Army of Humans and Monsters-The Book

Chapter 17

At precisely seven o’clock, or, as he had been told to think of and call it, seven hundred hours, Jenkins was on the grounds, with every other recruit that had decided to stay.

When he heard the Quartermaster say his name for roll call, he gave out a loud “Here Sir!” that put many of the giants’ shouts, when they said the same thing, to shame.

“Sounds like we have some very enthusiastic recruits, brother,” said the head called Shaun.

“I’d have to agree,” said the head called Connery, as the pair looked down at Jenkins.

After giving him a slight smile, which caused Jenkins to be somewhat embarrassed, the two head Drill Sergeant told the Quartermaster to continue with the roll call.

After another ten, or so, minutes, the two heads look at the recruits, and then at each other, and smile.

“Well, looks like we lost that bet, brother,” Connery said, with a grin.

“That is always one bet that I don’t mind losing,” Shaun said, with a chuckle.

“”Especially since the commander always keeps an eye out and gives wavering recruits the encouragement that they need to stay in boot camp,”” they both said, as they looked back at the recruits, especially those who had been on the fence on whether or not to stay.

“You see recruits,” Connery said. “My brother and I have a running bet with the commander. If he wins, we have to take it, relatively, easy on you. If we win, you recruits have to do things that we know would really be embarrassing, like having all of you do everything naked, from target practice, marching in the mud and rain, everything.”

“Of course, seeing as to how we lost the bet, which was on how many of you left, which was none this year, we have to go easy on you,” Shaun said.

The recruits looked at each other in amazement. Military training was going to be easy for them.

“However, by easy we do not mean that you will be doing what ever you want,” Shaun said. “It only means that, instead of carrying a weight five or more times your own, on your back, you will start by carrying a weight one fifth of your own. For those of you who can’t do fractions, if your weight is say, one hundred pounds, you will have to carry twenty pounds, and those who are heavier will carry still heavier weights. Of course, this weight is because of a gravitational spell that will be placed on you, that way if your body can’t take the pressure, it will be decreased until your body can take it.”

“After all, Uncle Sam wants soldiers who are fit and strong, not flattened to death,” Connery said, as the pair walked around, observing the recruits’ reactions to the news.

They then looked at Jenkins and asked, “”Is our little celebrity worried about a little bit of weight training?””

“No Sirs,” Jenkins said. “Although, I will admit that I am a little bit nervous about it, Sirs.”

“It is good to be nervous about things,” Shaun said, as he and his brother looked at the recruits. “It shows you what you have to work on.”

“Also, it is also acceptable to be afraid of things,” Connery said. “Fear can motivate one to do great things, especially when the fear of one thing is worse than the fear of another thing. In fact, even my brother and I have our fears. For one thing, we are afraid of being trapped in a burning building.”

“However, we would be more afraid if someone we cared about was trapped in a burning building.” (Shaun)

“This would mean that we would have to face that one fear, so that we would not have to worry about the other.” (Connery)

“”Here you will learn to recognize what you thought was your worse fear was nothing compared to what you will find that you really fear.”” (Both)

The Drill Sergeants then looked down at an older looking human, who had a white patch with a red cross on his outfit, and said, “”They are yours, Doc.””

Then, they stepped back, indicating that the human was in charge now.

“Hello recruits,” the man said, in a ragged, and wheezy, sounding voice. “I am Doctor Charles, but you can call me Doc. I am here to take care of any medical needs that arise during your training, such as broken bones, gashes, as well as the occasional gun shot wound, and other injuries that you may get.”

At this, one of the giant recruits whispered, “The old human looks like he couldn’t put a band-aid on a paper cut on his own finger.”

This caused the other recruits around him, except for Jenkins, to start chuckling.

“Ah, I see we have one who doubts my abilities. Well, there is a saying about old bones, they never forget an injury done to them,” the old man said, as he snapped his finger, which caused an audible crack to be heard, and the giant started to scream in pain, as he grabbed his left upper arm.

