Third-party POV
The two men struggle not to express their frustration at being denied going off base. Maze continues to looking evenly into the eyes of her fellow Sergeant, who noticeably gulps under the full force of her gaze.
The silence continues for a beat or two more before Maze turns to look around at the participants, her gaze lingering on the Sergeants who joined it. Chills run down the spine of whoever makes direct eye contact with her.
"Everyone will leave the Mess immediately. Dinner has now ended." Her voice, though soft, commands the attention of every person within the hall. "Though I understand the desire to hand these two men your own type of punishment, I advise against it. Anyone who does will be brought directly to me, no matter the time, to receive their punishment."
She plants her fists on her hips and looks over the assortment of men, some as young as 17, some as old as 22. All are looking for something more than a civilian life can give them.
"Do we have an understanding?"
"YES SIR."
The hundred or so men's voices blend together, with a slight echo from the men who answered later than everyone else. Everyone remains where they are, making Maze raise an eyebrow in mock surprise.
"So, all of you wish to find out what my punishment choices are?"
As the crowed of men start forward toward the door, Maze calls out for her platoon to stay behind.
Quickly the Mess becomes empty, the only people remaining quiet and distracted with their own thoughts.
Throughout the entirety of the interaction between Maze and the men, Bill and Carlos had digectedly made their way over to the janitorial closet to grab the cleaning implements.
The two begin their almost feeble attack on the mess in the Mess. Scrapping the muck of the table closest to them results in an annoying high pitched screeching. They are so focused on what they are doing and extremely awear of how much they have to go, neither of them notice the remaining people in the hall.
Maze points at her men then to the closet, essentially ordering them to grab their cleaning implement of war. She then points to the ground in front of her, and holds up three fingers.
3, 2, 1, Go!
The men quietly grab their weapon of choice and return to stand in front of her. Once everyone has returned from collecting their weapon, she raises her arm in the air.
"CHARGE!"
The men let loose a wild battle cry, running forward to attack the mess.
Bill and Carlos, who were unaware that people were still in the Mess, jump 7 feet in the air, squeaking in surprise.
Maze cleans off one of the tables quickly and jumps up to stand on it.
"Ahoy mi mates! We have been called to battle against the very thing we love!" She pauses for dramatic effect. "Food! For the blasted thing thinks that it can fight us, but what do we have?!"
The platoon roars in answer, "Mops, and knives, Cap'n!!"
"Aye! Let's show it who it's messing with!!"
With that, Maze leaps of the table, lands on the ground a few feet away and begins to mop with an aggressive rhythm. The men let loose another battle cry before launching themselves into an attack. Bill and Carlos, still stunned, stand directly in Maze's path of distraction.
Maze stops and stands in front of the two, "Ye good, mates? Ye look a bit yeller 'round the gills."
"H-huh?"
Maze rolls her eye's, "For goodness sake, are you okay? You don't look well."
"We're fine....?"
"Is that a statement or a question? Cause it certainly sounds like you're asking me if you're okay."
"What is going on here?" Bill gestures around at the assortment of noisy men while Carlos just stands there and looks dumbfounded at her.
"Are you suggesting that I'm so cold hearted that I would force you to clean up the after effects of a food fight?"
Carlos blinks, "Yeah."
Maze chokes on her breath, taken aback by his immediate response.
He blinks again, "I mean, you've never given any proof that you wouldn't do that sort of thing, so everyone just assumes the worst."
Maze coughs into her fist, "You're not wrong about that. But, though it sounds impossible, before I got my post, I was in charge of cleaning up the mess in the Mess."
"Ahoy Cap'n! The blasted stuff got between the cracks and none of us have the tools needed!"
Maze holds up a finger at Bill and Carlos, turn to the man who called out to her.
"Avast maty, seems we better bring out the big guns!"
She turns back to the two, "Are you ready to wage war?"
The two in question look at each other and grin.
"Aye, aye Cap'n!"
Maze let's a crazed grin split across her face, and she tightens her grip of the mop.
"THEN CHARGE YE SCOUNDRELS!!!"
"YARRGG!!"
The platoon charges forward for the second time that day, joined in their battle cry by Bill and Carlos. Maze watches as they attack the mess, acting as if they were at war.
She smiles to herself when she notices that her platoon isn't distancing themselves from the two. She takes that as a sign that her men have forgiven them.
One of her men shouts at her, "Leaving us to do the dirty work for you, eh Cap'n?"
The laughter of the others echo slightly in the Mess as Maze snorts at them, "As if! If I were to leave you to do the dirty work, not nothing would get done!"
She shakes her head slightly, and jumps into the fray, going back to her aggressive attack on the filthy floor.
Bill and Carlos join into the pirate speak and can't help laughing freely as everyone works on cleaning up the Mess. After about twenty minutes or so, Richerson comes to look for Maze, finding the filthy, pirate speaking men finishing the last bit of cleaning.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here we are, another chapter out and a different POV. I got near the end of writing before I realized that this wasn't any perticular persons POV, so I had to change it.
Hope your February is going well! :)
In fact, if you sneer at any other method of measuring liquids, you may be held in contempt of quart.
(for the record, I will never stop doing these)
YOU ARE READING
Project: High School
ActionKaty Westford. Better known as Sergent Maze, the youngest person to achieve the rank in the history of the North American Military. She worked hard for the respect from her supervisors and her hard work payed off. Or, at least, that's what she thoug...
