Chapter Five - Suck It And See.
2396 Words
Chapter Five – Suck It And See.
Haley lay, the black of night surrounding her, listening to the low murmur of complaints from the other contestants. Nobody was able to sleep, despite their physical exhaustion. Haley, though, had not been disturbed by the noise of the wildlife that lived all around them, or even the sounds coming from across the compound of the loud snoring that could wake the dead, rather the chitter chatter of the others around her as they bitterly complained about the horrific noise coming from the tent where Stan slept.
Haley suppressed a soft smile, she knew that snoring, and for some strange unfathomable reason it brought her comfort, she had found over the months of hiding Stan, when she had been sent to keep him safe, that it offered her a sense of comfort. Haley had no issue with sleeping soundly to the rhythmic noise of Stans' vibrations of his respiratory structure, she just wished the others would all shut up about it.
Snuggling up into her sleeping bag Haley lay and listened, knowing he was close, so close, yet she could not approach him or have the conversation that she was desperate to have, to tell him she would no longer work away, that if he was game to give a relationship a try, then so was she. But that would have to wait until the process was over and her job in the jungle was done.
The sounds of Tank bellowing around the camp woke up the sleeping contestants. It was just 5am, and he was shouting for them to go get. mess. Haley jumped up, and quickly got ready, before heading out to the mess tent. She was the first in line for the food, as Kermit placed a big spoon of slop, also known as porridge, into her mess tin. Haley filled up her water bottle, then poured herself a cup of black coffee, adding four sugars, not because she had a sweet tooth, but because she knew the rations would not give her enough calories to get through the day, so she would need the extra energy. Moving to a table, she drank the hot sweet sickly liquid, then added yet more sugar to the slop in her tin, before she ate it. Baldy sat next to her. She really did not like the guy, and hoped her brothers would get his armband sooner rather than later.
“Number 13, have you noticed, Number 5 is not sitting with anyone, that is suspicious.” He motioned to the large man who was keeping himself to himself.
“Well, has anyone tried to talk to him?” Haley asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her tone.
“No, he looks like a mole, and I will not be fooled.” Baldy whispered, shaking his head.
Haley grabbed her mess tin and coffee, then stood up.
“If you are right, then he will be an instructor before the end of the process. Maybe try and be nice to him.” She said and walked over to the table where number 5 sat.
“Hi, I am Haley, or number 13. Do you mind if I join you?” Haley asked.
“No, feel free, I am Ben, or number 5” Ben smiled.
Haley looked into his eyes, and saw nothing but pain in them, and she wondered what his story was. She had seen that haunted look many times with the soldiers she had served with, hell even in her own once upon a time, before she had intensive counselling from Combat Stress.
“So, what brings you to the show?” Haley asked, wanting to get to know more about the large, silent and haunted man.
Ben shrugged, clearly not wanting to share, and that was okay. He did not know her from Adam, but she determined to make friends with him. Everyone needed a friend, especially in this place where you would be pushed beyond your physical limits, and to your emotional breaking point. Even though Haley was an ex-soldier, she knew this process was tough, and she would find she had to battle her own demons at some point during her time here.
“The challenge, I suppose,” Ben finally answered.
Haley nodded and continued to eat her slop.
“What about you, 13, why are you here?” Ben asked.
“Some of my friends are in the military or are veterans. One of them killed themselves. It was a few years ago, after a bad tour of Afghan. I suppose I wanted to see if I could do it, to see what she went through.” Haley answered, the best way to keep a cover story intact was to stay as close to the truth as possible, but talking about Tanya, who she had served alongside, still brought a lump to her throat. Tanya had returned home to a family that loved her, only she could not leave the horrors of war behind her and checked out of life as a way to escape the memories that haunted her day and night.
Haley swallowed the lump in her throat, her eyes glistened with unshed tears, as Ben looked at her.
“PTSD, It is a bitch.” Ben mumbled.
Haley looked at him, it was not what he said but the way he said it, this man was going through something, and he was being haunted by the same affliction many of her brothers and sisters in arms had battled.
The contestants all formed up on the parade square, as Tank and the guys addressed them. Of course, they found some reason to deliver a morning beasting, and soon Haley found herself, with her bergen above her head, Kermit, Woof and Cigs all bellowing at the contestants to hand in their arm bands. The aching and burn in her shoulders had even her nearly dropping the heavy kit, but despite the shaking of her arms, and the pain in her back, she kept it up, until two more contestants handed in their armbands, both of them to Woof.
Haley supressed a smile, she wondered which of the guys had claimed the most. She knew they took that completion a little too seriously.
They were all dismissed and told to get ready for the exercise of the day.
Stan stood in the long wet reeds along the river bank, waiting for the contestants to arrive. The shouts of “Move” and “You Are Not f*****g Trying” indicated their imminent arrival, making him chuckle. He remembered all too well the time he could have cheerfully killed the guys, when he did this as a contestant. If it weren’t for his close bond with Kyla and Izzy, he probably would have given up long before he won the show. Evan Cigs had played a part in keeping him in the process, before he was outed as the mole.
Stan watched as the contestants all arrived. They looked exhausted, sweat dripping from them, but still, they would have a nice cool down soon, in the river. His eyes glanced over to Haley, damn he felt his old man grow in his pants, as he watched her bent over, hands on her knees trying to get a breath. Adjusting himself, so his hard c**k was not noticeable, he felt a small pinch.
