Chương 7: THE KING OF BAST*RDS part 3
The 4 toiled behind the jeep, which came to a stop at a camp. 2 instructors are waiting there beside a mobile kitchen.
Nanami stopped and stepped out. "Hurry up!" she roared.
Herbert gestured them to the kitchen, asking them to take out their mess tins.
An instructor opened the lid of a food tray, and the 4 of them stared in shock at the "feast" in front of them.
The tray is filled to the brim with bugs.
"Eat up people, all rich in protein," smiled Herbert.
Sean stared at Louis then at the bugs in his mess tin.
"What did I say?" he remarked. The 4 dragged themselves to a corner and sat down, looking at the bugs in their mess tin. Ariel gulped, trying to hide down her disgust.
The other cadets sat down with their mess tins, similarly disgusted.
"King of Bast*rds indeed…" remarked Vera.
Sean grabbed a beetle and stuffed it into his mouth, covering his mouth to prevent himself from puking as the horrid taste filled his mouth. In principle, eating bugs raw is not foreign to them given that they had done it in the wilderness survival course when they were in Tier 2 units, but when one is already uncomfortable after running for 15km, eating something as disgusting as bugs simply makes things worse.
Yet Sean has no choice, if he has no energy, he cannot make it for the run.
Seeing his friends all not eating, Sean gave them a nudge. "Eat up."
Vera gulped, pouring some of hers into Sean's tin. "I can't eat so much, have some."
"Me too," said Ariel, doing the same.
"Me 3," added Louis.
"Thanks," smiled Sean, exasperated. "Are you sure? If you don't eat up, you will have no energy to run. No energy to run, you get washed out."
Hearing what Sean said, Ariel immediately grabbed a handful from her tin tray and stuffed it into her face, almost choking from both disgust and her hurry. Vera immediately patted her back.
"One trick, use your teeth more, don't use your tongue," said Sean. Ariel nodded, managing to eat the bugs now. Vera did the same, swallowing down the bugs with a painful expression.
Louis breathed deeply, grabbing a handful and quickly chewing it, then washing it down with water from his flask.
Ariel and Vera then took Sean's mess tin, dumping out some back into their tins. Louis offered Sean his tin, which Sean declined, urging him to eat up.
Number 23 approached Louis, he is an Angel as shown by his ghostly appearance.
He nudged at Louis with his empty mess tin. "How about you give me some?" he asked.
The 4 glared at him, hostile. They still remembered it was him who pushed Ariel down.
He raised a hand at Sean. "My name is Karl Schneider; you deserve better comrades my friend."
Sean smiled and stood up, patting him in the shoulder. "I can decide for myself who my comrades are," he said, leaving, with Louis, Vera and Ariel following after him, leaving Karl standing.
Soon the instructors started the jeep and yelled at the cadets to resume their run.
"Hurry up!" roared Nanami. "Last one to reach is eliminated."
"The 2 morons at the back, you want to get eliminated?" roared Herbert. "You might as well crawl!"
It was not long for cadets to start vomiting from disgust and strenuous activity after eating.
"If you can't take it, quit and get your fat a** up here!" yelled Herbert, pointing to the jeep. "I will send you home to your mommies!"
"WILL RATHER DIE THEN GIVE UP!" yelled Louis, only for him to suddenly gag, stopping. Alarmed, Sean immediately checked him. "Don't vomit Louis, if you do you will have no energy to run!"
Louis nodded, uncomfortably swallowing it down. Sean patted him on the back to make him feel better and they resumed their pace.
(Base)
Franz watched the cadets in the command room, the drone feed of the cadets is being broadcasted live on the screens. He took a bite from a bratwurst.
"Another one puked," he commented. "What a waste of food. Poor physical, note that down," he said to a Draco instructor beside.
"Bryan, you want one?" he asked, passing the plate of bratwurst to the instructor. Colonel Bryan Soong declined.
"They are running like slaves now, no mood to eat," he replied.
(Wilderness)
"Something…is…wrong," panted Ariel, scanning their surroundings. "We…came back to the…same spot!" she exclaimed, breathless.
The jeep stopped in front of a utility truck and another jeep, where a Chryso instructor ranked Second Lieutenant and some logistics soldiers are waiting.
"Hurry up!" roared Herbert.
The cadets stopped behind, panting. Vera collapsed onto the ground in fatigue, with Ariel barely holding on to her. Sean squat down to conserve some energy while Louis leaned slightly onto him. Karl kneeled, panting.
