Date: April 13th, 2193 — 05:30
The alarm ripped me out of sleep like a gunshot.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
I slammed my hand down on the console beside the bed.
"Alright, I'm up…"
The alarm stopped.
For a moment I just sat there staring at the ceiling.
The room was small. Bare metal walls, a locker, a desk, and a bed that felt like sleeping on a slab of stone. Pretty standard military housing from what I'd been told.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up slowly, stretching my arms over my head.
My muscles were still sore from the travel yesterday.
I walked over to the sink and splashed cold water on my face.
The mirror staring back at me didn't look like the same person who had left the farm two days ago.
Same black hair.
Same gray eyes.
But something about my expression had changed.
Maybe it was the place.
Maybe it was the uniform hanging on the locker door.
Or maybe it was the reason I was here in the first place.
I pushed the thought away and grabbed the uniform.
Dark gray combat training gear with the United Human Military insignia stitched on the shoulder.
Today was the first day of training.
Which meant things were about to get interesting.
Date: April 13th, 2193 — 06:00
The training yard was already packed by the time I got there.
Rows of recruits stood in formation across the massive open field. Hundreds of them.
Some looked confident.
Some looked nervous.
A few looked like they already regretted signing up.
I walked toward the line marked Squad C-17 and took my spot.
A guy standing next to me glanced over.
Tall, dark brown hair, built like he'd spent half his life lifting heavy equipment.
He gave me a quick nod.
"First day?"
"Yeah," I said.
He smirked slightly.
"Same here."
Before I could say anything else, a loud metallic clang echoed across the yard.
A man in a military coat stepped onto the platform at the front of the field.
Instant silence.
He looked older than most of the officers I'd seen so far. Gray hair, sharp eyes, and the kind of posture that made it clear he'd been doing this job for a long time.
"Listen up!"
His voice carried across the entire yard without a microphone.
"Welcome to D-Sector Military Training Command."
A few recruits straightened up immediately.
The officer continued.
"For the next twelve months, your lives belong to this facility. You will train, fight, and push yourselves beyond limits you didn't think were possible."
He paused, scanning the crowd.
"Many of you will fail."
Nobody moved.
"Some of you will quit."
Still silence.
"And a few of you might actually become soldiers."
A couple recruits shifted nervously.
The officer crossed his arms.
"My name is Commander Holt."
The name alone made a few people near me whisper.
Apparently he had a reputation.
Holt continued.
"You weren't brought here because you're special."
He pointed toward the sky.
"You were brought here because humanity needs soldiers."
His voice hardened.
"And right now, humanity is running out of them."
That line hit harder than the rest.
Running out?
That didn't sound good.
Holt looked across the crowd one more time.
"Training begins now."
He snapped his fingers.
A group of instructors stepped forward from the side of the field.
"Squads will be assigned immediately. Once assigned, those soldiers will be your team for the duration of training."
The tall guy next to me muttered quietly.
"Well… here we go."
Date: April 13th, 2193 — 06:20
About twenty minutes later, our squad had been assembled.
Five people total.
The tall guy from earlier stepped forward first.
"Rich Carter," he said. "Looks like I'm the lucky one they picked for squad lead."
He didn't sound cocky about it. Just confident.
Next was a girl with short red hair and a grin that looked a little too excited for six in the morning.
"Ruby Vega," she said. "Heavy weapons."
She noticed me looking and pointed at herself.
"Don't worry. I only accidentally blow things up sometimes."
"That's… comforting," Rich said.
Next was a girl with long silver hair tied back neatly.
She stood perfectly straight.
"Athena Solis."
Her voice was calm and precise.
"Specialization: tactical analysis and long-range combat."
She looked like she'd walked straight out of a military textbook.
Then it was my turn.
"Zane Black," I said.
Ruby tilted her head.
"Farm boy?"
I blinked.
"How did you—"
"Boots," she said.
Everyone looked down.
Right.
They still had a bit of dried dirt on them from the farm roads.
Great.
Rich chuckled.
"Well, Zane the farm boy… welcome to Black Dragon Squad."
I frowned slightly.
"Black Dragon?"
Rich shrugged.
"Squads get nicknames eventually. Might as well start early."
Ruby raised her fist dramatically.
"Black Dragon sounds awesome."
Athena didn't react at all.
Typical.
Date: April 13th, 2193 — 08:00
Two hours later…
I was pretty sure my legs had stopped working.
"MOVE!"
The instructor's voice echoed across the obstacle course.
We had been running, climbing, crawling, and jumping nonstop since training started.
Mud covered most of the course.
Which meant most of us were covered in mud too.
Ruby dropped beside me at the end of the run, breathing heavily.
"Okay… I take it back."
"About what?" I asked between breaths.
"This… was a terrible idea."
Rich jogged up behind us looking only slightly tired.
"You're both going to need better stamina than that."
Ruby pointed at him.
"You're enjoying this way too much."
Athena finished the course a few seconds later.
She looked almost completely unfazed.
I stared at her.
"You're not even tired?"
She wiped a small amount of dirt from her sleeve.
"My training before enlistment prepared me for physical stress."
Ruby groaned.
"Of course it did."
The instructor blew his whistle.
"Ten minute break!"
Everyone immediately collapsed somewhere nearby.
I leaned back against the dirt hill and looked up at the sky.
Blue.
Clear.
Peaceful.
For a moment it reminded me of home.
Of the farm.
Of the fields stretching across the horizon.
Of my dad showing me how to hold a rifle for the first time.
My chest tightened slightly.
Rich sat down beside me.
"You alright?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Just thinking."
Ruby leaned over from the other side.
"Thinking about how much this training sucks?"
I laughed a little.
"Something like that."
But the truth was…
I wasn't thinking about training.
I was thinking about something else.
The attack on Z-12.
The destroyed bases.
My father.
And the question that still didn't have an answer.
Who did it?
If joining the military helped me find that answer…
Then every second of this training would be worth it.
Even if it killed me.