Chapter 2: 2 Enter Stage Left
Riding up to the gate of Fort Sill, Lilah's heart was pounding. Her uber driver had spent the whole ride talking about his brother who spent two weeks in basic then was discharged for 'emotional disturbances' and Lilah felt her head spinning the whole time. She was ready to get in there and leave everything else behind. "Thanks for the ride." she mumbled while he helped her retrieve her bags from the trunk. "no problem. Hope you last longer than my brother did. Good luck." Lilah nodded and headed for the gate.
"Name?" The guard asked as she walked up. "Lilah Silverman." He nodded, and the gates slowly opened to welcome her inside. "Welcome to fort Sill." "Thanks." She pulled the strap of her bag closer to her shoulder and made her way in. The landscape of Fort Sill was beautiful. Rolling hills with brightly colored trees, spotted with the occasional plainly decorated government building. She spotted squadrens of new privates being shuffled about by their comanding officers (or CO's) and chanting different chants that she had heard before as a child during her time on base with her father.
"You new too?" A rather high pitched male voice came from behind her, and she turned her head to see a slight looking man about her age trotting toward her. She denide herself a sarcastic comment. "Yeah. you?" "yeah. This place is beautiful don't you think?" The man fell in step next to her and they began walking together. "It is." "Where do you think we go?" Lilah looked around and spotted a sign down the path that said 'Fort Sill Training Center'. It had a sillouet of troops charging into nothing with cannons and black flags in tow. "Probably over there." She pointed to the sign and the man nodded. "Ah probably. My name is Adam by the way." He held out a hand and Lilah shook it. "Lilah." She could tell by the tone and inflection in his voice that he was probably gay, she knew several gay men back in OKC. They were some of the nicest people she knew but her dad disapproved, so she avoided friendships for that reason.
"Nice to meet you." "Likewise." Lilah could already tell she liked Adam, and hopefully could have someone to share this experience with besides her own inner dialoge. They made their way to the tall brick building near the sign and entered, gazing at the sight before them. rows of pictures lined the walls, some of previous groups of privates as they graduated and were ready for their first assignments, some of majors, and generals that had been stationed here in times passed. We passed down the hall and made our way to the door that said 'office', before exchanging a look and heading inside. An older woman in the same uniform as the recruiter I had met sat behind the desk, typing something on a nearby computer as we aproached. Lilah was the first to speak. "Hi, we are new recruits and were wondering..." "You were wondering if you were in the right place, correct?" The woman's eyes never moved from her monitor. Lilah paused. "yes." Now the woman looked up. "Well if you are here for basic training then you are in the right place. You may call me ma'am. Now follow me and I will show you around." Lilah and Adam looked to each other once more, then followed the slight, middle-aged woman out of the office and down the hall.
"This is the mess hall." She pointed into a room with long tables and a buffet style table at the far end. It reminded me of a normal lunch room at any highschool you might find yourself in. She quickly moved on, stopping at another doorway a few feet down the hall from the mess hall. "This is the barracks, this is where you will be sleeping, or doing anything else you might do on your down time. Men and women share this room, so don't bother asking where the female privates sleep. I'm tired of answering that question. If you don't like it you can leave. Understood?" She directed a cold glance at me over her ill-fitting glasses, I nodded, and she moved on. "Bathrooms are in there, same deal, we all share here. Space, time, and resources. Your day will begin at 5 am, women's shower time is at 5:15, men's is at 5:30, breakfast is served at 5:45, and you begin training at 6. all of this will be written on a daily docket in the baracks. You will live, eat and breath by that docket. So make sure you memorize it." We then followed her outside where she showed us the training course, our 'stomping grounds', and where we were and weren't allowed to go within the base. a half hour later she concluded her tour and asked us if we had any questions. "When will we meet our CO's and other recruits?" Adam asked. "You will have one drill seargent for your unit, as for the other recruits, they got in yesterday. They will be in the mess hall when we return. Your instructor's name is First Seargent Cameron Schumer, but you will call him Sir. Understood?" We nodded. "Good. Now," she checked her watch. "It's time for dinner, so follow me."
We made our way back to the main training building, where 'ma'am' turned into the office and directed us to the mess hall. "Good luck, you're going to need it." Adam and I nodded before departing. "What does that mean?" Lilah shrugged. "Who knows. Guess we will find out." We entered the mess hall to the racket of all the other new recruits talking, and getting to know each other. Lilah wasn't sure what to do, so she made her way to the line of people waiting to get their food.
"Hey, you!" Lilah turned and saw a tall blonde man stand and point at her. "If you're here looking for a good time you found it baby." The men around him laughed, and Adam fell in line behind me. Suddenly a voice rose above the crowd, comming from the back of the room, though Lilah couldn't pin point it at first. "Is that the way you 'soldiers' treat women?" The room fell quiet, and I was finally able to pinpoint the origin of the voice. It came from a lone man sitting at the back of the room leisurly, barely even raising his eyes to the crowd. Suddenly everyone in the room stood and turned to the man, saluted him simultaniously, then echoed as one "Sir no sir!". It hit me then that this must be him, our CO. The others had arrived the day before, and had already met him, while me and Adam had not. "Then why do I see all of your dicks getting hard at the sight of one of your own? Are you privates all cavemen?" The privates took no time responding. "Sir, no sir!". "Good, now I expect you all to behave like the true men you claim to be. If I hear any of you behave like that again you will run the peremeter of this campus as naked as I'm sure you secretly wish she was, am I clear?" "Sir, yes sir!" "Good, now finish your meals men. At ease."
The crowd of men slowly started to sit and return to their meals, and Lilah just now began to notice that she was the sole woman occupying the whole unit. While that didn't bother her so much, the idea that she was already known to the whole unit as a teacher's pet did. She knew what new recruits did to people who got them in trouble, and it was the last thing Lilah wanted to happen. Slowly her eyes made their way to the back of the room and to her new CO, 'Cameron Schumer'. He was tall, with expectantly short cropped sandy hair, and 5 o'clock shadow. He had returned to his meal, slurpping up a full spoon of stew before looking up and meeting Lilah's gaze. She quickly turned away, but knew that he had seen her stare.
She moved forward in the line, trying to look casual. "I guess that's our new CO" Adam said to Lilah under his breath. "Yeah I guess." She took a ladel of some unidentified soup and poured it into a bowl. "At least we know he's not a creeper. Or at least, not openly." Adam leisurly filled his bowl, and we went to sit at a nearby table.
"Yeah I suppose. I would have been happier if he would have just let me defend myself though. The other guys won't appriciate that." Adam made a huff sound and shoved a piece of bread in his mouth. "Let them talk. Besides what are they going to do, shank you? This is the army not prison." "You would be suprised." Lilah's mouth was entirely too full to speak but that did not stop her. Adam began to laugh. "Whats so funny?" Adam kept laughing. "Nothing, I just have a feeling you and I will be good friends." Finally Lilah swallowed and smiled. "So do I kid." Thus a friendship was born.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone