Back to Hell (or not)

Easy Training

"Cub! Wake up!"

Alex shot up from the bed with a shout, still reeling from his dream.

"Cub? You okay?" Wolf asks.

"Fine. I'm fine," Alex breathed, pushing Julius's face (his face) from his mind.

"Well, if you're fine, get up! It's time for breakfast, and I'm not missing it because of you," Eagle shouted from his bed next to the door.

"Yeah, yeah," Alex sighed. He couldn't expect any compassion from anyone after he'd had a horrible nights sleep, as usual.

Alex slipped himself out of bed and onto the floor, pulling out his bag and digging in it to find the SAS uniform that MI6 had given him. He took off his shirt to put it on, but a hand pulled his from grabbing his shirt.

"What's with those scars?" Snake whispers, shocked, running his thumb over the bruises on Alex's wrist.

Alex turns, and sees Wolf startle in the corner before he says, "They're nothing."

He turns back to his shirt and puts it on before Snake can touch them again.

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After Alex dressed himself, he and K-Unit leave to the mess hall.

The mess hall was a big square with rectangular lunch tables that had seats attached to the sides. Along the wall by the entrances were lines along windows opening into the kitchens, where the cooks make the slop they feed the SAS men. The men themselves line up along the windows to pick up their slop, and then sit down at their unit's assigned table.

Alex gets in the line behind his unit, and people-watches until he can grab his slop, too. He sees some men point and snicker, but he isn't sure if he really cares, or if he feels sorry for the immature men 'that would likely never get a date' he thinks.

Snickering at the thought, he takes a step to grab his slop, but a big man sticks his foot out, and Alex tumbles to the ground--or so the man would like to think. Alex feigns a tumble, but really sticks his hands out and "accidentally" pulls the mans pants down and ties the man shoelaces together when he meets the floor.

The man blushes and growls in rage as the hall bursts into laughter.

"Brat--" the man starts, before the sergeant appears from behind and tugs on his collar, pulling the man back.

"Don't be a sore loser, Bear. You messed with the kid first, he just got you back."

Bear grunts and turns, taking Alex's breakfast and half a step before falling on his face, slop staining his crisp, clean (just washed) uniform. And he nearly shouts at Alex before he slowly turns to the sergeant, and instantly forgets that thought.

"You gonna stare all day? You look like an idiot--I'm not saying you aren't one--but I'm not sure your pride can take anymore hits today," the sergeant chuckles, remembering a similar happening to him the year before. Except then it had been matches. "Cub, give him his knife back."

Alex takes the knife from under his belt and tosses it to Bear, who catches it, unties his shoes, pulls up his pants, puts his knife away, and stalks towards the entrance, grumbling the whole way.

Alex turns, not caring, and takes the next slop to come through the window. When he gets to his seat with the K-Unit, the mess hall is still loud with talk and laughter. Most of which from the loudest of all, Eagle.

"Cub! Dude! That was awesome! You just publicly kicked Bear's mental ass! That was a riot! How'd you steal his knife, anyway? And how'd you get on the sergeants good side?" Eagle chirped as soon as Alex had put his spoon in his mouth. He seemed to like to say annoying things at the most annoying of times—but it also seemed intentional.

"His parents probably bribed the sergeant. Just like they bribed him into giving Cub easy training, right?" Wolf said bitterly, glaring at Alex.

Alex stayed silent, keeping cool and calm (as usual) but his cover was slipping with his anger, and he gripped his spoon tight as he slowly shoveled the slop into his mouth, surprised that it tasted good. He takes a moment to marvel the taste before finishing it and, still ignoring his unit-mates, walks to the tray cart and places the dirty tray with its partners.

He walked back to the table and sat before saying, "When's our first session?"

"In a few minutes. We'll be starting out at the shooting range and then getting to language. Although you'll be skipping out, after that we'll go to the assault course, and after you can choose to join in on the laps in the lakes, then a drill across the property, but you'll skip again, then dinner and after is bed."

What he doesn't say, though, is how odd it is that bed is directly after dinner, and not after more laps or running. What he doesn't say, is about how there's going to be a "surprise assault training" that night, that even Alex can't skip out on.

What he doesn't say, is that Alex is going to be mock-kidnapped and forced to escape, or he'll be binned.