stare of the sergeant.
“Five seconds left,” The sergeants voiced boomed through the room. Somehow the room became even more panicked. I didn’t have Five seconds, I needed to get my boots on. I grabbed the heavy boots and ran past the sergeant out of the room, his eyes still locked on me like a machine. I joined the lined up recruits and started to try and fit into my boots. I then noticed it was very dark out. What time was it when he woke us?
“Nobody move!” The voice from behind made me freeze, my leg still lifted trying to pull the boot up. “I feel like some of you are not taking this seriously.” He continued on. Goddamn this bastard! I prayed otherwise, but I knew what was coming.
“Dressing time is over. You will train in your current condition.” The sergeant said bolding, almost like if he was proud. The pot of anger in me boiled. The sergeant stood before us and started his explanation.
“You will have to run the pit course. You must climb the rope, crawl under the wire and step through the tires. Ring the bell at the end to finish.” I couldn’t believe it – was he really going to make me run through the course barefoot? The course was covered in gravel and had plenty of foliage over sections as well.
“This course is quite difficult, but I’m confident that you can all do it.” He said as he smiled at me. Violent thoughts started to rise to the surface. Sergeant prepared his blank to signal us to begin the course. I was thankful that we were doing this in the night; it’s much easier to run without the pain of the sun clawing at the skin. I could already imagine the rocks digging into my feet. I looked to my side at the other recruits, who had faces of sympathy. I jumped when the blank went off and started running. Even with the pain, I should have been able to outrun anyone here with ease. Full sprinting, I got to the ropes first. As I grabbed onto the rope, I realized how much worse this was going to be. The rope was worn and dug into my hands. My bare feet felt the sting worse. By the time I reached the top of the ramp, my feet had what felt like hundreds of tiny bug bites on the bottoms. I continued on down the ramp where I laid down to crawl under the wire. This was by far the easiest part. Finally came the tires. They were laid out in a path on top of the sharp gravel. I stepped one foot into the first tire and the pain flared through my leg. The rocks stabbing into my already irritated soles. Each step was like traversing Satan’s soil. One step after another, each jolt of pain put images of hurting the sergeant into my brain, stacking like an unattended printer. I pulled the string, the bell rang, and I fell to my back on the grass. Thirty seconds later the bell rang again but I was too focused on the pain to notice.
“Stand up Dwight.” The sergeant’s voice rattled in my brain. I slowly rose to face him. My feet groaning in agony.
“I understand that this may be hard for a pretty rich boy like you, so I’ll make you a deal.” the sergeant continued on. “I will let you drop out of the training program and the war, but you must work as my servant at my private estate for five years after the war.”
Somehow I was able to take in the information through my throbbing head. This deal was just to shame me. Five years is nothing to my kind, but I would be mocked back at home. If I stay here, I will have to deal with this demon for another ten weeks. I couldn’t handle it anymore. Within a period of five seconds, I took a step forward, grabbing his head and letting my canines extend into his neck, ripping out his throat. I spat out the flesh and blood as his body fell to the ground, eyes wide with shock. His blood tasted just as bad as I expected.
