Reborn ↣ Simon "Ghost" Riley

chapter five - aching .

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As the weeks passed, Ella gave herself fully to her training. The plan she was given by Price was difficult, but it was doable. Her muscles adjusted to the constant ache she felt daily at that point. She hadn't put her body through so much rigorous exercise in a long time, but she took it in her stride as much as she could.

What pained her was the bloody obstacle course she did everyday. Without failure, at 8AM every morning, Price would be waiting for her to emerge from the gym and run through the obstacle course. It had taken her a few days to begin lowering her time, even by a second, but just the day before she had finally finished it in under five minutes. It had taken a few weeks, but finally it was done and she could move back onto weapon training.

She met Price at the obstacle course yet again that morning, following him as he registered a selection of guns to be taken out that day. All guns that were kept on base were locked in a warehouse, managed by a weapon's stock keeper, located central in the base. If anyone wanted to use any weapons during that day, they had to register it with the stock keeper. If it wasn't returned by the end of the day, or returned in a worse state than what it was given out, the offending soldier could expect a stern talking to and a fine, in worst cases. Training ammo was also handed out there, taking the form of rubber bullets, which would still hurt like a bitch if it hit you, but not lethal like regular ones.

Luckily, with Price's rank, the procedure didn't take too long. Officers were trusted more than regular soldiers, so they usually didn't face any hassle while registering guns, and they were allowed to register more than what a regular soldier was allowed to.

The older man retrieved a Lachmann assault rifle, Icarus machine gun, MCPR sniper, and Expedite shotgun. Her eyes scanned the MCPR, a sleek, matte black sniper rifle. Big enough to be powerful, but not too big that it overpowered her. She was accustomed to the Lachmann, being a staple weapon her previous task force used.

The training range was empty, probably reserved by Price, as the pair made their way inside. Long, green netting made up the external walls, designed to not let bullets penetrate through them. The inside was divided into 3 sections. The largest section was a maze, changed every week, with different targets placed along the maze. The second section was just a regular target practice, with different targets placed at varying distances. The last section was a storage / rendezvous area, with different crates of materials they used to store materials for constructing the maze, and a singular long table placed in the middle. It was also the only section under cover, which Ella was thankful for.

Price laid out all the weapons on a table in the rendezvous area on the range. "Right," He addressed her, "You remember how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble a gun?"

Warily she scanned over some of the guns she was unfamilliar with, particularly the Icarus. "I can clean a Lachmann, but I've never seen the other ones before so I'm not sure. I could probably figure it out." Internally, she cringed, waiting for the backlash that was so common in the military.

"That's alright, let me show ya." Oh, pleasant surprise. Price began to take apart each of the weapons besides the Lachmann, showing her how to safely disassemble the gun, which parts needed to be focused when cleaning, and then how to reassemble it once again. He had her practice a few times, but she quickly caught on, and with a nod at her handiwork he started again.

"So I'm assuming you know how to use the Lachmann, yeah?" She nodded, taking the black assault rifle as he held it out to her. The feel of it was vaguely familiar in her hands, which remembered the proper way to hold it through muscle memory. The sleek black design of the assault rifle was smooth under her fingers. The safety clicked as she deactivated it. Taking aim at a targets center, she peppered a few shots into it. She had become unaccustomed to the recoil, letting the gun go wide slightly.