The Soldier Who Taught Her To Trust (#2 The Soldier Series)

Chapter Six - Opening Old Wounds

 Chapter Six – Opening Old Wounds

Izzy stood at the top of a large wooded hill area, the green leaves from the tree blowing gently in the breeze, the area is so beautiful, the browns and purples from the heather stretch out along the side of the distant mountains, she takes a deep breath, this idyllic scene would be restful and peaceful if it were not for the shouts of “MOVE” and “HAND IN YOUR ARM BAND” along with the odd “PATHETIC” for good measure.

Izzy chuckles to herself, soon it will be her turn to shout at the exhausted contestants as the four teams arrive to her starting point, carrying a large black rubber speed boat on their shoulders whilst still carrying a 25 pound bergen on their back. The contestants racing to the top, as the losing team will face at least one member being cut from the show. Izzy looked over to Cigs who was stood ready to ‘inspire and motivate’ the contestants with her, only they did not know of the little competition the instructors all had, and currently Mr and Mrs Muppet were in the lead with four armbands to Cigs and Izzy’s Three. That made only nine contestants left, including Stan, so in reality, it was only eight. Izzy was more than happy she was not on this series, damn the tasks were brutal, a lot harder than when she had won the show with Stan.

Tank had not been exaggerating when he said it would be harder than anything before. Still no time to feel sorry for them, time to Motivate the weaker ones to give her their armbands so she could tie up the score with Kyla and Kermit.

As the team she was responsible for came through the woods, Stan was at the front left hand side of the boat, leading the team as they huffed and puffed, he glanced at Izzy and rolled his eyes slightly, as Tank came up the rear

“f*****g get up there and down the other side, f*****g pathetic” he bellowed. For all his shouting, Tank never won the armband challenge, according to Kermit, the contestants were probably to s**t scared of him to even pass him their bands before leaving the show.

“Right come on guys. you are nearly at the top then just own the other side to the waters edge, your just under halfway, some of you will do this no problem, others are letting your team down, if you are the latter should you really be here hindering your teammates?” Izzy shouted, trying the reverse psychology approach, they would either move faster and dig deep or check out.

Cigs was taking up the rear replacing Tank, as he began to shout “Move”

Izzy looked to the back of the boat and saw number 14 Myrtle Goff struggling, she was older than the others, and normally Izzy would have been championing her cause, but in his debrief last night Stan mentioned she was an utter b***h and felt that Kyla and Izzy had no place on the show. Well, Myrtle, guess payback is a b***h Izzy thought to herself, then with a small smile to herself ran over to her.

“FOURTEEN, YOU ARE DONE, LOOK AT YOU, WHY ARE YOU HERE? SERIOUSLY, YOU ARE AT THE END, EITHER PICK UP THE PACE, OR VW” Izzy shouted.

Cigs looked over to Izzy and gave her a little wink, a smirk on his lips as he listened to Izzy hammer number 14. Things had been peaceful, even nice the past couple of days since his apology, they had teamed up together, and he knew the rest of the guys were pleased that they were handling their drama. As he suspected number 14 passed Izzy her arm band, and he nodded to her, giving her a wink. He could not help feeling proud of her, she was one tough lady and he loved that about her, although not so much when he was the one getting the tongue lashing, but still, she had not done that for a couple of days.

As the contestants reached the end of the exercise and placed the boat onto the rocky beach, Kyla found Izzy, and stood beside her watching.

“Kermit and Cigs and Tank are demoing this task, really glad we don’t have to do it” Kyla said to Izzy.

“Yeah, being capsized is never fun but having to work out how to keep your equipment from floating away is also cruel” Izzy laughed

“Is it wrong, I am starting to feel like a bully?” Kyla sighed her eyes never leaving the contestants who were struggling to breath at the water’s edge

“I get what you mean, but it really isn’t bullying, it is pushing people, and getting rid of the ones who will be a danger to themselves and others if they continue” Izzy said

“I know, and when we were doing this, I never felt bullied, the shouts just motivated me, I mean Kermit still shouts move at me, and tells me to stop pissing about when we train together, it just keeps me going” Kyla sighed

“And turns you on” Izzy laughed at her friend, who immediately blushed

“Maybe, a little bit” Kyla giggled.

“You and Cigs seem to be getting on better” Kyla smiled at Izzy

“Yeah, we have signed an international peace treaty, and both of us are kind of sticking to it, he is not talking s**t and annoying me, so that helps” Izzy grinned

“So, we did not get an armband” Kyla shrugged changing the subject

“Oh, I got 14, so the scores are tied” Izzy laughed.

Izzy watched as the guys demonstrated what they wanted the contestants to do with the boats they had just carried up the hillside for 5 Klicks. As all three of them sat in the boat, Tank went to one side, with Kermit and Cigs the other, leaning out they capsized the boat with Tank underneath in the air pocket, getting ready to push the boat cling to the side and the kit. They then stood on the boat, grabbing the ropes, and pulled it back whilst Tank hung onto the side, with the bergens in place, he climbed back in then[JN1]  pulled Kermit and Cigs back into the boat. It was the perfect demo, but both Izzy and Kyla knew it was a hell of a lot more difficult than it looked.

