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Osborne climbed out of bed the next morning, as the "wake-up call" soldier opened their door, telling them to wake up. She was exhausted from the lack of sleep she had gotten that night.

Groggily, she pulled on her new military trainee uniform that was put out for her last night, for her to wear that morning, as well as pulling on her boots, and tying their laces.

She stood up, walking now towards the front door of their sleeping chamber, along with the rest of the female initiates, rubbing their eyes and slowly putting one foot in front of the other, following the soldier guiding them wherever they were going.

Soon after, the male initiates caught up with them, and the two groups joined together, some of them whispering, all of them wondering where they were being led. They continued down that unknown hallway for what seemed to Osborne like forever, until finally they turned left into a short corridor, at the end of it being a large door, similar to the one they had entered the day before, and where they got their first look at their new temporary homes. Against the wall on either side of the initiates and soldiers were large backpacks, hung up individually on silver hooks, that looked like they supported a lot of weight.

As everyone crowded around the door, the two new trainers told them what they would be doing. Explaining that they were to be going on a morning run out in the forest to improve their cardiovascular fitness and their stamina, for when the initiates are on the battlefield, and instructed them to put on the packs, and as the trainers told the initiates, they will often be carrying heavy packs containing food and supplies on their future missions, as soldiers.

Osborne readily lifted her pack off of the hook, realizing quickly that it was extremely heavy, as if loaded with cement or bricks to weigh it down. Struggling, she managed to pull the pack over her two shoulders, and was now wobbling underneath the weight. She was suddenly much less confident of how well she would do for the duration of the run.

Now that everyone had finished getting their heavy packs on, some of them needing help from the soldiers or each other, the two trainers opened the door and jogged out, with their packs and military uniforms leading the way down the walkway of the academy into the forest.

Osborne quickly left the academy, out the back door and followed some of the eager initiates into the forest. Very quickly, the concrete pathway became packed dirt, littered with large rocks and roots form the trees above poking out of the ground. The ground became increasingly treacherous, and Osborne found herself watching the ground more so than where she was going, quite oblivious to her surroundings.

Looking up from time to time, Osborne was able to catch glimpses of muddy areas that she tried to avoid. By now, as the brush thickened and the ground beneath her boots became even more insurmountable, and the weight of the pack feeling increasingly heavy, weighing more like a ton, she felt herself falling behind, as other initiates rushed past her.

Suddenly, as she stepped on a rock that seemed completely stable and fully dug into the ground, the rock that she stepped on gave way, and down Osborne went, tumbling down the path into a puddle of muddy water. To avoid falling too far behind the leaders, the few initiates who were still behind Osborne stepped around her, not even giving her any notice, leaving her on the ground alone, grimacing in pain and sobbing as she clutched her elbow and knee, both of which were badly scraped, blood beginning to flow out of both.

Just as Osborne was beginning to become worried that she was to be left there, alone, one last initiate came puffing his way down the hill Osborne had just fallen down. Coming to a halt just in front of her muddy body, he bent down and began to examine her wounds.

"Don't worry, they're not too deep. Once we get back, we'll be able to take you to the nurse who can fix you right up," he says, as he pulls Osborne out of the mud, so that he is now supporting her, both of them standing. "I'm Grayson, by the way. And I didn't hear a 'thank you' from you for me helping you up and out of the mud," he says smiling.

"I'm Osborne, and thanks for helping me," Osborne said.

"Also, don't worry about having to run back to the academy. We're almost back, we just have to round that bend and we'll be right back where we started."

"Good, I don't think I'd be able to run all the way back like this. But how do you know know so much about the academy? We haven't been here a full day yet, and never outside," Osborne asked, surprised by Grayson's knowledge of the academy.

"My father is on the Academy Council, so I've been here before, and know how the training works. In fact, some of the other initiates seem to think that I was only chosen because of my father."

They had now rounded the bend, back onto the concrete path of the academy. At the back door that they had come out of, Osborne could see the last of the initiates entering, and with the door wide open, could see the two trainers staring at them, obviously not too happy with how late the two of them had come back at. Osborne quickly let go of Grayson's shoulder and tried to disguise her limp, not wanting to seem weak in front of the two that will decide her fate in the next two weeks.

They get inside, and hang up their bags on the hooks where they had first struggled to pick them up, happy to be rid of that weight. The mud on Osborne's, not yet dry from her fall, splattered onto the white drywall, turning it a beige colour.

The trainers had a talk with the initiates on their run that day, and pointed out what the initiates had done well, what they could have done better, and what they hope to try to improve in the next two weeks. They also mentioned to the initiates that this would become a daily thing as well. Once they had finished speaking, the initiates were dismissed for breakfast.

Still in some pain, Osborne was led to the nurse by Grayson, who then left her there to go get some food for himself, as none of them had eaten yet that morning. Osborne waited for the nurse to see her, and had her knee and elbow washed in hydrogen peroxide, to prevent infection, wrapped in a few pale-coloured bandages, and was sent to the mess hall for breakfast.

The next few days continued similarly. That first day, in the afternoon, the initiates were taught the parts of the gun, how to assemble and disassemble the gun, and how to shoot. Osborne thought she had done well, and even earned praise from one of the trainers, when her shot hit the bullseye of the target in front of her, when they were practicing their shooting. They then continued with fitness exercises, and ran laps around a track at the back of the academy.

The second day started just like the first, with the morning run. This time, Osborne ran side by side with Grayson, near the back of the group, but had no accidents this time. The afternoon was spent with the initiates learning the basics of battle strategy, a few formations that their squad could use in the field, and also what was going on in the war, and what our side's strategy was. By the end of it, Osborne's head was swimming with all the new information, and was unable to process all of it.

