Twenty or so minutes later.

The forty of us (I did an actual headcount) stood together on one side of the gigantic training room. Running along the outer edge of the training room was a running track, and all of us were in running clothes, as advised by our AI assistants.

“Today’s the first day, so we’ll start it off simple, check just how useless you guys are.” The officer grinned. “Run ten laps around this track. The last five to finish will be punished with two hundred pushups each.”

I stepped forward. “Sir, when are we going to be able to eat? And… what will we be eating?”

I’d seen the kind of food soldiers were familiar with. It wasn’t exactly the best the world of cuisine had to offer.

“We have robo-chefs here to cater for you in the mess hall, and a wide range of ingredients. Do take care to not overeat, though. You’ll need to achieve, then stay in top form in order to survive your training.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“If that’s all, then get to it.”

And just like that, we began running laps around the track. Or at least, we tried to.

Almost immediately, three groups emerged from the team of forty. The first group was made of the athletes, and the second group was of the normal folk. As for the third group, the one I was in, it was mostly made up of, let’s say, laid back hobos who didn’t like making good, healthy life choices. 

Just a single lap took me about ten minutes, and by the end of it my calves were on fire. I wasn’t sure I could run much farther, yet somehow I managed to push ahead — even if my speed had slowed to a crawl.

By the fifth lap, I was just stumbling forward, putting one foot in front of the last as my vision started to fade in and out. At some point during the fifth lap, I collapsed to my hands and knees, gasping for breath as my sweat trickled to the ground.

In what seemed like a flash, the officer was by my side, shouting at me.

“Get a move on, maggot! Or I’ll be having you running until your puke out YOUR FUCKING ASSHOLE!” By the time the officer finished shouting, his face was so close to mine that I swear his spit was landing on my very goddamn soul.

I didn’t respond, as I was too busy trying to breath in as much fresh air as I could. My throat felt almost as if it'd been blocked by my saliva… or was it just closing on me? I wasn’t quite sure.

“Did you hear me, ma-”

“Ahhhh!!”

I screamed out at the top of my lungs, venting all of my frustrations as tears fell from my eyes. There was just too damn much going on.

I’d just been kidnapped, forced to kill people, then forced into a life-or-death situation that by my count, sixty people had failed and died to. And because that just hadn’t been enough craziness, I’d then been forced to somehow bullshit a way for the people in my “team” to follow along like sheep.

All the while knowing full well that I was also just one of the sheep!

And if we really wanted to delve into it, I’d been frustrated with my life for a long time, even before all this stupidity. No job! No girlfriend! Shitty grades! If I was really honest about it, I even had a bit of an eating disorder!

There was just too much, so I… snapped.

I snapped, and I screamed, and tears ran down my stupid little face, until I finally hit it.

I reached catharsis. 

After a few more moments of… whatever state I was in, I stood up and charged forward like a damn bull.

You know, just running away from my problems. It worked, at least, until I finally finished the end of my tenth lap and collapsed to the ground.

But, my troubles weren’t over yet, as I’d been the last to finish. So, I owed the officer two hundred pushups.

The worst part of it all was that S was tracking my progress, so there was no way to cheat. At the start, I was able to do twenty in a row, but by the end, I was only able to do five at a time before resting, gasping for breath.

Once all the laggards finished with their pushups, the officer set his gaze upon the group and grinned. “Not too bad for a first session, actually. Head down to the recovery room, it’ll do you all some good. After you’re done there, take showers, eat, and I’ll expect you all in the virtual reality room in an hour.”

“Move!”

The forty of us trudged our way to the recovery room, and upon entering, even before any actual “recovering” happened, our spirits were lifted.

The room was awesome — it’s still one of my favorite memories of the old world, actually. THe room was filled with these little cryo-pods that we could lay down in. Once we were safely sealed inside, the pod would drop to some really ridiculously low temperatures, like negative three hundred degrees or something like that. After a few minutes, the pod’s temperature would then be raised to over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit for a few brief moments.

Then the pod would turn upright, and it would automatically attach some sort of breathing apparatus to our mouths, and fill the pod with some kind of liquid that made us feel incredibly energized and strong. 

I didn’t know it then, but the liquids were actually some kind of formula C System’s scientists had R&D’d to allow the formation of stronger bones, more efficient muscles, and basically everything else that a super soldier should have. Aside from a better brain, I guess — that part of the human body was still too complicated for even the scientists of my world to edit with just a simple serum.

Eitherway, nowadays I can jump about ten feet into the air and run about three times faster than the average olympic runner. 

I’m basically Captain… uh, well you know who I’m talking about. 

But that’s besides the point. Basically, these pods were simply awesome. They looked cool, worked perfectly, and were just the best things ever. No matter how tired and exhausted you were when you entered one, you would leave feeling completely refreshed and ready for whatever the day was to throw at you.

The only downside was that these sessions left one incredibly hungry.

Very. Incredibly. Hungry.

Anyway, after going through that the first time, I showered, then made my way to the mess hall, ready to devour a small farm.

“S, how do I order food here?”

Tell me what you want, and it’ll be made and delivered to you.

“Alright… a really nice burger, quarter-pound patty, lettuce, tomato, raw onions. A bit of ketchup and a bit of mustard. That’ll be the appetizer. For the main course… I want chicken tenders and french fries. A lot of ketchup and mustard to go with that. I also want a wood-fired pizza. Margherita, of course. Thin crust. For dessert, I want mango and vanilla frozen yogurt. Oh, and a black milk tea.”

Understood.

“Wait, really?”

I’d just been spouting nonsense, but I’d be completely okay with it if that was my lunch for the day.

“Wait, S.”’

Yes, Jim?

“Add in a roast turkey club sandwich.”

Acknowledged.