Chapter 5: Morning

Like he had every day for the past ten years, Anderson woke up at six in the morning without an alarm clock going off. It took him a moment to remember where he was, because he’d been dreaming of a life that didn’t exist. Shaking his head, he got out of his bed, stepping over to his bathroom to piss. He smirked, looking in his mirror and seeing that the sound of his peeing hitting the water in the bowl hadn’t woken his guest.

He rinsed his face off, then dried it. Putting his glasses on, he poured himself a glass of water. He had several pills to take before breakfast, then another round afterwards. After he took them, he went over to where he’d laid his clothing out for this morning. He did a couple of stretches, before pulling them on and then sitting down to put his tennis shoes on. He stood back up, feeling his joints ache, then stepped over and gently kicked el-Azizi in the foot.

“Rise and shine, buttercup! It’s another glorious morning!”

She groaned in pain, then gradually realized where she was. “Oh, I think I hurt.”

“Probably. That’s not a soft floor, even with your cushioning. Move a little, I’ll get you unhooked this morning.” He quickly did so. “All right, you get a bonus since you’re now bunking with me. You have two minutes to piss this morning before we’re going outside for morning exercise. Go!”

Her hair flying everywhere, she ran as quickly as she could for the bathroom. She once again yelped as her flesh touched the cold metal toilet, but the sound of her pee and sigh of relief overshadowed that. She wiped again using her hand, then washed and dried. Stepping out of the bathroom, she saw Anderson patiently waiting, between her and the dresser.

“Just so you don’t get any funny ideas.” He simply pulled his baton from his belt, then motioned towards the door. “Outside, and stay with me, no matter what or where I go. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

He smiled, then opened the door. She took one step out, stopped, and gave a shriek at the cold. He quickly whacked her on the butt with his baton.

“I didn’t say you could stop. Don’t worry, you’ll warm up, soon enough.”

He felt the cold as well. The sun wasn’t up, so the night air near the Texas panhandle was barely above freezing. He smiled again, seeing how her skin had immediately gotten goose bumps, with her nipples now jutting out hard. “I thought you were from Kansas and New York. It gets colder than this up there.”

“Yes, but I always wore clothing then.” She yelped at the sharp smack on her butt. “I’m sorry. Yes, Sir, but I always wore clothing then.”

Anderson led her over to the field where they’d been yesterday. Sergeants Jackson and Hawk were waiting by the edge of the field, standing on a platform that had been moved into place once the processing was complete.

“Good morning, Sir! I wasn’t expecting you out here this morning,” Jackson said.

“I may be old and decrepit, but I’m not dead yet. Sunrise at zero seven twenty five?”

“Yes, Sir,” Jackson replied.

“Very good.” He stopped, nodding as he heard loudspeakers throughout the camp turn on. Two seconds later, the blaring of bugles playing ‘Reveille’ sounded. It played twice in less than a minute. As the loudspeakers clicked off, the sounds of trash can lids banging, followed by women screaming, could be heard coming from all of the barracks.

“Ah, I don’t miss those days at all,” Anderson said. “I didn’t see a requisition for Smokey Bear hats.”

Jackson snorted, while Hawk said, “No, Sir. We’re not drill sergeants here, even if we actually do have two men that did that. Don’t you know? We’re exercise instructors.” That made all three men laugh, while the woman standing and shivering next to Anderson thought they were all insane.

There were more shouts from the barracks area, with the first women now running towards the parade field. Five soldiers quickly ran ahead of them, taking spots and yelling out the barracks number. The women from barracks one and two were quickly in place, with every one of them showing how cold it was. Barracks three was a little longer, with two of the women in wet clothing. Four and Five showed up a few seconds later, with two women limping from Five, and half the women from both barracks in wet clothing.

“GOOD MORNING, LADIES!” Jackson yelled. A few of the women from the first two barracks halfheartedly yelled ‘Good morning’ back. That got the men from First and Second Platoon that were now intermingled with the women screaming at them, with batons being used rather freely upon butts or thighs. Anderson whispered, “You’ll want to respond as well, loudly.”

“I said, GOOD MORNING, LADIES!”

“Good morning, Sir!” el-Azizi screamed it out.

“Come on, Ladies! I can see you have more lung power than that!”

“GOOD MORNING, SIR!”

“That’s better. Welcome to your morning routine! Since we have no one shooting at us, we are going to start each and every morning with a wonderful exercise program. After all, we don’t want you to get out of shape while you’re our guests! We want to make sure you’re in fine, physical condition! So, we’re going to start with some stretches, so no one tears anything! You will all direct your attention to the barracks instructors in front of you or to Sergeant Hawk here on the platform with me! When I tell you to do something, you will do what you see them do!”