His job for this exercise was to wait by the riverside, then if any of the contestants struggled on his side of the water he would go rescue them, or their kit, which ever needed the most help. He listened as Tank bellowed the instructions, something about in the Special Forces you need to get from A To B, the quickest way possible.
The contestants placed their bergens into black plastic bags and tied them off. They were told to transport themselves and their kit to the other side.
Kermit did the demonstration, wading through the water, then using his kit as a buoyancy aid to swim to the other side.
Stan had to suppress the laughter he felt as he watched contestant after contestant lose their kit, and have to try and swim after it. Even Haley lost hers for a moment or two before recovering it. He could not help but think she had done it deliberately, so that she fitted in with the group.
A plastic wrapped bergen floated towards him, and Stan waded into the water to rescue it. The contestant would not get it back till he reached the other side, and he knew that Tank would give the whole lot of them another sickener just because he was an evil bastard like that. Stan chuckled, as he saw the last of the contestants reach the riverbank at the opposite side, only to have Tank have them do burpees, whilst shouting how s**t they all were. Handing the rescued kit to Cigs, before he took himself over to join the rest of the instructors, Stan itched his groin. Something felt a little off.
“You okay bro?” Cigs asked
“Yeah, felt a pinch earlier, now my c**k is itchy as fuck.” Stan wiggled a bit to try and relieve the discomfort.
“s**t, Stan, you need to go see the Doc bro.” Cigs said, looking seriously at him.
Walking up the river bank, Stan made his way to one of the vehicles he had arrived in. What the contestants did not know was there were small accessible roads around this place, not just the miles of jungle they were forced to hike through.
“What’s Up Stan?” Kurt, one of his fellow back up crew asked
“Cigs said to see the doc, felt a pinch in my bits down at the river. It is now itchy as fuck.” Stan shrugged.
"Oh s**t, let’s get you back to base." Kurt laughed, and they headed off to see the doctor.
Haley collapsed on her bunk when they all returned to base, they had lost another three contestants after number 2 and number 6 had left that morning. Number 18, number 14 and number 11 had all bugged out, on the hike back to base, after their afternoon dip in the river. Once again, she found number 1 Baldy at the bottom of her bunk, he even sat down on it, and attempted to reach out to ‘massage’ her calf, not that she let him, he was a creep, and really was beginning to piss her off now.
Ben walked passed, he did not miss how uncomfortable number 13 was as number 1 tried to grab her leg.
“Haley, have you got any talc spare, for my feet?” Ben asked, not that he needed it, but he wanted to rescue the poor girl from number 1’s advances.
“Yeah sure, here I will bring it over.” Haley smiled, grabbing some talc and walking over to Bens bunk.
“Thanks for the rescue.” Haley whispered, and Ben smiled.
“Anytime.”
He took the talc and placed it on his feet, noticing that Baldy was still not leaving Haley’s bunk.
“Your friend ain’t taking the hint.” Ben laughed,
“NUMBER 13!” Cig’s voice boomed into the tent, and Haley ran over to him. A black bag with blackout goggles was placed on her head, as Cigs led her into the interrogation room.
Sitting her down on a chair, Cigs removed her hood, and she saw a grinning Tank and Woof sitting opposite her.
“Haley” Tank smiled and stood up, giving her a bear hug.
Woof did the same, and passed her a pack of chocolate biscuits.
“How’s it going sis?” Tank asked, his voice back to a normal level.
“Yeah, okay, so far so good.” Haley smiled, munching on a biscuit.
“So, what are your thoughts? Let’s start with number 1”, Tank asked, his smile warm and friendly.
“s**t Tank, seriously, if that guy put as much effort into doing the tasks as he does trying to catch the mole, or flirting with me, he would be miles ahead of everyone.” Haley sighed, shaking her head.
“Got a fan Haley?” Woof chuckled.
“Don’t the fucker is creepy,” Haley sighed.
“Yeah, he is coasting. I noticed that on the hike today, we will watch him tomorrow.” Tank agreed.
Haley went through the numbers, making her observations.
“Number 5, is he Ex-military?” Haley asked.
“No, they are not allowed to be on the show, why?” Woof asked.
“He keeps himself to himself, but there is a deep pain in his eyes, he puts in the effort, and has started to talk to me, even saved me from f*****g number one just now. But there is more to his story”, Haley sighed.
“We will bring him in.” Tank nodded.
Once they had finished their appraisal, and the cameras were removed, Woof handed Haley a bottle of water. As she took a gulp of the refreshing cold water, Woof grinned mischievously.
“So, Stan, he got a leech standing in the reeds today.” Woof began as Tank started to chuckle.
“Right on the end of his f*****g nob!” Woof started to laugh.
Instantly, Haley began to choke on her water, it ran down her nose and she spat it out all over, as tears ran down her face.
“Don’t tell me funny s**t like that with a gob full of water!” Haley reprimanded her brothers, as she laughed.
“What are they going to do?” Haley laughed out.
“Doc said it was best to leave it, until it has had its fill and it will drop off" Woof said, still laughing.
"What his c**k or the leech?" Haley giggled manically.
"Not sure, didn't think to ask." Woof shrugged, unable to stop his laughter.
"If they try to remove it, they could leave bits of it buried in his cock.” Tank laughed out.
“So, it is a case of Suck It and See, at least he is getting some action!” Woof laughed some more.
Haley could not stop laughing, poor Stan!
- Writer