"NOW LOOK AROUND!" gloated Herbert. "Familiar?"
"This was where the camp was at! Beautiful, isn't it? This is why I brought you guys back to see it again! You're welcome!"
The cadets glared at the instructors with daggers in their eyes. If not for the fact that they will be court martialled they may have thrown fireballs at them by now.
"We will leave it to you Reza!" said Nanami to the Chryso instructor.
He turned to the cadets, speaking in a thick Indonesian accent. "My name is Reza Ilhan! I am one of your instructors! I figured that you all must be full from the feast, right? So how about you carry these supplies back to the base?"
The logistics soldier unloaded the truck, revealing crates of ammunition.
"Since you all are supposedly the best in Tier 2, this is nothing right?" remarked Reza.
"Take a crate each, the base is to the East from here, you will see the gate," pointed Nanami. "We will meet you there! A reminder, last one to reach is eliminated!" she said, driving off.
"F*** you King of Bast*rds!" cursed Karl.
Exasperated, the cadets took a crate each and ran in the direction pointed by Nanami.
Ariel grunted, holding up a crate barely. "This is so heavy!" she yelled, almost dropping it.
(Base)
"Sir, may I remind you that they have already ran 30km by now?" asked Bryan, worried. "Is it really in your interest for them to be busted by the time they enter base?" he asked.
Franz shrugged. "You make a point, but we need the best of the best, are you sure you don't want one? This the last bratwurst."
Bryan turned away, looking at the cadets worriedly.
"Interesting…" muttered Franz, looking at Sean's profile which Xu Qing shared with them.
(Wilderness)
Louis tripped over a rock and fell, falling and dropping his crate. "You, ok?" asked Sean, concerned.
Ariel and Vera caught up to them, both essentially limping forward now by holding onto each other.
Karl looked at them condescendingly. "Time waits for no one," he said, running forward.
Sean helped Louis to take his crate, putting it on Louis' shoulder. "Let's go!" Sean yelled, the 4 of them toiled forward.
"Sean…you…can…go…faster right…?" asked Louis, panting. Sean nodded. "Don't wait…for…us then…show that son…of…a b*tch Karl…who's boss…" he smiled.
"You sure?" asked Sean.
Ariel nodded. "The 3…of us…will watch over each…other…"
Vera assured that they will be fine as they are in the front section of the cadets. Sean agreed, dashing forward at full speed, using all of his energy, overtaking the positions.
Soon, the gate of the base is seen. Sean grunted, forcing every muscle of his body to work while they screamed at Sean to stop, overtaking a shocked Karl and leading the cadets.
Franz, Bryan, Herbert and Nanami walked to the entrance. Nanami asked the Inari instructor standing there. "I suppose the first place is going to arrive soon?" Her sibling, Artemis 11 "Maia" nodded, adjusting her Lieutenant rank plates.
Soon Sean appeared in their sights. "As expected of Artemis 9," commended Bryan, not noticing Maia clenching her fists beside him.
Sean ran into the base, putting down the crate at a corner, falling onto the ground, worn out. He panted, recovering his breathing, then heading over to the instructors.
"Good work, help yourself to water," said Bryan, pointing to a table of water flasks. Sean nodded, heading over.
He froze upon seeing Maia glaring at him behind the table. He averted her gaze as guilt threatened to envelope him, remembering their last encounter: her leading the majority of his "siblings" to beat him up in his dormitory until Aya and Frederica brought the MPs over and stopped them. Vasily and Nanami then spent the whole night looking after him in the hospital wing and cleaning his wrecked dormitory.
Sean reached for a flask, only for Maia to pull it away. Sean looked down, reaching for a second flask. Maia too, pulled it away.
"Here!" smiled Nanami, giving a flask to Sean, having rushed over upon seeing what happened. She then pulled Maia back to the instructors.
Sean cleaned his eyes of dirt with water from the flask, then taking a huge gulp. Seeing the other cadets trickling in, he grabbed 3 other flasks from the table, heading over.
Ariel had almost thrown her crate down, falling on all fours and lying flat, panting. Sean placed a flask by her side. Vera is leaning against a wall, weakly taking the flask Sean passed, too tired to even talk. Louis staggered over to Sean, almost falling had Sean not caught him, and Sean carefully guided him to seat down, handing him the flask.
Two cadets straggled in, coming in last together.
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