Chapter 24

-EDITED-

As Ember walked through the base, she watched people all around pass by her. Three whistles and hollers, a few worrying looks and confusing ones, but she tuned them out. She was trying to go through her mind to see if she did something wrong, all she could see was herself just protecting herself and him being a horrible person.

The warm summer breeze blew through the camp, letting Ember relax and feel the wind through her fur and body. Her loose shirt blowing through the wind as she let out a quiet sigh. She looked around for an empty tent or someone to help her get to her tent. She looked around until she spotted a large man with several badges were like her harasser.

"Excuse me! Mister, could you tell me where my tent is?" She asked, "The general didn't want to take me to it." She lied.

"Oh, hello little lady. Well, tell me your name and I think I can find it, if I can't you might have to spend some time in the medic tent until we get you one." He smiled. "My name is Officer Damian. You are Ember, right?" He asked.

"O-Oh, I didn't know that you guys knew that I was coming here." She stammered.

"We were told that you would come here. Well, as much as we can." He laughed. "Did General Dolion do something to you?" Damian asked.

Ember froze and looked down at the ground with shame.

"Hey, hey. Don't feel bad, he's a bad person. We can't do much about it, just avoid him. There's a reason there are no females at this base." He laughed.

"O-okay. Can you show me my tent now please?" Ember asked.

"All right, follow me then Ember." Damian smiled.

As they began to walk across the base, he struck up a conversation.

"Did you have training?" He asked.

"Yeah, I did. Why?" Ember enquired.

"Because training here can get intense, those guys you see running laps around here often?" He asked.

"Yeah, they were the first thing I saw when I first got here." Ember laughed.

"They run around the base at least 3 times a day." Damian informed, "I doubt you'll have much trouble keeping up, but if you get winded, I would take it easy for the first couple of days." He informed, "When I first got here I thought because I ran track that I would a hand above the others." He laughed.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I got my arse handed to me, it wasn't pretty. Turns out that track doesn't shine a candle to intensity to this," he said.

"Wow, you're right. I get winded easily. I never saw the need to run longer as long as I can run faster than them." Ember admitted.

"You will need to change that mindset. Because in the heat of battle, it doesn't matter if you can run faster, what matters is if you can outlast them." He said, "You can run as fast as a defhgion, but it won't matter if you can't hold the speed for long."

Ember nodded. "I suppose you're right." She admitted, "So how to get my lung capacity up?" Ember asked.

"Simple, you run, hold your breath or go swimming regularly." Damian listed, "Or do all of them. I recommend going swimming in the east lake. No one goes there, it's colder at that lake. I assure you, you don't want to swim at the west lake. Unless you enjoy looking at nearly naked men." He laughed.

"Uh, yeah no thanks," Ember said and shuddered at the thought of seeing someone like that.

Damian laughed. "You're welcome for letting you know about the lake." He grinned and stopped in front of a tent. "Here you go, I recommend you get up when they tell you." He said and walked off.

Ember smiled. He was very nice to her. Ember let out a sigh and walked into her tent to see her things on her cot and Atherton setting up his own little corner of depression blankets.

Ember shook her head lightly as she moved her plastic bag of clothing off her cot as she laid down, throwing the thin blanket around her body and lowered her head on the volume less pillow.

Switching from soft, thick blankets and fluffy pillows with a soft mattress to a thin cot with an equally, maybe thin blanket and the thinnest pillow she ever had the displeasure of sleeping on, was uncomfortable. Now Ember was not a picky person. Hand her a blanket and a sleeping sack, and she was set for the night. Never, in her years of camping out in the nearby woods, had she ever felt such discomfort trying to go to sleep.

In fact, the cot was so itchy that she felt like bugs were crawling on her. Although, with the fact that they set this tent outside, she wouldn't be surprised if a few ants were sharing with her. Ember brought the fabric, which impostered a blanket, closer to her. As she turned over onto her side and closed her eyes, she tried to ignore small little ants crawling on her. Ember shuddered and clenched her eyes closed even further.

As the night passed out, Ember twisted and turned, seeking some kind of comfort. In the late summer night, she contemplated just lying on the floor like Atherton as it seemed much more comfortable than this piece of cotton that they called a bed. With the crickets chirping just outside her tent, she got up from her cot and laid down on the tent floor. Placing her pillow down and covering herself with the fabric and found that the floor was much more suitable for sleeping. As she nestled into the floor of the tent, she let out a small yawn and closed her eyes.

As a loud horn echoed throughout the base, Ember shot up from the ground. "I'm up!" She screamed before looking around before remembering she was at the military base. She let out a sigh and relaxed before the meaning of the military base came into her mind. Ember squeaked and threw on the uniform that they had left under her cot the night before. Barely getting it on before the breakfast bell rang.

Ember skirted out of her tent as she saw plenty of men make their way to the rations tent and grab their food for the morning. What Ember saw, appalled her, while she knew that rations were strict as to prepare for real-life rations, she didn't imagine they would be that strict. In fact, she wouldn't even be able to eat 3/4ths of the things presented to her, due to her inability to eat anything but meat without immobilizing herself with vomit and the runs.

Ember wordlessly grabbed her tray, ignoring the many hollers and whistles come from the immature males behind her as she gazed around looking for an empty table to eat her food peacefully. As she glanced to the right, she spotted Damian waving at her, motioning for her to join him at the table. Ember shrugged to herself as she walked over there.

"What can go wrong?" Ember quietly asked herself as she sat down on the bench across from Damian.

"So, how was your first night here?" He asked as he took a bite out of the apple.

"Horrible, how do you guys sleep on those things?" She asked.

"Most of us don't." He laughed. "We sleep on the floor as it is much more comfortable." Ember's mouth hung open before she facepalmed.

"Late last night, I switched onto the floor and practically slept like a baby compared to the unholy cot," Ember said exasperatedly.

Damian laughed, "You better eat your meat quickly before the bell rings once more for warm-ups." He grinned and walked out, dumping his finished tray. Ember sighed and shoved the thin piece of beef into her mouth and downed the milk before dumping the rest and running out, following Damian just in time for the bell to ring. Damian grabbed her and pulled her to the side like a river of males flooded out of the breakfast tent and out to the field. Ember sighed somberly to herself as she followed with Damian by her side