Hey, I'm so sorry for the uneven schedule. Life's busy, writing's hard. But I have 6 chapters written already and I'll do my best to post them all this week. Take care!!!
He entered a well-worn gymnasium that looked like it was built fifty years ago and never fixed since. At each end of the room stood a pair of weathered basketball hoops, their nets frayed. There was a set of bleachers on one side of the court and an outdated scoreboard hung on the wall. Ethan's nostrils were hit by a faint scent of sweat, wood polish, and time. There were only two other boys inside, but the hall quickly started filling in. He managed to make eye contact a few times, but it was always short and nervous.
He saw the small blond boy, number 11, come in. He looked the most nervous and out of place, staring at his bare feet the entire time. A while later, the brown-haired boy entered, too. 7. Lucky number. He came in warming up, waving his arms and bending his neck left and right. He smiled at Ethan, and Ethan smiled back. Encouraged, 7 approached him casually.
"I'm Levi. Levi Sullivan," he said with a bit of a southern or mid-western accent. For Ethan, born and raised in New York, it was all the same.
"Ethan. Ethan Matthews."
The boys shook hands, and Ethan had to use all his strength to match Levi's grip. Levi was a bit taller than him, with lean, tanned arms and neck protruding from his white clothing. He didn't look like a bodybuilder, but rather someone who had never shied away from hard work and the outdoors. His face was more gentle, likely thanks to his full lips and big, round eyes. Ethan realized he was staring and that their handshake had overstayed its welcome, but Levi's grin only widened.
"What a place, huh?" Levi asked.
"Yeah," Ethan chuckled in agreement. What a place indeed. "I just arrived yesterday."
"So did I," Levi said. "And so did everyone else, I think. The interview was fun. I hope they don't leak the video, though."
Fun? Ethan nodded, but to him, it was anything but fun. Maybe Levi didn't have as many dark secrets as he did. And maybe his penis didn't choose the worst moments to bone up on him.
"I could use some fresh air from time to time, though. As my granddaddy used to say..." Levi started, but Ethan never learned what it was because he was interrupted by heavy footsteps echoing through the gym. A bulky man came in with an unmistakable aura of a seasoned drill sergeant. He stopped with his hands behind his back, scanning over the boys who had instinctively lined themselves up in a neat row. There were about twenty of them. The man smirked, but it wasn't a happy one.
"I am Sergeant Maddox," he said, his voice reverberating around the gym. "You may think that because it's your first day, you'll be getting some special treatment. Well, let me disabuse you of that notion right now." His eyes narrowed, the smirk vanishing and replaced by a stern expression.
"Say, boys, would you like to play basketball?"
The boys responded with a mix of mutters and nods.
"I'll ask only once more!" Sergeant Maddox roared.
"Yes, sir!" the boys squealed, with Levi's voice rising strong above the others.
"That's too bad, because looking at your bunch of spoiled, lanky Tik Tok addicts, I doubt we'll be having fun anytime soon. Drop and give me fifty push-ups, now!"
The boys scrambled to get down on the wooden floor. Levi and Ethan were next to each other and shared a quick glance before getting to work.
"One... two... three..." Sergeant Maddox began to count, his voice harsh as the boys started their push-ups. "Eleven, twelve, keep up! Thirteen, thirteen and a half..."
A few rows away from him, Ethan saw the blond Number 11 boy collapse to the floor with a soft thud. Ethan wasn't in bad shape, but he wasn't a big pushup guy, and he felt his arms begin to tire. One by one, other boys collapsed to the floor, panting as if they'd just run a marathon. At the count of 35, Ethan's muscles felt like they were on fire, and he wasn't able to keep up with the sergeant's counting anymore. At 40, he gave up and let his spent body hit the floor. He watched Levi next to him going strong, his face red but not losing a beat.
Then Ethan saw something that would make him hold his breath if he had any left in his lungs. There was a strange weight tenting Levi's pants just below his waist. It swayed with every move he made, unrestricted by any underwear none of them were wearing. Ethan watched it, hypnotized by this hidden pendulum.
"Fifty!" Sergeant Maddox announced, and Levi rose to his feet, alone in the row of wheezing young teens. The man took slow steps towards Levi and stood so close to him that the boy's nose was almost touching the soldier's chest.
