Abyss

4

Training. The most brutal place to be in the world. And I was stuck there.

It was a couple of hours since the spacecraft brought me to the training headquarters. At least it was orbiting Earth. After training, I would get sent to Mars to serve.

I was in the girl's cabins. I had to share a room with about thirty other girls. More guys were chosen this year than girls. I put my bag in my locker by my bed and shut it. I looked around at all the other girls who were taken away from their families. Some of them were crying. I sat on my bed.

A woman came in. She looked to be around thirty. We all stood up.

"Welcome to training. You will train for six months before being sent away. I will be your head trainer." she said.

One girl made the mistake of talking. "Who are you?"

She just said. Our trainer, I thought to myself.

The woman walked over to the girl. She looked at her straight in the eyes.

"You will not speak without being asked to. Are we clear?" she said.

The girl didn't answer.

"I said, are we clear?"

"Yes!"

"Yes what?"

"Yes ma'am?"

She nodded her head. The woman started pacing around the room.

"You will all listen to me. You will treat your commanding officers with respect. Stop crying. You are here now. You can't be a baby." she stopped right in front of me. "Forget your old life. This is your life now. You will breathe, eat, and drink this training. You will learn discipline. You will learn to fight. You will learn to kill,"

She kept on walking.

"You will address your commanding officers by ma'am or sir. You will stand whenever they enter the room. You will stand in a line. You will stand with your hands behind your back. You will not give your officers sass. You will wear your hair in a ponytail, bun, or you will cut it short. You will always wear your uniforms."

We all got into a line, with out hands behind our back.

"Good. You learn quickly. You all may have hope."

She started to walk out. "You will live like this now. Welcome to hell,"

***

Soon after she left, a bell rang. On the screen in front of the room, it displayed one word: Dinner. We all started to trample out of the room. We were all starving. We followed all of the guys to a mess hall. Long, wooden tables filled the large room. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling. In the front of the room, there was an elevated table. Nobody dare sit there.

We all found seats. Some of the people here knew each other. They sat together. I knew no one. Everybody kept their distance from me.

In front of us, there were plates and cups.

A man came up to the front table. He picked up his cup.

"Welcome new recruits! After dinner, please head back to your cabins for further instructions. In the mean time, eat up!"

Everybody looked around in confusion. There was no food.

I looked down at my plate. A small screen appeared on it. It had pictures of food on it. I tapped on the fish and lentils. A small platform of food came up from underneath me. On it was a steaming hot plate of food. I started to eat. The food was amazing. Other people started to figure out what to do, and soon the whole room was filled with the smell of different foods.