The Six Campers and The Soldier: A Camp Cretaceous Story (OC fanfiction)

The Watering Hole

"Morning Camp Cretaceous." I yawn as I hop of the top bunk. The thud from the landing wakes up Yaz who was below me. "Do you have to do that?" She questions as I dress for the day. "Of course I have too. I would have gone insane if I didn't have a moment of humor to keep up morale. and don't forget, insanity is the number 1 cause of death in stranded survivors." I say as I put my shirt over my head. "Is it really?" She says worried. I laugh at that. "No Yaz it's mostly starvation and/or dehydration. Insanity happens rarely if at all." She shakes her head, smiling at my antics. I clip the Kevlar in place as Yaz hands me my axe. "It almost suits you." I say jokingly. In all honestly, she looks hot, holding the axe. She smiles again as I take the deadly weapon, holstering it at my side.

This has become a recurring theme over the past two weeks. The treehouse, was finished in about 6 days. A running shower was built but only had cold water. Me and Yaz turned out, were the early birds of the group. A makeshift track was built not far into the courtyard, we had built it to keep our strength from waning. After Yaz's ankle had probably healed, she was ready to help out with anything and everything. She even suggested since we were the early birds to train together, helping each other improve. Out of the two of us, we were equal in athletic ability. Yaz was the superior runner. I had stamina that could last a full day. One day, Yaz had discovered that I was a martial artist. My mother would not take no for an answer and took me to be trained in Karate, Muay Thai, and Judo. My father had taught me his own style of environmental combat. Using any tools, weaponry or random pieces laying around as makeshift weapons. That was most fun. Yaz had almost begged me to teach her. I couldn't say no for too long. So for a week and a bit. She taught me running techniques while I taught her combat. She was a quick learner but still didn't know when to quit. She's determined though.

We start the day at dawn, do a 10 minute warm up and run and I mean run for an hour. After that, we train in martial arts. Now I would not consider myself an expert in any of the arts that I'm trained in but I do know basics and some dangerous advanced techniques. Today, is judo, one of my favourite martial arts. "Now judo is rarely ever used for offensive. Judo is an art that focuses on you using throws, grapples and holds to incapacitate your opponent. Everything judo is about is in the hips, heart, lungs and brain." I say as she takes in everything. "Why the heart?" She questions. "Judo is primarily a breathing martial art but does require a strong mental fortitude to control it. The heart serves a focal point between the brain and the lungs. Controlling your breathing and emotions will lessen the extent use of energy as well as controlling your heartbeat, less the heart pumps without being fatal of course, the more energy you have to consume. All this together can make you last longer, stamina wise, than your opponent." She nods in understanding.

We begin with some basic drills. The arm drag is one of the most basic moves in judo, using your opponent's momentum to flip them over your hip to slam into the ground. Typically the technique is used after your opponent throws a punch, so then after, you have control of the arm. Yaz goes to punch me but I grab her arm with my left hand and throw it over my shoulder while I lift me hips to throw her off her feet and onto the padded ground. Luckily some of the gym survived. "Ow." I smile at her pain. "You wanted this remember?" I say as I kneel beside her head. "You could've gone easy on me." I shake my head at that. "That would be an insult to you and you can't learn martial arts by doing everything halfway, you go all out or you lose. Simple as that." I smile down at her. She looks up and laughs.

Soon enough everyone is up, par Brooklynn who insists of getting more sleep. Darius is studying a curled up group of sleeping Compys, until Kenji runs over scaring them away. That was unnecessary. I'm sharping my axe with a whetstone as Darius and Kenji climb the ladder up to the top. Kenji decides to take a shower. "Yagh, why is it always cold?" He whines. At least we have a shower mate. Sammy is trying to open a fruit can with a spoon of all things. I take out my knife and pass it to her. "Thanks Ryan." "Your welcome." Yaz then walks down the crates to the chalkboard. Her ankle is not 100% but she is able to walk without any assistance. She marks the chalkboard. "Another one gone." A tally is kept of how many days we have been on the island. It's pushing to 16. All of a sudden, a large, empty water container is thrown from the shower. "No mas agua. Little help?" Kenji says from the shower. Great, he has drained another one. "I got you, Kenji." Darius says as he picks up the container. "If you keep doing that for him, he won't be able to do it for himself." Yaz says playfully to Darius who smiles as he slides down our slide. "He'll learn eventually." I say.