The Cold War 2: by Nick Venom (book club reads txt) 📕

They went to the middle of the room before turning to face the recruits. As Wix assumed, the recruits were made up of teens and people slightly older. The recruits stared at them, watching them with curious stares. 

Wix cleared his throat before addressing them. “As of now, I will be in charge of your training. I am Wix, leader of Iron Alpha Squad. Behind me are my fellow squadmates Ash and Gunner. They’ll be assisting in your training.” He informed them. The teens stared at Wix as if he had two heads. Wix recognized this, squinting his eyes. “Any questions?”

One hand shot up. It belonged to a Hispanic teen, seemingly around 18 years of age. He was dressed in the same camouflage clothing that everybody else wore. However, unlike his fellow recruits, he had blond hair and hazel eyes. 

Wix nodded his head in acknowledgment of the teen’s question. “What is it?”

“Don’t you have names or something? Why are you using some silly nicknames?” He asked. 

Wix furrowed his brows. “What’s your name, son?”

“Raiz Blueport.” He responded.

“Good… I’ll remember you,” Wix muttered. “As for your question, our nicknames are chosen by our squadmates after graduation. They’re usually chosen based on our behavior or an attribute that stands out. Mind giving an example, Ash? Gunner?”

Gunner took a step forward, attracting the attention of the recruits. “I will, sir. As you can tell, my nickname is Gunner. That’s because of my love of fifty-caliber machine guns and how I always wanted to be in the machine pit.” He said before taking a step backward. This allowed Ash to take a step forward and gain the attention that Gunner lost.

“My nickname is Ash. I was given this name because I had a cigarette addiction and I left the ash of my cigarettes everywhere. I can assure you all that I got a beating from my squadmates for that habit. I kicked that addiction, mostly because we don’t have many cigarettes anymore, but my nickname remains. It serves as your second name and the name you use during combat since they are often three-syllables or less.” He said before taking a step back, standing by Gunner’s side.

“Thank you, Ash,” Wix said. Ash nodded his head, not responding verbally. “Good, now let’s begin. I want everybody to stretch. Fifteen jumping jacks immediately.” He ordered. The recruits glanced at each other as if to say, Is he serious? Unfortunately for them, he was dead serious. They had to do the jumping jacks.

As they did the jumping jacks, Wix, Ash, and Gunner analyzed them. They quickly deduced that two of the recruits weren’t keeping up with the others. One of them happened to be Raiz. 

Another deduction was that one of them was highly motivated, which was often great, but led to him burning out faster than the others. The highly motivated recruit was a tall and lanky teen who looked to be in his mid-twenties based on his thick facial hair. 

Ash bit his lip as he watched Raiz purposely slow down. Now I see what he was talking about. He isn’t complaining, yet, but he’s already acting this entitled. He thought to himself as he continued to observe him. He watched as Wix ordered them to switch to leg stretches and arm stretches before sit-ups and push-ups. The recruits complied with his orders and went through all of the stretches he assigned them. The abilities of the recruits were becoming more and more apparent. One over-achiever, two slackers, and the rest okay with being average.

After completing the stretches, Wix ordered them to do ten laps around the room. They listened to his order, beginning the run. However, during it, Riaz shot him a dirty glare that screamed, If I could, I would’ve killed you by now.

Wix laughed the glare off. He was experienced in dealing with recruits - a glare wasn’t going to do anything to his mental, physical, or emotional state. It was as common as blood during a battle. 

“Sir, what do you think about them?” Ash asked him.

“Personally… there’s much for them to improve at. Some normal stretches and running laps isn’t enough to tell whether or not they’ll make a good soldier, but how they act while doing it tells enough.”

“I agree, sir,” Ash said.

“So do I. I never realized how people act so differently when doing easy tasks like these.” Gunner chimed in.

“Of course, that’s how us humans act. Some of us can handle the stress and workload and we find ways to improve ourselves while others want to fight the world for no other reason than that they are too lazy. A good example would be the leading recruit, the tall one. He’s leading the pack and he seems like he’s good at following orders, but… he’s burning through his energy to impress us. Bootlicking may open up doors in normal society, but here, in the military, it's worth near to nothing. The enemy won’t stop because you complimented them.” He explained. Ash and Gunner nodded their heads, fascinated by his explanations. “As for the two people in the back. Riaz seems to be an entitled kid who despises us for ruining his workless life. He’s acting out because he wants to be kicked out and return to his unemployed life - that or he hasn’t gotten any love from his parents or guardian and acts out because of it. The other person, the girl, doesn’t have the motivation to walk. She seems to be out of it, meaning something recently happened to her to put her in that state.” He deduced. 

