Let's Start A Riot

Chapter Nine - Back to the Beam

Here I am, not even twenty-four hours from arriving back at the cabin after the hostile situation standing to attention in a line of twenty soldiers, being assessed by my commanding officer. I think I am more terrified now than I was running through a field filled with bombs.

The officer in question is Sergeant Moore, and goodness she is scary. She walks slowly along the line, eyeing us up and down, snapping at anyone who dares to even breathe at the wrong time. It feels as though yesterday's ordeal didn't even happen with Agent Hartley's promise of normal training coming to fruition immediately – I would almost think it hadn't if it weren't for some bruised faces and the fact that the rest of my squad are currently speaking to MI6's Director and Agent Hartley about it.

Sergeant Moore stops in front of the middle of the line. "Soldiers, I am your commanding officer in charge of your training in the hopes of shaping you into something worth serving our country," she eyes us all distastefully, "You will address me as Ma'am, you will only speak when spoken to, you will do everything and anything I tell you to, and you will not cry or moan. You will suck it up, get over yourself, and push through. Is that clear?"

"Yes Ma'am!" We all chorus, standing straighter.

"Good." She nods. "Today, I will be testing your physical limits so that we can see what our starting point is and how much work you will need to do to get to the appropriate standard. You will attempt the assault course which will be timed. It is a race, and the last ten people to reach the end of the course will be tasked with cleaning all of the cabins by midnight tonight." The sergeant orders.

"The course consists of a thirty-feet-tall climbing net, a rope descent, a high bar to cross, multiple six-foot walls to jump, a barbed wire net to crawl under, and finally finishes with a two hundred metre sprint. Understood?" She instructs.

"Yes Ma'am." We chorus once more.

"Jog to the start then, move it." She snaps, making a dismissive motion with her hand toward the course looming up at the opposite end of the training ground.

We start to jog the short distance to the course across camp, and as we do, I mentally prepare myself to be scrubbing floors and folding clothes for the rest of the evening. I look to my left and see Sarah, Hugo, and Marcus entering the same building I did the day I arrived. How envious I am of them until I remember they have to relive the events of yesterday, and suddenly the thirty-feet-tall climbing net doesn't seem so bad.

The sky is a dreary grey, threatening to pour from the heavens at any moment. We reach the start of the humongous climbing frame that is draped with rope net. I feel tired just looking at it.

"Candidates, line up. When I say go, you run. I don't care how you win; you do whatever you have to. If you fall, you're disqualified, and you will be part of the ten in the punishment. As I said, the last ten to make it over that line are on cleaning duties if there are no disqualifications." The sergeant pauses, pulling a stopwatch from her pocket and holding it up for us to see.

"GO!" She shouts loud enough to make me jump, and suddenly I'm stumbling after the rest of the candidates.

I sprint to the climbing frame and leap onto the net, catching it with my hands and finding foot holds before I begin the climb. I make sure not to scramble like a few of the soldiers are doing, because they keep missing the places to put their feet and start swinging wildly trying to keep their balance.

Left hand. Right foot. Right hand. Left foot.

That is my rhythm, one after the other, pulling myself up until I reach the bar that the rope to descend to the ground is nailed to. I look down – big mistake. I am thirty feet in the air, with nothing but ropes dangling over the side, and a mud pool at the bottom to catch me if I fall. I am around the tenth person to reach the top, managing to gain places after some not-so-agile recruits get tangled in the net, or are not gymnasts like myself so have to take the climb slower, and I know that more will drop off throughout the race, I just have to make sure I'm not one of them – I may be used to gym equipment but these people are army recruits, this isn't their first assault course run.