Training or Torture?

Ren got dressed in his new "uniform", which consisted of just a dark blue teeshirt and black athletic pants, and then walked out of his room to meet the Commander. Standing next to to the Commander was one more man dressed in the same attire as Ren.

"This here is you new training partner, Alex," said the Commander. Alex gave Ren a big smile. He was tall with blond hair and blue eyes. "I suggest you two get along, because you are going to need someone to encourage you to make it through your training everyday. Alright then, follow me."

The Commander led them down the hallway towards the windows on the side of the building. They stopped at the windows and to the right was an elevator. After waiting for the elevator to arrive they entered. The elevator had a see through glass wall on the left as they walked in which enabled Ren to look outside for the first time. Ren was shocked. They were at least 20 stories high and there were two more buildings just as high. To the south was open land for at least 5 miles until a forest began. To the north, west, and east was just dense forest.

They exited the building and walked towards what looked to be a gaint garage. As they approached the garage Ren took in his surroundings and noticed what looked to be a trail that led into the forest. As they grew closer, Ren noticed two ATVs waiting and the two men who seemed to be the one who prepared them.

"Soldiers, this is Sergeant Adams and Sergeant Buckley. They will be conducting your training for today," explained the Commander. "This is the only time that I will be escorting you. From now on, these two will be you personal trainers. Good luck, gentlemen."

The Commander left with a mischievious smile on his face. "I wish I could watch. Oh well, back to work. At least I got some fresh air..." thought the Commander.

"Put these around your waist," ordered Sergeant Adams. Ren and Alex put the looped rope around their waists which was tied to the rear of one of the ATVs. You got to be joking! thought Ren. Ren looked over at Alex who seemed to have the same thought cross his mind.

"Today gentlemen, you will be going for a little run. Fail to keep up and we will drag you the rest of the way. You may have noticed the trail that leads into the forest on your way here. That is the path we are taking. You will be running for a total of 3 hours today." Sergeant Buckley smiled as he turned to get on the ATV.

The two sergeants mounted themselves on the ATVs and then began with Ren and Alex running behind. The pace started off fairly relaxed.

As the trees began to pass by and in between avoiding roots, Ren began to think. "This is definently meant for the core to build our endurance, but my legs are already dead, and its only been around 15 minutes! I need to conserve my energy as much as I can if I want to make it all 3 hours without being dragged around for half of it!"

Ren tried looking ahead to catch a glimpse of how Alex was doing, but all he could see was his backside every now and then. "It has been at least a half hour," thought Ren. "My legs are aching and are growing heavier, and my lungs hurt as well."

Just then Ren felt a tug on the rope around his waist. His legs began to move faster in order to keep up. "These bastards, they are speeding up?"

It seemed around every ten minutes or so they speed up. Around one and a half hours in, Ren and Alex were practically sprinting.

"Shit! They never intended for us to just run for 3 hours!"

Thud!

Alex fell and began to get dragged along like a rag doll, swinging side to side, smacking into trees and roots as he went.

Ren gathered what spare energy he had and yelled, "Alex, get up stay strong for as long as you can!"

This was in vain as alex couldn't get anything out his mouth besides some yelps of pain as he was dragged along.

Ren made it an extra half hour, basically dead sprinting. Alex had stopped screaming and yelping. Ren guessed he had lost conciousness. His breathing began to become irregular, his legs began to faulter, until he had absolutely nothing left. The Sergeant sped up again, causing Ren to drop to the ground. He was pulled along the ground, hitting every root and smacking into trees. He began to lose chunks of flesh and skin, slipping in and out of consciousness. He lost any ability he had to scream as any energy he had left him. All he could do was hope it would end.

An hour later, they stopped moving, It was around noon. Ren was so disoriented he couldn't tell which way was up. He was only barely breathing and couldn't move at all. His clothes were shreaded to bits as well as his skin. He lost a enormous amount of blood, so much that he should have died. The first thought to reach his mind was,"How am I still alive?"

Sergeant Adams untied the rope around Ren's waist and hoisted him onto his shoulder. Ren looked over at what had to be Alex, although he didn't look a thing like him. Alex was limp and unconscious.

"Hey Buckley, this one is still conscious, isn't that amazing," commented Adams.

"Wow, he is the first one to ever achieve that," Buckley replied. "Must be because he is 100% compatible.

The two sergeants carried Alex and Ren back into the main building. Then they seperated. Sergeant Adams carried Ren to his room and place Ren on his bed then left, locking the door behind him. Ren fell asleep as soon as he was laid down.