Chapter 53: Carol’s Life (bonus)

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Carol’s Life (bonus)

Lackland Air Force Base.

It was early morning.

After washing up and getting ready, Carol timed it perfectly and arrived at the training field just before roll call, her new friend, Maria Rambeau, was already standing in the formation.

Carol jogged over and took her place beside Maria. As usual, she was the last one to arrive.

The instructor glanced at his watch. Seeing that Carol wasn’t late, he didn’t say anything, though he did give her an extra look or two.

"Two laps around the field," the instructor ordered.

Without complaint, the recruits immediately started running. One lap around the training ground was five miles, so two laps meant ten miles.

When they had first arrived, some people had complained about the distance. After being thoroughly chewed out and punished, everyone had learned their lesson and now ran obediently.

"You almost showed up late again," Maria whispered as they ran.

Carol smiled.

"I stayed up a little too late last night."

In truth, she’d actually been late on her very first day at the base and had been forced to run two extra laps as punishment.

But after being enhanced by the Heart-Shaped Herb, this level of physical activity barely counted as exercise.

Whenever she finished, she even had to force herself to sweat a little and pretend to be breathing hard before reporting in. Otherwise, she’d look far too abnormal.

The two continued running side by side without saying much more.

Since they were all new recruits, the standards weren’t overly strict. As long as they completed the ten miles within an hour, they passed.

Carol ran effortlessly, matching Maria’s pace, she let her thoughts wander. She hadn’t seen Daniel in quite a while.

’I wonder what he’s doing now...’

By the time the slowest recruit crossed the finish line, fifty minutes had passed. The instructor gave everyone a short break before sending them off for breakfast.

After breakfast came the part Carol hated most.

Studying.

She had originally thought that once she joined the military, she’d finally be free from classrooms and textbooks.

Apparently not.

Just thinking about it gave her a headache.

The first week hadn’t been bad. Most of it involved getting used to waking up early, physical training, and medical examinations. All of those were easy for Carol.

But by the second week, she’d started getting annoyed. Not only did they have to study engineering, but they also had to learn Air Force history.

She had actually fallen asleep during class, as a result, she’d been punished with another two laps.

Somehow, she managed to drag herself through the morning lectures in a half-asleep daze. Only after Maria nudged her awake did the two of them head to lunch.

If there was one thing Carol genuinely loved about the training base, it was the food. The meals here were fantastic.

After lunch came a new round of training. Today’s exercise was aerial rope swings.

It was a fairly dangerous obstacle, as there were no safety harnesses.

The recruits had to move hand over hand across ropes suspended nearly ten meters in the air, swinging from one rope to another using only their own strength. The exercise tested both physical endurance and mental fortitude.

"Everyone goes through the course!" the instructor shouted from below.

"One at a time! Nobody gets out of this!"

Probably because they were women, Maria and Carol were placed at the end of the line. The instructor wanted them to observe the others first and gain some experience before attempting it themselves.

The first recruit was a large, muscular man.

Without hesitation, he climbed to the top. Once he reached the middle of the course, he swung his body to build momentum, grabbed the next rope, and repeated the process.

Before long, he had completed the entire obstacle.

"Not bad," the instructor praised.

The recruit grinned proudly and whistled as he walked past Carol and Maria.

"It’s easy."

Though he acted relaxed, anyone paying attention could see his breathing was uneven.

Their squad consisted of only twelve recruits. One after another, the others completed the course.

Soon, only Carol and Maria remained.

"Good luck," Carol whispered.

Maria nodded and started climbing, she struggled her way across the first rope. By the time she reached the third rope, most of her strength was gone and she couldn’t generate enough momentum to swing properly.

A moment later, her grip slipped, and she slid down.

The male recruits nearby burst into laughter.

To them, it was entertainment.

Maria walked back with a disappointed expression and Carol gently patted her shoulder.

"It’s okay. Give it some more training and you’ll get through it."

