Chapter 31: First day, First out

The light but fast sound of footsteps hitting the ground was nearly as loud as the treadmill Rick was running on. Electrical nodes were hanging against the skin of his chest, placed in important places. Most notably over his heart and lungs. On his face was an oxygen mask, here to measure and control his breathing but also create harsher conditions. Sweat glistened on his body, displaying the amount of effort he was giving.

Rick had been running for half an hour now at a speed that no human could reach let alone maintain for that long.

“Alright, private. I have all the data I need. You can decelerate now and take a five. We’ll test your strength next.”

The doctor conducting the test was one Mia Hunt. If the name didn’t give any indication for some reason, her face was more than enough to make one realize she was a relative of the Major. Considering how young the blond woman was, she was either a little sister or little cousin.

Not nearly as tall as the Major but same eyes, same cheekbones and teeth. A thinner jaw and nose. There was no doubt they were blood related.

Rick began to slow down, the treadmill slowing down with him in consequence. When he came to a stop, he removed the mask while Mia did away with the nodes. Grabbing a towel he wiped the sweat of his brows, then face, then his chest.

“How are you feeling?” The doctor asked with a pen and pad in hand.

“A bit thirsty. Hungry.” Rick cracked his neck and held the towel and his shoulders.

Mia began to write her answers on her paper, not sparing him a look. “How hungry?”

“Hm…” Rick pondered a more detailed answer for a bit. “I could use another breakfast.” He got a nod for it.

“Anything else?”

“No. Nothing beyond the regular sensation after an effort. Hot, a bit of soreness; nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Are you tired?” She kept scribbling.

Rick gave her a shake of the head. “No. I could have continued for a while.”

“Alright.” Mia quickly finished taking notes and ended with a stab of the pen to make a period. Her eyes shifted from her paper to Rick. “You have no problem starting with the strength test then?”

“None, ma’am.”

She gave him a curt nod, and walked towards the weights in the corner of the room. With a wave of the hand, she let him choose which exercise he wanted to start with first. Not thinking twice about it, Rick went for the deadlift. He didn’t lay down on the bench however and simply added more weights on each side of the barbell .

40kg on either side, bring up the total to 120kg.

Doctor Hunt didn’t even bat an eye but noted something on her clipboard. Her eyes, beyond her rectangular glasses, were focused on Rick, who was lying down. Making sure he had a tight and good grip on the bar, he began his exercise. One rep, then two, then three. Again and again without stopping as if he didn’t feel the weight.

At a hundred, Mia made him stop. “Was it as easy as you made it look?”

Rick nodded. “Yes. I’d probably be able to lift twice the weight but I think I’ll be struggling. A lot.”

“Hmm…” She scribbled something on her notes. “It will be difficult to properly determine your strength like this. And dangerous. No one would be able to spot you.” Her tone had been quite factual. No awe, no irritation nor displeasure at not being able to gauge his strength properly. “Alright onto the next exercise."

For the next hour, Rick did all kinds of boring tests. None were able to make him sweat like running had. It was so boring he’d have preferred to go back to the books Captain Walker had given him. At least with them he was doing something productive even if he hated it.

Once everything was over, he went to pick up one of his manuals then to the cafeteria. Today he had pollock with rice. It had been a surprise the food was that good, really. Or maybe, it was because he was used to eating the cheapest thing around or because his sense of taste had sharpened drastically since he had been injected with the T-Veronica virus.

It was a serious possibility. Each time he had been infected by a virus, his body had been enhanced further. The T- virus had given him strength and speed beyond human limits. The G-virus had multiplied those effects slightly, saved for his regenerative healing who went completely through the roof.

The T-Veronica? So far his appetite has been reduced greatly. Back to normal level for a simple human. Every time he was pushing his abilities or healing, he used to end up hungry beyond belief and needed a lot of food to continue. It was quite the problem if after each effort he could only count on his iron will and grit to go forward. The issue seemed to now be gone.

