John stared blankly at the hovering blue screen before him, not knowing how to express his shock. The oddity made him wonder if he was hallucinating from all the exhaustive exercise. Sergeant Jay’s sudden comment brought him out of his dazed state, and finally, he responded by turning and looking at the serviceman.
“Huh. That was rather fast. A stat notification usually takes a bit longer to appear. Guess you must be really out of shape, boy.”
The bluescreen followed John’s sight and partially blocked the rugged handsome face of the sergeant. John was slightly envious of the man’s good looks, but currently, he was completely zoned in on the digital-like display screen.
“What the heck is that blue floating thing, sir? And what is endurance plus point zero five?”
The sergeant’s eyes widened but quickly narrowed. “Your interviewer did not tell you?”
John tilted his head. “Huh? Tell me what, sergeant?”
“The stats points.”
“Stat points? Is this what that is? Oh, it’s that odd job perk. I think Ethan said you would tell me more of the details, sir.”
A harsh grinding sound creaked back and forth in the air as the sergeant gritted his teeth and scraped them together.
“That dang Ethan again! The bastard is always trying to get me into trouble! That was supposed to be his job! He cannot go adding on work to me like this!”
John looked at the reddening face of his boot camp instructor and remained motionlessly silent. He knew better than to touch a glowing-red ticking time bomb that was ready to explode at any moment.
“That tattletale got my bosses breathing fire down my back! Damn it! Fine! Just this once, Ethan! I’ll only help out Johnny boy here! You! Boy! Why are you laying around doing nothing!?”
Sergeant Jay slowly lost his composure, and his manner of speech reflected his furious state. He took out his anger on John.
“Ethan may have said for me to tell ya about stats points, but I ain’t gonna say shit if you don’t yer ass back up and running! You still owe me ten laps! Get going! Now!”
“Sir. Um-“
“That is another lap! I did not say you could talk back to me!”
“I wasn’t trying to defy your orders, sir! But this blue screen, it’s blocking my sight. How do I make it go away?”
Jay’s emotions cooled a bit and he regained his composure. He looked back at the new grunt trembling in pain that he was taking on for training.
“You big baby. Got to teach you everything. It is all Ethan’s fault. He should have told you everything already. Listen up. You can think it away or swipe up to make the blue screen disappear.”
John swiped up and the screen vanished. A surprised and excited face plastered onto John’s face. “Oh! That did it. Thank you, sir!”
Feeling appreciated, the sergeant gave a small grin but quickly shook it away.
“Now get your ass moving! Ten more laps, you hear! Go!”
“Ten? I’m almost done with the first one.”
“Yea, but you just owed me one more.” The sergeant smirked, and John groaned but did not complain further.
John’s body trembled and ached as he pushed himself up from the ground before he ran off again. Sergeant Jay looked at John’s fading figure down the mountain and gave a small grin.
Not bad, Johnny boy. Diligent and respectful. Even after all that, no excuses or complaints. You might become a somebody one day if you keep at it.
The grin on the sergeant's face warped into a mischievous smirk.
And I know exactly the best ways to help you get there. Gonna drill everything I know into that head and body of yours. You’ll hate me now but thank me later.
Lowering his stance, the sergeant blasted off towards John while leaving deep impressions of his boots in the firm ground.
The sergeant tested John’s resilience, trying to break John’s determination and seeing if he could get John riled up. However, throughout the eleven laps, John did not give in. He ran up the last lap on the mountainside and approached the wood fence, collapsing into a sitting position while catching his breath.
Feeling smug from holding out till the end and outdoing his instructor, John smirked back at the sergeant and no longer addressed him formally.
“Ha! I beat you at your own game, dude! I finished your absurd training! You said you would explain about the stats when I finished. So tell me now.”
Sergeant Jay towered above John with a scowl on his face.
“When did I say you can speak informally to me, boy? So you think that since you finished my orders that this is the last of your training? We still have another two months! You-“
The sergeant wanted to swear at John, but he refrained. He’s trained many types of people, and seeing John’s current display of actions reminded him of the ungrateful bunch and left a bitter taste.
He always wholeheartedly trained his subordinates with their best interest at heart, even if his techniques were forceful and demanding. He could only squeeze in so much within two months to ensure they did not die out in the fields. Not many could understand his unique form of compassion. He thought John was different, but now he started to think he was wrong.
