Xander, third in line, tensed. Mackenzie was first, followed by Thomas. Frank and Jack stood behind Xander, while Phillip and Andrew brought up the rear.
Mackenzie rumbled forward right after the master corporal shouted “Get set, go!”
“Next up!” The master corporal shouted as he raised him arm into the air. Thomas readied himself, then took off as the master corporal dropped his arm again. Then it was Xander’s turn.
He ran forward and launched himself in the air, landing near the barb wire and then crawling under it, keeping his head down. When he raised his head to look forward, an instructor whacked the pole next to him, barking, “Keep your goddamned head down!”
Xander kept crawling, glad the ground was still mostly frozen, otherwise his fatigues would be filthy and soaking wet by now.
Then Xander was out of the barbed wire and got to his feet, running as fast as he could to jump the trench in front of him. He leaped and landed easily on the other side, although on either side of him, the recruits landed in the trench and were forced to scramble out each side.
Glancing back, he saw Frank right behind him. Xander raced to the rope swing and swung across a much wider trench, one that was filled with half frozen, muddy water. He landed on the other side and waited until Frank reached the far side and then flung the rope as hard as he could to Frank. Seeing Frank grab the rope, Xander turned and ran through a series of tires lying on the ground, then to the base of the wall. Thomas and Mack were still there, as Mack couldn’t make it over the wall, and the instructor wouldn’t let Thomas go until Mack cleared the obstacle.
“Sorry, Barnes, I just can’t get up that thing,” Mackenzie panted.
“Where the fuck is the rope?” Xander asked.
“They took it away,” Thomas replied.
“Fuck!” Xander shouted. “We just need to think of something Mack.”
“Well,” Thomas asked impatiently.
“I thought you were the fucking genius here, Skinner,” Xander growled.
“Not at shit like this,” Thomas said.
“Okay, I think I figured this out. Thomas, get on your hands and knees.”
“What the fuck for,” Thomas said.
“Just do it,” Xander said, bracing his shoulders against the wall. “Mack, you climb on Thomas’ back, then onto my shoulders and then over, got it?
“Sure thing,” Mack said, and climbed onto Thomas’ back.
Thomas grunted as Mack got on, and Xander groaned when Mack transferred his weight to Xander’s shoulders.
“Now reach, dammit!” Xander said through his gritted teeth.
Mack reached up and grabbed the wall. With a mighty heave, he pulled himself up and off of Xander’s shoulders. A second later, Xander heard Mack land on the other side with a thud.
Thomas stood up, “Now what?”
“Put your foot here,” Xander said, interlocking his fingers together. Thomas did as he was told and Xander grunted, lifting Thomas up as much as possible. Thomas reached the wall and pulled himself up. By this time, Frank was waiting too.
“Okay my turn, Frank,” Xander said.
Xander put his foot in Frank’s hands and jumped up, reaching for the top of the wall. He grabbed with both hands and pulled himself over, although his landing on the other side was less than graceful.
Xander then ran to the finish and stood panting with Mackenzie and Thomas. One by one, the rest of the section finished. They were well ahead of the other two sections, but as Phillip struggled to get over the wall, the other sections caught up.
No matter how hard Phillip tried, he just couldn’t reach the top.
“Fuck this,” Xander cursed and ran back onto the course.
“Phil, here!” Xander said, cupping his hands together.
Phillip put his foot inside and Xander heaved with all his might, and propelled Phillip up, where he grabbed the top of the wall and finally pulled himself over. Then Xander ran beside Phillip, encouraging him along as they ran.
When they got to the finish, Xander realized his section had finished last.
Well, fuck. Xander thought. How many push-ups is this going to get us?
But none of the instructors demanded punishment. In fact, they didn’t say anything to Xander or his section.
“Second section, Second Platoon, form up!” Corporal Crozier shouted.