“Wow, I never thought about that,” Ash remarked.

“What about the others? The recruits in the middle.” Gunner asked.

“They either don’t want to show off, be criticized for going too far ahead or behind, or want to stick with the others. That’s my guess, anyway. The people who stick in the middle are the hardest to figure out since they could be hiding their true abilities. Or maybe they’re barely able to keep up with the clump in the middle, who knows.” He said while shrugging his shoulders. 

Ash and Gunner nodded their heads, staring at the recruits as they finished up their final lap. The leading recruit nearly collapsed at the imaginary finish line while the others behind him were sweating and out of oxygen. The last two weren’t as bad as they walked at their own comfortable pace, barely breaking a sweat. Wix noticed this, deciding to add to their lessons for today.

“Everybody will be doing the obstacle course.” He said, referring to a short makeshift obstacle course some distance behind him. “One person at a time.” He ordered. The recruits nodded, lining up in a single-file line with the leading recruit now at the back. He was trying to regain his breath before attempting the obstacle course - which consisted of a large wooden wall that they had to scale, tires that they had to jump in and out of, and a rope climb. The recruits attempted the obstacles to varying degrees of success. The least motivated recruits did the worse as they barely tried while the recruits that stuck close to each other did better than Wix thought. As for the leading recruit, he did mediocrely; he spent almost all of his energy doing the laps that there was barely any energy to complete the course. 

Now with the course done, Wix ordered them to do more laps around the room. The recruits nodded, repeating the stamina-based test. However, one of them outright refused to. 

“What about gun training?” Raiz asked. “We did all of your foolish stretches, so why aren’t we learning how to handle a gun?”

“You’ll learn how to handle a gun when I decide you have the ability to. Right now, I need you all to develop your stamina. You’re not going to go out there if you can’t handle running across no man’s land or avoiding artillery shells and bullets. You need the stamina to handle a gun as every movement you make uses up energy.” He remarked, catching the attention of the recruits as he spoke loud enough for them to hear it. They continued their laps, but their ears were drawn to Wix. 

“So when I say you’re ready to handle a gun, you run. Is that clear?” He barked. Raiz, who sheepishly looked away, nodded. “Good, now run, son. We’re going to do this for the rest of the week, so look forward to it.” Ash and Gunner stared at Wix with smiles. They already disliked Raiz based on his attitude, so him being put in his place was entertaining for them.

Wix turned around to face Ash and Gunner. He showed them a small smile. “Entitled kid without love. Am I correct?” They nodded their heads with a small smile. “Good, now let’s focus on breaking him down and reshaping him. I intend on making him one of our strongest soldiers. Is that clear?” They nodded their heads in agreement. They knew what Wix’s plan was. He was going to make Black Spirits into the strongest squad and take them in as part of the Iron Alpha Squad. They would replace their fallen and assist them in battles. They could see it already.

***

Several hours later, Ash was released of his duties for the day. Black Spirits continued to train, but Ash wasn’t there to assist them. Instead, he lounged on the roof staring up at the sky. The sun began its descent long ago, leaving a reddish-orange color in the sky. It was beautiful, not as much as stars would’ve been but he took what he got. 

I can’t believe that I get to live to see this. Many of my brothers never got the chance. I pray that they see more beautiful sights in Heaven than we’ll ever see. He thought to himself as he sat up. He looked over the walls at the surrounding areas. He could see the visible mix of desert and grass. It looked as if the grass and desert were fighting - and the desert was winning. It was taking over the grass and annexing it into its territory. It was a horrifying sight to see the relaxing sights of grass being stripped apart by the dry sights of the desert. 

I can’t believe that, soon, everything here will be ice and snow. He thought to himself. The Cold War will end in the third ice age. He considered the desert taking over as a premonition for the cold to arrive. The cold, which became the basis of The Cold War and the power struggle between the two factions, first occurred in the year 2020 when the world began freezing at specific locations. A decade in, the Eastern Hemisphere was frozen over by thick ice, killing millions of people who couldn’t escape the cold - which began its takeover of surrounding continents with North America being the lone survivor. However, the cold was tickling the bottom of North America, threatening to freeze it and kill the last remnant of humanity. It was a disturbing thought for Ash as he stared at the scenery.

Soon all of the resources will be frozen and many will starve. Then all of our lands will be covered in a thick layer of ice and snow and many more will freeze. After that, humanity’s gone. We can’t stop the cold, many smart people tried it, and we can’t delay it. Soon we’ll be wiped out with nothing to remind future civilizations, if there are any, of our existence. Hell, I would be surprised if Earth even makes it out of the ice age.

Ash bit his lip. “Winter is almost here. Eternal winter.”

TBC…