Army of One

3

-Wednesday week 6-

Ethan followed his soldiers up the stairs, having just come in from their morning run. At the front of the crowd, he caught sight of Emma's chestnut hair as she reached the landing and had to suppress a small smile. Despite getting beat at his own game, his plan had worked perfectly. She became more determined, more focused, put all her energy into training and gave it everything she had. Hell, she even impressed him during a couple of their regular sessions in the 'house of pain' by succeeding in some of the more daunting physical tasks he'd set for her. Oh, he'd kept his word about not punishing her over what had happened inside the circle, but the daily torture sessions still continued. His mind wandered back to that day, when he lay defeated in the sand.

His co-workers teased him unmercifully over the incident... for about ten minutes until he snapped at them. He was more than a bit shocked she'd slugged him hard enough to cause a nose bleed, then, when he landed on his back from her second surprising strike, she reminded him just how much that could hurt, too. Later, as he sat in his office with a bag of ice pressed to his face, he had to admit... he was proud of her.

Emma took her time getting her shower supplies together. She'd learned to give everyone else a chance to rush in first so by the time she got there, there was a shower head free for her. The number of females had now dwindled down to five. There were a good number of soldiers that over the weeks had dropped out of Basic one by one from various injuries and had to be recycled. There was no way that was going to happen to her. No way could she take coming back and doing everything all over again, especially if it meant winding back here and under Austin's thumb. She shivered at the thought and walked out of her room, shower caddy in hand.

"I gotta run to my car and grab something. Be right back."

Emma heard Grayson's voice coming from Ethan's office. As she neared it, Grayson came out and greeted her.

"Hey, hey," he smiled brightly. "What's up, 'First Blood'?"

She giggled at his new nickname for her. Shortly after knocking Ethan on his ass, several of the Drill Sergeants argued over what to call her... 'Stands with a Pugil', 'Emma the Drill Sergeant Slayer' or 'First Blood'. Grayson won after reasoning that since she was the first to draw blood in the battle against E, she earned it.

He threw her a few pretend punches, making her giggle some more. "Not much, Sergeant."

"Good run this morning. You're gonna ace the final PT test, right?"

"Count on it, Sergeant."

He was such a goof ball. He saluted her and did an 'about face' to head down the stairs. She was grateful he was nothing more than a big softie underneath that horrid DS hat he wore. How he and Ethan were best friends she'd never figure out. Ethan acted like a bad-ass from day one, all with the 'grhh, arghh', while Grayson's true personality came out during week four, playful and smiling all the time.

She stood there a moment longer and sighed, praying Ethan wouldn't stop her on her way to the shower when she passed his office. Maybe he's closed the door already, she thought as her legs carried her forward.

Throwing his sweaty T-shirt onto the desk, Ethan rifled through his duffle bag for a clean one. He overheard the friendly exchange between Grayson and Emma but ignored it. Right now he wanted a shower more than anything so he could face the long day ahead of him. Besides, there would be plenty of time to mess with her during breaks between the drills he had planned for everyone. As he pulled out his shaving cream, his razor dropped to the floor. Bending over to retrieve it, he suddenly had the strange sensation that he wasn't alone, the feeling that someone was watching him.