Toxic ◈ D. Dixon

Chapter 1

Sir yes sir

Avery stood in formation as they took count. She couldn't help but be nervous, it was a bitter sweet moment. She was free of her life, her family and her past. She was getting paid to do something with her life whenever everyone would tell her she would be a nobody.

"What's your name recruit!" A Sargent yelled, extremely close to Avery's face. "Avery Blake, sir!" She said sharply, barely blinking an eye. She stood as tall and mighty as she could, only standing around 5'4". The Sargent eyed her skeptically and moved in to the next recruit in line.

"On the bus, now!" Sargent yelled while shoving a couple people into the bus. She quickly took a seat, not wanting to look like a bitch on the first day. Her past life had gotten her prepared for that, she wanted to mentally thank her father for that, but wouldn't because of how much shit he put her through.

They drove for a while until the pulled up to the gates of the military base. Avery's stomach churned at the sight. She was maybe the youngest recruit on the bus, and was certainly the only girl.

"Off the bus, now!" The Sargent from before yelled. She quickly made her way off the bus and stood in formation as they had before she had given her life away. She was content with what she decided to do with her life. She would automatically be making money as soon as she finished her twelve week long boot camp.

"Fall out recruits" the Sargent said. As soon as he said that everyone relaxed. Avery stood up straight and continued to look around at the recruits around her. "Hey, I'm Jacob, Jacob Braun" someone said from beside her. She snapped her eyes over to see a boy no older than herself. "Avery Blake" she said flatly and shook the boys hand.

They stood in silence for a minute until the Sargent broke the silence. "Recruits, please follow me as I will show you to your bunk house and where you'll be spending the next twelve weeks of your lives learning to protect your country." He said. His tone was a lot softer than before as he walked towards buildings.

"Do we have any women?" He asked, Avery instantly perked up, pushing her shoulders back and making herself seem more intimidating than she already was. She raised her hand, "I am sir" she said clearly. The Sargent turned to look at her and nodded, he then looked over to another girl that Avery hadn't noticed before.

"There should be a total of six girls, there's only two of you" he said raising an eyebrow at them. The two girls looked at each other and turned around to see four others raising their hands. Avery rolled her eyes and turned back to the Sargent.

She could already feel herself getting annoyed with others apart from the other girl who stepped forward.

Once near the women's bunk house they were met with a woman Sargent. "I am Sargent Reynalds, since there are only six of you, you're stuck with me for your twelve weeks here. This place is going to drag you to your knees, it's gonna kick you in the gut. My best words to give to y'all is keep your head high and keep yourself moving. Don't hold yourself back" she said eyeing all of them. Her eyes lingered on Avery for a second before turning around and leading them into the bunk house.

"This is where you will sleep, wake up time is 4:30, lights out is at 10. Your best bet is to go to bed when told to and wake up when you're told, you'll have five minutes to get dressed and have your bed made every morning. You are to meet stood in formation at the end of your bed everyday for the first six weeks." Sargent Reynolds continued.

Avery followed contently, the other girls slightly shaken by the rules. It was nothing new to Avery, she had grown up with the rise time of 4am after not going to bed until midnight having to take care of her sick mother for so long.