The Recruit

THE SUN isn’t up yet, but Alexis already budged in inside the trainees’ room. “Wakey, wakey,” she said, hitting her stick on the metal bar of the bed. The trainees groan with astonishment. Who wouldn't be? Their commando bulged in in their room in the middle of their sleep! But they had no choice but to obey what the superior had commanded them.

            “Get ready for today’s training. Move faster, turtle buddies!” said Alexis as she leave the trainees’ room and budged in with the others, just like the others, they groan because of the surprise. But what do they even expect?

            Blanche leans on the porch, sipping on her cup as the steaming coffee touches her wounded lips. Aerith punch me real hard yesterday, she thought as she remember their sparring yesterday. It was their second sparring since they arrived here. She chuckles and shrugs as she reminisces what they've always done when they had enough time.

            “So the captain was up early,” Alexis tapped her shoulder and seated on the steps beside the porch where she was leaning. Holding her stick, she writes something on the snowy ground. “I did not sleep since last night,” she replied, gazing at the newly arrived superior.

            “The General gives us a lot of work, isn’t it?” Alexis said, not minding what Blanche just said. “Yeah,” she plainly replied as she sip on her cup, again.

            “D'you have any idea why did they hire these recruits? I mean it was too sudden,” shrugging, Alexis stood up and pat her butt, removing the dust that stick on her pants.

            “Just like you, I’m clueless,” Blanche responded, staring blankly at her black coffee.

            “Well then, I better figure it out by myself. It was not nice to talk with you, Blanche. It’s so not nice,” Alexis said then leave, making Blanche chuckle and lean back on the porch while staring at Alexis' retreating back.

            The General, indeed, gives them too much work. She even had no idea why the sudden decision of having recruits and letting them train those newbies. But it was not Blanche’s work to figure things out. A total opposite to Alexis’ decision where she decided to figure things out on her own, she wouldn’t let the General’s personnel, especially if it is Blanche and Aerith, budge in with her actions.

            “Now that you’ve mentioned it, it was really mind-blowing. Imagine, he called me just to go in here and train the recruits,” Son Hyun Ah confessed. The latter was just listening to the other’s rants. “The General’s action was weird, don’t you think Hyun Ah?” Alexis asked, looking intently at the Korean girl.

            “Nah, I don’t think so. Stop being too paranoid, Alexis. He wouldn’t do those things to you, besides, you’re also---”

            “Quit it, Hyun Ah.” Alexis reprimanded, stopping what Hyun-Ah was about to spill.

            “What? The General cares for us,” Hyun Ah said but Alexis wouldn’t let that sink in her mind. The General didn’t care for us, he only care for his personnel. She thought.

            “The General---”

            “What about the General, Alexis?” Aerith interrupted the conversation between the two.

            “Nothing,” she said, walking towards the sink and placing her empty cup on it. “I was just saying that the General was putting everything on our shoulder, don’t you think so? Starting from the introduction of the training and now this, the actual training. Despite knowing that we have other comrades who can perform these kinds of responsibilities, why'd he choose us?”

            About to open her mouth and comment on what just Alexis said, Aerith instead harshly heave a deep sigh. “You know nothing.” And with that, Aerith leaves the two alone.

ONE, two. One, two. Repeatedly, she counted while holding her sword and slashing it in the air, imagining that she was slicing something in the air. Swish-swash, the sound of the sword along with the air. Blanche was in that state when Alexis throw an apple toward her, Blanche nonchalantly sliced it into two and let it drop to the ground.

            “Nice body coordination and alertness,” Alexis said as she clasp both of her hands while sarcastically smiling at her fellow comrade.

            “What do you want from me?” Blanche inquired, continuing what she was doing before the latter arrived.

            “Well, I’m a bit worried about this creature. She’s kind ‘a weak,” said Alexis. Blanche stop swishing-swashing her sword as she heard someone reply to what Alexis had stated.

            “I am not weak!” Aracelli rebuked making Blanche raise her brows and sigh.

            “Oh yeah, you’re not. You’re just a weakling, what a shame!” said the Commander in Chief.

            “You want me to train her?” asked Blanche while the latter nodded. Blanche examined Aracelli before nodding. “Alright, sure.”

            Alexis bade her goodbye and then left the two behind. She can’t handle a being like Aracelli, her headaches as she saw the girl. For her, Aracelli was just a piece of some lost girl finding her way to get out of the scene but hey! This is the reality, she can’t escape the fact that all of them will offer their lives just to die. There’s definitely no way to get out.

            Alexis shrugged as she totally return to where she came from, to the training ground, where all the recruits are full of activities.

            “Double time!” she shouted.

            The captain stared at Aracelli. “Can you even shoot a being from afar?” Stunned as she was, Aracelli drew her attention to Blanche. “What was your reason for joining this organization when you can’t just even harm someone?” The superior lean forward while both of her hands are inside her pocket

            “I…” the recruit hesitates to respond.

            “Let’s try,” Blanche threw a pocket knife in the direction of the other but Aracelli just step aside, causing the knife to land on the ground. Blanche raised both of her hands, “Why d’ you avoided the knife? You should catch the knife!”

            “Why would I?!” Aracelli shouted, trying to hide the uneasiness she was feeling.

            “You should do what I am commanding you! Now, get yourself back in your position and let’s try it again,” Blanche hastily grab a knife the threw it against Aracelli, the latter tried to catch it but she failed, causing her to cut one of her left fingers. “Don’t mind the wound, be alert on what I am going to throw against you then try to catch it, once you have succeeded to catch it then throw it back at me.”

