The Rejected Alpha

Chapter 9

William looked at both his parent’s, “but I have to go,” William said, “it is the law, and if I don’t go, I will be put in prison for two years. This is something I cannot get out of”, he pleaded with his father.

“Well then”, said Luna Delilah, “we will give you a choice, and you need to decide before this evening. Your choices are as follows,” she continued, “Firstly, you ignore the military duty and do your two years prison sentence, or Secondly, you go and do your two years military service, but if you choose this option, you are not to talk to either of us, nor your siblings, we do not want to get letters from you, we will not write to you, don’t expect anything from us going forward in life. You will be stripped from your Alpha title as soon as Simon turns eighteen, or you can denounce that title now. If you walk out this house tomorrow morning for military service, you are dead to us, you do not have a family anymore, is that clear”, Luna Delilah finished.

“Yes mother,” William said, “I then guess I do not have a family anymore,” as he turned around and walked away.

William woke up the next morning at 5am, to finish packing his last thing before heading out to start his military training. As he got onto the train to take him away for his training, he saw all the families greeting their sons as they left, and again he wondered what he has ever done that was so bad for his parents to hate him so much.

It was a two day trip by train to reach the small town of Oudtshoorn, the military base he was assigned to, where he would do his training, and William was very glad to see the mountains when he arrived. “I could go for runs here”, he thought to himself as he got off the truck.

Basic training seemed to pass by very quickly, and six weeks later the new troops were all called onto the parade ground.

“Today, we have the recruiters from our Elite Special Forces”, they heard the Colonel say over the loudspeaker. “Anyone that wants to complete the selection process for this, stay behind. Everyone else, return to your bungalows,” he continued.

William was very surprised to see that at least half of the 1300 new recruits stayed behind for the selection process.

“We will start off with a written test,” a very well built Major announced. “Everyone fall in line.” The recruits were all grouped into groups of 36 and escorted to different army tents. As William walked into his tent, he saw another officer, a Lieutenant this time, waiting impatiently for everyone to take their seats. “In front of you, you will find your test”, the Officer said, without introducing himself, “you have 45 minutes to complete the test.”

William opened the test, and looked down at the first question in surprise. Are your parents still married? “What an odd question” he thought.

As soon as the recruits completed the tests, they were told to hand in the test and report back to the parade ground. As soon as the last recruit arrived, the Major looked at them, “now, while the tests are being scrutinised, we will be doing some fitness tests”, he said. He looked at the Corporal’s that was waiting for his order, and everyone again got divided into groups of 36.

The next two hours was as close to hell as William has ever experienced. The running, carrying long and thick wooden poles, running with sandbags on your back, everything just felt as if it was too much.

“Everyone back in formation,” the corporal screamed at his group. As everyone formed up, the corporal took out a piece of paper. “Can the following people form another group to the right of this group”, the Corporal said as he started reading out names. Eventually there were only 5 people left, and William thought to himself, “okay, we didn’t make it. “

“You five that are left,” the corporal said,” return to the parade ground. The rest of you, return to your bungalows, your evaluation is over, we will not continue with you.”

As William walked onto the parade ground, he noticed that there must be no more than 50 or so people left.

“Get into formation,” the one Corporal screamed at them. Just then the Major returned with a piece of paper in his hand.

“If I call your name”, he said, form into another group to the right. As he started reading the names, William thought to himself, “please don’t read my name, I don’t want to be thrown off,” but just then he heard his name. William slowly walked to the group that now consisted of 10 people. The rest of you, the Major said, can go back to your bungalows.

“Now, the 10 of you that are left,” the Major said, “you will be doing a series of psychological tests to determine if you can continue. Go and rest, as the tests will start at 6am sharp.”

The next morning, William woke up with fear in his heart, as he could feel his father throwing his bed over while he was still lying on it. William jumped up , “What the hell”, he screamed, and the realised where he was, and the Corporal looked at him very bemused. “Get up” the Corporal shouted, “your tests are starting now!”

The next two days went past in a blur, as it felt more like torture than tests to William. At one stage he thought of giving up, but then he heard his mother in his head. “You are nothing, you are not family of ours, don’t ever come back,” and that only gave him more determination to complete and pass the tests.

“Today, we will be presenting to you the chosen few for the Special Forces training”, the Colonel said to everyone as they gathered on the parade grounds. “Out of 2000 applicants from all over the country, we have made our final selection.” As he started reading the names, William could feel the disappointment grow by not hearing his name. “And the third and last recruit”, he heard the Colonel’s voice, “can Bryce Gordon step forward.”