Ovian. I’ve really done it this time.
2
Isabella
My smile is wide, and I check the straps again. I’m so ready for this. Maybe I can finally use my daredevil ways for good. I never really thought about this before, about wanting to do something like this, but ever since I heard on the radio about a chance to join the military for special, dangerous missions, I knew it was for me.
The military used to have all kinds of formal training and schooling and jumps you had to hop through in order to get in and then to rise through the ranks. That’s not the case anymore. With the advent of every nation on Earth uniting under the Global Countries of Earth, there’s now one government and one military, but that doesn’t mean that there’s peace every single square foot of Earth. There’s peace compared to before the Grots, yes, but peace is never absolute.
I’ve never experienced peace in my life. Not for one second. I prefer it that way, though, and I’ve always done what I can to chase thrills, to seek out new adventures. All I want is to feel alive, and sitting around in a boring ass job just isn’t for me. I’m twenty-one years old, and I feel as if I’ve lived a hundred lifetimes already because I’ve could’ve died a thousand times already.
But I haven’t.
“Why did you sign up for this training exercise?” a man asks.
I glance over at him, but he’s not talking to me. The speaker is bald, but he doesn’t look much older than I am.
The one he’s talking to has longish brown hair and dark, piercing eyes. He looks straight at me.
“I saw her sign up,” he says, jutting his chin toward me.
“Fuck off,” I say good-naturedly.
He laughs and leans forward. “The name’s Diego.”
“Isabella, but I don’t think you’ll be touching this.”
“No?”
Diego grins and shifts over to stand beside me. There’s a group of ten of us, and we’re all cramped in a small room, waiting for orders to go onto a plane, the one we’ll be jumping out of. It’s a training exercise, yes, but we haven’t even been given much instruction yet, and I’m getting anxious and ready to go.
“Want me to double-check your gear for you?” he asks, his face inches from mine.
“No thanks.” I glance over at Baldie. “Sorry that this one doesn’t seem to care that you wanted to make nice.”
“I don’t make nice,” Diego says, brushing a hand along my neck. “I fuck nice, though.”
"I already told you to fuck yourself," I say, giving him the once-over. The way he's acting, I'm willing to bet his dick is five inches at the most, and that's because I'm feeling generous. I've always thought that length doesn't matter so long as you know how to use it.
Baldie shrugs. “I don’t care so long as he isn’t bothering you.”
“I can handle myself.” I inch away from Diego, and he stands beside me, a hand grabbing my ass.
He can touch, but he can't have. I'm bored with him already. Coming on too strong. A guy like that probably has mommy issues. I've had more than my fair share of one-night stands, but I don't think I even want him to have that much.
“Listen up,” a loud, sharp female voice says.
Immediately, the conversations from the other would-be militants all fall to a hushed silence.
“You are to listen to my directions and not veer from them an inch. Do I make myself clear?”
She eyes each of us and waits until every single one of us says yes. This woman does not accept nods.
“Good. I’m General Janius Jackson. Your objective is to jump out of the plane and complete the obstacle course. The point isn’t to leave anyone behind, not to be first, and you do have a time limit. What’s more, there is an additional objective. You have to save a woman from a dangerous monster. Do not kill the monster. You can bind it, restrain it, what have you. Nothing and no one is to be killed during this training exercise. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am!” we all say more or less at the same time.
“Very well. Load them up.” The general stands to the side, and we file through.
Diego tries to stand next to me, and I slip by next to Baldie, who smiles at me, not in a coming on kind of way, and I notice a ring on his left hand.
“I’m Greg,” he says.
“Isabella.”
“I overheard.”
“Why did you sign up?”
Greg purses his lips. "My wife died two days ago. I heard about this after the funeral. It felt… I don't know. Like destiny, maybe. Like I can maybe find meaning again because I'm lost. Two days and I'm lost. It feels like I haven't held her in years and years, and I… I need to do something."
“Didn’t you have a job?” I ask.
Greg nods. “At a bank as a teller. I don’t want that. It’s not me. It never was. I just wanted a job to support her, to start a…” He looks away, his voice cracking, and I let him have a moment to recover.
The plane takes off, and a cadet in charge over us gives us a few more orders before opening the back of the plane. As much as I want to be one of the first ones off, I’m not. Diego is, though. Of course. Right after him is a redhead. Wonder if she’ll be his fuck buddy tonight.
Greg motions for me to go before him, but I wave him ahead and then jump after him. I tuck and roll as I land to minimize injury to my feet or ankles, and I uncouple my straps so that the parachute is off, but I still have the pack on my back.
The obstacle course isn’t that bad at all, and even though I wasn’t in the first wave, I don’t doubt that
