Mountains (CA:TFA)

1

"Welcome soldiers. To hell," the man says spreading his arms wide. "I will be your Lucifer, ruler of hell. These are my demons," he gestures to the line of uniformed officers behind him. "And you all are the tortured souls," he adds walking down the line of men and me.

I stare straight ahead as he walks by me, trying not to blink. He glances over me quickly like he does with the rest of the men and continues on. I let out a breath, relaxing slightly.

Camp can't be that bad, can it?

 "I am Sergeant Williams and that is all you will call me," the man says. He gestures to one of the officers, "This here is Corporal Johnson, my second in command."

Johnson steps forward next to Williams.

"Did you like my metaphor Johnson?" Williams asks.

"Very good Sarge. Alright men, like Sergeant Williams said, I am Corporal Johnson. We will be in charge of turning you from puny schoolboys into real men, real soldiers. Yeah, these next couple months in training camp will suck for you. And then the next couple years in the army will also suck for you. But because training camp sucks so hard, the real war will suck less. The harder you try, the better you will be and the safer you will be. If you want to make it home to your mamas and sweethearts, you'll listen to what we have to say and you'll put in 110% effort. Everyday. Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir," we all chant.

"Alright then. You all received your uniforms and equipment. They are already in your bunk. Your bunks are determined by alphabetical, as is the way you are standing right now. So, turn to your side and say hello to your new bunk mate."

I turn to my right, knowing the person on my right will be my bunkmate. He turns to me as well, looking me over. He's tall, probably like 6'0". Dark hair, baby blue eyes. Defined cheekbones. Very handsome if I do say so myself. I tear my eyes away from his face and focus on his name tag.

Barnes.

"Barton," he says nodding slightly. His voice is quiet, yet demanding.

"Barnes," I acknowledge back.

"Alright that's enough. You'll be able to learn more about them later, blah, blah, blah. Roll call. Adams, Daniel M. Chicago, Illinois."

"Sir!" the first person in line salutes.

"Armstrong, Hank K. Austin, Texas."

"Sir!"

"Barnes, James B. New York, New York."

"Sir!" my bunkmate says. So he's from Manhattan.

"Barton, Cameron M. Atlanta, Georgia."

"Sir!" I yell, giving a salute. He glances up and back down and continues on with his list.

Again, I release the slight breath I'd been holding. As long as they don't look at me too long, it makes me feel better. Because the longer they look, the more they'll realize I don't look like a normal man. And that's because I'm not a man at all. 

That's not the only thing I lied about when I enlisted to join the army. I also lied to my parents. And about my age. I am 18 but I wrote 20 because I don't want people to be looking into the real Cam. Better to just pretend it's an entirely different person altogether.

Women aren't allowed to be in armed conflict but yet here I am. Lied about gender and age. I did not have to lie about my name though. My name is Cameron Barton and since that is also a boy's name, I figured I'd keep it. My middle name is Margaret though but since the application only asked for the middle initial, it was one less thing to lie about.