Chapter 41 - Chaos Brewing
Wilson finally got released. He might not have been released if the same old lady that put him to bed the last time had not gotten involved. She was passing by and saw Wilson drenched in sweat, arms trembling badly, and he was panting. By this time, he had lost count of how many pushups he had 'pumped'. She moved closer and spoke with instructor Jack for like two seconds and then, that was it. Instructor stood straight and saluted. He kept that posture until the oldie was out of sight which was a long time before he finally said to Wilson;
"Wilson, get your ass out of here!"
Wilson was glad to oblige. He forced himself up with his numb, tired arms and ran away like a bitch. He did not want to stay there any longer. Who knew what Instructor Jack might say if he stayed any longer than that. He kept running until he reached a building where he quickly hid behind, out of sight of the instructor. He remembered his mother telling him to not curse when he was younger but he could not care less about such advice right now. He sat down on the ground, resting his back on the building. He could hear lots of voices all talking together. If he remembered correctly, most of his fellow 'recruits' moved towards this particular building. And he could smell the sweet aroma of delicious food wafting out through the windows. Was this the cafeteria? He tried to stand but fell down back. His hands were currently useless and trembling badly making him recollect the instructor Jack's words. He silently cursed and wondered if all the other adults were sadists as well. Why was he getting involved with sadists? First, it was old man Jenkins and his granddaughter. Although, his granddaughter was more of a young girl exerting her revenge on him. Then, there was that old cane lady. Wilson shivered and was too afraid to curse when he remembered the old cane lady's cane. Then, there is the strict Instructor Jack, the middle aged six feet five hunk with the insanely loud voice and not-to-be-disobeyed rules which as he had just recently learned, when disobeyed, will result in insanely painful punishments. What? You think doing pushups is not painful? Try doing three hundred all at once and let's see what happens.
Oh, and finally, there is that bald old man. Wilson was sure that bald old man was planning something evil. That look he gave him the other time, at the portal, was definitely the most sinister look he had ever received. Whatever it was that the bald old man was up to, Wilson knew it was going to be real bad.
"AH! This is pointless. I will handle things when I get to that stage. There is not much I can do right now anyway." Wilson muttered to himself and unconsciously closed his eyes. His body needed rest and his brain needed to refresh itself.
"Oh wow! Look who we have here! Sitting right behind the cafeteria." a sweet voice spoke up from beside him and giggled. Wilson did not have to open his eyes to know who that was. That voice had been constantly talking sweetly to him for several months. In his dream.
"Alice, what do you want??"
"How do you know my name?"
"Not important!"
"Still being rude, I see! Maybe a month with instructor Jack will teach you to be polite."
" Just go straight to the point!" Wilson said exasperatedly. He really did not want to deal with this or anything else right now.
"I just want to tell you not to get too excited that you got into the special squads area. You will not be there for long."
"What do you mean?" He finally opened his tired eyes to look at her. He saw that she was wearing the ash uniform. That was one of the three Instructor Jack warned them about. And Alice was not alone. There were three other girls with her, surrounding her on all sides, with the same outfit. She appeared to be the ring leader.
"I mean that very soon, you and the remaining of your red team will be chased out of there and we, the ash team will take our place as rightful rulers of the base."
"uhn?" Wilson was officially lost. Rightful rulers? Of what? What did she mean by team anyway? You know what, Instructor Jack was right. He should avoid mixing with people like this. One might run mad.
Wilson stood up and walked away from them and the cafeteria and towards his room which was two storeys high. No biggie. Just two whole flight of stairs plus the distance before reaching in front of his door. Even before then, he had to endure some gruesome walking before even arriving at the dormitory. Seriously, no biggie.
Wilson collapsed on the way.
*************
"He is going to be fine. He just needs to feed well and rest and he will be back on his feet in a couple days." Was the first thing Wilson heard when he woke and he silently agreed. Totally. He heard somebody walk out and shut the door behind. After that, there was silence for some time before finally;
"Well, you did it boy! You sent yourself to the hospital just before training starts. Do you know what THAT MEANS? IT MEANS YOU WILL BE DRAGGING ME AND THE REST OF THE RED TEAM DOWN. FOURTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE TEENAGERS WILL BE DRAGGED DOWN COS YOU CANNOT EVEN FEED YOURSELF. What are you, a baby? DO YOU WANT ME TO CALL A PRETTY GIRL TO FEED YOU BEFORE YOU CAN EAT? AND WHAT IS THIS TALK ABOUT YOU NOT RESTING? THEN, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING ALL COOPED UP IN YOUR ROOM ALL WEEK? YOU BETTER BE BETTER IN THREE DAYS TIME, OR YOU ARE NOT GONNA LIKE WHAT I WILL DO!" Instructor Jack yelled at Wilson and stomped out of the ward. Wilson opened his eyes to watch him leave. He would have laughed at the way the instructor marched angrily if he was not too tired to even move his lips.
"Mr Wilson, I will be waiting outside if there is anything you need." A petite girl in a white and blue dress with a red cross sign said and walked out. Wilson watched her leave and without even attempting to understand what the hell just happened, he went back to sleep. He would gather his thoughts when he was well rested and refreshed. His eyes closed and he immediately fell into a deep slumber. One which he really needed, not knowing there was chaos brewing at the revolutionaries' base.