Chronicles of Requiem I: Chapter Two, “The Watchful Eye”

The next series of events happened unceremoniously, they received the details of the upcoming task and were rushed back into the normal routine; not given a moment alone, not even a little. Kani suspected they did this so the recruits had no time to process what just happened, that these men who trained them for months were intending to pit them against eachother in an orchestrated Military death match.

Even when the cold air of the morning stabbed into her lungs like a thousand white hot needles, she couldn’t wrap her head around what was happening. It didn’t seem real. The twelve miles they ran seemed like a few blinks and when the Sun had risen, their fatigues laced with sweat and gasping for air was about all they had enough energy for.

Kani was not going to let that much stop her, a little exhaustion did nothing to slow down her wit, it only inhibited her ability to talk and it was not as though she enjoyed her company enough to share her suspicions with them.

First Platoon was at least two cycles ahead of Third Platoon, which meant that from the beginning they were at a disadvantage. It was never too much difference, but what Third lacked at the moment was any sense of cohesion: they didn’t work together, in fact the first series of exercises they performed were tailored to pit them against eachother. Bloodied noses, blackened eyes and broken fingers were the most brutal of injuries they suffered at their own hands, though there was one instance of Instructor Swiderski ‘demonstrating’ a proper take-down that left another boy, George, in the medical wing for four days.

Instructor Thomas was never one to meddle in metaphors, he chose his words carefully and used them directly; he would never say the phrase ‘kill’ unless they had to kill, and never warn them of death, unless there was a genuine threat of death.

“What do you say Recruits!?” Instructor Swiderski stepped out along the dirt road, breathing deep as if relishing their suffering and looking over at another large, winding way: Agony Hill. A route that was twice the length of the one they had just completed and looped back around to the barracks, but it had earned it’s namesake from causing a large majority of leg injuries. The Instructors loved it.

“Let’s see how many of you can keep up with Instructor Swiderski.” It was Instructor Thomas stepping forward now, alongside his fellow to observe the droves of panting, exhausted men and women. It never ceased to amaze Kani how profound their physical stamina was; they were barely breaking a sweat, hadn’t the slightest hitch in their breath and were still revving to keep going.

She knew what this was, but that did not stop her from mentally punching both of them in their smug, square faces. Instead, she alongside all the other Recruits replied in kind. “For Requiem!!!”

It was Third Platoon’s creed, their battle motto. It was almost amusing, if it wasn’t for the tragedy that was Requiem. Kani had never had a proper education, but from what stories she heard over a cackling fire from a clearly demented old man, she understood a little.

‘There once was a city, a city whose name is lost…’ She recited in her head as the Platoon rushed in chase of Instructor Swiderski, trying to gauge his pace and maintain stride. ‘A colony settled on a lone Rogue Planet, creating Artificial Light that turned a dead rock, into one capable of sustaining life. After all that terraforming stuff went through, I guess…’ Recruit after Recruit fell out of the pace, the tall Instructor must have been part machine for how effectively he was leaving them behind. ‘One day, that special Light of theirs went out… along with every single life on the planet. An entire Colony, silenced overnight. When everything settled, a single probe was sent to respond to a distress beacon… and all it found was a dark, dead planet… devoid of all life. Thus, the city and later the planet… was named Requiem.’

Why they had decided to take the motto of a planet that suffered an unknown casualty was beyond her, but she was already well past making sense of anything that happened anymore.

Before she knew it, her boots thumped across the ‘finish line’, which was just Instructor Swiderski waiting for them after he had gained too much distance to be seen. Ronald crossed first to no surprise, George followed shortly after him, Kani placed smack in the middle of the head pack only a few paces behind George and pulling up the rear, the last one to cross was Jora.

The lead four all broke off to gasp; George dropping to a knee to vomit a strange mixture of partially digested breakfast and fluids. He was a strange guy, taller than most of the Recruits by a full head, skinny and a midnight tint to his dark skin—Kani was under the impression that he was their best runner, but today Ronald proved himself to once again be the perfect, superior soldier.

She could feel her eyes roll unintentionally and lay directly over Jora, who had been glaring at her for quite some time now. She didn’t bother addressing it, the unnaturally pale girl was maybe a year or two older than Kani, stronger and certainly more violent; her blonde hair cropped short, a strange scar darted from brow to past her hairline. One wrong comment and she might find herself getting beaten bloody in her bunk later that night, a mistake she did not intend to make twice, last time she almost lost her favorite tooth.

The other Recruits came by after a few minutes, some barely managing to pass the disgruntled looks of Instructor Swiderski.

The final one was Issy, though strangely enough he did not look all that tired to Kani. Maybe he lost interest in the game and just ran comfortably all the way here, not pushing himself for some invisible, petty reward? Swiderski caught eye of him, gave him a look that Kani did not quite understand.

“Alright Recruits, fall in!” Swiderski shouted and they complied instantly, shuffling to their allotted lines and standing stiff, despite their collective lack of breath.

“Recruits step forward as I call your names! Ronald! George! Kani! And Jora!”

The line stepped forward collectively, shoulder to shoulder and waited.

“…Recruit Issy, step forward!”

Kani’s eyes darted off to the side, hearing his listless step forward. Swiderski did not seem to care about Kani’s confusion, and carried on.

“You have just promoted yourselves to Squad Leaders.”

Ronald seemed confused, speaking out of turn. “But Instructor Swiderski, I’m the Platoon Leader…!”

Swiderski considered this for a moment, before cracking that strange smile of his. “Well then, let me correct myself Recruit Ronald, you just demoted yourself to Squad Leader…” He gave him a moment, stepping forward until his cap pressed firmly into Ronald’s forehead. “..and if you ever so much as speak out of turn again, they will have to invent a new Medical Procedure to remove my foot from your ass.”

The words seemed well enough to stop Ronald’s complaints in their tracks.

“Now, as I was saying… Ronald, you’ll have 1st Squad. George, 2nd Squad. Kani, 3rd Squad and Jora will have Weapons Squad.”

There was a looming silence, they looked amongst eachother, before Issy performed the same thing he always did and spoke out of turn, without consequence.

“What exactly am I doing, Sir?”

The silence returned, louder this time.

Finally, Swiderski spoke again, the same confident smile. “You are going to be leading the Zero Squad, Recruit Issy.”

(Author's Note: Chapter One can be found on profile.)