The Soldier Who Taught Her to Love

Chapter Four - Cold

Chapter Four –  Cold

Kyla sat in the back of a black SUV part of an 8 car convoy that would take her and the other contestants to the huts that would function as her base for however long she could hold out before handing in her armband. Her heart was fluttering with nervousness and her mind still could not wrap itself around the fact that she had been chosen out of the thousands of people who had applied. The fact she was here was an achievement in its own right, but still the nagging doubt of failing manifested itself as a knot that twisted and turned painfully within her gut. The contestants had little time to introduce themselves, when she had arrived, but each had a look of sizing the other up. The production team had given little information and only told them to wear something sensible and to get into the back of car four.  She sat next to a hulk of a man, Kyla would have felt intimidated by his size and the arrangement of tattoos that decorated his arms, if it wasn’t for his warm smile when they climbed into the car. Unsure of the correct and polite thing to do in this absurd situation and overcome with the shyness that would strangle any conversation quicker than a hangman’s noose. Kyla focused her attentions on the vividly green expanse of hilly countryside, with the splashes of purple from the heather, and the wild untamed rocks and boulders that appeared as if perfectly placed by God himself.  To the other side was a girl contestant, she looked a little older than Kyla but no more than four or five years. She held an air of confidence that boarded on arrogance, the type who had made her childhood the living nightmare she had grown accustomed to. Kyla did not like to judge people, but found it could not be avoided when she had smiled at the girl, who had more make up on than a runway model, her long bleached yellow hair perfectly styled, with a pink set of extra long nails. Rather than return the welcome, the girl looked her up and down with the tell tail sneer of someone who thought Kyla was beneath her, then turned away and continued her failed attempts a conversation with the tattooed brooding hulk who had a warm smile sat beside her.

As the convoy winded its way up the mountain pass heading for their final destination, suddenly the car came to an abrupt halt. Kyla looked around, to see what might have stopped the car so suddenly, to find they were surrounded by men head to toe in black, the balaclavas hiding each of their faces except the eyes that held no emotion, and seemed to bore deep into your soul.

A large hand grabbed her back by the black jumper she had worn despite it being the middle of August, but this was Scotland, and it was terminally cold and wet. The owner of the hand roughly manhandled Kyla onto the ground before she was barked at to “f*****g MOVE” Kyla broke into a run, following the other contestants, and listening to the men in black as they bellowed and shouted. The volume was certainly louder than portrayed on the TV when they shouted in your ears, making them ring as if in a permanent state of tinnitus. The uneven ground covered in loose shale underfoot, made keeping your balance a near impossibility, but Kyla drew from her fear of failure and continued onwards without complaint,  determined not to be the last contestant arriving at the unknown destination.

“HALT”

The unmistakable voice of head instructor Tank shouted. Kyla knew that tone so well, after watching this show on repeat every day for the last 18 months allowing it to inspire her and move her towards… well who knew, but something away from the nothingness, and the road to fitness was the path she had been inspired to take thanks to each and every one of the instructors here. Not that she would ever mention that fact, her sole focus was in surviving long enough so that she would not be deemed a failure.

“EVERY BODY LINE THE f**k UP NOW” Tank bellowed again,

It seemed his voice had one volume and one pitch only, and that was shout so loud you felt the reverberation pulse through your body like a drum and base solo playing full blast and you were stood against the subwoofer. The echo of Tanks commands ricochet around the mountains, as they formed up in a line in front of a large expanse of water, probably a Loch.

Tank was on the prowl, walking up and down the new contestants, eyeing each one up, getting the size of them, watching for the little things that would tell him a whole lot about who they were as a person.

“Anyone wishing to leave now, fall out” his voice boomed,

All the contestants looked between each other, and nobody moved.

