Chapter 09 - Zulu 2
Pushing his hands to his eyes and applying pressure to them he was comforting himself from the long hours of reading he had been doing in the library. Today was a Thursday and he hasn’t left the library since 10am in the morning. Forgoing lunch and dinner for the time to read, he had nothing but snack bars for the whole day. Thursday was after all, the only day he could spend reading.
Feeling that his eyes no longer felt strained he looks back to the book. It was teaching him each part of the surgery procedure for a heart transplant. Detailed instructions and diagrams aligned next to each other.
*Thump*
Someone drops a pile of books in-front of him giving him a jolt and making him look up.
A lady in uniform with blonde hair, blue eyes, angular face and wearing a head gear that covers her left eye was now sitting opposite of him.
“I see you here every Thursday.” She says to him
Looking at her he immediately realises that she is at least a decade older then he, but still easy to the eyes and hard to turn away from. Checking her shirt for her name tag and rank, but failing to find any insignia of such he nods his head slowly.
“Just call me Ma’am”
“Yes Ma’am.” He responds instantly regaining his newly acquired military professionalism.
“What year are you?”
“94 Ma’am.”
“Ah, so you’re this year’s new batch of recruits?”
“Yes Ma’am”
“How is it so far? Are you enjoying it?”
“Yes Ma’am”
“You’re very wound up”
“Yes Ma’am”
“Can you say something other than that?”
“Yes Ma’am.”
Sighing she stops talking, creating an awkward atmosphere between the two. Moments pass and he slowly goes back to reading his book. Losing himself in it. Hours more pass, the moon rising higher into the night sky and his watch soon vibrates, bringing him back to reality.
Looking back up, moonlight is shining through the window directly onto the lady still sitting opposite of him, making her look angelic.
“Can I help you Ma’am?” he asks awkwardly admiring what he sees.
“That should have been the first thing you asked when I sat here”
“I’m sorry Ma’am.”
“It’s too late now.” She says then gets up to leave “I shall see you next week.”
Lowing his head “I am sorry again Ma’am” he apologizes “have a good night” bringing his head back up he finds her already gone.
Collecting his books he piles them together and leaves them neatly on the library table before he too exits the library and goes back to the barracks, preparing and sleeping for the next day.
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One Week Later
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Another Thursday and he is back in the library. Again he is surrounded by books and lost from reality reading them.
*Thump*
He is again shaken from his book and looks up to find the same lady sitting opposite of him.
“Hello Ma’am” he initiates the conversation. “How can I help you?”
“Good, you are learning.” She smiles “And good evening to you too”
Looking at his watch he confirms that it is the evening. “Good evening Ma’am”
“You’ve been coming here every Thursday since you’ve signed up”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“I would like it if you were to dive into more detail when responding to me”
“…Yes Ma’am” he pauses “I will do my best”
“Why are you here every Thursday instead spending it with friends and family like every other recruit?”
“Reading Ma’am. I am Reading”
“Yes. I can see that. But why do you not spend some time with friends and family instead of spending your whole free day here.”
“They’ve” He looks back down to his books “passed on Ma’am”
“I understand that. Everyone has someone that’s passed on” she says sounding apologetic “But we all make new friends. Why don’t you?”
Reading his book he replies slowly “We….won’t be together for long Ma’am”
“Do you hate them?”
“Do I hate who Ma’am?”
“Do you hate those we fight?”
“No Ma’am. I…” he thinks for a second “…do not know them”
Slamming the book shut the lady forces him to look at her.
“I...Sorry Ma’am” he apologizes.
“How do you not hate them?! Have you not seen what they have done?!”
“…I have never met them Ma’am.”
“If it wasn’t for them you wouldn’t have been an orphan.”
“I’ve never known my parents.” He nods “But many people don’t know their parents.”
“Your records predict that you would have fully graduated University at 16, but instead you’re here at the age of 16”
“Because there are no Universities”
“And that is because of them”
“How can I hate them for me not having the opportunity to go to university when there has always been no chances for me to actually go there?”
“Because it is their fault that there are no more Universities.”
“That is what our records show.”
“And you do not believe our records?”
“I….” He pauses “Yes Ma’am I do believe our records.” He answers.
“You can speak freely with me”
“I believe our records Ma’am” he answers again
Taking out a recorder she turns it on and hands it to him.
“I do not believe in our own records” she says out loud.