“MY ARM,” he shouted. “What did you do to my arm?”

“Oh, but it wasn’t me who broke it,” the old man said, as he looked at the young giant, who was clenching at his arm still. “You broke it during football practice when you were in the tenth grade. However, if you would report to the medical tent, I will see about fixing it.”

The giant nodded, his face twisted in pain.

“Okay Sergeant, you two can take him there, and call up my students. After all, fixing bones is something that they must learn about, whether they are a combat medic, or a civilian doctor,” the old man said, as he turned to the Sergeants, who, using their whole right arm, saluted him, and escorted the young man to a large building, with a large white circle that had a large red cross on it.

“That must have been the de-heal spell that Bloodtooth told me about,” Jenkins thought. “Note to self, don’t get on his bad side.”

However, there were more that a few magic users that were amazed at what the old man did.

“Um sir,” said one, who seemed to be speaking for the rest of the magic users. “How did you do that sir?”

“Which thing are you talking about? How I knew about his football injury, or how I re-broke his bone?” (Doc)

“Um, that would be both sir.” (magic wielding recruit)

“Well, the answer as to how I knew of his injury is because of the fact that we do complete, and thorough, physical examination of each recruit when they are first put under the dream spell, which all of you have experienced, though there were some that I was disappointed with after the point that you met the drill sergeant, which is based off of our most decorated officer, Lieutenant Bloodtooth, whom I see that many of you have meet up with. To be honest, the only one that really scares her is the base commander, and he is the last person that any of you want to mess with, though he has seen each and every single one of you. However, the people that I am really disappointed in are you magic users,” the old man said, as he stepped in front of the magic user that had spoken up, who was right next to Jenkins.

“Tell me recruit,” he said. “Do you think that, as a wizard, that you are superior to this human standing next to you, despite the fact that he made it through the dream spell, and your intelligence quiz, before you?”

“Yes sir,” the wizard said. “I know that I am sir.”

“Wrong answer!” the Doc said, as he punched the young wizard in the face, busting his nose. “You are just a HUMAN, one with ‘magic’.”

Then he looked at each of the recruits, his eyes as black as coal, showing just how powerful he was, as the more solid and darker a magic user’s eyes were, the more powerful he, or she, was.

“Each of you, look at the others around you. Right now!” the old man said, in a very powerful, and commanding, voice.

The recruits felt compelled to look at each other, as to not anger the man, and suffer an injury by his strange powers.

“Each of you is no better, and no worse, than that of any other recruit. I don’t know what people have told you about the military, but know this, if an officer tells you to do some thing, you will not look at them and say, ‘Hah, you are a human. I don’t have to listen to you, because I am a giant, or some such thing.’ YOU will be EXPECTED to FOLLOW that person’s orders. We do not care if you think that you can beat that officer, because even the strongest of you is no match for the weakest human officer that we have on the base. If you want a demonstration, would the biggest of you giants step forward?” (Doc)

At this, a four hundred foot tall giant, who looked completely human except for his size, stepped over the rest, and got a fireball shot at him, right at his chest.

“Recruit,” the old man said, holding up another fireball in his hands, “the next time that you try to step over someone, especially an officer, it had better be because there wasn’t another way around them. Let this be a warning to the rest of you. Now, once Samual catches his breath, he will find himself facing the weakest human officer that we have on the base, my granddaughter, Jenifer.”

At this, a young woman, who was busy reading a romance novel said, as she blew some bubble gum, “Do I have to grandfather? It wouldn’t be fair to them to face me.”

“Well, it’s either you or your uncle, and you know how he is.” (Doc)

“I know, I still say it won’t be fair though.” (Jenifer)

“I know, just try to take it easy on the boy.” (Doc)

A few minutes later, the young male giant was looking down at the young female human officer, who was busy blowing a bubble.

“Are you trying to insult me or something?” he asked, as he rolled his eyes at the sight of her.

However, before he looked back down at her, he found himself flat on the ground, looking up at the sky, groaning in pain, which was all over his body.

