Awakening: Prodigy

28: Demons in the Game

POV Seth

Sergeant Noland swiped the tattoo on his wrist across the barracks' entry panel. The red eye blinked from red to green, unlocking the front door. He silently ushered Seth in, while holding the door open, then following close behind.

The sergeant's lingering presence did nothing to reassure Seth that for the time being he was safe. He had expected that the soldier had other responsibilities that were far more important than babysitting some teenager.

"When do you plan on leaving campus?" Sergeant Noland asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Seth replied, "I really hadn't decided, though."

The sergeant nodded in acknowledgement and accessed the student housing registry for the building. Again, he nodded to himself, then entered the student's shared sleeping accommodations to which Seth had been assigned.

The space was wide and mostly devoid of life. Five tightly made bunks lined both walls. They stationed two lockers serving as wardrobes on either side of the bunk. Seth shared this sleeping space with the same dwindling batch of military path students since his first year. He was ashamed to admit that though he knew them by sight and by name; he knew nothing else about them.

"Roll call," the sergeant shouted at the remaining three students, who had been busy quizzing each other on their next and likely final exam for the year. The students jumped to attention, lining up as they were trained to do.

"You all packed up?" the sergeant shouted when he was through confirming their presence by name.

"Yes, Sir!" the students replied.

"Mr. Wright, I didn't hear you," the sergeant rounded on him.

"No, Sir!" Seth replied with the same enthusiasm as his alarmed peers.

"Get on with it, then. Stop stinking up the place and put on a set of civies! What are you lot doing in your uniforms at this hour?!" He rounded on the students. "If you're going to be slobs, get into your civies! We have expectations around here! What's our motto?"

"Excellence, Sir!" they shouted in unison as Seth packed his bags at breakneck speed.

"God damnit! Don't they teach you fuck all here? What's our motto?" He shouted again.

"Striving for excellence, Sir! Excellence begins with you, Sir!"

"What was that?!" He shouted, offended by what he heard. "Mr. Wright! What's the motto?" He rounded on Seth.

"Excellence begins with me, Sir!" he shouted at the sergeant.

"That's right. Excellence begins with me. That's lesson one. That's always lesson one! Did you idiots forget lesson one?"

"Yes, Sir. No, Sir!" Came the confused chorus. Technically, they were right about the mottos. However, the only motto that mattered in the military path was 'Excellence begins with me'. Seth felt that if he offered his best and sought constant improvement, he just might survive the war where well over three-quarters of the soldiers were reported dead within their four-year tour. The motto was a promise.

As he was leaving to shower, the sergeant had taken one student's tablets and started quizzing them for their exam. Push-ups and laps were assigned to those who failed to answer correctly and promptly. The oddity of the situation was going to stick with them, even if they could never piece together the reasons.

Twenty minutes later, Seth wished the shower could have gone on forever. He didn't take long to clean himself up, he never did, having grown accustomed to getting the job done within ten-minutes, and lingered for a few more quiet minutes in the limited warmth of the hot water. Seth ended his session when the hot water indicator near the taps was seconds from ticking into the blue.