Love On The Battlefield (Ziall Horlik) AU

Chapter 2

Niall's POV

            "Run faster, Horan!" The general was yelling at me. We were supposed to be running through a course trying for our best times, but I was so tired.

          We had been in training for over two days. The only time we were aloud to stop is to go to the bathroom, but even then they tell us to hurry up. None of us have eaten or slept in those days. They said that's what the condition of the battlefield is going to be like. That we won't have time to sleep or eat, it's just fight for your country.

           "I said, run faster!" The military officer yelled at me.

              I pushed myself to run as fast as I could through the obstacle course. My camouflage jumper clung to my body with sweat and mud. My combat boots were soaked through with water and even more mud. The gun I was forced to run with weighed down on my shoulder causing a burn to run through my body.

            I ran to the end of the agiltity part of the obstacle course, which involved; climbing over walls, crawling under spikes and going through mud.

            I pulled the gun off my shoulder when I was over the last wall. I aimed at the target set up and shot three times hitting the center target each time. I knew I wasn't done yet, so I had no time to feel proud of myself yet. I dropped my gun and pulled out the knives I had on my belt and threw two of them hitting the target again. Whith the next one, I got up and ran up to the hand on hand combat section.

            This section was mainly just protecting yourself from a burlap sack man stuffed with straw, like a scare crow. I took my knife and shoved it in its chest and drug it down to its stomach. I wasn't thinking that I might actually have to do that to a real person, I was just thinking of how close I was the the last part of this course.

             This part was the hardest. We had to hide in a make shift trench and put our gas masks on in time before the poison was thrown down. I quickly jumped in and adjusted the mast over my face, just in time before the first gas bomb was thrown in. I curled up around myself and just waited as two more were thrown in at me.

            While I sat there, waiting for the smoke to clear up, I heard a gun fire in the distance. I knew another one of the training soldiers had just made it to that part of the course. This was supposed to be a race between us all, but I feel so lost and disoriented, that I don't know if I'm last or first. All I know is if I do well, then they promised me a shower and food.

            The smoke cleared up and I quickly climbed out of the trench. I didn't remove my mask until I was a few feet away from the gas. I ripped it off as ran to the end where the general was standing holding a stop watch with a smirk on his face.

              "9 minutes flat! I'm impressed, Horan." The general told me as I ran past him. To be honest, I was impressed too. I didn't know I could even make it through the course, much less in nine minutes.

              "Thank you, sir!" I yelled back to him, standing straight, just the way I was taught. He told me I could relax and he wanted to give me some good news when everyone else finished.

              I caught my breath and unzipped my jumper, letting it hang off my hips. I was sweating worse than I ever have in my life and having that long sleeved material on my body.

            I just hope I can stay in training for the rest of the war because I'm not good enough for actual war. Even if I can pass these courses fast and before anyone else, that still doesn't mean I'll be able to do it against actual people.