“I took it easy on him grandfather,” the woman said, as she stood on the other side of him, popping her bubble. “I only took out his pressure points.”

At this, Doc chuckled, and looked back at the rest of the recruits, and said, “Samual’s lucky that it was my granddaughter who faced him. Her uncle, my son-in-law, likes to break every bone in a recruit’s body, and will kill them on occasion. Useful for teaching potential medics to revive the dead I guess, as well as healing each bone in a person’s body, however, he is currently overseas, making his own fun, with various insurgent groups, guy loves a good fight. Anyways, as you can clearly see, Jenifer, who is a Private First Class, easily took down a giant, something that no human should be able to do. Now, before you ask, Jenifer has no magic in her, trust me, her father, my son, her mother, and I, had hopes that she had inherited the ability to use magic, if only to a degree, as my son had magic in him, as did her mother, but she wasn’t born with the ability to use it. Also, there was no magic placed on her, nor was any placed on Samual. She just went through the same training that you will go through, in which you will have a gravitational spell placed on you, which will do the same thing as if we placed actual weights on you. However, unlike with physical weights, which can be easily removed, this spell will last until you either quit or graduate, unless you happen to be someone who wishes to help me teach those training to be medics, so that they can learn to heal various injuries, which include, but are certainly not limited to, broken bones, lose of limbs, open wounds, and even, death itself. Also, all of you with the ability to use magic, in any shape or form, are required to take the basic courses for healing with magic. This is because, in case the medic with you is killed, it will be your responsibility to keep your squad mates alive, if only just. As for the rest of you, you will also have to take some medical courses. Now, even though you may not be able to use magic, it is always wise to know how to handle common injuries, like broken bones, slow the bleeding of open wounds, do an emergency blood transfusion, treat burns of all sorts, and other very common injuries, which will serve you well, even if you decide that the military is not the career that you wish to pursue. Now, let’s get down to business. This gravitational field will increase the pressure on your body, making it feel somewhat heavier. Once it is put on, you are to walk around the track, and just walk mind you, until your body gets used to it. Also, as you get stronger, the pressure will increase, slowly mind you, slowly, so that by the time that you graduate, even the weakest of you will be able to do what Jenifer just did.”

At this, Jenifer blew and popped another bubble, as she went back to reading her novel, which caused Doc to groan.

“Jenifer, I’ve told you before to not blow bubble gum when I’m trying to talk to the recruits,” he said.

“I know that grandfather,” the girl said, with a quite chuckle. “But you do have to admit, it helps make the recruits underestimate my capabilities.”

“Of course, she does have a point,” Doc said, as he looked back at the recruits. “You must never take your opponents lightly, not when we compete with the recruits from other boot camps, and especially, never in combat. If anything, overestimate their capabilities. Some of the worst injuries I’ve treated were caused by races, and people, and other things, which you would think were weak, or even silly. Why, I remember treating a giant for a concussion, all because he slipped on a banana peal that someone forgot to put in the trash. Now, let’s get back to business.”

Doc then looked at Jenkins and said, “Since you were the first one up and about, you get to be the first to have the spell placed on you.”

At this, Jenkins gulped, as he stepped forward.

“Nervous recruit?” Doc asked.

“I would be lying if I said no, sir,” Jenkins said, as the old man placed a hand on him.

“Don’t worry too much,” he said, so everyone could hear. “The spell takes an hour to fully kick in. That is why you need to walk around the track, so your body can adjust to the increasing weight.”

Then he said quietly, “By the way, my father served with your great-grandfather. No matter what anyone else tells you, he was a brave soldier. I know of no one who could come close to doing what he did, to willingly take another person’s spot, and die in their place.”

Then, he spoke loudly, so all could hear, “Now, go to the track, and start walking, and walk until your body can’t even make another step, and walk past that. When it comes to the point that you can’t even pull yourself with your arms, elbows, and hands, then you can stop. At that point your guiding officer will pick you up, and drag your carcass back to your quarters, and feed you like the little babies that you are.”