Chapter 20: New Rules
BLARE!
The sound of a horn woke Zephyr up. It was already another day. The recruits scrambled to their feet, shuffling to the corridor with more familiarity in their steps, although they were still groggy.
The first order of the day was still jogging. But this time, Zephyr had decided not to hold back. As the instructor started the jog, after spewing insults at the recruits to jar them awake, Zephyr immediately fell into pace with him, along with the usual frontliners.
Jet, who had been getting all the attention since the previous day, along with Kathelyn, was surprisingly mellow. He just glanced at Zephyr briefly before focusing straight ahead. Usually, he would have made some remark by now.
They all kept up in silence, the only sound being the crunch of their boots against the gravelled ground.
’It seems the instructor has decided to step up the pace today,’ Zephyr thought. It didn’t bother him, and it didn’t seem to really bother the other frontliners much. They all kept up the pace, albeit slightly behind. Only Zephyr, Kathelyn, and Cedric could keep up with the instructor side by side. Zeke, Jet, and the others trailed slightly behind. Surprisingly, more merchant kids were keeping up compared to the previous day.
The jog continued till the gray sky lightened up. Then came what they were all dreading— the combat training.
"You know the drill! Split into groups of ten!" Everyone started shuffling to find friends.
"And you can’t pick the same partner as yesterday!" he added with a smirk as the soldiers from the previous day stepped up one by one.
Zephyr immediately felt a gaze on him and turned to see the soldier from yesterday staring straight at him menacingly.
"Looks like he’s out for you," Zeke said, walking up behind Zephyr.