Military Girl

Chapter 6

"At ease, Soldiers!" His voice filled the room. It was loud, harsh, cold; so different to what I was able to do. I knew he could keep this up for hours without stopping. He nodded and made his way over to me. He blew out as he wrapped his arm over my shoulder.

"Thanks Dad. I don't know how but I'm cold in here."

He laughed, "You're always cold." I smiled. That wasn't true but this room was always cold for me.

*TIME SKIP*

"Right. The cadets will leave first as I believe they have been robbed of their free time and sleep." The Captain said followed by a chorus of groans from the soldiers. Once you hit soldier, lights out is at midnight and you train right up until that very moment. That was if you weren't part of the midnight squad. They were likely to get to bed at about three in the morning and be up at six again. "Lunkorc?" I jumped.
As I reached my position, I said, "Yes, sir." I knew what he meant. I looked to my father, he nodded at me. "Cadets rise!" My voice was similar to that of my father's. "Single file down the corridors. Follow me!" I kicked the door, opening it and marched out.

We walked for only a minute before the General came up behind us. The cadets were good and stood like they had been told, even if it was slightly slower than usual due to their obvious tiredness. But, unlike the cadets, I didn't. And when I didn't salute, I heard the familiar voice of the Cadet Master from the other end of the corridor, "Soldier Lunkorc! Respect please!" I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"It doesn't matter. She's permitted." My dad shouted back, slightly annoyed at the other man. He turned to me, "Come on. They look like they're about to fall asleep standing up." Looking back, half of the cadets had their eyes closed and the rest were yawning.

We reached the dorm not long after. "Cadets." I stopped them just as they were departing for bed. "Because of the late hour at which this meeting ended, you have hereby been permitted to rise at seven instead of five. You are expected to be at training by eight prompt." I smiled as they all seemed to inwardly cheer. "Goodnight guys." I watched them go into their rooms, counted ten minutes, set the first alarm for five and then turned out the power.
"Cassi?" My dad stood in the corner.
"Yeah?"
"How long have you got until night training? Can I see your room?"
"Yeah. Come on in." I pushed open my door, threw of my cap and kicked my boots far into the corner of the room. "Training starts a midnight so..." I trailed off and looked towards my clock, "an hour." Dad nodded and also kicked off his boots. I reached for my remote, the power switch didn't affect my room so the TV still worked. I handed it to him. I had to get some paperwork done . "No Cassi. If you have spare time, use it for training not for sitting on your backside watching TV."
I shook my head, "No dad. I've got paperwork to get done by the morning. I'm not gonna get any sleep tonight so... You watch for a bit whilst I finish this. Relax for once." He rolled his eyes at me before turning the TV on and switching it to his favourite sitcom. This paperwork was long and I knew it was going to take hours to get right. My phone buzzed beside me.

JAY: Cassi. We need to talk. Can you meet before midnight squad? Please beautiful.

I sighed. I knew he would suck up at the end. He was impossible to be mad at for long. He also was really bad at holding grudges. I quickly texted back.

CASSI: I would do but but dad's here and I've got a shit load paperwork to get through.

JAY: Please? Try for me plz.

CASSI: Maybe cya later

I looked up from the pile of paper that lay strewn across my desk. It was almost midnight. "Dad. I gotta go. You coming with? Because you can stay here if you want."

He shook his head. "I need to get back into shape, Cas. You and I are going to train together. Possibly run the session tonight. Let me just get changed." I nodded and grabbed all my gear. There was always a lot to take with as the midnight group tried to simulate what an actual war would be like for our rankings. As I waited for the General to get ready, I noticed something. This wasn't normal. He never normally visited the institution unless something really bad was going to happen. He hadn't needed to 'get back into shape' for years. So what was going on? I didn't get any more time to think over it as he stood, "Right. We don't want to be late, do we?"

Ten minutes later and I ran across the training ground, the General following close behind me. The others were getting instructions but I ran up behind them and jumped up, over the wall. I knew that Dad had asked to train me separately whilst he was here, that was pretty obvious. There was a three mile obstacle course that replicated exactly what a war zone could look like. It was made for a group of soldiers, so we both went in together. It started off quite simply with a lot of running and swimming and climbing with not a lot of intellect needed. Once you reached the half way point, things got a lot harder. There were mine replicas and fake guns and and snakes and rats and all these things that you wouldn't want to run into normally. It took hours to get through but eventually we reached the other side. I tripped at the last second.

"Ah shit." I shouted as I felt my ankle crack. I rolled onto my back and sat back up. My ankle was twisted in a very awkward position. Gritting my teeth and grabbed it and attempted to put it back in its place. The pain shot through my leg and up my back. But that was nothing compared to what I felt when I stood up. My vision turned white for a second. I hobbled over to my father who looked over me with a proud smile.

"My little girl wouldn't have been able to do that last year. Come on, lets get it checked. Broken?"