Special Unit

1) Working life

It has been three long weeks since I last wrote. Three weeks since I last did anything remotely fun, no sketching, not outings. I haven't had a single catchup with my girls or the guys.

I have been a hermit, well for two weeks I was a hermit. I stayed home, making sure I had all my ducks in a row. Finances are good, Max insists he pays for everything, I've yet to ask where his money comes from as his parents seem to be like most. If they live week to week and he doesn't care about how much he spends, where does it come from.

The last week I have been training, yes, I made it to the Special Unit training centre. It's a large multi-story office building with bullet proof glass windows everywhere. Inside there are security guards, card id swipe machines and a pin for the elevator. It was kind of intimidating at first, the first day I had to show ID and wait for security to get cleared to bring me into the building to get my pass. The entry looks like any other office building but with bank style suited armed officers every ten metre's or so through the large pristine, white and grey open area.  

I would have thought they were paranoid, if I hadn't heard some of the stories around the break area the first day, apparently someone tries to vandal or get in to the building at least once a month. Just last month there was a group who got as far as the elevators before they managed to restrain them without using Skills.

The number one rule is to always restrain from using your Special Skills with Normies. Although the unit call Normies, Unskilled, guess it does sound a little nicer. Majority of protesting is peaceful and only happens when a Skilled being does something the Unit can't stop being broadcasted by multiple New's outlets.

The first two days of training where your basic paper and pen get to know the rules and the Unit policies. I must have read, noted and signed hundreds of pieces of paper. The third day was a lot more exciting; I got a uniform as such. The training uniform consisted of a Sports bra, Lycra shorts and a Navy t-shirt with the Unit log on the top left breast. No pockets, no personal items to distract me while I trained. 

The training itself was way more physical than I thought. I had seen SES training and that does not compare. My Skills wouldn't come into the training till the last month, so I have another five weeks of the physical training to get through. It's all indoors which is great but you don't stop, you have to keep going for the entire work day. I build up a sweat within the first hour, that clings to me making the Lycra shorts very uncomfortable, getting to remove them at the end of the day was my favourite part. 

The field training holograms keep you on your toes, why you run crawl and dodge everything showing around you. What's worse is I have to do it alone. There are no other recruits going through physical training at the moment. To my understanding normally they have team building exercises and are able to communicate from the side lines while taking in turns. One of the exercises I was blind folded, with sound effects added through micro speakers, directed where the hologram's are projected. It wasn't bad but took a lot of concentration, My eyes are my Skill after all. 

I worked through all the obstacles by myself, sometimes one of my team, come to watch my progress but don't stay long. Got worried for a little that I wasn't good enough, as in all three days of physical, I only noticed Dominic observing my progress for a total of five minutes.

Exhausted every day when I get home, Max runs me a bath and the bed calls me before dinner is finished. Luckily, I have a full buffet of food to choose from at the Unit, I eat a hardy breakfast before training every morning and grab some food on the way out before going home.

Hydrolytes are my new best friend, Katherine would be jealous how often, the tube over my shoulder, running down to the bottle attached to my hip, is getting attention. It's Saturday and yesterday was the hardest day. They upped the training so much I could have fainted if it wasn't for that tube. Anne came to watch and she stuck around for a bit, I noticed her there for a good twenty minutes while still keeping 90% of my focus on the course.

They added some skills but not mine, I was against flying objects and fire. Don't know how but I could feel the heat of the fire and for a hologram that's impressive. Like when the floor shakes as the sound effects go louder, it immerses you in the scene. Keeping my heart rate steady and remembering the training course without the fire helped, allowing me to concentrate on the flying fire holograms alone while the rest came down to instinct. 

I got up this morning at my usual time which is now five am, completing my morning routine without waking my handsome man, then cooked a large breakfast, consisting of croissants, fruit, bacon, eggs two ways (sunny side up and scrambled), sausage, Mushrooms, Tomatoes, spinach and of course coffee, for the two of us. I wanted to thank him for all the baths and dinners I never finished eating over the last three days.

Max emerges from the master room just after I serve, with his great timing and to die for good looks. My resolve to rest today might not work. We have a lovely breakfast as I fill him in on yesterday's training and snippets from the week I had not discussed.

He urges me to call Katherine today and not to worry about the rest of the meals or cleaning. He is so lovely; I am going to do just that.