Code Frostbite (STORM Book 1)

by John Darling

  “When you’re ready, take the safety off and fire ten shots!”

  An array of random gunfire proceeded and I did my best to hit the target. Unfortunately, my eyes closed each time I took a shot. I opened them after each shot only to find that my accuracy was worse than I had thought. My shots were mostly scattered across the outer rings. After my pistol had run out of bullets, I clicked the magazine out and let it fall to the floor. I slowly glanced over at the targets to my left, which all have much better scores than I do. Most of them have ten holes all within inches of the center of the target. I was able to get through the O Course without anyone noticing my lack of military training, but now I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb.

  “Alright next person in line step up to the table!”

  I handed the gun off to Alexei, whose shooting was somehow worse than mine. Most of his shots didn’t even hit the target. At least all but one of mine had hit the body. The five of us in line cycled through the target practice about a dozen times before breaking for lunch. It was clear that I needed lots of practice, but surprisingly not everyone had done as well as I had thought they would. A few other recruits in the class had struggled, including the tall blonde girl Sierra. She seemed to have trouble handling the recoil of the weapon. I felt better that Alexei and I aren’t the only ones having issues, however, Commander Knight was not pleased. He informed us that there would be no classroom brief today. For now, we will in the range practicing until he feels we are ready to move forward.

  The next four days went by at an extremely slow rate. After rigorous PT sessions each morning, we marched down to the range and spent both the morning and afternoon firing at targets. We must have gone through thousands of bullets by now, yet, Commander Knight still wasn’t happy. He singled me out yesterday and watched me shoot with the entire class watching. After which he asked them what I was doing wrong, and luckily, just about everyone had a correction to make.

  From my stance to my accuracy, and everything in-between, they criticized everything, which only frustrated me and made me feel like an idiot. I don’t think there was anything I did that they didn’t have an issue with. Commander Knight gave me instructions on how to fix certain issues, but it all went in one ear and out my other. I was too pissed off to focus on my mistakes.

  Today our class had been getting rather restless and tired of the same drill over and over. It’s clear who the sharpshooters are in our class, and it’s not a coincidence either. Most of the recruits getting great scores are all of the Special Forces recruits. The Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Delta Force, and that’s just a few of the team name I’ve heard over the past few days. One recruit by the name of Harold Baker had been recruited from the British Special Air Service. I don’t much about them, but his shooting is near perfect. Another recruit, Cooper Robinson, allegedly from Australia’s Cobra team, is one of the toughest looking guys in our class and far better than us mere mortals with a pistol. Two days ago Commander Knight began tapping certain people to begin training on the different weapons. Cooper and Harold were both given the SCAR assault rifle, which is a Strike Officer’s primary weapon.

  Some of the girls in our class also put up some impressive target scores. One girl in particular quickly stole the spotlight from Cooper and Harold hours after they were recognized for their achievements and put ten holes straight through the temple of her target’s forehead. Her accuracy was so good it looked like only one bullet had been shot. I don’t know much about her, but apparently, this girl, Darin Foxx, was a Canadian fighter pilot and is already credited with a dozen kills. At only twenty-five years old, that’s damn impressive. After she had been given an assault rifle yesterday afternoon, an Aviation Officer by the name of Captain Greenwald stopped by the range and spoke with her for about half an hour in private. Alexei told me that he thinks she’s going to be pulled from our class early so she can attend S.T.O.R.M.’s flight school in Dubai. Alexei also said that Captain Greenwald is one of the best pilots S.T.O.R.M. has and is likely taking her on as an apprentice.

  Those three weren’t the only ones that have drawn attention to themselves. A few minutes ago Dwayne Quackenboss, easily the largest person in our class, decided that it was his turn for some recognition from the OICs and cleverly made a smiley face on his target with his shots. Apparently, Dwayne did have some military experience and was a member of the Green Berets for several years. However, I had heard a few of the guys talking at dinner two nights ago and Dwayne apparently served several years in prison for assassinating a Bosnian Ambassador by mistake. S.T.O.R.M. evidently recruited him despite his alleged criminal record. I’m not sure how I feel about training with him, but I’m doing my best not to judge. I wasn’t there and perhaps it really was a mistake.

  “Recruit Quackenboss. Impressive shots you’re putting up however, are you mocking my exercise?”

  “Sir, we’re wasting our time. Standard target practice? Are you kidding me? Most of us already have these skills down cold. Surely, there’s something better we can all be doing with our time. Well, maybe not ALL of us.”

  Dwayne glared over at me and Alexei.

  “Interesting observation. So, you’re looking for a challenge then?”

  “That would be ideal unless you want me to keep wasting my time at this boring training.”

  Dwayne was clearly giving Commander Knight some lip but the Commander isn’t flinching at all. Instead, he slowly walked up to Dwayne and leaned in toward his face. The rest of the class migrated over from the rest of the lanes and made a half circle around Dwayne’s lane.

  “Really Mr. Quackenboss? Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe this facility is much nicer than the one we found you rotting in.”

  Dwayne didn’t respond.

  “Very well. EVERYONE CLEAR THE RANGE NOW!”