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“So this is all a game to you. I thought you get it, but I was fucking mistakened. What a joke. God, I look stupid. You know what, John? Go ask Ethan to tell you about the damn stat points. That is his job. Get up. Time to meet with the others.”
John felt the abrupt change in Jay’s sudden cold attitude. Knowing he did something but not knowing exactly what triggered the sergeant, John quickly got up and ran in front of the serviceman.
He lowered his head and apologized.
“I am sorry, sir.”
“Whatever for? No need to call me sir. We are not in the military. I am just doing my job, and you are doing yours. That Ethan bastard needs to do his. That is all. Now let’s go.”
“Sir. I am sorry.”
“Why the hell you wasting my time with useless blabbering, John?! Move! You asking for more training?!”
John did not budge. He earnestly looked at the sergeant. “If that’s what it takes for you to forgive me, sir. I was wrong.”
Sergeant Jay glared at John but he stopped walking away. “And what did you do wrong?”
“I-“ John did not know exactly what he did wrong, and Sergeant Jay was let down.
“No one gets it. Not even you. Move. Time to get going.”
The serviceman moved past John with a face that gave up on him. Time around John seemed to slow. It was a critical moment. The sergeant slowly walked away with no intent of turning around. If let be, then everything would sour and be lost. It was a turning point in their relationship. John thought hard about how to redeem himself, but he couldn’t find the root cause. However, he would not let it end on a bad note.
“Sir, wait! You can choose to abandon me, but please listen to me first!”
John was surprised. The sergeant stopped. He didn’t turn around, but he waited on John’s next words.
“I know I offended you. I must be slow on the uptake because I don’t know how, but I am taking your training seriously! You may be called an evil boot camp instructor from Hell, but I know there’s more to you than that. You put your all into your job. Not everyone does that. Others may think you simply enjoy running them to the ground, but I know you are only trying to help everyone survive. You’re not a monster. Everyone is wrong about you.”
Sergeant Jay looked to the side, feeling abashed. But he turned back and glared at John.
“Seems like you do get it, Johnny boy. Then why do you treat my training like a game?”
“Huh? Sir. I don’t. You saw me put my all into your training.”
“Yet, you called it a game. You said it yourself. And I was the evil villain you needed to beat.”
John’s eyes widened with surprise. He really did say such things to the sergeant. He did call it a game. John lowered his eyes in guilt as the sergeant continued.
“But for me, this isn’t a game, John. This is your life I’m trying to save by grinding everything I know into you. You, and all the others I train. The real monsters are waiting for you all once you start working. Yet, all of you treat me and all of this as a game! I am done with bullshit!”
John finally understood. Shame contorted his crestfallen face.
“I see. I did treat you and your training as such, didn’t I? Man, I’m such a hypocrite. I’m sorry, sir. Sincerely. I get why you wouldn’t want to train me anymore. It’s ok. I get it. I’ll figure something else out. I always do. Thanks for everything so far.”
John walked off, in the general direction the sergeant was heading but not really knowing where to go. But the sergeant yanked him back.
“Fool. The combat grounds are not that way.” He sighed one long and loud huffing breath. “Damn you, boy. It’s hard to dislike you like the others. I’m not abandoning you, alright? Not you, nor the others.”
John turned around like an abandoned puppy that was taken back. The serviceman let out a small grin and chuckled.
“Yeah, well, I am also a petty twisted fucker. I know. If you’re truly sorry then you ain’t getting anything less than puking out your guts.”
“And I’m not the type to give up, sir. I’ll train, but I refuse to puke. It would be a waste of good food.”
The atmosphere changed. Jay wholeheartedly laughed from his belly. John relaxed, feeling Jay return to his previous demeanor.
“We will see about that, Johnny boy. No one has ever NOT puked on my watch.”
“Then I will be the first, sir.”
The sergeant smirked. “Oh. You will puke, Johnny boy. Make no mistake.” John shuddered. “Now shut up and let me explain the stats points.” Sergeant Jay took in a deep breath and continued.
“Where do you think we are?”
John was expecting to just listen to an explanation but the sudden question took him by surprise. He looked around at the surroundings and turned back to Jay while shaking his head.
“Don’t know, sir. But we can’t be inside the cement building.” The sergeant nodded.
