Exclusive Excerpts for the Next Few Days - From Chapter 13

Today, I'll upload one of my favorite excerpts from what I wrote last month. It's from Chapter 13: Pigeon. In basic terms, Sheldon's increasing expertise in his division was getting to the previous top four soldiers, and they overreacted. Sheldon was checking his statistics when this thing happened. Like I've said before, if this doesn't make sense, that's 'cause it's outta context and a first draft. So... yeah. *nervous sweatdrop*

This excerpt contains some low key violence and some strong language. Viewer discretion is advised. Meaning if you or your parent(s) or your legal guardian(s) have problems with this kind of content, you'd probably shouldn't be reading it.

Hope you enjoy it.

***

I broke off, looking around in bewilderment. The room was changing. Changing into the thick, sweltering jungle that we had our first scrimmage in with Alpine. I jumped up. I was more than confused. The ceiling was full of clouds, and trees went in every direction you could think of. “What?” Was this some test, triggered by whoever got a high rank? The base from our first scrimmage was there, too. It stood behind me, small, wooden, and vulnerable-looking. Grass swished under my bare feet. Having taken off my uniform’s pants and vest, I’d also removed my socks and boots. In this bizarre situation I couldn’t explain, I felt naked and as defenseless as the unmanned base. It was strange to think of the base as a person, but the base was like me in that sense. I wanted to share in the uncomfortable feeling. The door swung on its hinges as I pushed it open and walked inside.

I turned to stone when it closed behind me.

“Hey, Lamar,” said London. Menski and Cosario stood on either side of him. Haitus towered above his comrades and me from London’s back. I don’t think London bothered to cover the sneer in his voice with his next words. “You enjoy trying to outclass me, don’t you?”

“Wh-What? No!” I said. It didn’t occur to me to sound braver than I was, and my voice cracked, leaking every old, paranoid insecurity I nearly buried in the barracks. “How did you guys get here? What do you want from me? What? I didn’t do anything to you, really! Really! I didn’t, really!” He crossed the room quickly, and my limbs couldn’t untense fast enough.

“You know exactly what I want from you, you son of a bitch.” He snarled, holding me above the wood floor by my clothing. “You’re encroaching on my territory. This has nothing to do with honor or power. You took what was mine, and I want it back.”

“I didn’t do anything to you! I don’t want anything from you! I don’t want anything!” I was trying to pry his hands off my collar, but a hard yellow shell shielded his hand. “Whatever you want, take it!” Someone ripped me from London’s grasp and clotheslined me with the force to make me spin. A girl’s muscular arms put me in a much more dangerous position. I felt the crook of Menski’s arm compressing my esophagus.

“Don’t you dare patronize us. You know it doesn’t work that way.” She said. She shifted her arms to grip my hair. My chance to escape.

I bolted. They all made a move for me. Cosario shouted, London fired a claw-like arch at me, but I dodged. In no time, I was running into the forest.

“Why are you running, you damn coward?!” I heard London shout after me. “What’s the matter?! You were doing so brilliantly before you weren’t in front of a crowd!” Then his voice disappeared into the crashing and crackling of leaves I made from dashing through the trees and plant life. The side of my face where Menski punched me was swelling painfully. Never good at pacing, I was running over changes in the elevation but also running out of breath. I couldn’t stop running. I tripped and fell over an uncovered root. The seconds it took me to get up brought the pursuing sound of hunters I’d been dreading. My hands and chin dripped sweat.

I saw the other base. The mass lifted from my chest as I closed in on it. But wait. No, it was the first base that I just left. I didn’t want to stop running, yet my lungs seared, and I saw stars and blurring. I rounded the base to the back, but right at that moment, I knew I couldn’t do anymore. Choking on my air, I tipped against the building’s rear, nausea taking over, crawling up my throat. The four 5^th Division soldiers found me by the sound of my vomiting.

“Oh, puking already?” Haitus sneered. I coughed up more bile and looked at him out of unsteady eyes. “How pathetic.”

“Bay Unit doesn’t need weak, cowering boys like you.” London said softly, closing our distance. They were in uniform, I was not. Standing in what was practically underwear, I felt exposed and helpless. Avoiding eye contact, I took a step back and sank. I sat in the grass, knowingly but unable to prevent my drained body from offering London submission through my pose. They weren’t superiors in the Bernstein was. They were my equals. For all I knew, this was as legal as siblings fighting. The tears were inevitable. By now, London was standing above me. “Crying? Again with the crying?! Do you know how many times you woke me up in the middle of the night with your bitching about your nightmares to nobody?! Everyone here stopped crying months ago, but you still haven’t gotten over it! You’re pathetic, too damn delicate, and your skin is thinner than your resolve. If you lead us, you’ll lead us straight to hell, and we don’t need that. I won’t crack like you if I’m in command, and that’s why I can’t let you be a part of this.” I gazed up into the dark eyes, shaking and losing control of my bladder. “The great double ass have doesn’t have anything to say?”

They don’t want to just hurt me, I understood.

“There’re four of you. One of me.”

“You think I don’t know that?!”

“I don’t know what you’re gonna do to me,” I said, openly pleading with him in earnest, “but please… please don’t kill me.”

***

Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for reading!

For pictures of Sheldon, go to GenreChowderStudios' deviantART gallery. There are a ton of them there.

Later.