Side By Side

7

Warnings:
-None

Clay's POV

It was the first actual day of the boot camp. Last week I had gone through a lot of checks and I had my last chance to change my mind which I obviously didn't. I had a haircut and had really short hair now. I got a medical check again and then was allowed to step on the bus to go to our campsite where we were going to stay during the boot camp.

I was told that we would start tomorrow. I didn't know the time yet, I just knew I had to lay on my bed at exactly nine pm. Honestly, I didn't care about weather, early times or night exercises. I just missed my parents now, but that was really normal since I was only seventeen years old.

I was tired after a long day of sitting in the bus to the location we needed to be. I immediately put my bag in my room and laid down on the bed. I read a lot about this and knew I would not stay here for the upcoming ten weeks.

I laid on my bed after putting my bag in the corner. I got a lot of stuff the days before this and also a uniform which made this feel so real suddenly.

Eventually, I fell asleep pretty soon after laying down with my eyes closed.

~~~

'WAKE UP, RIGHT NOW. WE ARE GOING TO THE COMPANY AREA! WAKE UP AND QUICK!' a voice screamed through my room.

I flew up in my bed and even though I was still sleepy, I still understood that I needed to listen. I didn't unpack anything and grabbed my bag, standing up straight as I looked at the drill sergeant, shaking my head to wake myself up more.

'TO THE BUS!' he screamed.

'Yes, sergeant,' I replied, running away from my room to go to the bus. I kept running until I arrived at the bus before anyone other recruits. I stepped inside and put my bags down as I took a deep breath, hitting my hand against my face to feel more awake.

I had no idea what time it was but it was really dark outside. I figured it was something around three or four at night because it was darker than it used to be when I woke up at 4:30 am.

I sat in silence as I waited for the other recruits. They took longer than me and the bus filled up slowly. One man was pretty late and the drill sergeant was screaming at him.

'HOW DARE YOU TURN AROUND IN YOUR BED WHEN I OBVIOUSLY TELL YOU TO STAND UP! LOOK AT EVERYONE WAITING FOR YOU. IF THERE WAS AN ATTACK, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN DEAD!'

The man didn't reply and he got pushed to the bus. 'YES, SERGEANT, PLEASE!' the sergeant screamed at him.

'Yes, sergeant,' he mumbled unclearly.

'WHAT DID YOU SAY?'

'YES, SERGEANT!' he repeated with a loud voice.

'Now sit down, everyone has been waiting for you!' he yelled out, pushing the man again. He ran into the bus and sat down as he glanced around, yawing softly.

Another sergeant saw him yawn and glared at him. 'There's no time for sleep. If you get bombed in the middle of the night, YOU NEED TO WAKE UP IMMEDIATELY,' he screamed.

'Yes, sergeant.'

I looked away when the sergeants left the man alone and the bus started while the sergeants kept walking around to point out every single thing we weren't doing alright. I knew this was to scare us and to make sure we would listen or we would be sent away.

'CLAY, SIT STRAIGHT!'

'Yes, sergeant!' I yelled back, immediately straightening my back. He pointed out things to everyone, but it seemed like they were just looking for something to correct when there was nothing to actually correct. It made me more secure instead of scared.

I sat up straight for the rest of the bus ride until we got dropped in the middle of nowhere. We all stepped out and stood straight next to each other as a sergeant walked around to grab all our bags.

'It's really easy!' he yelled. 'I'm going to drop all your stuff and you're going to find your personal belongings as fast as possible. If you're not on time, EVERYONE NEEDS to do it over and over until you reach the time that's allowed. Understood?'

'YES, SERGEANT,' everyone yelled at the same time while standing really still as the sergeants dropped all our stuff in the middle of the grass.

'START!'

I immediately ran forwards and grabbed all my stuff, then I looked at a man who sat in the back. 'What's yours?' I yelled at him.

He listed some things that I threw at him, he packed his bag as I gave others things too. They seemed to keep asking me for stuff.

'Either do something yourself or pack my bag!' I shouted madly, throwing something to someone who asked me for it.

I stood up and was about to pack my stuff as the sergeants demanded us to stop. I breathed out and stood up straight again with an annoyed face. The sergeants walked around and stood still in front of the man who asked me for a lot of things.

'WHY DID YOU FAIL THIS?'

'Because we were too slow, sergeant,' he answered.

'NO! BECAUSE CLAY HAD TO DO EVERYTHING AND NO ONE UNDERSTOOD HOW TO WORK ANYMORE. CLAY'S BAG IS THE ONLY BAG THAT'S NOT PACKED AND YOU SAT STILL! WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP?'

'I don't know, sergeant.'

The sergeant walked further and screamed at more people, then standing still in front of me. I looked in front of me and stood as straight as I could.

'Good job, Clay,' was all he said as he turned around. 'WE ARE GOING TO START AGAIN AND THIS TIME I DON'T WANT CLAY TO BE THE ONLY SMART ONE. HELP HIM!'

We redid what we just did and someone packed my bag while I threw the stuff to people. I helped someone pack his bag as another person started helping with giving people their stuff. We finished in time and all stood in a row again.

'You'll be divided into platoons. I want you to stand with each other, which will decide who sleeps in what barrack and with who.'

I had a smile fill my face because it was getting so real now. I had never enjoyed something more than this and I couldn't stop smiling as I saw a sergeant look at me. I immediately pulled a straight face again and he didn't say anything about it, continuing making the platoons.

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