Xander and his comrades scrambled to comply, then Corporal Crozier led them off to one of the buildings where they got a lesson on map reading. It turned out to be just as boring as Xander thought it would be.
--------
After what had happened at breakfast, Xander’s entire section kept their heads down and their mouths shut as they wolfed down their meals at supper.
The section hustled outside after eating and formed up outside, where it was pitch black already and freezing to boot. A lone street lamp provided some light, with a string of others casting bright spots of light as they meandered into the night.
Xander and his section stood at attention, shivering in the darkness.
Finally, soldiers from First section strolled out of the mess hall.
“Nice of you to join us, you lazy assholes! Drop and give me fifty push-ups for making freeze my balls off in the dark!”
The troops groaned and dropped to the ground and began their push-ups.
“Alright you dumb apes, time for a moonlight run – and don’t none of you think about gettin’ romantic with me afterwards!” Master Corporal Girardi barked.
Corporal Giradi led them off at an easy pace, but made them jog longer than they ever had before. By the end, at least half a dozen recruits had puked up their meals by the time the run ended at the barracks.
“That’s better, none of you wasted our fucking time when you had to puke, you just did it and kept on moving. Looks like you lunkheads are capable of learning after all! Now get inside and get your kit ready for the morning! You have two whole hours before lights out, so I expect there will be zero fucking mistakes tomorrow! Dismissed!”
The platoon broke and ran inside.
Xander walked back to his bunk and got to work, straightening everything out. Thirty minutes later, he sat down and wrote a note to Jared, which he dropped at the front desk. The private manning it took it without a word and nodded.
He walked back to his bunk and was polishing his boots when Thomas walked over.
“Hey, got a minute?”
Xander glanced up at the clock on the wall, “Looks like I’ve got several,” he replied absently as he polished his left boot.
“I think you and I should be buddies,” Thomas said. “I figure between your street smarts and my book smarts, we’ll be unstoppable.”
“What about the rest of the section?”
“We can drag them along with us I suppose,” Thomas answered.
“And how do you propose we become buddies? Last time I checked, you seemed like an even bigger asshole than most of the other guys here,” Xander replied.
“Hey, I heard that asshole!” Someone squawked.
“Guess I have some hearts and minds to win then, huh?” Thomas replied.
“Yep!” Xander snapped.
Thomas sat down on Xander’s bunk.
“Did you ever watch that old TV show, Gilligan’s Island?” Thomas said idly.
“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started in this tropic port aboard this tiny ship…” Xander sang.
“Yeah, that’s the one. Our section is just like that show,” Thomas said.
“Huh? How do you figure?” Xander asked.
“If you remove Corporal Crozier from the equation, there are seven of us and each of us fits one of the roles on that show.
Xander thought about it for a moment and said, “Okay, Screw-up Jack is obviously Gilligan, but there are no women in our section, so your theory falls apart right away.”
“Okay, just bear with me. Phillip is the millionaire and that little suck-up, Andy
, is his wife. You’re the skipper, because you’re second in command. Frank, on account of his red hair, is Ginger. I’m obviously the professor.”
“I’m not second in command,” Xander said.
“Well, you are a natural leader. Look at that shit on the obstacle course today.”
“Okay, but you never finished you PhD, so you’re a would-be professor.”
“Fucking smart ass,” Thomas shot back, ignoring Xander. “So we’ve got the Skipper, Gilligan, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, professor and finally, Mackenzie, our friendly giant baker is Mary-Ann!”
“Okay,” Xander smiled. “But I’d be careful who you share that analogy with – both Frank and Mack could break you in half without breaking a sweat.”
“Hey, as the Professor, I’m smart enough to know that already!”
Xander sighed audibly, “Fine, we can be buddies. Now fuck off and let me finish this so I can get some shuteye!”
Thomas wandered off to bother someone else while Xander got back to work.
Chapter 17
November 7th
Dan’s ‘boot camp’ had been quite civilized so far. Days started at eight o’clock, broke for lunch at noon and ended around four.