Tank and Kermit remained in the water, along with some divers just in case, as Cigs walked back up the beach, he quickly dried himself off peeling off his wet clothes, as Izzy desperately tried not to check out his body but was failing miserably.  The water droplets glistened in the sun, making his tattoo’s look like they were dancing. Izzy held her breath because she could not deny she really had the hots for him right now and to make matters worse, Kyla caught her checking him out and was grinning at her like an insane i***t!

Izzy pulled her eyes away, and focused on the team in the water, this was a failed attempted, the bergens floating off, out of reach, the person who had to hang onto the side underneath the boat had let go and so was floating off with the bergens, and the oars, and nobody had the strength left to get back into the boat alone. Cigs was chuckling at the scene being played out before him, as Tank and Kermit shouted the orders, and got the sodden contestants back to shore before Cigs started bellowing at the next team to row out to where they would capsize the boat.

As the afternoon progressed, only one of the teams managed to complete the task, and so they all headed back to the barn, Tank and Kermit were pulling in a couple of the contestants for interview, so Izzy and Kyla made there way back to their room to change for all they did not do the whole hike, they were still hot a sweaty, so both decided to shower once the contestants were clean and dry.

“Admin day tomorrow, I bet they are pleased” Kyla smiled knowing the contestants would get a break from the tasks.

“Yeah, we have to do our filming about the kidnap, cannot say I am looking forward to that” Izzy sighed

“No, I am not either, but if it helps Woof, then I am happy to open up the old wounds” Kyla shrugged.

Izzy nodded, she had to remember to talk about this, was to help Woof, and after all he was what was important now, because he had been through so much already whilst in prison.

“I wonder if they will let us do it together or separate” Izzy mused

“Maybe both” Kyla sighed.

Neither of the girls relished what they had to film the next day, but both of them were filled with a steely determination to do it anyway, if there was any change if would help get Woof out of prison then they would go back to that time and face the demons that haunted them day and night.

As they walked back to the room, Kyla smiled at Izzy.

“I am heading out for some contraband” she giggled slightly

Izzy shook her head, laughing she was more than happy for her best friend, but she felt a little tug on her heart strings, wishing that she could go to Cigs for some contraband of her own, but to dwell on that was idiocy, and so she turned her mind, to getting her head down, and trying to sleep off her concerns about the next day.

The sounds around the base woke Izzy from her fitful nights sleep, she had found herself awake most of the night, only cat napping, in between working out what she would or would not say during the interviews.

“Hey, guess they are all up cleaning out the barn” Kyla sighed,

It was obvious to Izzy that Kyla did not want to relive the experience, after all, she had ended up really badly injured.

“I suppose we better get up and get sorted, the sooner we do this the sooner it is over” Izzy sighed.

Dread began to consume her, the pit in her stomach felt like a chasm, as she walked into the instructor’s mess room. She could not face food, if she ate, she was beyond any doubt she would vomit the breakfast back up in record time, so took hold of the cup of coffee, Tank had made for everyone, and slumped in her seat, sipping on the hot bitter liquid, hoping it would in someway help her get through the next few hours. Everyone was there, the whole team including the Umpire, but all sat in silence, nobody speaking, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

A member of the production crew arrived, and with a small cough to gain the attention of the team he began to speak.

“We are going to do a team piece to camera first, just Tank, Kermit and Cigs, basically saying how it felt when the contestants were getting murdered, then we will cut to Kyla and Izzy, it will be done separately, and we will edit it together, ready for airing tomorrow night”

Nobody answered, Izzy watched, as right before her eyes, she saw the faces of Tank, Kermit and Cigs, it was like they had flicked a switch, there eyes became cold, unreadable, their faces stoic, each of them had their mouths pressed into a hard line. They looked uncompromising, cold and heartless.

Izzy spared a glance for Kyla, who held Izzy’s gaze, then nodded, and Izzy watched as she saw her friend mentally prepare for the interview, maybe it was something she had learnt from Kermit, or maybe it was a direct response to what they had all gone through, but Izzy saw how Kyla, switched her own switch, not showing an ounce of emotion.

Izzy sighed, she had to go back to that place in her mind, the place where nothing and nobody could penetrate, the place where she had taken refuge when she was in the final stages of the how last time around during the interrogation The place, she had gone to when she had made the decision to stand and fight her kidnapper, to sacrifice he own life, to save Tanks wife and their two little boys.  This place, was cold, unfeeling, and terrified Izzy, as it was here where she also locked her desperate need to retreat into a world where nothing could hurt her, to shut out reality and fly high above the ground, the pain numbed, the place where the craving for drugs resided, and she had to make peace with it, and reside here till this interview was over, then hope she could leave this darkness behind and not drag it into her light once more.