"How do they expect us to remember all of this?" she asked Grayson during that evening's dinner, to which he replies with a shrug and continues stuffing his mouth with the much-needed food after their long day of training.

Thinking about how little she has been improving by, Osborne is now becoming worried about her chances at being chosen for the military, and getting her father to take notice of her achievements.

The third day of training started out just as the last two, with the jog, and Grayson and Osborne went about it just as they had the previous day. Then, as the initiates were finishing their lunches, they headed back to their sleeping chambers. But as they arrived at their respective rooms, they notice a sign on the front of their closed doors, taped on. One of the initiates in front of Osborne tore it off the door and read aloud for everyone to hear.

"Initiates,
Please meet us in the indoor exercise arena, where we have something a little unorthodox planned.
Sincerely,
Lieutenants Reginald and Oswald"

Listening to their trainers request, the group hurried down the hallway to where they had earlier spotted the arena. Osborne remembered it being near the back door where they left for their morning jogs, and that during the tour, it had been pointed out to them by one of their soldier guides.

Now reaching the door that they believed to be the one the soldier had pointed to on their tour, the initiates in the front proceeded to open it, and the twenty of them crowded into the open arena, trying to get a peek of what their trainers had in store for them this afternoon.

Inside the arena was a replica of an entire city, complete with buildings reaching up to the top of the spacious room, completely three-dimensional. Inside the buildings, it seemed as though whoever had set this simulated city, had taking enough time to include not only separate rooms and floors but also furniture and decorations on each. Some looked like residential buildings, with beds, dressers and chairs, and others resembled offices and workspaces, with desks, computers, and common office stationary.

Around the buildings, Osborne can see paved sidewalks and streets, with spaced out cars along them. There was a small park area near the middle, with picnic tables and shrubs, and trees stretching over the grass-covered ground. It was exactly what Osborne imagined her city should look like, if not for the war, causing the parks to be replaced with landing pads for helicopters, or completely torn up to make way for storage of vehicles and arms.

The two trainers appear from behind one of the buildings, wearing some sort of protection and carrying what seemed to be guns, though those were only supposed to be used in the shooting range, where they had practiced the previous day.

"I see you got our message, initiates," Lieutenant Reginald starts,and then continues. "Today we are going to be changing things up just a little and we will be playing a game that we have created, to test all your military abilities at once. We will be looking for how you use the attacking and defensive strategies we have learned, your skill with a gun, and your quick-thinking, as well as your teamwork and making sure everyone is involved in your strategy."

Lieutenant Oswald continues. "We will be simulating an attack on a city. You will be split up into two groups; one offensive and one defensive. The defensive side will have control of the city at the beginning of the game, and the offensive group will be waiting on the outskirts, planning their attack. On our whistle, the game starts.

"Using these guns, that are relatively harmless, and only fire a signal at your suits that you will be wearing, like ours, and if hit in one of the target locations, will send a small shock through your body, that will paralyze you from the legs down temporarily, and you will fall down, pretending to be dead. Even if the paralysis wears off, you are to stay down until the game is over.

"The offensive group will be closing in on the city government building. Inside is a glowing device in a diamond shape, that the offensive team will be trying to take from the defensive side, that will be protecting it. At all costs, you do not want to let the offensive side steal that device. The game ends when either all members of the offensive team are dead, or the offensive team captures the device. In either case, the losing team will have an extra obstacle to complete during their final task, which will negatively affect your chances of being selected for the military at the end of these two weeks."

The two lieutenants proceed to list off the members of each team. Osborne is placed on the offensive team, along with two other girls that she recognizes from the sleeping chamber and seven other boys, all who look ready to go. Unfortunately, Grayson is not on her team.

Now that the teams have been picked and sorted, all of the initiates grab their gear and their signal guns. Once that is done, the defensive team splits up from the offensive team and heads into the centre of the arena, where the government building is apparently located, along with Lieutenant Oswald, who will be supervising their team, as well as evaluating them.

Osborne and the other offensive team members huddle around one of the male initiates who Osborne thought was one of the trainees who like to lead the pack during the runs, finishing them effortlessly without even breaking a sweat. This initiate is taking a leadership role for the group, and is explaining to them what he thinks their attack strategy should be. He explains that he thinks that they should come at the government building from all sides, in groups of two, so that one partner can always cover for the other. Someone suggests that we could have designated partners to hide in buildings, to have a good look at their surroundings, and make sure nobody else on their team is about to walk into a trap, one that they couldn't see from their vantage point on the ground.

As everyone nods at both of these ideas, Osborne notices Lieutenant Reginald nodding along with them as he jots down notes on his clipboard, obviously impressed not only by the one initiates, who Osborne later finds his name to be Jason, who had a strong leadership role in the group, but also by both of their ideas that they were contributing to the group.

Other initiates taking notice of the Lieutenant, they all started pitching in ideas, using what they had learned from the class on strategy and tactics. Since Osborne had difficulties with that session, she had no ideas formulating in her mind, leaving her to think that it was notes on her lack of contribution that the Lieutenant was scribbling furiously down onto his clipboard.

With a plan in mind, the initiates found partners. Osborne partnered up with a male initiate she had never spoken to before, who, unlike her, looked extremely prepared for this game. The two of them moved to the edge of the arena, splitting up from the location where they had started, as Osborne saw the other partners doing.

Since our team was ready for the game to start, Lieutenant Reginald blew his whistle. Telling us that the other team was done their planning and strategy as well was the whistle back of Lieutenant Oswald, and suddenly, the game had started.