Mates in Disguise

Chapter 2

SKY

Hearing the whistle, I took off sprinting. First obstacle was easy – army crawls. I got to my four and bend my body further to get under the wire.

“Give the poor boy some food!” Someone taunted. “All skin and bones.”

“Waste of space...”

I clenched my teeth with anger, but kept my lips shut. I lied down and started crawling, pulling my bodyweight with my arms. The sand was making it harder, but I managed.

“Mommy won’t save you now, boy! Just give up already!”

I can hear them laughing and making jokes about boys pissing themselves at the thought of a fight.

I bet they would s**t themselves when the real war begins. Fuckers.

I shake my head and focus on the obstacle. I almost made it to the end, but lifting the head didn’t go as planned. The wire got my hat and my hair is now next to getting ripped.

Thank God, I decided to cut the hair, before getting here. If I left them as they were – long, and wavy – I would already be caught, no doubt.

I lower my head and take a glance at the cadet to my left. He’s struggling with the wire much more than me. No surprises there. The guy is big. His biceps can’t fully bend and get under him without lifting him up to the wire’s spikes.

Thank God I’m slender. Not thin. But still quite petite. Yet training filled all the right places with hard muscles, that stayed hidden under the uniform.

I made it to the end of the first obstacle. I look back and see that I’m first to finish. I smirk. Let’s see who’s better now, assholes.

I run towards multiple wooden beams set at different heights. The highest of them is on a par with my forehead. I start the jump, hug the beam and turn my bodyweight over it. Movement to my right indicated that the other guy is doing exactly the same thing. I need to go faster.

I put all my strength into making the jumps and pulling myself upward. It’s hard, but I make it and sprint onto other beams placed horizontally. I jump on it and walk as fast as possible, while balancing my weight, not letting myself fall.

“Ahh!” Someone shouts to my right. Thud. I bet the guy just fell, but taking a look is too risky now. I might lose the balance. I jump off and run towards a vertical wall of 4 meters. Taking two steps up on fast impact I catch the rope hanging from the top, and pull myself upward.

My arms start to tremble. When I catch the edge, they almost give up. I hang there trying to swing myself to get my foot over the edge. To no use.

“Do us all a favor and let go!” The guy on my left screams at me when flying over the top.

I sneer. It took last bit of my upper strength to pull myself up and swing over the edge. I look to the other side and see sand on the bottom.

Am I supposed to jump?

I don’t have much time to think, I take a step and land on the sand while taking a roll through my shoulder. I hurt like hell, but at least I made it.

I see the guy skipping through tires. I do the same and almost catch up with him.

Last are “ups and downs”. I smile, because I know I’m best at it. I run and jump over wooden pal reaching my hip. Then I get down and crawl through a small window-like hole in front of me. Then repeat. Jump, crawl, jump, crawl.

At the end all that’s left it sprinting 50 meters towards the finish line. I can feel wind ruffling the longer hair at the top of my head. (I couldn’t shave it all.) But I don’t care much. They won’t stop me now. Nothing will.

“1 minute and 36,2 seconds!” The soldier with a board screams my time. I finished first.

I’m out of breath, but I look at the officer with proud beaming through my smile.

“Not a soldier material, huh!” I scream back. He glares at me. I already know we won’t be friends, but f**k him. Men like him were belittling me all my life. “That’s what army is about. How about you sift the weaklings now!” I taunt looking at the formation.

“It’s bad to make enemies the first day at new place” A guy next to me says with low tone. I look up and notice the man who was racing with me on my left.

“I’m the only small guy here. They’re already my enemies.” I say while watching the other cadets-to-be taking their stances at the start.

“Not to all. For me” He points at himself. “You’re a role model.” He shakes his head. “What you did there was amazing. Never saw anyone do what you did. Proved your point – not all small guys are weak.”

“I’m glad the message got received at least by a few” I smile at him. “You weren’t bad yourself.”

He scoffs.

“I finished last.”

I look up at him.

“But you finished.” I point at the guy who took the jump from the highest obstacle and what appears like – broke his leg. Some other soldiers came and took him off the course. “A lot of them won’t”.

He looks at the man with broken leg and smirks.

“Yeah... you’re right. Looks like proving me wrong is going to be your full-time job.”

I smile and look up at him again.

“My pleasure. I love proving my point.” I lift my hand. “I’m Skyler.”

“Liam” he introduced, while shaking my hand.

“See?” I smile wider. “Making enemies on the first day can pay back just well”.

He laughs and we both focus on the obstacle course, noting men that could become our team comrades.

This whole time I notice this unnerving feeling under my skin. Call me insane, but it's almost like expectation. Like my body is preparing for something. I don't know what it is, but it's definitely nothing good.