“Well, you are kind of right. We are in a separate dimension connected to our world, specifically through First World’s building by the metal door you entered. Obviously, the door is more complex, but now is not the time for those details. This place we are standing in is an actual planet that does not have any hostile forces capable of threatening newbies such as yourself. This is why it is used as a training ground.”
“We’re on a different planet?!?! How is that possible, sir!?”
“Let me correct you, Johnny boy. We are on a different planet, yes. But we are actually in an entirely different universe with a different set of natural laws. Not everything here functions the same as in our universe.”
“That’s what Ethan meant when he said phones and even computers would not work! There’s no electricity! There’s no signals because there are no cell phone towers!”
The sergeant shook his head. “Ethan again. He didn’t even tell you this either? Ugh. This time it is my turn to file a complaint against him.” Jay sighed before continuing.
“It is not quite how you are thinking, Johnny. Lack of electricity or a physical tower is not the main issue. We can recreate it, but the main problem is that human technology simply does not work at all in some of these dimensions, since some of the natural laws of physics do not exist here.”
John pulled out his phone with a taped-up cracked screen from his pants pocket. He looked at the dead phone that should have at least half battery.
“See what I mean? Some of our technologies do not work. Which leads me to our talk about stats points. Unlike our universe, the current universe we are in has an odd function that evaluates our physical attributes and displays it in the blue window you saw earlier. Think of it as a game screen for a playable character, which in this case would be yourself.”
“That’s so weird. Why does that happen here, sir?”
The sergeant shrugged. “Who knows. No one has figured it out. There has been speculation that maybe the world here may be a simulation and therefore showing the game-like screen to all the players in the simulation. But it is hard to say so because the gains from here still transfer over to our world too. We cannot see the window back on Earth, but we retain our superhuman abilities. That I can attest to.”
“Superhuman… no wonder, sir. You flashed in and out, giving me a heart attack every time you suddenly showed up at my side. Is your power super speed, sir?”
Sergeant Jay laughed, wiping a tear from his eyes. “You’re one of the funniest recruits yet! Should see how high you jump along with your face filled with absolute horror. Priceless.”
John returned the insults with a deadpan look.
“I jest, I jest. I mean it in the best way, Johnny. It is a good thing.”
John gave the sergeant a dubious look. “Sure as heck doesn’t sound like it to me, sir. I think you enjoyed it more than you admit, sir.”
“True. I did enjoy it, but you will thank me later. It is all part of your training.”
John now definitely did not believe a word coming from Jay’s mouth.
“Hey! It be true. I am building your awareness of your surroundings. You will have to learn to be wary of everything around you, even if you are about to collapse. I am building this into you now. It will save you one day. You will thank me then.”
John did not like the sound of foreboding, but he had no time to ask more.
“Follow me. Time to meet your fellow Field Workers. Keep up or you will owe me thirty push-ups. Let’s go!”
Jay sprinted off, leaving John flabbergasted. Annoyed and not wanting a single more push-up, he madly dashed after Jay. They ran back into the fenced clearing and headed towards the tall wood structure that reminded John of fancy vacation cabins.
“You owe me thirty, Johnny. Now drop and keep to good form or you will keep doing more.”
John gave a face full of reluctance, but he slowly lowered to the ground. All his muscles protested and ached. He forced each push-up, trembling and falling flat each time. But since he kept his form even though he collapsed every time, the sergeant did not add on another thirty. At least not this time.
“I expect perfect form next time. None of this ground-humping crap, but I will overlook your perverted ways this time.”
John glared at Jay and he smirked back with a face that said, “What are you going to do about it?”
But John lowered his head and held in his annoyance with Jay’s unneeded comments.
“Alright, Johnny boy. This here is the main headquarters for the training ground. It also serves as a break area with restrooms should you not want to go relieve yourself out in the woods. Follow me.”
John nearly launched himself forward to run after Jay, afraid of more pushups, but the sergeant no longer ran.
“As you can see, the central area is fenced in with wood, but there really is not much to keep out. There are not many aggressive wild animals here. A few, but nothing to be worried about. They won’t be able to kill anyone. The training grounds have four areas. The metal door connecting back to First World HQ, the building I just showed you that is the training grounds HQ, the combat training area where we are heading to now, and the wilderness outside the wood fence used for survival training.”
John gulped. “Combat and survival training?”
Sergeant Jay smirked. “I’ll make you vomit, Johnny. Or else my title would no longer be the boot camp trainer from Hell. Get ready for some hand-to-hand combat.”