“I’ll have to talk with the doc and the Major about it.”

His attention was diverted from his thoughts by someone putting down a tray in front of him then sitting down. Wondering who would bother him when he made sure to appear as uninviting as possible, he raised his eyes to look up at the idiot who couldn’t read the mood and bothered him.

The culprit was a woman around Jill’s age. Shoulder length blonde hair, tied in a pony-tail. Light green eyes which reflected the curiosity and amusement the smile on her lips conveyed. It was clear she was here to have some fun at his expense and immediately, Rick thought of turning her down and turning the table on her.

“Hey, kid,” she greeted him with. “The guys and I were wondering what you were doing here.”

Rick raised the fork in his hand, a piece of fish impaled on it. “Eating.”

It was the only word he said and put the fork in his mouth. His stare never wavered, still fixed on her own without blinking. To most people the blank look, alone would have been unnerving, yet the woman in front of him just smiled wider.

“It seems we have a comedian, guys!” She cheerfully called out to a group behind him.

He heard footsteps getting closer. From the sound, he recognized three people. Straining his ears he determined, without certainty, that one was male from how heavy they sounded, and leading, another was female for how light they were in comparison to the third who was somewhere in the middle.

“What’s this?” A big masculine hand grabbed the open book next to Rick’s tray. “The Soldier’s Guide?” The voice definitely belonged to a man since it was very deep. Its tone was mocking. “Seriously? How the hell did you find yourself here kid? You’re not even a soldier.”

The sneer on the man’s face and the chuckle of his two acolytes behind him, a man and a woman, made Rick’s temper flare. As usual he was in control of it. The blonde in front of him still had the same expression on her face but Rick could tell it didn’t have the same meaning. If he had to bet, she wasn’t really part of the group. She just pretended to be.

That interested him.

“Cat got your tongue too? Or are you too scared to—”

“You shouldn’t have eaten garlic.” Rick, scrunching his nose, cut him off and took back the book with a thug of the hand. “I don’t talk because there is no point in getting to know any of you. After all, why waste my time in knowing twenty people when only one will matter in four weeks.”

The blonde snorted at how ballsy and true the retort was. The soldier, who Rick had yet to see the face of, grabbed him by the shoulder tightly and turned him around.

“You think you already got one of the two spots? You, a kid who— ARGH!!”

Rick had grabbed the man’s hand and twisted. A loud crack had sounded and the soldier was on his knees lurching forward in pain holding his wrist and trying to pry open Rick’s hand. The whole cafeteria turned silent and looked at the commotion.

“Your Asian friend over here is already out.” Rick bored his eyes into the man. “More interested in his career when it’s pretty obvious we’re here to join a black ops unit. The kind you can’t talk about and no one will know about.”

The male companion who had joined had been the one who asked the question about career opportunities the previous day. To Rick the man was out the moment he had opened his mouth.

“The girl with you looks like a follower with a poor judging sense since she is hanging with you and him. Out too. And you… Are a bully, who believes he owns the place because he’s over six feet and has a big build. You’re also out, because I’m going to break your arm and nose.”

Rick followed through with his words. He hit the forearm he was holding at the wrist and another loud crack was heard. In the same movement his knee went from the man’s face and everyone heard the nose break. They didn’t even have to see it to know. The soldier’s body went limp. When he was let go he fell unconscious on the ground to the whole room’s shock.

“Listen up.” Rick swept the cafeteria with his eyes. “The pecking order is as follows: Captain Walker, Major Hunt, then me, then all of you. I don’t give a flying fuck if you’re a ten year veteran, fuck around with me and you’ll find out what happens. Just like this guy did.”

Rick sat back down, opened his book to the page he had been reading and resumed eating. The unconscious soldier was picked up by his friends and they quickly dragged him out of the room. The other candidates turned back to their tray and started whispering about what just happened.

The blonde in front of him was still smiling as if she had eaten a canary.

“I’m Rachel.”

With that said, she stood up and left the cafeteria.