The next morning, Kayla followed the other recruits to the parade ground for their usual PT session, a flutter of excitement in her chest. At least she would get the satisfaction of watching the Princess get humbled.
Once the class was in formation, instructor Susaki addressed them. “As you know, Recruit Djallen has the strongest PT scores of all of you, and we would like to make a special recognition of that fact. Recruit, step forward.”
Kayla had learned that getting any kind of attention from an instructor was bad news. A curt nod conveyed respect, while a terse conversation meant a recruit was doing poorly. She saw that Rose looked ill with apprehension as she walked to the front of the group.
“Recruit Djallen,” Susaki continued, “since you are our star performer, I would like you to show the class the correct pushup form. Please assume the position.”
Rose got down on her hands and knees.
“Take your weight.”
She raised her back into a clean line, and her arms stiffened with tension.
Kayla grudgingly admitted that she was certainly fit, as her body was steady in the tense position. For the moment, anyway.
“Now class,” Susaki said as she pointed to Rose, “please observe how the correct form places tension not only on the arms but also on the abdominal and the back muscles. You may not have realized it, but this posture is fundamental to a correct pushup maneuver. Indeed, when we study the dorsal anatomy of the human body…”
Susaki continued on an extensive discourse into human physiology, quoting textbooks and citing studies. It seemed she could carry on forever, reciting a full PhD thesis about pushups, while Rose’s arms began shaking.
Still, the instructor did not stop, but Kayla knew from experience she would be watching from the corner of her eye. When they looked away was when they watched you the closest. Kayla smirked. Rose was finally reaping her karma.
Rose’s back began to droop.
Susaki whirled around immediately. “Recruit? Did I say you could relax?”
“No instructor,” Rose gasped.
“I can’t instruct the class on pushups if you won’t hold the correct position.”
“No instructor.”
“Back into position then,” Susaki said, and turned back to the recruits to resume her speech.
The other instructors stood to one side with amused expressions as Rose struggled to maintain the correct position. Her arms had to be in immense pain by now, and she was flushing red, gasping for breath, and sweating. Susaki continued her speech until Rose collapsed on the ground. She tried to get up, but her arms gave out again.
Susaki ignored her. “It appears that I no longer have a subject to demonstrate the correct form,” she said. “Fortunately, I have always found personal experience to be the best teacher. Recruits, you will immediately adopt the correct pushup position and hold it. Ready—into position!”
Dread flooded Kayla’s mind as she got down on her hands and knees. She had been foolish to think the punishment would be so simple.
“Good work, recruits,” Susaki said. “Now, as I was saying, it was around 1836 that the famed body builder Max Kleiber, in his seminal thesis on animal energetics, postulated…”
As she continued, the other instructors moved in. After a few more postulates on physiology, Kayla felt her arms begin to burn, and she saw Christie’s back droop.
Instructor Reyes was at Christie’s side in a heartbeat. “Hold the position Stirling. I want to see perfect form!”
Christie struggled back up, but it was clear to Kayla that they were all in a losing battle. More recruits faltered, and the instructors went to each of them mercilessly, forcing them back up until their strength was extinguished.
Eventually, only Kayla remained, struggling to keep her numb arms straight under the blank stare of instructor Susaki.
“Anything to say, Barnes?” she asked.
“No Instr—ahh!” Kayla dropped to the ground, her arms as useless as lead weights.
Susaki turned away. “Now recruits, I would like us all to thank recruit Djallen for giving us the opportunity to perform this presentation. Say ‘Thank you Recruit Djallen’.”
The group muttered the phrase, not without bitterness in their voices.
“She didn’t hear you! Louder!”
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“Thank you, Recruit Djallen!” came the loud, angry chorus.
Later that day, most of Rose’s clique lined up outside Mckinnon’s office to request a drop out. From then on, Rose ate her meals alone.
Several days later, the instructors led the class to a new part of the woods around the camp. In the early days of the course, Kayla had snuck out after curfew to explore the area, and she knew what was waiting for them.
As the group walked through the trees, she punched Thandi playfully in the arm and grinned. “Today’s the day. I told you we would get to this sooner or later.”
Thandi smiled. “You’re just a big kid, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely.”
The girls quieted as they came to a clearing in the trees. Wooden beams, cargo netting and ropes extended through the forest in the direction of the beach, and Kayla was high on euphoria. It had been a long time since she had been able to climb on something.
Susaki gathered the recruits around her. “Ladies, it is time to take things up a notch. This assault course will force you to confront a series of physical challenges that will push your strength and endurance to the limits. Some obstacles cannot be overcome without co-operation from a partner, so good teamwork will be required. We will work on the course every week for the remainder of your training, and you will need to complete a full circuit within a strict timeframe to graduate.”
