Chapter 5: A Taste of Their Own Medicine

That next morning, Hannock woke up to an unfamiliar feeling than his usual routine. For one thing, he couldn’t see. For another, he seemed to be moving, or that was what his ears and nerves were telling him. He tried to move, but his hands and feet were tied. Why is this happening? Rather, who is doing this? He came to the conclusion that he was in a car, clearly being taken somewhere that his kidnappers didn’t want him to know about, or they didn’t want him to know how he could go back, or both. He tried to ask what was going on, but his mouth was taped. He probably should have seen that coming. He tried to squirm to see if he could loosen the ropes around his hands or feet, but no luck. Those things were tied down really well. He wasn’t going anywhere. The squirming must have gotten the kidnappers’ attention because they started speaking.

            “Looks like one finally woke up.”

            “Pretty heavy sleepers if you ask me.”

            “How many did we have to give chloroform to?”

            “Doesn’t matter; let’s just get this over with, man. I’m freakin’ tired. He never made the others get up in the middle of the night for this.

            “Whatever, he probably wants to try something different this time.”

            Who the hell is “he”? And where are we going? He thought. Hannock also noticed that they said “one” so he wasn’t the only one. He felt the car finally slow down to a stop. He heard the kidnappers get out of the car and open the back doors. He was yanked out and fell to the ground. He heard a knife click. Are they seriously gonna kill us? We don’t even know who these guys are! I haven’t even done anything to anyone that would drive them to this! Instead of feeling the cold steel blade against his skin, he felt a jerk on his wrists and ankles and they suddenly separated. They had cut his bindings.

            “Don’t take off your blindfolds,” snapped one of the kidnappers, “unless you want to really be cut.”

            They did as instructed and waited for the kidnappers to say anything else. Instead of instructions, they heard the car engine start up again and take off. Hannock still didn’t take off his blindfold, out of fear that they may be tricking them, leaving one behind with the knife, looking for an easy excuse to stab them. All of a sudden, he heard Maxwell’s voice.

            “They’re gone!”

            Hannock jerked up. He ripped off his blindfold and mouth tape immediately to see what was going on. Maxwell was standing up in front of him and the rest of the rookies on the team. He was still holding his blindfold and staring down the road, as if waiting for them to come back. They never did. They must have seriously left. Now he understood what was going on. This was X-Ray’s next test. He was the “he” mentioned by the kidnappers. And the kidnappers were just veterans on the team, ordered to do the dirty work. So they were just left out in the middle of nowhere with no idea how they had gotten there.

            They were all shocked into silence at their position. Hannock broke the silence.

            “So how are we gonna get back. Any ideas?”

            Maxwell responded, “I tried feeling the turns for the last bit of that, but I was asleep for the most part.”

            One of the other rookies chimed in, “Actually, I faked that I was asleep when they came to get us. I heard one mention the chloroform so I chose to fake it so they wouldn’t use it on my. During the ride, I heard them say something about a twenty-four hour time block. Meaning if we don’t make it back in twenty-four hours, they’ll come back and search for us. This means we aren’t that far from the regiment.”

            “Well that’s one good thing,” replied another rookie.

            “If I had to guess, this challenge is obviously meant to test our ability to organize ourselves and work as a squad,” Hannock began to get more excited, “There’s five of us here, and there were only two of them in the car, so I’ve got an idea.”

            Maxwell looked at him questioningly, “Are you seriously suggesting that we steal their car when they come back and use it to get back?”

            “Exactly!”

            “But what it this challenge is pass or fail? What if this is one of those things that gets you kicked out of the program if you don’t complete it?”

            “I have a feeling that if we pull this off, then it won’t matter what X-Ray had planned for this challenge. He’s not a big fan of unwritten rules,” Hannock smirked as he said it.

            “Well, if you really have a plan, then I’ll follow you.”

            “Same here.”

            “Me too.”

            “I’m in.”

            Hannock was amazed that they had picked him to lead them, but he couldn’t back out then.