Maria forced a small smile. Then Carol stepped beneath the ropes.

A few quick movements later, she had already climbed to the top. She was even faster than the recruit who had gone first.

The men watching below looked surprised. Then someone laughed.

"Getting up there fast doesn’t mean anything!"

"Let’s see if you can actually finish it!"

Carol ignored them completely. She wrapped her arms around the rope and prepared for her next move. Seeing her pause, more voices rose from below.

"Just give up!"

"You don’t have enough strength!"

"No woman can pass this course!"

The comments kept coming.

Carol ignored every single one of them, her arms tightened. Then she jumped, in a single clean motion, she grabbed the next rope. The movement was smooth and precise.

Another swing.

Another jump.

Then another.

Before anyone realized it, she had already crossed the entire obstacle course.

When Carol landed on the ground, the men fell silent, every one of them stared at her with wide eyes.

They had all attempted the course themselves. Even with their size and strength, they had barely managed to complete it.

Yet Carol, a woman, had crossed it with unbelievable ease.

"Excellent!"

Even the instructor sounded impressed.

"You were the fastest person out of everyone today!"

He couldn’t help feeling shocked.

Normally, female recruits failed this obstacle on their first attempt. Only after repeated training could most of them pass.

Yet Carol had completed it on her first try and not only that, but she’d also done it faster than everyone else.

Carol broke into a bright smile. Then she glanced at the male recruits beside her and said with open disdain.

"You guys aren’t even as good as a woman, that you were mocking earlier."

The men immediately lowered their heads. Gone was their earlier confidence, as not even a single one dared respond.

Carol turned around and walked away. Leaving behind nothing but a cool, victorious silhouette.

After afternoon training ended, Carol and Maria finished dinner and headed to Pancho’s Bar. It was the only bar nearby, and many recruits came there to relax during their free time.

"Don’t be discouraged," Carol said.

Sitting across from Maria, she tried to cheer her up.

"You’ll be able to do it too."

Maria took a sip of beer and remained silent.

If you ranked near the bottom on an exam, you’d feel terrible.

Then imagine finding out your best friend ranked first.

You’d feel even worse.

Comparison really did hurt.

Maria was in a gloomy mood and kept drinking. Seeing her friend drowning her sorrows in alcohol, Carol decided to drag her out of it.

"Come on," she said, jumping to her feet.

"Let’s go sing!"

She grabbed a microphone.

At first, Maria refused. But after Carol practically shoved the microphone into her hands, she reluctantly sang a couple of lines.

Then something unexpected happened. Once she started singing, she couldn’t stop, her voice grew louder and louder.

Soon, the entire bar was filled with Maria’s singing, the more she sang, the more excited she became. Before long, she was pulling Carol onto the floor and dancing with her.

By the end of the song, she was drenched in sweat. More importantly, the frustration she’d been carrying all day had disappeared, her mood had completely improved.

"Come on!"

This time, Maria was the one taking the initiative.

"Let’s play pool!"

The two spent the rest of the evening having fun. By the time they left the bar, Maria was no longer wearing a gloomy expression. The two women laughed and staggered their way back together.

That night, Carol lay alone in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Maria had gotten drunk and fallen asleep early, after a full day of training and drinking, she was exhausted.

But for Carol, the day’s activities had barely qualified as a warm-up. Unlike the other recruits, who had long since collapsed into deep sleep from fatigue, she was still wide awake.

Ever since she and Daniel had separated, nobody was there to tell her goodnight every day anymore.

And for the first time that evening, she realized she missed that more than she’d expected.

-----------------------

Yeah, guys y’all voted in huge numbers and now we are in top 40 rankings, so really a big thanks for that, also now let’s try to reach top 30 today.

So, more extra Chapters if we reach 500 stones.

And if you want some extra Chapters, be sure to check out my Patron page, it’s 27 Chapters ahead of webnovel and the Chapters are also long so you can check it out.

p at reon . com / NovaScribe

(Just remove all spaces and then search)