Every member of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, or Loyal Eddies as they were commonly known as, had all undergone basic training before the crisis, most having completed it years ago. No, this training course was no different than any other training course the Armed Forces had, just a combination of classroom lectures, followed up by lots of rote practice.
On the first day, they all had been measured for chain mail armour and today was the fitting. Examining his set, Dan was impressed by its simplicity. A set of leggings that went from his waist down to his ankles, and a mail shirt with a zipper in the front, that went from his waist up to his chin. Several interlocking clasps connected the shirt and leggings together and they were loose enough to wear over top his CADPATs, so the suit wouldn’t chafe his skin. He’d have to see if he could find a turtleneck for his neck though. Then they gave him a set of hockey pads, including shin, knee and elbow pads that slid over top.
Once it was on, the suit itself was exceptionally flexible, and it was impossible for pull apart, which had been his fear after seeing the Regular Force guys wearing it during his brief train the trainer sessions.
“I worked with some guys last week, and their armour seemed a lot less flexible. Were they bullshitting me?” Dan asked when he got the chance.
“No, they probably had the first batch off the assembly line. After some feedback, we tweaked the design, making a two piece set instead of one piece and making them a size larger, to increase flexibility and range of movement. The guys who got those first sets will eventually have had to turn them back in so we could convert them into the newer suit,” the armourer replied. “This design is also easier and quicker to get into, which in an emergency may mean the difference between life and death.”
“Who is making these things?” Dan followed up.
“We got a few hundred of the refugees working on them. I think they can only turn out twenty or thirty suits a day, so it’s going to take a while before we have enough for everyone, unless the higher ups get more people working on them.”
--------
Xander’s day was more of the same old, same old.
PT, followed by breakfast, then drill, followed by hand-to-hand combat.
Somewhere along the way, Xander ran afoul of Corporal Crozier for some minor mistake.
“Drop and give me twenty Barnes!”
“Yes, Corporal!” Xander shot back and proceeded to pump out twenty perfect push-ups, without even missing a beat. He’d done so many push-ups over the past few days, mostly because of other people screwing up, that twenty push-ups was no big deal.
“What do you think now, Recruit Barnes?” Corporal Crozier said as Xander returned to his feet.
“That was too easy, Corporal Crozier!” Xander replied with a smirk.
“Too easy huh? Well, then fucking drop and give me twenty more!”
“Yes, Corporal!” Xander shot back and he pumped out twenty more push-ups. “Permission to stand, Corporal Crozier?”
“Nope! Give me one for the Army!”
Not this shit, Xander thought to himself as he did another push-up. That’s what you get for being a smartass.
Corporal Crozier kept adding on push-ups, for all sorts of weird reasons, until Xander had done another fifteen push-ups and was straining.
“There we go – I bet you learned you lesson this time, didn’t you smartass?” Corporal Crozier barked.
“Yes, Corporal Crozier!” Xander squeaked out.
“Then get on your feet you stupid ape!”
Xander jumped up and stood at attention, while Corporal Crozier glared at him, almost daring Xander to say or do something.
Xander refused to take the bait.
“Alright you fucking apes, let’s get going!” Corporal Crozier shouted finally.
--------
Eventually, they broke for dinner and then the platoon spent the rest of the evening in a classroom, learning about military law, regulations and all sorts of other mundane information.
Of course, with the brutal workout all day long, boring subject matter and bellies full of food, more than a dozen men fell asleep. Sharp firecracker-like cracks of a pace stick across their desk roused them. Only one had dared to fall asleep more than once, and by eight p.m., he had received no less than three strikes, two on the desk, and the final one landing on his chair in a vain attempt to wake him. That blow last had shattered the pace stick into hundreds of slivers that exploded across the room, showering nearby recruits, and worst of all, the instructor, with splinters. That had earned him a real dressing down.