            Blanche again continues throwing other stuff against Aracelli. Aracelli moved fast as she again tried to catch those kinds of stuff that Blanche was throwing unto her, there was a time when she could catch it and throw it back to Blanche, but mostly, she got herself hurt. “You have the guts to pay those military staff just to let you join this organization yet you do not have enough skills,” Blanche said bluntly, shrugging. “Come here,” she signaled Aracelli to come near her.

            Aracelli cautiously took a step, one by one until she reach Blanche’s location. Blanche suddenly grabbed Aracelli’s arm and twist it. The other yelp because of the pain but Blanche did not pay any attention. She pulled Aracelli closer to her, still holding the other’s arm; twisted.

            “Fuck! Remove your goddamn hands on my arms!” Aracelli shouted, face turning red. “No one will be going to hear you scream in pain, Aracelli. No one will follow your command when you enter a real battlefield,” she said, whispering in Aracelli’s ear.

            Blanche release her arms after a minute, Aracelli checked her arms and it was red, hand mark of Blanche was plastered on them. She was whimpering because of the pain. “Are you proving to me that you are really a weakling just what Alexis said?” teasingly, Blanche smirked.

            “I am not a weakling,” Aracelli said, attacking her abruptly. Punches, and kicks, are too weak but can hurt someone when they practice these skills. “Great,” Blanche said, holding Aracelli’s both hands. Both of them are panting.

            “You can do it yet you still want me to mock you before you show me your skills,” Blanche said, removing the blood from her lower lips. Aracelli just stared at her, shoulders moving up and down. “Come near me,” she commanded but Aracelli shrugged.

            “I don’t want to, you might hurt my arm again. It sucks,” Aracelli reprimanded causing Blanche to laugh.

            “I’m not going to hurt you. Let’s clean up your wounds,” she said, holding Aracelli’s arms and letting the other to seat on the bleachers. “You need to learn how to protect yourself, Aracelli. This is not about saving others but this is about saving yourself from dying.”

           Clueless as she was, Aracelli's brow furrowed at what her superior just said. Blanche, on the other hand, got her kit under the bleacher and open it. "You shouldn't get yourself involved in this kind of situation, Aracelli. It's not for you," Blanche stated bluntly as she carefully grab Aracelli's arm, placing it on her lap. The Captain then slowly put on an antiseptic on the wounded fingers of the recruit.

           "Why are you saying these to me? Are you afraid that I might steal your position or what?" Aracelli asked, looking at what her Captain is doing.

           Blanche chuckles as she gets some bandaids inside her first-aid kit. "To think that you have the guts to ask me that question, do you really even think that you can defeat me? At your current state, really?" The captain smiled but those smiles did not even reach her eyes. It was more like a bitter smile.

           Aracelli's quite confused. She knew that the Captain is aware of her reasons but why is she telling this stuff to her? "I ain't telling this to you because I want you out of this job, but I am telling you this, for you to be aware. You couldn't trust these people around you, not even me. You know nothing about the job that we're supposed to be doing, Aracelli. If I were you, I wouldn't let myself get involved in this kind of situation."

           Aracelli hastily grab back her arms and stood up. "C'mon, I know you do know why'd I join this! You know---"

           "You want to kill me, don't you? If that's the case then here," Blanche extends her hands holding a knife towards Aracelli. Aracelli then stared at the Captain's hand. Blanche signaled the recruit to accept it. "We are alone here, Aracelli. You can kill me if that would make you feel free from the past. After all, I had nothing to lose. I had lost almost everything long ago," Blanche look at Aracelli with a blank face. The trainee couldn't even read what the superior is thinking.

           Aracelli tightens her grip on the knife, she's shivering about the thought that her superior gave her a chance to kill her using her bare hands. But what she couldn't figure out is why?

           She bit her lower lips as she lowered her gaze, she let the knife she was holding stumble on the ground. "Do you really think that killing is always the answer?" Aracelli mumbles. Blanche's lips parted, about to say something. "If it is not for killing, then what for?"

           Both of them hastily gazed at the owner of the voice. Alexis stood a meter away from them. "We've been thought to kill almost everyone that gets in our way." She said, walking near them. She reached out the knife that Aracelli had recently been holding and seated on the bleacher. "You couldn't blame us for thinking that killing is always the answer because we've grown up, surrounded by people who used to kill. And what's worst is that we are taught to kill as well."

           "But you always had a choice to make any difference! To change what those guys have taught you!" Aracelli insisted. Blanche sighed as she seated beside Alexis. "We can, but at the same time, we couldn't. We can change and make any difference as you have said, but that scenario will only be buried to death once they've killed us." Blanche closed her fist, veins can be seen on her hands as she tried to hide her disgust.

           "We can always make a difference, but that thing is, we need to be cautious not to get caught by the higher officials. Once they caught us, we were dead as fuck. That's what you need to understand, Aracelli. Once you've entered this job, there's no turning back. All throughout your life, you need and are required to be devoted to the job that you've been through. Even if you are resting in your grave" Alexis laughed bitterly.

           "But now that you've mentioned," Alexis stood up and stared at Blanche. "Blanche will soon have to make her decision if she'll stay to be a puppet of this organization or... fight for her freedom," she added as she stretched out her arms in the air.