Rains of Heaven & Sprouts of Hell: by Nick Venom (ereader android .TXT) 📕

“Why are we still on guard duty? Why can’t we be training the rookies?” Franklin asked. 

“Until the Stampede’s existence is confirmed or another theory is validated, yes. I would rather have more guards on the walls than fewer.”

Franklin nodded. “I see,”

“Good, any more questions?” Amber asked. She surveyed the scene, seeing no one speak up or raise their hands. The room was silent. 

“Then we’re done here. You’re free to enjoy what little free time you have for the day. Tomorrow, the changes will be implemented, so abide by them. Any complaints,” She glanced at everybody, in turn, giving them a strange mix of a glare and a curious stare, “will be filed with me.”

Everybody nodded their heads, watching as she left the dorm. She didn’t linger at the door frame this time, immediately heading out.

With her out, everybody turned away from the door and began conversing with others. Selena filed her complaints about the new orders with Raife; Franklin groaned about the endless guard duty days to Chloe, while Mae watched them all. She wanted to scoot closer to Raife and Selena and join the conversation, but something tugged at her to stop. She complied, keeping her distance from the others.

Madelyn noticed this, watching her carefully. “Just like me,” She muttered to herself, unheard by the others. Only she heard herself. 

TBC…

Acting on Amber’s orders, Squad Romeo-Alpha-Sierra was broken into two parts. The first part---Franklin and Chloe---were kept on guard duty in case the Stampede was on its way to Winter Hollow. Otherwise, they would help supervise the walls and patrol around the community to enforce the laws. There were no police, only the guards.

The second half---Selena, Raife, Mae, and Madelyn---went off to teach the incoming rookies. Their class upgraded from four kids to fifteen, a big jump but not as large as next month’s increase to thirty. 

To deal with this sudden increase, each person took five rookies to train, with the exception of Madelyn who assisted Mae. Selena carefully assigned five rookies to each person, giving Raife the somewhat motivated rookies and Mae the more energetic ones. She, on the other hand, dealt with the barely motivated and plain lazy rookies; except Yusha who wanted to train under Selena rather than the others.

“Today, we’re starting with stretches. Do twenty jumping jacks!” She barked. The rookies stared at her dumbfounded, surprised to be yelled at so early in the morning. They then looked at each other then at Yusha who had gotten a head start over them.

“Are you stupid?” Selena asked them. “Start jumping!”

The rookies that hadn’t started, now somewhat intimidated, began jumping jacks to different degrees. Three of them performed jumping jacks decently, minimally keeping form. The fifth rookie, however, performed lazy jumping jacks, barely moving his body. He waved his hands back and forth about an inch while barely moving his feet.

Selena noticed this instantly, approaching him. “What’s your name?” She asked him. 

“Brian. Brian Woodsmen.”

“Well, hello Brian. Let me ask you something. Are you stupid?”

“No,” Brian responded, staring at her strangely.

“Then start jumping, boy. Otherwise, the rest of your training won’t be as easy as you assume.” She ordered. He rolled his eyes before moving slightly more. Not enough to qualify as jumping jacks, but good enough for Selena. She turned around and walked away before turning back to face them. She made them stretch the rest of their bodies for a half-hour before ordering them to run laps on the perimeter of the community.

“That’s crazy!” Brian exclaimed. Three of his fellow rookies agreed with him, the only one not agreeing with them being Yusha. She was excited to run the laps, thinking to herself about how long it’ll take her to perform one lap.

“I could care less, start running,” She shouted at them. “Five laps! You have two hours. Anybody who doesn’t make the time will be punished with cleaning duty!” She ordered them. Yusha took off running with the others jogging after her. They moved in slow-mo in comparison to Yusha, taking the training as pointless. Most of them wanted to start wielding guns already. 

Selena shook her head at their poor performance. An idea then shot into her brain. She sprinted towards them, barking at them. “Start moving! Anyone who finishes the lap slower than me gets instant cleaning duty!” 

Instantly, they began sprinting after Selena, who moved like a bullet passed them. She quickly passed Yusha, who was getting tired already but refused to give up.

“Don’t overwork yourself, Yusha. Maintain a good pace, but don’t go overboard. Take your time!” Selena told her as she passed by her.

Yusha nodded, heeding her advice. She slowed down, not by a significant amount but enough to not tire herself out so easily.

Meanwhile, the others did their best but couldn’t beat either Yusha, who didn’t overwork herself while they did, or Selena. However, one of them, Brian, managed to get the closest, nearly passing her but he tired himself out and wasn’t able to do it.

