Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

I finished off nine of the bags of potatoes before the not so perky woman was halfway through her own bag. I finished it off for her and she just stared at me.

“Cut them up, add water, and put them on to boil.” A cook said when he saw the stew pots overflowing with potatoes. “You can use the water pump at the sink, since you finished so quickly.”

I turned my head to look and saw an odd contraption.

“What a relief.” The now perky again woman said and quickly started cutting the potatoes up. “Carrying water from the canal is a pain in the ass.”

I swiped my knife several times over the potatoes I could see and as I cut them up, they easily fit into the pots instead of overflowing them. It didn't take me long to do all the pots except for the one the perky woman was using. I waited for her to finish and we carried the pots over to the sink. She showed me how the water pump worked and it flowed out of the spout and into the first pot.

“I think I'll request for you to be permanently assigned to KP duty.” The mess officer said as he came over to us. “I know it's supposed to be a punishment that recruits get; but, I won't miss the chance to make all of our jobs easier.” He said with a smile. “On the plus side, you get to work in a hot kitchen every day and eat first.”

“Sir, everyone will think he's a troublemaker.” One of the cooks said.

The mess officer chuckled. “He is trouble. He's been put on report twice already.”

The drill sergeant really did report me. I thought as I carried the nearly full pot over to the racks of cooking fires. I will need to keep vigilant.

I set the rest of the large stew pots onto the fires and let them boil. I didn't know what they were doing to the potatoes, though. That wasn't how you made stew, because that was too many potatoes and I didn't see any meat. I was told to cut up bags of vegetables next and added them to different stew pots and put them on to boil as well. It was all very confusing and when I asked, they just laughed and didn't explain.

I did a bunch of other things, like stirring large bowls of stuff, carrying bags of things, and anything else they told me to do. When supper time arrived, I was told to dish everything out onto a tray. I did that and they gave me the tray. I ate it and put the dirty tray on the end of the counter where they are supposed to stack.

“Now start dishing it out for everyone as they come by.” The mess officer said and left.

Two hours later, the entire base had eaten supper and left. Then it was time for the cleanup. I was assigned to wash the trays and I did that for an hour.

“All right, that's enough.” The head cook said and glared at the others. “What are you doing by giving him the worst jobs?”

“The mess officer said he was on report.” They all said almost at the same time.

The head cook sighed and shook his head. “You people...” He looked at me. “Why aren't you complaining about this?”

“Am I allowed to complain?” I asked and he looked surprised. “The mess officer assigned me to KP duty permanently. Who do I complain to?”

He opened his mouth for a brief moment and then closed it. “Sometimes I hate the chain of command.” He pointed to the door. “You're dismissed for today. Report back here after class tomorrow.”

I used the petrified hand to salute and used the vigilance technique as I stepped outside. When I went back to the barracks, I went inside and immediately saw that my trunk was gone. I turned right around and walked over to the drill sergeant's office. He wasn't in and when I asked, no one knew where he was. I went to the main building and asked to see the XO.

“She's busy at the moment.” The secretary said. “You can make an appointment to see her later.”

“Is the drill sergeant in there?” I asked and concentrated my senses in that direction.

“I'm not allowed to tell you that information.” The secretary said.

“As you can see, he had prohibited and dangerous meats inside.” The drill sergeant said.

The XO's voice sighed. “How could you be this stupid, Will?”

“I have every right to confiscate property that's a danger to the recruits.” The drill sergeant said. “It was reported that he had dangerous animal meat in his trunk and when I investigated, the trunk was sealed with a locking spell and couldn't be opened, which is also against regulations. I had the trunk broken open by the mages and found all of this.”

I walked over to the XO's door and took out my knife as I charged it up.

“Hey! Get away from there!” The secretary said loudly.

“That's not what I meant.” The XO said as I sliced off the hinges of her door and it fell into the room with a clatter. “That's what I meant.” She said and motioned to me.

“You took my things.” I said to the drill sergeant.

“Private Drake.” The XO said. “Please, stay your hand and let me handle this.”

I gripped my knife and the glow intensified as I looked at her desk. My meats were spread out, partially cut into, and had writing on them. “What did you do to my food?!?” I asked, angrily.

“It was marked and catalogued.” The drill sergeant said, a smile on his face. “The mages checked them to see what they were.” He started pointing to them. “Marsh panther, water beast, near-deer, croc-lizard...” He went on and on as he pointed to each piece. “Each and every one of them have more toxins and poisons in them than a normal person could survive. I even had the healers in the medical building take samples to try and find out exactly what kinds of poisons they have, in case one of the recruits gets sick from having it nearby.”

The XO looked at the drill sergeant and shook her head. “I knew he was frustrating you and I wanted to let you try to handle it on your own. I can see now that decision was a mistake. I hadn't thought that you were this determined to get back at him for humiliating you.”

“He didn't humiliate me.” The drill sergeant said and lost the smile.

“He can outrun you without even trying. He can cross the obstacle course you designed as if it didn't exist. He can also outperform your push-up punishments. He can also break you like a twig, a man nearly three times his size, with almost no effort.”