"What's your name, boy?" Maddox asked.
"Levi Sullivan, sir!" Levi shouted without looking up.
"Don't get any feathers just because you did better than the others. Do you think you're better than them?"
"No, sir."
"Wrong! You are better, and for that reason, you're going to help me turn these sissies into men. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Do you think you can do that, Sullivan?"
"Yes, sir!"
The other boys slowly got to their feet, suddenly feeling lucky to not be in the center of attention. However, Levi didn't seem to mind. Maddox was done with him, and he walked back to the middle of the room.
"Now that you've had some rest, give me another fifty! Not you, Sullivan. I want you to spot those with the most pathetic technique and give them pointers. It's your ass on the plate if even one of them can't do fifty in a week."
"Yes, sir!"
They continued to do pushups for another half an hour, and by the end of it, they were all squirming on the floor. Levi spent the most time with the blond boy, encouraging him to stop crying and get up, with little luck.
Finally, Maddox let them go and sent them off to the showers. They walked like a group of zombies, some throwing hostile glances at Levi.
They entered a changing room with two guards standing next to the entrance of the showers.
"Four at a time," one of them said, and four boys, including Levi, disappeared inside. Soon the sound of running water was heard from within.
Ethan waited next to the blond boy who was barely standing.
"Hey. You good?" Ethan asked him.
The boy shook his head "no" without looking at him.
"You can lean on me if it helps. What's your name? I'm Ethan."
"Peter," the blond boy said.
"No talking!" one of the guards shouted at them, and the boys in the room froze. Anger surged through Ethan's veins. What was their problem? Couldn't they see the boy was half-dead?
Ethan, Peter, and a tall, skinny boy with braces were the last to shower. Another guard was inside, watching them indifferently as they clumsily undressed. Ethan was too tired to care about modesty and threw his clothes into a basket in the corner. He noticed that Peter was just standing there with a puzzled expression.
"Sir, is it fine if I help Peter?" Ethan asked the guard, who nodded in response.
Ethan helped Peter unbutton and take off his shirt, which was soaking with sweat.
"You can manage with the pants, right?"
Peter appeared traumatized, but he nodded and pushed his pants down to his feet. Ethan thought the boy was cute, with his uncut penis and a few wisps of light hair at the root. Ethan led Peter under one of the stalls and turned on the water.
The three boys showered for a while, with Peter mostly standing still under the water stream. Ethan gave an impressive nod when he saw the tall boy's dick, which was slim and long, just like its owner. The boy must have noticed because he looked away with a shy smile. Ethan wanted to start a conversation, but the guard had his eye on them.
A few minutes later, they were toweling off their bodies. Ethan and the braces kid helped Peter, taking the front and back of his body, respectively. Then they helped him to the next room, where they found four sets of fresh clothes. The warm water had relaxed their tired muscles, and now all Ethan could think of was his comfortable bed at home and sleeping until eleven. Once they were dressed, they left for the corridor where three soldiers waited for them. One of them was Dabrowski, who told Ethan to follow him.
"So, what did you think of old Maddox?"
"He's pretty chill," Ethan shrugged.
"Seriously?" the man chuckled.
Ethan rolled his eyes. "We almost died."
"That's more like it. Let's go eat, and then I have to escort you to your living quarters so you can get some rest."
"What time is it anyway?"
"We don't live according to a 24-hour schedule here."
Ethan frowned but nodded. Deep underground, it didn't really matter if the sun was up or not.
"But what am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?"
"Introspect."
"Yeah, but what does it mean?"
"Try to figure out who you really are without your things, clothes, friends, family, grades at school, brands, films and music you like, social media, and all that crap young people are bombarded with these days."
"Sounds creepy."
"Wanna know what's even creepier?"
"Yeah?"
"I know you lied at the interview today."
Ethan opened his mouth and closed it like a fish out of the water.
Dabrowski continued. "Try to think about what you lied about and why. Because trust me, these guys will figure it out sooner or later. Your job is to figure it out before they do. Take it as friendly advice from someone who's been here before."
Ethan could only stare at the muscular man with a dropped jaw. Dabrowski didn't wait for a reply. "Let's get you lunch," he said with a wink.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think archhunter420@gmail.com