“Listen in, on my command you will strip down to your underwear, as quick as you can, then run down to the edge of Loch Ness, where you will walk in together arms linked, until the water reaches the top of the chest of the smallest person, on my command you will as a team fall back over into the water and submerse yourself fully with only your face above the water, until I give the command to stand.  Just so you know that water, even though it is the height of summer, is just a few degrees about freezing, now MOVE”

Kyla would never be more grateful for a black sports bra and black boy short pants than she was right at this moment in time, the thought of standing in front of anyone in such a naked form made her shiver not from the chilly weather, but with fear. Taking a deep breath Kyla removed her clothing as quick as was humanly possible, again not wanting to draw any attention to herself then ran to the waters edge where she found the hulking tattoo guy who again gave her a warm smile and nod as she fell in line beside him linking her arm within his. She watched on as the girl who reminded her of her school bullies was the last to get out of her clothing. Her tardiness purely because, in Kyla’s opinion she was trying to do a strip show in front of the instructors standing in a pale pink see through lace balcony bra and matching thong.

“OI! G.I. f*****g BARBIE. STOP SHAKING YOUR ASS AT THE INSTRUCTORS AND GET THE FUCKER DOWN THERE WITH YOUR TEAM READY TO HIT THE WATER” Tank shouted, and Kyla noticed the roll of his eyes in exasperation as GI Barbie giggled slightly battered her eyes and ran to the waters edge.

Fuck me there is always one, Tank thought to himself, irritated beyond belief at the girl he had dubbed as GI Barbie. He stormed over, rage pulsing through his veins, one thing he could not stand was the attention seekers, and this fucker was riling him up already, he held no prisoners, and they would ship up or ship the f**k out, and quickly.

“DO YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE” Tanks voice bellowed,

“YOU f*****g THINK YOU’RE HERE ON YOUR JOLLYS OR TO GET SOME s**t GLAMOUR MODLE DEAL? LET ME TELL YOU, BATTERING YOUR f*****g EYES WILL NOT WORK ON THE INSTRUCTORS, NOR WILL YOUR SHOW FOR THE f*****g CAMERAS TO GAIN FAVOUR WITH US WORK. YOU WANT TO GAIN FAVOUR, YOU f*****g PUT IN THE EFFORT, AND TAKE THIS s**t SERIOUSLY, ELSE YOU CAN LEAVE NOW, BE THE FIRST TO EVER GO WITHOUT HAVING A f*****g ARMBAND ISSUED TO THEM.” Tank bellowed into her face as tears started to form on her false eyelashes.

Kyla felt the embarrassment of her stood in her underwear start to flood her being, and she wished that she could just get into the water to cover herself. Right now, she did not fear the cold or the exercise, her fear was the eyes upon her that would judge her body and see that this fit toned girl was nothing but a fraud.

Tank shouted once more

 “Move into the water till I say stop”

 As a unit all 22 contestants walked linking arms into the water, which was breathtakingly cold despite the time of year causing a shiver to run through her body as the order to submerge was shouted.

Kyla dunked down, grateful to have her disgusting body covered by the cold murky water. As someone along the line started to panic, they caused a ripple effect, making each of the contestants involuntary submerge their faces. Kyla took a breath at the wrong moment as she found herself dragged beneath the water’s surface, memories of having her Head flushed down the school toilets, raced through her mind instantly, and she found herself starting to panic, as she came back up, she inhaled some of the water, and the burn in her lungs felt like she might die of drowning as she coughed and splutter the cold water up out of her mouth. She gasped for air to inflate her lungs that had felt on the verge of collapse, when again another person along the line began to panic and dragged her under. Right at this point Kyla understood, why so many walk away on the first day, and she even had to admit to being very tempted to do so herself, as she splutters up more of loch ness, the ringing in her ears from the trapped water held within them, turned into the echo of her last conversation with her never loving mother.

“You, will fail, you always fail, I mean just look at you! you are going to embarrass yourself and me, why? Why would you do this to me? Have I not suffered enough putting up with you all these years? You will be the first to leave, and I will be made a laughingstock at your expense”

And Kyla knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she would not give up, not today.