I N V A D E R S **also being trashed and rewritten soon**

||Chapter 8-Dreams and Drills||

After sliding the box back under the bed, I got up to take a shower in the microscopic bathroom. Even for a Captain, the showers were no bigger than any other soldiers. The shower was so narrow that I had to leave the door open just to fit my frame. Also adding to the luxuriousness was how the water cut out after exactly 6 minutes. Oh the Corps did spoil us soldiers, we just loved a whole six minutes of ice cold  water poured down our backs in the morning...or should I say evening?

I've been in the Corps seven years and the time table still screws up my thought process at times. 

I hopped in the Antarctic style shower and didn't even bother spending the entire six minutes inside. I got dressed in standard uniform for drills. That consisted of a black shirt, cargo pants and combat boots identical to every other soldiers' except for one aspect. Because I was a Captain, my right sleeve had one large red stripe, signifying my leadership of Crew 07. All the crews were color coordinated to keep the many soldiers "organized". It was Silas' ingenious idea to put all of the soldiers in the Pit to fight against each other just to sort out who would be the Captains of each crew. It was called a special drill.Did I mention that in these "special drills" you have a 79% chance of dying? No?

Well that's Silas Maddox for you.

My dog tags jingled as I stood up from lacing my boots. Some one pounded on my door. For a heartbeat I thought it was Silas. Serves me right for even thinking of the devil himself...

"Warner! Front and center."

I breathed a sigh of relief. It was only a fellow Captain messing with me.

I opened the door to the grinning face of Dustin Whitlock, AKA Dusty and sometimes Whitney Houston. His frame filled the doorway, but he was still a few inches shorter than I was. He had identical clothing on, except for the green stripe on his sleeve. The green for Crew 03, which he captained gladly.

"Whitlock, you son of a bitch." I said flatly.

 He took it as a joke,"I didn't scare you, did I Captain Warner sir?" He asked with feigned shock, pushing his dirty blonde hair off of his forehead. 

I shook my head and almost smiled, "What do you want Dusty?"

"We're doing team drills today and 07 and 03 are together, you lucky dog!" He punched me in the arm lightly.

I gave him a warning look, but he just smiled even more.

He was one of the only people that put up with my usual brooding and it was one of the reasons he was a close friend. 

I closed the door behind me and started to walk down the hall with him, "Aren't we supposed to be doing team drills tomorrow, not today?" I inquired.

"Mad Box switched it today, so tomorrow we're doing the maze instead." He shrugged, obviously knowing nothing more than that.

I looked at him incredulously,"Mad Box?" It was almost funny.

He laughed, "Well, I figure he's like Voldemort. Can't say his real name, so instead he's Mad Box."

"You're right, Silas is exactly like 'he-who-must-not-be-named'." I responded dryly.

That pulled another laugh out of Dustin as he stopped at the part where the hallway split,"I have to go get my crew ready. Meet us at the Sector 4 tunnel in an hour."

"Wait a minute, Sector 4? Why aren't we doing the drills in one of the facilities like we normally do?" 

He shrugged, "That's just what Mad Box and the old witch told me to do."

"What did Helga have to do with any of this? She's the head medical adviser."

"I really have no idea. See you in an hour." He gave a overly dramatic two fingered solute accompanied by a grin. He then walked off towards the stairwell that led to the Crew 03's hallways.