Waking up to the same annoying alarm and announcement Emily got ready for inspection. This time she was sure she had the inspection nailed down. Her platoon lined up with the rest of the company and stood at attention as the Air Force First Sergeant started her inspection. Following her in the inspection line was the female Major.

“Just try to find something wrong.” Emily thought smugly.

“Thread sticking out on the left shoulder. Watch your Irish flags soldier.” The Air Force Sergeant said when it was Emily's turn.

The Major put her hands on Emily's shoulders then said “Fail. I.T. one time. Attention to detail soldier.”

It felt like someone punched Emily in the stomach. She stood in shock. She wanted to check her shoulder to see if there really was a thread sticking out of her shoulder but couldn't because she was standing at attention. The last thing she wanted was to be spotted moving while at attention. As the rest of the platoon and the company was inspected Emily watched as monitors started to arrive en force. She could tell they were monitors because they were all wearing dart guns on their belts.

When the Air Force Lady finished her inspection she made her way back to the front of the company. “Congratulations on making it through the warm-up period. Today is where the fun truly starts. As of today, the monitors have increased the potency of their darts by twenty-five percent. That means longer time paralyzed and an increase of pain felt on impact. When you first start to feel the pain you have two seconds to guard your face in case of a fall. You will raise your forearms and tuck your chin into your chest. This is called guard position and it will protect you from breaking your nose and jaw. Like so.” The Air Force lady explained raised her hands to just above her head and tucked her chin into her chest.

“Once in the guard position, you will drop to your knees. You will be issued knee pads and elbow pads to protect against accidents then you will be shot so you know how it feels.” The Air Force Lady said nodding to the sidelines where the Platoon Sergeants were waiting with some cardboard boxes.

They were handed their knee and elbow pads and shown how to adjust them. Once the instructors were satisfied the Air Force Lady ordered the first row of the company forward. With trepidation, Emily took her one step forward. She could see out of the comer of her eye the monitors fall in behind the first row.

“First row GUARD POSITION!” The Air Force Lady called out. Emily Raised her arms to protect her face. “FIRE!”

Emily felt a bee sting on her lower back which exploded into pain. The pain shot like a bolt of lighting from the dart site to her head. She felt every muscle clench up in her body in pain. It knocked the air out of her and she dropped to her knees in agony. Once her knees hit the ground her body froze as the paralytic agent kicked in and she fell forward face first towards the ground. Her arms were locked into guard position so they took the brunt of the fall. Emily lay on the ground in agony unable to move for a long couple of seconds. Then as fast as the pain came it left her. She took a couple of deep ragged breaths and stood up. Her legs would not stop shaking and she could not stop tears from falling down her face. She stood shaking at attention.

She stood there as the rest of the company was shot feeling very feeling cold and for some reason, she could not stop shaking. Once everyone was done the company broke up into platoons and headed to breakfast. After breakfast, Sergeant Coleman ordered the Platoon to run in formation as fast as they could. Anyone who fell out of formation would get shot. She then climbed into a golf cart and with a monitor and ordered the company to double-time march. One other golf cart pulled beside them with two monitors in it.

Emily ran as fast as the first row. She felt panic set in but she assumed that if she took off faster than everyone else they would shoot her and she did not want to get shot again. Less than five minutes later the first person who lagged behind got shot.

Sergeant Coleman screamed at the platoon to run faster or they would get shot. Emily and the platoon stepped up the pace. One by one people fell behind and got shot by the monitors. After each person who fell behind Sergeant Coleman ordered the platoon to close ranks and keep going. Emily tried to control her breathing but she was a long distance runner, not a sprinter. Still, she stayed with the platoon as more and more people fell back. After a while, there were only two of them left OCD boy and herself. OCD boy looked bad. He was leaning forward too much and his arms were flailing around out of sink with his steps.

She was running trying to lengthening her steps trying to stay in step with OCD boy when she heard him curse. She turned her head just as he stumbled to the ground. Sergeant Coleman drove past him and the monitor beside her shot OCD boy in the back as he lay on the ground.

“Your out of formation soldier.” Sergeant Coleman said beside her. She sounded sad. Emily felt it when the dart hit her left shoulder. She had just enough time to get her arms up before the pain overwhelmed her.

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The rest of the day did not go any better. Everything was done at an insane pace. The Mustache First Sergeant threw his grenade in before they got into the pond and Emily was still in the pond when the grenade went off. She could feel the heat and thump of the explosion on her back. It knocked her forward. She was then shot because she fell.