  I immediately jumped at the sound of Commander Knight’s outburst. We all filed out of the range and into the armory. Well, all of us except for Dwayne. Commander Knight followed the group and locked the door to the armory behind him. He pressed a button on the only wall in the armory without weapons on it and it opened to reveal a long window that stretched the length of the range. Like seeing an animal behind a cage in a zoo, we could see Dwayne standing alone inside the range. Lieutenant Ward handed Commander Knight a microphone and a tablet of some kind. Commander Knight immediately brought the microphone up to his mouth and began talking.

  “You want a challenge? Let’s see how you do in this exercise.”

  The words came over some kind of speaker system within the range and were directed right at Dwayne. He started pressing buttons on the tablet, and we all watched through the window as each individual shooting station lowered itself into the floor. The dummies at the other side disappeared as well. The range was now completely empty and dark. Suddenly, strobe lights flashed and about a dozen pairs of pink dots appeared in random spots throughout the range.

  Commander Knight quietly spoke under his breath; “Good luck, Dwayne.”

  I pushed my way to the front of the crowd and up against the glass. Everyone in our class stopped talking and glued their eyes to the situation in front of us. The pink dots were now moving all to a central position, which I assume is where Dwayne is standing. Just then, we heard several gunshots go off. The sets of pink dots frantically raced around the room and almost looked like they were chasing someone. It was hard to tell with all of the other lights randomly flashing. Gunshots continued to go off and one set of pink dots fell right to the ground.

  “Think he’s ready for a break, Lieutenant?”

  “I think you’ve successfully made your point, sir.”

  Commander Knight turned the lights back on and the pink dots disappeared. Well, all except one set, the one that fell. The pink dots turned out to be eyes and Dwayne was getting attacked by some sort of simulated zombie. I looked down at the fallen 3-D version of an infected human, but I quickly noticed that all of the other recruits had their eyes locked onto Dwayne. He was curled
in a ball in the far corner of the room which prompted several other recruits to laugh and mock him. Dwayne quickly jumped to his feet as soon as he realized that the exercise was over.

  Lieutenant Ward entered the armory, picked up his pistol, and helped a disoriented Dwayne walk back into the armory. I looked over at the computer generated zombie and noticed a red hole on the side of its body. One of Dwayne’s bullets must have hit that spot and “killed” the zombie. If what we had just seen was something that everyone in the class will have to do, then I want to practice as much on the targets as possible before I go in there.

  “So was that not a challenge for you? Or was that too hard?”

  “Are you kidding me? What the hell was that?! I was just attacked by weird things and only had one magazine of bullets to defend myself. I couldn’t even see what was going on! How is anyone supposed to do that?”

  Commander Knight laughed. He handed Lieutenant Ward the tablet in exchange for Dwayne’s pistol, which he loaded with a brand new magazine.

  “Same settings, please.”

  He walked into the other room and closed the door to the armory. Lieutenant Ward pressed a bunch of buttons on the tablet and the same scenario appeared through the glass in front of us. The lights went out and we couldn’t see where Commander Knight was. Like before, the pink dots started moving but this time we heard gunshots go off right away. After each shot, a pair of the dots fell. One by one, each set hit the floor. After twelve shots the lights came back on. Commander Knight was standing in the middle of the room surrounded by the holographic beings that previously attacked Dwayne. Only this time they were all dead.

  Everyone silently stood in awe of what just happened. Even Dwayne looked like surprised. I don’t understand how he just did that without night vision and only a pistol. The strobe lights alone would have distracted me. I have a newfound respect for Commander Knight, and I assume the rest of my class does as well. Not only had he made Dwayne look stupid, he also made it clear that his form of training works. I doubt anyone is going to complain about what we’re doing again.

  Commander Knight walked into the armory and gave the pistol back to Dwayne.

  “How about that? Everyone take some notes? Mr. Quackenboss, how about we stick to the task at hand before we wish for more excitement, hmmm?”

  We all replied, “Yes sir!”

  “Good. Stick with my program and I’ll train you all to fight your worst nightmares without the proper gear. At some point, you will all be in a situation like that and you need to stay calm and figure out a solution, That’s why we have that simulator out there so you can survive those fights and live another day. Being a Stormer is all about living to see another day, no matter what division you’re a part of.”

  I looked around to find most of the other recruits nodding their heads.

  “All right, Lieutenant Ward, I think we could all use a break from the range for a few hours. Have the class break for lunch and tell Lieutenant-Commander Bradshaw to give his next brief this afternoon.”

  Lieutenant Ward instructed us to properly put all of our weapons away in our designated lockers. Each one of us was given a locker yesterday and told that all of our equipment is to be stored in it. Each locker is about a foot wide and six feet tall. Needless to say, there is plenty of room in here. One pistol doesn’t take up much space, and I wonder what other equipment were going to be issued in the future.

  After lunch we all walked over to the classroom for our brief. It’s nice to have a break from the shooting, my right hand was really starting to ache.

  “Good afternoon class. Nice to see you all again. I was worried you all did something wrong. It’s not usual for him to cancel my briefs for that many days in a row. Then again, I heard he wants to push your class through in record time.”

