I stopped by the food hall on my way to the captain’s office to pick up a mug of coffee to go. I thanked the lady behind the counter and sipped at my coffee, taking care as it was scolding hot.
On my way to his office I took the long way around, choosing the exterior route rather than the interior. Even at this early hour there were lots of people milling about. Tending to the gardening and the cattle. There were people on the sister compound, they had started to erect a fence between the two camps. They had a nice safe walkway so that you would not have to leave the protective fence of one camp to enter the other. The next job was reinforcing the walkway.
I carried on towards the captains’ office, not wanting to be late on my first day, but I was still the last to arrive.
“Am I late?” I felt a little self-conscious.
“No, I just got here myself” Will replied, eyeing up my mug. I handed it to him and he smiled gratefully. Taking a sip and moaning out loud.
“You two want to get a room?” I joked.
“Oh, I would love to.” Will winked at me and wiggled his eyebrows.
In the room, today was just Will and I, Captain Cooper and Lt. Jacks. The latter two had been watching our exchange with an amused expression.
“Right then, let’s get to it, so that Will can go and give that coffee some sweet loving” the Captain grinned.
Will and I nodded and Lt Jacks chuckled, I loved the Captains humour.
“I’m leaving here in just under an hour. I’m taking a team of four men. We plan to go visit the sister site, and see what’s up. I’m hoping it’s just a problem with their coms system but it could be that they have been over run. If this is the case we will turn around and come back home. Lt Jacks here will be in charge. You will both start your fitness training today. Any questions?”
“Is it just us two joining the ranks?” I honestly thought that there would have been more people lining up to join.
“Yes, unfortunately most don’t want anything to do with the fight. They want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is happening outside of these gates. As you know Billy has already joined, the men that came in with you, the mechanics Lewis and John have joined us also. Your pal Adam is going to be sentry and construction, and to be honest we could use his strength for the construction side. All men and women will have the opportunity go through training if they want it. Most don’t.”
I nodded, I understood in a way, why they were scared to get involved. The sad thing is that they would need this training to save their lives. They just couldn’t see it yet.
“Ok then, I look forward to starting.”
“Me too” Will took another long drink of my coffee and handed me back my mug. It only had a tiny drop left in the bottom.
“Gee, thanks” I let all of my sarcasm shine through.
“No problem” he got up and clapped me on the back.
“Sir is it ok if we go and get a proper mug of coffee and change into workout clothes?” Will asked the Captain.
“Of course, it is. I’ll send Lt. Jack to come and meet you in the canteen in a little while ok?”
“Great thanks” we both got up and left, I followed Will out of the office and through the double doors at the end of the corridor. This brought us into the military living quarters where we currently slept also. Although it was a huge place and our rooms were across the other side.
Will talked excitedly on the way to our rooms, I nodded along. Too excited to say anything. My mind was in overdrive. I never thought that I would be part of the army. But having something to occupy my mind, something that would benefit my friends, meant something to me and I was going to give it my all.
“George? You still with me bud?” Will snapped his fingers in my face.
“Uh? What? Oh, I’m sorry will I was lost in thought then. I’m pretty excited about this” I snapped back to Will and tried to focus on what he was saying.
“Me too, that’s what I was saying. Let’s go into your room first George”
I unlocked the door, it smelled like sweat and stale alcohol inside, so I opened the window to let the fresh air through.
“What’s up?” I asked a serious looking Will.
“Our ‘Gang’ had a meeting last night in my room. We discussed what jobs each of us were going to take on. Each of us thinks that it’s important to take on jobs that will benefit our group if we ever need to leave here. There was no question of if we will stay together. All of us that left Deacons place and came here are now family. Do you agree?”
“Yes of course. Although I am closer to some of you than others, I would never leave any of them behind.” I was honest, as far as I knew these people were the only ones I had left alive.
“That’s good to know. So, we along with Billy are training up on weapons and getting fitter, Adam is learning all he can in construction, Kandace is starting in the gardens, learning how to grow fruit and veg and to look after the chickens. Amelia is starting in the hospital. Nia is in the school area keeping an eye on our kids but also has access to all the army’s maps on this area. All of our gang are learning new skills.” He sounded really positive and his enthusiasm had started to