At the live fire range where they had to crawl on their bellies while bullets whistled overhead, they were given a fifteen count to get to the other side. No one made it and everyone was shot with the wicked darts. The same was true with the obstacle course. They were given an impossible time limit to get through the course. No one passed. On top of that, a third of the Platoon was shot when they were unable to climb over the wall Emily was one of them.

By the end of the day, Emily couldn't remember a time when she wasn't as tired and scared. I.T. was an hour in hell and not because of the exercises. She was shot five times in I.T. for failing to complete an exercise or doing one incorrectly. I.T. was all about doing the exercise perfectly or it was considered a failure.

That night as what Emily was starting to consider normal they were woken and told to march to the pool. At the pool, the Senior Chief was waiting on them with real body bags that had zippers in them. He had Emily and her Platoon climb into the real body bags and while they waited for him to drop them into the pool they listened to talk about energy projectors and all the various classes and subclasses that fell into that category.

One second Emily was laying in the black body bag sweating and the next she was falling feet first into the pool. “Here we go again.” She thought to herself as she grabbed her elbows and crossed her legs.

She immediately started to try and unzip the bag as the water started to fill up the bag. Unlike last time when she was dropped in a body bag the water slowly filled the bag through the zipper. The water splashed onto her face and for a few panic second,s she could do nothing as the bag filled up with water. Emily yanked on the zipper trying to unzip it but all she achieved was that she yanked the top part of the bag downwards.

“NO! NO! NO! Open you stupid bag!” She shouted in her mind as she struggled with unzipping the body bag. Inspiration hit and she grabbed the top of the bag to keep it from being yanked forward and this time the zipper worked. She clawed her way about of the body bag into the dimly lit pool. One of her Platoon members swam next to her and helped her out of the bag. It was too dark to see who it was but she wanted to kiss him. She swam upwards following the bubbles to the surface. Her vision started to get dark as she got close to the surface and she only had pinpoints of vision left when she broke the surface.

“Get over here now!” One of the monitors yelled at her. He had his gun out and was using it to wave her. No not just her but everyone in the pool Emily realized as she swam for the side of the pool. She turned around to see if her savior was behind her but there were several people swimming behind her towards the side of the pool. She couldn't tell who helped her out of the bag.

They were rushed to the dressing room and given an impossible time limit to get dressed back into their uniforms. The entire platoon was shot because no one was able to get dressed and assembled on time.

From there they were started to run in the opposite direction from the barracks. They ran a new area that was covered in sand. There the Petty Officer St Lewis had them excising for the rest of the night. As the sun rose the Sergeant marched the platoon back to the barracks to get ready for inspection.

Emily had just enough time to take a shower to get all the sand off her and put her uniform on before the platoon had to must for inspection. The American Indian looking Army First Sergeant held the inspection and failed Emily miserably. The Major gave Emily I.T. as normal.

“I don’t even care anymore.”Emily said as the Major took her hands off Emily’s shoulders and turned to the next person in line.

The inspection ended and the American Indian looking Army First Sergeant returned to the front of the company. “Now that’s over let me tell you some good news. Last night one of your fellow recruits awakened in the pool. This is why your here and this is why we put you through hell. You asked us to be super and we are doing our job as last night proves. I would love to give you a break to slow down and let you relax just for one day but I can't. If I allowed you to slow down or take a break I and my fellow instructors would not be doing what you asked of us. I and my fellow instructors promise you if you stay with us and give us one hundred percent we will do our best to awaken you. The system works people.”

The next person to awaken was several days later. Emily’s platoon had stopped for a water break after running full speed for a half and hour and for the first time no one was shot. Sergeant Coleman celebrated by letting the platoon stop for a water break by the obstacle course. Emily was watching one of the other platoons run through the obstacle course when she spotted a woman by the wall. The woman had fallen off the wall backwards and landed hard. The woman stood up and started to scream at the wall. The monitor by the wall pulled out his dark gun. The woman leaned back and punched the wall. Her fist went right through the wall take a huge chunk of the wall with it.

Emily watched as the monitor immediately put his gun away and put his hands up in the air. He slowly backed away. At the same time, a golf cart came racing across the obstacle course at full speed. The woman turned to the golf cart as the Marine First Sergeant stepped out. The First Sergeant said something and waved his hand. He threw a punch in the air and pointed at the woman. The woman turned to the wall and looked uncertain at the First Sergeant. He then mimed how to throwing a punch. The woman turned to the wall and with a few punches demolished the wall. The Marine First Sergeant clapped. He and the woman got into the golf cart together and drove off.