The instructors walked the class slowly through the course, presenting each obstacle and describing how to get through it. As they did so, instructors Ahmad and Cieslik executed the course together, showing the recruits the correct moves needed to get past each obstacle quickly. Many of the structures rose high into the air, and Kayla noticed that a lot of the recruits, including Rose, looked nervous.
The course ended on the beach with a ladder climbing a thirty-five-foot tower. From the top, a narrow wooden beam extended seventy feet over the water, interrupted at the far end by a set of steps. Kayla was eager with anticipation as she watched instructor Ahmad walk carefully along the beam. She carefully traversed the steps while maintaining her balance over the drop.
At the end of the beam, the instructor lowered herself onto a rope that hung over the water, supported by a column that rose out of the sea. She commando crawled along the rope for twenty feet until she reached a bell midway along it. A crisp clatter of bongs rang out, and she fell for an almost endless moment into the waves below. Seconds later, Instructor Cieslik completed the same sequence of movements.
Kayla turned to look at Rose and saw her eyes focused on the beam, jaw clenched, and face pale.
“Afraid of heights?” Kayla asked in a careless voice.
“Recruit Barnes, step forward,” said Susaki, with a glimmer in her eye.
Kayla did so happily. As the strongest recruit, she would obviously be asked to go first.
“Each recruit will be assigned a buddy,” Susaki explained, “with whom you will attempt to complete the course. You will remain buddies until you graduate from this camp. You will be a team. You will go everywhere together; you will do everything together. If your buddy fails, you will be punished. If you fail, she will be punished. If you are, for some reason, separated, an instructor will demand the location of your buddy. If you cannot provide it…” Susaki smiled. “I’m sure you can extrapolate the consequences.”
A ball of hot lead settled in Kayla’s stomach.
“Class, as you all know,” Susaki continued, “Recruits Barnes and Djallen hold the top PT scores. It therefore behooves us to reach the inevitable conclusion that they should be partnered as buddies. Recruit Djallen step forward.”
Rose did so, but she had a distant expression and didn’t seem to be paying attention. There was a wave of muffled giggling. When Kayla looked around to Thandi for moral support, she saw a smirk on her friend’s face. It wasn’t fair. She had worked hard to be at the top of the class, so why should she be punished? Why couldn’t the instructors just get rid of Rose?
Susaki led them back to the first obstacle and sent Kayla and Rose through first, talking them through the movements. They ran across beams and swung on ropes over the easier sections. Rose kept up with Kayla, though she was slipping and stumbling as though she was inebriated.
They started climbing higher, ascending a ladder onto a rope traverse. Kayla pulled her legs up and hooked them over, then began to pull herself along. She treasured the spike of adrenaline she got from seeing the ground uncomfortably far below. Once she was across, Rose reached up and took hold of the rope. She swung her legs up, and began to edge out from the platform, but then she stopped, and Kayla could see the terror on her face.
Susaki called to Rose to continue, and she began to move forward at a slow pace, shaking arms reaching for a few handholds at a time, then stopping for long pauses.
Kayla began to lose her patience. “What’s the matter Rose, can’t handle it?”
Rose flashed her a furious look, but began to move again until she reached the platform. Her skin was pale white, and she was trembling, refusing to make eye contact.
Susaki climbed a ladder up to the platform and pulled them both to one side so they could let the other recruits through.
“It’s okay, Djallen,” she said. “Fear of heights is nothing to be ashamed of. Just take a minute, control your respiration, and collect yourself, okay?”
“Okay,” Rose stammered. Her breathing was shallow, and she stared wide-eyed at the ground.
“I understand this is difficult for you,” Susaki continued, “but you are going to have to face your fear and get through it. You are training for a job that will involve people trying to kill you. Horrific things that I can’t describe will try to kill you. I promise you that you will watch people die.”
“Yes Instructor.”
“If you cannot deal with the fear that you experience here, you will not be any use to us, and we will send you home. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes Instructor.”
They took a long break while the rest of the class continued the course. Kayla felt humiliated by the awkward looks she received. The problem was Rose, not her.
She watched enviously as Thandi and Christie passed them, working through the obstacles without much difficulty.
“Come on Zulu,” Christie called mockingly.
Thandi struggled over a high and precarious walkway, legs shaking as she looked down. She stopped when she came to a ladder made of thick logs.
“Where’s that warrior bravery?” Christie said.
“It’s a bit high,” Thandi said nervously.
“It’s not high; you’re just scared.”
“Shut up, Christie! I’m not scared of anything.”
“Stop wasting time, then.”
Thandi backed out over the ladder and stretched a foot out. “I’m not a climber. Where did you put your feet?”
Christie pointed out each step on the ladder as Thandi descended. She dropped down with a relieved expression on her face.
Christie smirked at her. She opened her mouth to speak.
Thandi pushed straight past her. “Stop wasting breath—next obstacle!” she called.
Christie turned bashfully to follow.