“Stands Straight, look presentable! You are standing in front of your commander.”

Everything Is vague. MY HEAD. My head is killing me.

More yelling in the background, joining my mother-of-all-hangovers. The colors - too sharp, everything is spinning, and my stomach is killing me. I fall to my knees just to be flung up like a toddler. I Don’t know the swager but I’m sure he didn’t like been puked on, as just after puking I received a blow to my ribs. Believe it or not, it helped me get myself together. That or the puking.

I noticed some things simultaneously: I was in a forest, someone carried me over his shoulder, and that someone was high and abnormally muscular. there were more runners behind him, all of them wore similar brown clothing, and looked at me angrily. The one carrying me was running with wide steps and rocked me up and down harshly. Good thing that my insides were out already.

The most interesting thing I noticed was a blue transparent screen that was bouncing up and down with me, it had something written on it, which I couldn’t read like how been in a roller coaster makes things hard to read. Before too long I was put down, to my left a giant and to my right stood the one who carried me. The guy was panting.

“Seven. Six. Five.” I heard the voice from before shouting

“four. Three.”

In between I head a malicious voice murmuring fast “If we run again because of you, I swear ill punch your teeth out, guardian angel or not.” What?

“Two. One. You almost didn’t make it in time.” The shouter was a man and everything about him indicating military and discipline. He wore a green uniform, shirts inside the belt, pants inside the shoes. His hair down short, his arms bulky and his standing radiating confidence. His face however radiating contempt, and he was directed it towards me. I knew how this was going unfold. I started to warm up my legs.

He had a sheath sword to his belt.

What? I rechecked.

It was still there.

well. Some things don’t change as soon as we look at them twice. So, I am in some military training thing where my direct commander fastens a sword. Where could that be? I was about to throw a look at my fellows when the commander started shouting at me.

“And What were you thinking Jon, eh? That after been late and making everyone else run, you can get exemption from running? The if you can’t run fast enough your unit will keep going and let you be? Do you think we accept leave brothers at the battlefield? Do you think you will be faster next time if you let someone CARRY you?! Stupid leech…” he shouted in despise, centimeters from my face.

“A true soldier stands on his own foots. The unit got a running because of you and will get another one to teach you a lesson.” He turned away from me, looking clam again and said apatheticly said “repeat”.

The giant to my left granted and started running forward. I followed him. With clearer head, running wasn’t a problem. This gave me enough time to notice the thing I missed. The giant, who’s height was at least two and a half meters in front of me had horns protruding from both sides of his head.

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I stared stupidly for a few seconds before coming to understand that something was wrong. Utterly wrong. A quick look around made me stumble. Behind me ran the guy how picked me up before, the one with puke leftovers all over his shoulder and upper back. He was another one of thus… I-don’t know-what that the first giant was. Huge and muscular, with rectangular face complimenting the strongman image, especially the thick eyebrows that shadowed his black looking eyes. and the horns. Of course, he had the horns.

Correcting my steps, I filed it up for later investigation, as well as how come I am in a bootcamp with guys that probably can piggyback a cow just for fun. Who thought that they and I should be in the same unit? How can that make sense? Yet again, my soldier experience kicked in and I stopped this useless train of thoughts. Rule fifteen ‘army no sense’ (Russian accent is a must).

“Pucker, help, last.” the humanoid that helped me gasped heavily with a bass. apparently, he had a sense of humor as well. The embodiment of masculinity. Minus the horns. Listening to him and remembering the commander counting to one second I stopped running and let the big guy pass me. His blocked view of the rest of the runners, so while I waited to the last guy and regulated my breath, I got a nice look at rest of us. There were two above average height guys with blond hair, blue eyes and facial features so similar that they probably were twins how ran side by side. Something about them was off, in a way I couldn’t explain but couldn’t miss as well. They were too much alike, maybe? Anyway, they weren’t in great shape but not so out of it as the last guy, how was, finally, a normal looking guy. He was out of it. About thirty meters after the duo, he ran sloppily, remaining me of a lazy person that decided to run a marathon for his first running activity, just to figure out that his body isn’t used to the running motion. Each of his breathes was pained, and it showed. He had brown hair, had nothing extraordinary about him, aside from the venomous look he held toward me and when he passed me, I took place behind him, placed a hand on his back and started pushing and running.

“don’t think it’ll save you from me later” he panted.

“Save your breath. run” was my simple answer. I might have added momentarily more force to the push, throwing him off foot. He cursed at me.

“don’t waste air” I laughed in good measure.

‘Ten. Nine. Eight.’ We were too far.

We closed the gap steadily. The maybe twins reached the end of our circular rout and took place in the line along with the two giants and another guy I hadn’t seen running. He probably ran head of the first giant, how obscured everything other than his back, I thought, as I pushed the guy stronger than before. It took a toll. People don’t realize how difficult it is to run with weights. ‘Three kilo wight, five time the effort’, they say. And pushing a guy while running is harder.

At ‘Three’ we had about twenty meters ahead of us, at ‘Two’ fifteen and so I decided to throw the guy ahead so that at least one of us will not miss it. I put everything in that push, and the guy’s speed multiplied, as mine dropped sharply. At ‘One’ the guy reached his place and I stood where I was, then the bomb hit. I stood still as a soldier does when the count ended.

‘Zero’

WHO THE HELL COUNTS ZERO? We both could have made it.

‘What in the rainin’ hell are you doing?’ the commander thundered towards me, cursing all the way to the place I stood when he hit one, ‘want to run again?! Want to make the life of your brothers hard?! What kind of mother raised you, hu? Was she a raining storm?’ the last offense he shouted right into my face. Must be a special offence, that one. he was shouting at me from blank zero. ‘Give me fifteen!’

And that I did. I started doing pushups. After the run, the pushups are harder then usual but fifteen is still OK. Finished, I raised to see a shocked commander, and a group of other people laughing at me.

‘What was that?’ the commander asked me Comley.

I was in for trouble this time.