The drill sergeant made a fist with his hand, because I had literally done that to his wrist.

“I sincerely thought that you would rise to the challenge he represented. I really did.” The XO said. “Instead, you kept messing up and caused more problems than you were solving.” She picked up several pieces of paper. “I can't do anything about these reports, since you went behind my back and filed them with the CO of the base, which went strictly against both my orders and his.”

The drill sergeant kept his face blank, even though he had bypassed the proper chain of command.

“I can't even refute the permanent KP duty, since you caused it to happen.” The XO said. “What I can do is put you on report, demote you, and ship you out to the front.”

“WHAT?!?” The drill sergeant yelled.

“You see, we've picked up a lot of new recruits out in that very treacherous mountain area. It seems like the perfect place to establish a new training base, don't you think?” The XO asked. “I think sending them all the way back from there to here would be a huge mistake, so I sent a proposal to HQ to have you sent there to help alleviate the situation. Don't worry, though. You won't be in charge. They already have a much more capable drill sergeant in the area.”

“Ma'am, you...” The drill sergeant swallowed. “Please, you can't send me...”

“You'll be serving as his XO for the next six months as you establish the new base.” The XO said as she handed him some papers that had his orders on them. “I suggest picking up some much warmer clothing from the PX before shipping out. The schooner leaves in the morning and you have until then to get your affairs in order.”

“Ma'am.” The drill sergeant saluted and did an about face.

The XO gave me the signal to move and I stepped aside to let the man walk by me. He didn't even glance my way as he passed me. She gave me the signal to advance and I stepped into her office.

“I want to apologize for what happened, Private Drake.” Anna Carter, the XO said. “Breaking into a subordinate's private possession is against army regulations. Having others do it and then ruining those possessions is also against regs.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, you saw the extent of what I can do. I wasn't lying when I said I can't undo the damage he's caused to you and your career.”

“I know you aren't lying.” I said. “Where's the hand with the knife?”

“The healers tried to undo whatever you did to it. They got it back to a semi-normal state and then it kind of dissolved.” The XO said. “It's gone, just like this spoiled meat.”

_______________

You have a minor choice to make. It won't change your current position in the least. It could possibly impact the training base, considering your permanent KP duty.

A) Stay silent. B) Complain. C) Ask for a favor. D) Tell her the truth. E) Leave. F) Choose two.

I didn't even have to think about it. I choose D and then C.

_______________

“Ma'am, I needed that food. It's why I brought it.” I said. “I wasn't going to share it with anyone, because it was prepared by me and for my own consumption. I also never ate it when anyone else was around.”

“Why do you need it?” The XO asked. “I heard you're eating everything the kitchen prepares.”

“It has nothing in it.” I said and she widened her eyes. “They boil everything into mush and there's nothing left. I've never seen a piece of meat bigger than my missing finger being served.”

The XO sighed. “You've been supplementing your diet.”

I nodded. “I was going to request permission to go hunting at the end of the month when my meat ran out.”

“Which just so happens to be right now, thanks to Will.” The XO said. “Are you really prepared to go out hunting into the woods for...” She stopped talking when she realized who she was talking to. “I should send a squad with you.”

“They'll only get in my way.” I said. “They can't keep up with me, anyway.”

The XO stared at me for several moments and didn't say anything.

“I request permission to go hunting for food.” I said. “I normally eat less than what the army feeds me, except they ruin the food.”

“Private, I really shouldn't allow you to leave the training base.” The XO said and looked at the piles of ruined meat on her desk. “Dispose of that and you have two hours before lights out to go hunting.” She said and wrote out a note for me. “Show that to the gate guards when you need to leave.”

I took the note and tucked it into my bandoleer.

“Don't maim or kill any more people.” The XO said. “When they wrong you, come directly to me. I am the top of your chain of command. Even when I appoint a new drill sergeant, do not deal with them on your own if they step out of line. I want you to come directly to me.”

“Yes, ma'am.” I said. “Can you tell me who reported the meat, ma'am?”

“No, and I wouldn't even if I knew. I can't have you going after them for revenge.” The XO said. “I do not want a vigilante roaming around this base and dealing out their own brand of justice.”

She gave me a very pointed look and I didn't say anything in response.

“Very well. You're dismissed.” The XO said. “Tell the secretary to call the maintenance department on your way out. My door needs fixing.”

I used the petrified hand to salute her and left her office with the ruined meat. I passed on her words to the secretary and left the building. I had no time to waste and ran over to the PX and got some rope and several sacks, in case I found any ingredients, then asked where a fire pit was. They gave me directions and I ran to a large fire disposal pit and tossed the meat into it. I lit it on fire and let it burn, because there was no danger it was going to spread.

I ran to the main gate after that and showed the guards my orders. They opened the gate for me and I took off running. I ran across the road and right into the mass of trees that were there. I was pretty sure I could find something good to eat pretty quickly, considering I wasn't hunting in the marsh and things wouldn't be trying to kill me.