“Listen up, MacEachern, I am expected to last thirty days in full combat. I’ve been in the Forces for more than a decade and have taken dozens of training courses. How long do you think you will last with your ten to fifteen days of training? Five minutes? Ten? Odds are you are going to get a lot of good men killed with your piss poor attitude and shitty habits. Do you honestly think anyone here will try and help you if you keep fucking up like this all week?” Captain Koch shouted at him.
MacEachern was about to answer when Captain Koch cut him off.
“You know what, don’t answer that. Who here would stick up for this man? Raise your hand if you would.”
Not a single person in the classroom moved. Xander felt slightly guilty and wanted to raise his hand out of sheer pity, and definitely would have if it had been anyone else, but it was already obvious that MacEachern was a total dick and lazy bastard who Xander wanted nothing to do with. He’d seen MacEachern strutting around the barracks like he was cock of the walk and his douche bag attitude rubbed Xander the wrong way. Suddenly Xander realized that MacEachern was exactly like that fucking tool Rick. Fortunately, MacEachern was in another section and not Xander’s problem.
“You think you’re tired now, MacEachern? Just fucking wait. By the end of this course, you won’t be dreaming of your ex-girlfriend’s titties or her sloppy, wet pussy, you’ll be dreaming of getting some shut eye – even just ten minutes worth. You have no fucking clue about exhaustion. Now sit up and stay awake. The next time you fucking fall asleep, you’re really going to regret it, because I’m going to give you to Master Corporal Girardi. And he’s not a nice guy like I am!” Captain Koch bellowed.
After that rebuke, MacEachern stayed awake. Half an hour later, Xander and the rest of the recruits were marched to their makeshift barracks and ordered them all inside.
“Find your rack and go to bed. You’ve got twenty minutes to shave, shower and shit, then its lights out! If you’re smart, you’ll be finished faster - tomorrow starts at oh-five hundred hours!” Master Corporal Girardi yelled.
A couple troopers groaned audibly.
Chapter 18
November 8th
In the far northwestern corner of E
dmonton lay a sprawling industrial zone called Stony Industrial Park. It was full of warehouses, transportation and shipping offices, processing plants, light manufacturing and construction companies. It was there, just a few blocks off the city’s ring road, that Vulcan Construction was located.
James Parker had built Vulcan Construction from the ground up, after having spent close to two decades at Lafarge Canada, one of the continent’s largest suppliers of construction services and materials. During that time, he had worked in most of the company’s different divisions and had learned the construction business from the ground up. Chafed at working for people who were incompetent or stupid or often both, he struck off on his own, mortgaging himself to the hilt and gambling everything on his knowledge of the industry. He took a pair of Lafarge’s key clients too, but because that didn’t fit with his own narrative of being a self-made man, it had been conveniently forgotten somewhere in the past. The fact that Lafarge couldn’t prove he had done anything illegal had been forgotten by everyone but Lafarge, who tried at every opportunity to squash his little company. He, in turn, took every opportunity to stick it to Lafarge and whenever Pyramid won a RFP that Lafarge had bid on, he crowed about it to anyone who would listen, especially trade magazines he knew executives at Lafarge read on a regular basis.
Even with those two clients, it had been a challenge and he had worked 20 hour days in the first few years, driving trucks, managing work sites and doing a little bit of everything. However, with a few good hires and a few successes under his belt, Vulcan Construction began to thrive and quickly became one of the Capital Region’s better construction materials supply companies.
Parker was a stereotypical Albertan, conservative to the core and one who felt it was better to teach someone to fish than to just keep giving them a fish every day. He drove a massive, gas guzzling Ford 350 pick-up, lived in an even more massive house in a good neighbourhood in Spruce Grove and was an avid fisherman, hunter and sportsman. He had been pissed off beyond belief when the federal government had passed the Long Gun Registry and made legitimate owners like himself criminals if they dared not to register their firearms.
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