Turning off the recorder he rewinds the device then immediately overwrites what she has just said with blank noise, turning it off before speaking.
“I…I am well read. I know a lot about history, why wars were fought in the past. What people thought about at the time, how propaganda works” he answers her not willing to directly say that the records that were provided to them were heavily bias.
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“And how did you come by such knowledge. Schools have not taught such things since my grandparent’s time.”
“They are not taught because there are other things more important to learn. Not because the government does not want us to learn it.” He replies with what the government has directly stated, not wanting to mention out loud that the government preferred the majority of people to stay dumb.
“And how do you know that?” she smiles understanding what he means.
“I…am very, very well read Ma’am” He answers again, trying his best to subtly say that he knows how to get his hands on restricted materials.
Laughing “I like you.” She says getting up “You are too smart for your generation” smiling “I shall see you next week.”
“Good Night Ma’am” he says, slightly happy to have a conversation where the other knew what he truly meant, but also knew that he couldn’t get in to trouble for saying the words he did.
Turning back to his book at the table he again loses himself in reading. Again reading until his watch vibrates, telling him it’s time to go back and prepare for the next day.
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One Week Later
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*Thump*
Again startled at the loud noise he looks up to find the lady standing instead of sitting opposite of him.
“You’re following me today.”
“I…No Ma’am, I only get today to read”
“And what are you reading today?”
“Aerodynamics”
Grabbing the books out of his hands “You are following me today recruit” she says, her face centimetres away from his.
“I…Yes Ma’am”
“Good!” She says dropping the book on the table and leaving immediately.
Following closely he sees for the first time at just how tall the lady is. Him standing at 163cm. She was at least a head taller than himself, meaning that she was roughly 178cm.
Leaving the library they took the steps down to the pavement. The sun was high in the sky and it was only just past mid-day. Street lights that he was so use to seeing on, were off. Green grass fills the empty areas between the cobblestoned pavement and 19th century style buildings.
“Where are we going Ma’am?” he asks as they took a turn towards a dirtier area.
“You will see.” She smiles “And don’t worry. You’ll enjoy this excursion”
Falling silent they move away from the 19th century styled buildings and enter the more war zone devastated areas. Walking for hours he does not complain at the fact that he thinks he is wasting his time. He did agree to follow and would follow that decision until he saw what she wanted to show him. He decided that it was his fault for not asking in the first place.
Arriving at a check point he makes ready to bring out identification, taking his dog-tags out of his shirt and card from his top left breast pocket. But instead of actually being stopped the guards opened the gate without question and waves them through.
“Wh…Why didn’t we get stopped?!?! It’s against every procedure in the book!” he starts questioning once a few good metres away from the guards, going over what it could possibly mean over and over again in his head.
Watching him panic the lady just laughs “You obviously don’t read as much as you say”
“I…Yes Ma’am” he replies, not knowing what else to say, still thinking of what it means.
“I have special privileges” she smiles “You need not worry about anything when you’re with me”
“Yes Ma’am” he replies before both of them fall silent and continue walking in the direction that she was leading.
Passing through 2 more checkpoints without being checked they arrive at a half destroyed building. Rubble all around the steps, and half of its roof gone the building was still very stable despite its ruined image.
“Welcome” the lady says upon entering “To the destroyed medical ward of our garrison.” She gestures with her arms at all the patients lined up in beds all along the unbroken inside walls.
“I’ve seen you reading books for over half a year now. Reading books at an incredibly fast rate.” She says moving in the aisle of the beds.
“Just the other day I saw you reading about heart surgery” she stops in front of a surgery ward and turns to him. “Do you think you can do it?”
“I know the theory of it Ma’am. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“From this point on. Every Thursday I expect you to come here. I will endeavour to teach you what I can” she smiles again “And help you gain all the knowledge that you will ever need”
Standing still he lets what she tells him sink in for a few moments before asking “Who are you?”
Again smiling “They call me Zee”
“I’m”
Raising her hand “I know who you are Recruit.” She laughs. “Let’s make these days interesting”
Previous Chapter = Chapter 08 - The Challenge [Part 3]
Next Chapter = Chapter 10 - Commissioned Officers
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A/N
Hope I placed this chapter in the right location. Just wanted to bring a flashback and tell you guys how he met Zulu 2 xD
Hope you all enjoyed the snippets of when he was younger ^.^