            “Alright, here’s the plan…”

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            It was 00:43. Almost the same time as when they had gotten there. Everyone had positioned themselves in hidden areas around the spot they were “dropped off.” On schedule, a black hummer came into view around the bend in the road. Hannock ordered everyone to stay still. The car came to a stop right around the same area as the night before. The two soldiers who had been their kidnappers stepped out of the car. They were clearly frustrated. This just made their plan seem even more evil.

            “I don’t get it. We drove back the whole route and never saw them.”

            “Are you sure they just didn’t get lost?”

            “They must have, but that just makes this even more annoying, now we gotta look for them without a reference of where to find them.”

            “Look, chill a little bit, alright? I’m sure we’ll get this over with soon eno…”

            The soldier didn’t have enough time to finish before he and his partner were quickly tackled to the ground by Hannock and Maxwell. They each kept one arm around the soldiers’ throats while two of the rookies searched them for any kind of map to get back to the regiment. The other one searched the truck for any information. He found the GPS settings and called out to the rest of the rookies.

            “Guys! This thing has GPS,” He kept looking through it, “And its home location looks like where the base is!”

            Hannock was smiling wider than he had since he had been on the team, “Perfect, someone get their keys and let’s burn some rubber!”

            One of the rookies searching the soldiers found a set of car keys and tossed them to the one searching the car. They started it up and called the rest of them to it. Hannock and Maxwell waited for everyone else to get to the car while they were still holding the soldiers down. As planned, the rookies started moving the car down the road at a slow pace with one of them holding the door open. Since Hannock and Maxwell were the fastest of the bunch, they had this set up so that they would release the soldiers, run to the car, and rush away before they could catch them. They did just that. Right as they released them, they bolted into a full-tilt sprint towards their evacuation vehicle. The other soldiers had gotten up pretty quick, but not fast enough to catch them as they got in the car. Hannock had barely gotten his last foot off the road before the driver gunned it, following the GPS back home.

            “Woo! Hoo!” Shouted Hannock out the roof of the car as they made their way on the mountain path.

            When they finally made it back, they noticed one, lone figure waiting for them at the entrance. The immediately recognized who it was. X-Ray was clearly waiting to see if his soldiers had found them. They sort of had, only they didn’t go back with them after they did. X-Ray approached the car, looking, at the very least, not mad. He waved for them to come out of the car. As the last one got out, X-Ray started speaking.

            “So where are my men, if you didn’t throw them in the trunk?” He asked, with what looked like a smile, or at least a smirk, on his face.

            “Well...” Started Maxwell.

            “They’re right where they left us. Call it a taste of their own medicine,” Said Hannock, confidently

            “Well I suppose I should be down there too then? I am the one who organizes each of your challenges this week,” Asked X-Ray.

            “We probably would’ve tried the same plan no matter who showed up. If you had been the one, that would’ve just made it harder, but we still would’ve tried,” Answered on of the other rookies.

            “I wouldn’t underestimate yourselves that much. The soldiers that you stole the car from are two of my senior soldiers. And don’t forget, numbers can overpower even the best soldier if the ratio is high enough. No one is ever good enough to fight off everyone,” X-Ray looked at all of them with satisfaction, “All in all, I’m proud of what you five have managed to accomplish here. I will admit, I’ve never seen any group attempt something like this before, much less pull it off.”

            “Thank you, Sir,” They all said.

            “Go on in, get some rest. I’ll go pick up my men,” He looked back at the group, “Also, thank you for pulling this off. I’m gonna have a lot of fun with these guys on the ride back.”

            The five of them walked back into the barracks. They hadn’t realized how late it was until that moment. In unison, they all seemed to completely crash. They laughed about their little adventure and the fact that they managed to beat veteran soldiers in a fight. This whole experience had given them a good sense of comradery. Now Hannock understood why the soldiers were always so excited when they came back from a battle. The adrenaline had nothing to do with it. They were just always excited about what they could accomplish as soldiers and how they either lived or died fighting together with their comrades. This was what it meant to be soldier. This was how it felt to be a soldier. When you worked with your group, for better or for worse, you all stuck together and carried out your mission.