  Lieutenant-Commander Bradshaw set up his computer and the PowerPoint presentation for today’s brief. Two other officers brought in a huge black trunk and placed it on the floor near the podium.

  “Thank you, gentlemen. Today’s lesson is all about the tools you’ll be using when you’re in the field. I know Commander Knight will be handling all of the guns, so I am going to teach you everything else you need to know. First, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of not getting bit by someone who is infected. You can be the best Strike Officer on the planet, however, you’re worthless if you’re infected.”

  Lieutenant-Commander Bradshaw flipped through a bunch of slides that contained pictures of what infected people looked like. It ranged from mild redness in the eyes to pictures of completely deranged zombies. It’s ironic how this morning I had thought I was going to look like one of them due to that nightmare I had last night.

  “Moving forward, I would like to show you the most important piece of equipment, besides your weapons of course, that you will get.”

  Lieutenant-Commander Bradshaw opened the large black case, and took out some kind of black metal backpack.

  “Can everyone see what I’m holding? This is called a K-pack, and it’s a Strike Officer’s best friend.”

  Lieutenant-Commander Bradshaw went on to tell us that a K-pack had several different functions and was used in every type of combat mission. On the back, there were six compartments which could hold extra ammunition, water, and small amounts of food. A seventh compartment had a kind of charging dock inside of it and allowed you to connect a different device to it. The main body of the pack had a tubular shape, allowing it to apparently connect to either a parachute or a SCUBA tank as the situation demanded.

  He then flipped the pack over and pointed at the adjustable cloth straps. He then removed two square covers from the center of it and held up two pads connected to a pair of wires. The pack has a built-in defibrillator which can allow someone to perform immediate CPR on another while medical help is being called. He put the device back together while he told us that we need to practice running the O-Course with the pack on. It weighed about thirty pounds, which would definitely make running the course, or doing anything with it for that matter, a challenge. Lieutenant-Commander Bradshaw asked if anyone had any questions.

  Sierra immediately raised her hand, prompting several other recruits to roll their eyes. Dwayne pretended to cough while blurting out the word “nerd” under his breath. A few laughed but Lieutenant-Commander Bradshaw didn’t seem to care.

  “Yes, Recruit Thompson.”

  “Why is it called a K-pack?”

  “Good question. There’s a tiny explosive inside each pack which can be detonated in the event that you find yourself surrounded. I know don’t about you all, but I’d rather go down and drag a few of those monsters with me to hell than stay on Earth and become one.”

  Learning that we had to carry around a small bomb on our back wasn’t comforting, although I understood its purpose. Another recruit asked exactly how the pack could be detonated, and Lieutenant-Commander Bradshaw reached into the black box one more time. He pulled out a tiny, clear rectangle.

  “So this is the second piece of equipment that I’m going to brief you on today. This is called a V-Pod and is similar to a cell phone, however, you cannot call just any number with it. It only works with other Stormers, connected via our global servers. Its primary use is for when you’re in the field talking with other members of your Strike Team. If you plug it into your K-pack, it will sync up with your headset so you can speak hands-free. I’ll bring in a headset next class and talk more about our servers. All of you will be issued a V-pod toward the end of training and I will walk through you setting it up. For now, let’s call it a day. Dismissed.”

  Everyone got up and left. It was only three o’clock, but I was thrilled that our day was over. I had spotted a few books on the shelf above my desk in my room and I wanted to see if any of them had something interesting. After another tough day, a few hours of peace and quiet sounded perfect.

  Chapter Twelve: The Mystery Shooter

  It had been hours since I had gotten into bed but I couldn’
t sleep. After having two of these strange dreams, I was afraid to fall asleep. I didn’t want to wake up in some weird place again with either some guys chasing me or my non-existent sister. I couldn’t understand what’s wrong with me. I’d never had problems sleeping before in my life. Perhaps the training is wearing me out? All I knew was that I couldn’t sleep and I didn’t feel tired. In fact, the only thing I was tired of was staring at the ceiling. I need to get up and go do something.

  Walking around seemed like a better idea than lying in my bed and mentally tormenting my mind. I put on some different clothes I had found in one of the drawers and quietly left the room. Alexei was sound asleep and I didn’t want to wake him. He’d had a tough few days; hell he’d had a tough training, and I was glad that he hadn’t quit. He deserved to be here just as much as everyone else. If anyone didn’t belong here, it was me.

  I felt slightly out of place with all of these ex-military people running around, but I was going to keep doing everything I can to keep up with them. Just then, an idea hit me. Today we started learning about the various weapons used in the field by Strikers. Most, if not all of these men and women probably had tons of experience handling guns. I was already behind the curve, and I didn’t see any reason not to sneak down to the range and practice. What better way to burn this adrenaline than by handling live weapons?

  I walked down to Deck Three and didn’t run into a single person on my way down the stairs. It was not that surprising, though since it felt like about one or two in the morning. I walked through the entrance of the range but surprisingly it wasn’t completely vacant. Shooting a few rounds for practice seemed like a good idea, however, I had been hoping to do it alone.