Heathen Series - Changed

Chapter 10

Stephanie Pov...

I fell to my knees, then gently laid onto my back caressing the pain from my body and lungs which she struggled for control against the force of my asthma. I eventually managed to win the struggle this time.

My heaving and panting pulled in the air that I desperately needed and as my breathing slowed, I looked around and saw that I was not the only one who needed the fresh air. This made me feel a little more relieved.

The others fell all around me trying to catch their own breath and I could feel the agitation rising off of some of them. This training was vigorous, vicious and painful. The type of training that they did, truly sucked the energy out of us. Who knew that we would be pushed this hard so early on in the program.

I laid there exhausted and too weak to take note of anything and noticed that the Captain Reed stared at them – at me – and laughed, shaking his head while he paced in front of everyone. I do not have the energy to get up and my body was begging for the relief it was receiving from the ground. I threw my arm over my eyes and waited.

"This is going to be harder than I thought." he jeered as Mis Petal came to stand by his side.

She cocked one eyebrow up and glared at us from the top of her nose.

"No one... told us about... actually becoming... a damn... soldier!" shouted Irina angrily; she had to stop a few times to catch her breath; her anger making it harder to breathe which only angered her more.

"Exactly! We came here to study under you not to become you!" added Kyle more used to the training than she was Though even he had to catch his breath a bit.

Lu sat with her head between her knees and nodded while El glared at the Captain; too tired and out of breath to voice her complaints.

Soon everyone's breathing levelled out...

"We have done a lot of training, but this... this is punishment; no, actually this is fucking torture! This is not what we signed up for." complained Dylann struggling to stand. This was driving me nuts. What did they expect when signing up for the army program. They carried on complaining for a bit making it far much worse. I had enough of this.

"Oh, would you please SHUT UP! Honestly now, you are all acting like such drama-queen-bitches!"

Everyone stopped and stared at me in silence. I sat up slowly not willing to push myself too much and risk falling over.

The Captain stared, surprised and a little impressed and Miss Petal gaped. They must have known there would be complaints, but nothing prepared them for what I had to say.

They weren't really expecting anything to come from me as I made it a point to keep still and quiet the whole time that we were there. I wanted to observe before coming out of my shell.

Even at school, I never spoke during class unless it was to my friends or to a teacher; so, they naturally assumed that I was shy and reserved – if only they knew...

I sensed everyone's confusion. Probably asking themselves why I wasn't on their side.

"When you guys put your names down, you should have read the fine print. You knew there would be some sort of vigorous training involved, and you knew it was going to be extremely hard. It's the army for crying out loud, that's why it's only offered to exclusive schools. And stop playing dumb, you knew what was coming. You had a choice, next time don't put your names down."

I stood, straightened myself to my full height and looked down at them trying my best not to show that I was beyond out of breath or that I was in pain; maybe that's why I was in such a bitchy mood.