Page 35 of Beyond The Maples
A loud bang echoes across the room as someone behind me drops their magazine on the floor, the cadet scrambling to the ground with it.
"You're all lousy wastes of space at this point," Kethler growls, roughly picking up the fallen cadet and throwing him back into the line among the tables. "Back to starting positions!"
He walks over to the far corner of the room and grabs a log from the stack beside the woodstove, adding to the raging flames. I bite my tongue to stop the groan of protest that wants to slip my lips.
"It's my job to prepare you for what's out there. If you think you're going to fix your weapons in a temperature-controlled room, without any distractions, when you're on duty, you're in for arudeawakening. If you can't hack this, you might as well get in line for the noose. I can promise you, you'll run into a lot more chaos out there than this." He slams the metal door to the stove and begins walking towards our line of tables. The classroom is a smaller one. Four or five unit crews line the three rows of long tables. Unfortunately, we're at the front.
"Now, show me you're worth more than what we feed you and assemble. The. Guns!"
My eyes dart to Farra's hands as she bends to pick up a piece of her gun, her hand trembling as she tries to slip the piece back into its rightful spot.
Kethler saunters over towards her, his eyes sharp as they narrow on her.
"Denver, your father could have done this with his eyes closed!" Hateful spit flies out of his mouth at her as he shouts.
Farra's shoulders slump, and she fumbles the piece again. I pause, holding a breath, hoping she'll get it.
Leo, on the other side of Farra, tenses. I continue my work, gliding the pieces in without too much attention. Farra chokes on a sob as Kethler leans in, slamming a flat hand on the table making a slapping noise. The look on his face is vicious. He'senjoyingbreaking her.
Oh, fuck it.
"Can I ask something?" I say without looking at Kethler, keeping my hands steadily moving through the motions of what he's asked us to do. He straightens, taken aback by my lack of nerves. "What is the purpose of this... if we're not actually getting guns? From what I understand, very few of us will wield these weapons. We don't have a large enough armory for that. Wouldn't it make more sense to train only those who will actually get them?" I ask innocently.
He turns towards me fully. My eyes flick up to him as my heart hammers in my chest. He steps towards me, fury on his face. He clearly doesn't appreciate being questioned. His eyes bounce to my hands, which begin to disassemble my weapon ahead of my peers, laying the pieces back on the cloth with ease. He folds his arms over his chest, eyes narrowing on me, trying to find fault with what I'm doing. He's completely forgotten about Farra at this point.
Good.I think.
He walks towards me now so that his legs bump my side of the table, no doubt trying to shake me into messing up.
"Do you think leadership here is incompetent?" he asks, an eery calm taking over his voice.
I pull in a slow, steady breath, considering my answer.
"Of course not, Captain," I respond carefully, continuing to clean the meticulously laid out pieces. "I'm simply trying to get a good understanding of our current circumstances. The best soldier is a well-trainedandinformed soldier, sir," I quip almost cheerfully.
Silence greets me. I chance a glance up at him and see his eyes have widened, nostrils flaring above his white moustache. And my brain cells must not be firing, because I simply offer him a sweet smile.
He seems to debate something, lurching forward ever so slightly, and then pulls away, turning from me and roars at the class, "FROM THE BEGINNING."
My eyes meet Farra's, and she gives me a confused look. I peer down at her still trembling hands and glance at my own with a nod.Together, I mouth to her, her green eyes meeting mine, and tears well in them as she nods. Her breathing comes out easier as we continue like that for the rest of the class.
Kethler only makes two other cadets cry before letting us out, sweaty and drained.
We part ways outside of the class, Farra and I walking in silence up to our dorm room.
As soon as we get into the room, she whirls around on me, eyes wide and wild as she breathes heavily. I've never seen herlook so... unbalanced.
"You didn't have to do that!" she snarls, arms folded across her chest defensively.
"Do what?" I ask, flopping myself on my bunk, not overly surprised by her sudden outburst. I'd seen the tension in her the whole walk up. What she's feeling, the anger, isn't actually for me.
"Help me! I told you, didn't I? I told you when you got here, I'm not here for this," she waves frantically between us. "I'm not Leo, OK? I don't need saving, and I don't want to owe anyone anything."
I sit, rolling my lip between my teeth. My lack of reaction seems to push her towards her breaking point.
She sits on her own cot across from me, head slumping into her hands as her voice cracks.
"I'm sorry. Gods, I'm sorry OK? I don't… It's just..." Her words die out, which makes her appear angry at herself, and she lets out an exasperated groan.