“We’re cold!” came from somewhere in the barracks five area, followed by the sound of the whack of a baton and a woman screaming.

“Of COURSE you’re cold! Let’s get some blood flowing inside those veins, instead of helping to enrich our Oklahoma soil! Arm stretches!”

With that, Jackson and Hawk led the women on fifteen minutes of stretches. Anderson followed them as well, stepping back a little so he could also observe what el-Azizi did. About every minute or so would come the sound of a baton on flesh, followed by a yelp. After stretching, Jackson then started them on actual exercises, beginning with jumping jacks. They were actually going at a much slower pace than Anderson had expected, but he also hadn’t considered all the flopping women. Some of the women were so fat, they couldn’t get their arms above their heads, while others had breasts so long, when they jumped, they’d swing up and nearly smack their chins. It was also obvious to tell which women had fake boobs, too, as they only bounced a little.

After a few minutes of those, they switched to bends and reaches, first to the left, then the middle, and finally to the right, before starting over again. Anderson made it most of the way down, but not all the way, simply due to his back. That meant his face was in a perfect position to look right at el-Azizi’s ass and pussy from behind as she touched the ground. Even though he’d seen them both yesterday, today was different. Then, she was just another in a long line of bodies. Today, she was something she didn’t know she was, an actual person to him.

There was the sound of vomiting coming from the barracks area, along with more baton whacks. Anderson stopped exercising when he heard a taser going off, and straightened up, then started quickly walking towards where he’d heard the sound. el-Azizi saw him walking and remembered his words, so she immediately began following him.

Jackson continued the exercise program while Anderson moved into the group of women from Barracks Five. Most of them were at least pretending to do the exercises, if for no other reason than they were cold and it was warming them up. All of them at least surreptitiously watched as Anderson stepped among them. More than one opened her eyes a little wider at the sight of el-Azizi following Anderson.

“Private White, what’s going on here?”

“Sir! This ‘guest’ refused to comply with the orders for exercise. She received physical correction during both stretches and jumping jacks. She completely refused to do bend and reaches, in spite of additional physical correction, and took a step towards me. That resulted in my immediately using my taser on her.”

Anderson nodded. The woman was beginning to recover, so Anderson pulled his baton, held it by the side handle, then put the tip directly on the woman’s trachea. He pushed slightly, causing her to open her eyes quickly when she felt her air cut off. She reached up and took hold of the baton, but her arms weren’t strong enough to move it.

“You know, I’m not sure why you’re not voluntarily participating in our mandatory exercise program, designed to help with your physical fitness. Many people like to say that they’re in shape. After all, round is a shape. In your case, it’s rather obvious you have no real muscle tone, because otherwise you’d easily be able to move my baton. I’m not even putting any force behind it. If I was, you’d already be dead, instead of simply having a difficult time breathing.” He pulled the baton back, then gave her a good punch with the end just below her breastbone, completely knocking whatever wind she had out.

Jackson had the group stop exercising when he saw Anderson do that, a slight smile on his face. He knew Anderson was about to make a point.

Raising his voice, Captain Charles Anderson yelled out, “Listen up! Right now, some of you are cold, feeling miserable, and are wondering how the hell do you get out of here! Sorry, there’s no easy exits, only fatal ones. You will listen to my soldiers, you will obey their orders, and you will NEVER make a move that they find threatening. Miss Rhaelyn McNeil here is lucky I got a good night’s sleep last night, or she’d be joining the late Miss Davis as a permanent resident of Oklahoma! You will do your best to comply with these exercises. They are designed to help keep you alive!”

He stopped, then looked around again at the women, staring at him in disbelief. “This is the easy program. Sergeant Jackson, resume!”

“Sir! All right, next is squat thrusts!”

Anderson strode through the groups, to the rear, with el-Azizi still following him. She saw there were men behind all of the women, with rifles actually in their hands and not just over their shoulders, like they’d all been yesterday.

Walking up to one of them, Anderson said, “Private Rose, please safe your weapon and hand it over for inspection.”

“Yes, Sir!” The private moved the selector switch on his AR-15 to safe, lowered his head to visually confirm that it was on safe, then took the sling off his arm. “One in the spout, Sir!” he said, handing the rifle over.

Taking it, Anderson hit the lever on the side to release the magazine, handing that to el-Azizi. She nearly dropped it, she was stunned he’d give it to her. Placing his other hand over the ejection port, he pulled the charging handle back, so he could catch the round in his free hand. After doing so, he handed that to el-Azizi as well.

“Put that into the magazine, facing the same way as the other rounds,” he said. He then did a quick visual inspection of the rifle. “Private Rose, I like your scope. Colt, and in 5.56mm. Good. Any flaws with it you’re aware of?”