Selena, now drenched in sweat after the five laps, stared at her class of five who were in a similar situation. “You did well. Unfortunately, many of you wasted your breath on the first lap, but I saw a lot of good recoveries. Especially you Brian.”

Brian nodded, unsure what to feel about the compliment given to him. 

“Now, you have only ten minutes to cool down. Then begin doing push-ups as your ending task for today.” She ordered them.

“Push-ups!” Brian exclaimed. “We just ran a marathon and you still want us to do more?”

“Well, firstly, good use of an old word, but, secondly, I’m going to ask you all again? Are you stupid?” None of them nodded their heads. “Good, then you’re all smart enough to know why we’re training so harshly. The outside world isn’t like here. People die all the time and it’s mostly because they made bad decisions or lack strength. You think I’ll send you without covering both points?” She rhetorically asked them.

“Push-ups in ten.” She ordered before walking away to talk with Raife, who had his rookies doing something similar in push-ups, sit-ups, and other tasks. 

Brian stared at her, muttering under his breath. “I’m not dumb.”

TBC…

While Selena taught the lazy kids, Raife dealt with the somewhat motivated kids. Azaan, Miah, and three other kids found themselves in this group, strangely.

Raife stared at them, unsure of how Azaan, in particular, got himself into his group. However, he trusted Selena’s decision and went along with the pairings.

“Start stretching. Do 20 jumping jacks first.” He ordered them. His rookies nodded and began performing jumping jacks faster than Selena’s rookies. 

Once they finished with their jumping jacks, Raife ordered them to stretch out their arms and legs, which they complied with very easily. Almost too easily, especially for Azaan and Miah whose attitudes suddenly shifted.

“Okay, you three continue. Azaan, Miah, come here.” He ordered them. Azaan and Miah nodded their heads, approaching him. With them in front of him, he noticed that they had been bruised and scratched up by Selena’s intense training method.

“Why have you guys seemingly become so obedient?” He asked them.

“Because I would rather be in your group than her’s.” Azaan quickly explained. “She’s scary.” Miah nodded her head in agreement.

Damn Selena, you already have two of them scared of you after a single day. That’s a new record. Raife thought to himself before he dismissed them. He continued to watch as they finished their stretches before ordering them to run laps. He followed the same outline of tasks that Selena had developed, but lacked her attitude and the need to be intimidating. As long as nobody disrespected him or made a decision that could get someone killed, he had no need to go overboard.

“Five laps!” He ordered them. Azaan and Miah nodded, but their fellow rookies were more hesitant but not as much as Selena’s rookies. 

“Five laps around the community and then we’ll do some push-ups and sit-ups.” He informed them. “None of us want to be here for the entire day, so let’s not pull teeth here. Finish the laps and the other activities then we can all go home.”

His rookies nodded, beginning their run. Azaan and Miah led the pack, hopeful to show that they don’t need to be taught by Selena anymore. The others treaded behind them, none of them wanting to show anything. 

Raife, meanwhile, stayed behind and watched as they disappeared from his sight. Unlike Selena, he didn’t run ahead of them or use threats to motivate them. He simply watched them from the starting position, lounging in his chair as they passed by him. The training arena that they were in was the beginning of the lap. All he had to do was wait for them and they would pass by him five times. 

As he lounged in his chair waiting for the rookies to complete their third lap, Selena sprinted up to him. “Relaxing? Aren't you supposed to be training your rookies?” She glanced around, finding Raife’s section of the training area seemingly empty. “Where are your rookies?”

“Running laps,” Raife responded.

“You’re not watching them? You’re supposed to be with them.”

“Not if they know the consequences of not finishing the laps. There’s no need to hold their hands.” Raife argued.

Selena shook her head. “Still, you should be supervising them. You need to make sure they’re safe and training-ready? We don’t have a long time to train them.” She reminded him. “Amber will kill us if they aren’t battle-ready by the deadline.”

“They’ll be fine.” Raife insisted. “I’m not as strict as you and not as good as teaching rookies, but they won’t turn out like trash.”

Selena nodded her head, believing him. “Well, good luck with them. I’ll see you later.” She said before sprinting off in time to keep her lead. Yusha followed some distance behind her with Brian behind her and the others behind him. There were significant gaps in their line. Something that differed from Raife’s rookies was that Azaan and Miah sprinted together while the other three moved together behind them, creating a small gap between both groups. 

Raife watched them, noticing the dedication in Azaan and Miah’s eyes while also noticing how the other three didn’t care much about being first, but as long as they finished their training. Raife