War To Come

Chapter 6- Not Giving Up

My team is the first one there. We stand and wait for the other teams to arrive. The only one there before us being Beyer, I'm not surprised. My team and Beyer stand silent for the thirty minutes while the other teams start piling in.

The clock hits ten-fifty and already all the teams have arrived. The not being late factor being driven into our heads after what happened with Joseph. My team stayed in our clothes from this morning, the clothes being dry now. Some teams ended up changed into a new pair of clothes. I can tell the graduates noticed.

"This next training will test, well you'll see." Beyer Says with a smug look. "Link up with your team. Lay down in the water."

We do as he says. Heads facing the water not the sand. The water again is cold. As the waves come up they submerge us in the water. For a second you can't breathe. This goes on for I don't know how long. The water rising and falling covering us with another wave of coldness.

"If you can't handle it feel free to unlink from your team and ring the bell. You'll be able to drink coffee and eat donuts while the rest sit in the water. By ringing the bell that also means you will be done with training and you will be leaving." Beyer informs us.

I try to hide my shivers, but fail. At least when we were swimming we were moving. We're just laying in the cold now. The water making us its bitch.

I watch, or try to as the salt water stings my eyes, as one person walks up and rings a bell. It's loud making everyone aware that he just quit. I think his name, or last name, was Jefferson.

That's the only time I hear the bell ring. No one else succumbs to the donuts or coffee. Everyone else lets the water consume them. The water gets into my eyes, nose, and mouth. The salt water stings.

We lay in the water for another hour. We finally hear someone ring the bell vigorously. I look through the droplets falling down my face and see Beyer. "Get up!" 

We all get up. I assess my team. They all look cold, but other than that are in pretty good shape. I look at the other teams. A few trainees look almost ghostly they're so cold. Their lips are blue and they shake violently, same goes for me on the blue lip aspect of things.

"You and your team will work together to scale this wall. Then finish the obstacle course on the other side." Beyer announces.

My team nods, our movements almost synchronized. We watch Beyer move to the side of the obstacle course. He yells and were off.

We get to the building. The building is almost twenty feet tall. 

"Jenkins," I hear Samuel say, "you're the lightest. You'll go first and once we get to the top you'll help us get all of us over the wall."

Goss grabs me and I stand on his shoulders. Together we are still too short for the wall. I feel movement and use the wall for balance as Goss gets on Storm's shoulders. I can reach the top with the three of us. I grab the top getting over the wall. On the other side is a small ledge for you to stand on. Langston climbs the man made ladder we have and gets to me. He can easily reach, but I hold on to him just in case he takes a misstep. Rucker goes next, then Turner, Mavericks, Myers, Cole. When it gets to just Goss and Storm, Storm jumps trying to get Goss to our outstretched hands. He's successful on the second try. While Goss dangles there we pull him up just a little bit. Storm backs up and runs grabbing onto Goss' boots. We pull them up together. 

We turn to the rest of the obstacle course. It looks like It goes on forever. We scale down the wall and go through our first obstacle. It's easy just stepping in and out of tires. The next obstacle is the monkey bars. They're stretched out a little further than normal monkey bars, but I managed.