Chapter 18: Five More Days
"Max get up! Breakfast is served!" Betty yelled from the kitchen. Max got up slowly still thinking about his birth father and how all of his people were brutally killed. He also thought about the small boy Clay for some odd reason, and knew he would play a big role in the battle ahead. Max trudged down the stairs, he was still tired and had a mild headache.
"Good morning sweetie!" Betty said enthusiastically as she gave Max a stack of buttermilk pancakes. "Morning mom," he murmured in a sleepy voice. "This hot breakfast will make you all better Max. I also brought you a big glass of juice!" His mother smiled at Max as she filled up his glass.
"Mom, why didn't you or dad ever tell me that I could never be hurt or injured?” Max questioned her in a sharp tone. Betty gulped down a glass of water, almost coughing from the remark. She started to rub her head, and then proceeded to put away the dishes very fast. "Mom! Why didn't you ever tell me!" Max yelled at his mother. His mother finally looked at Max, she was shaking, “We didn't want to confuse you Max. At about age ten you stopped asking questions and we thought you had accepted your purpose. We didn't want you to worry about something else."
"Well for your information I didn't accept my purpose, I didn't accept anything! I just pretended to so I could leave this goddamn place." Max's heart was beating fast, his face was growing redder every second.
"I'm sorry Max, you deserved to know the truth!"
Max ate his food quickly and left his plate on the table. As Max was almost out the front door his mother yelled to him," Why are you upset now! Your father and I told you everything we know." Max almost started to cry as he looked back at Betty and said, “I just don't know mom, I don't know why I get so angry." He slammed the door behind him and decided to jog to the training area and not drive. In about ten minutes, Max reached the training fields.
Rock had already organized groups A, B, and C. He had been waiting on Max's arrival to continue. "Why you late boy? We got five days, there's no time to be screwing around." Max laughed and said, “I decided to jog today, I didn't want to drive on this amazing day." Rock looked at Max pretending to be disgusted.
"Good morning to you both," the Mayor announced. "Max go get ‘group A’ ready, Rock you get groups B and C over to the conditioning stations." "Yes Sir!" They shouted in unison and they both ran over to the groups. Rock had already begun to make groups B and C do laps around the field. But he did this with a little twist involved. Any person who ran their first two laps in the top one hundred would run the remainder of the laps as they normally did. If someone wasn't in the top one hundred they would have to carry ten-pound weights for the remainder of the laps, even the younger kids. Rock did this to train the soldiers to be able to get supplies in for the men who were fighting the battle. He did this considering almost all of the top one hundred men would be in ‘group B’ anyway training all of ‘group C,’ who wouldn’t be fighting.
Max and “group A” laughed as they watched groups B and C run laps. "Now I have something a little bit more fun for us today men. Were going to start off this morning with a drill. Each man will get a paint ball gun with fifty-nine paint balls. There are sixty of us here, including myself. Each person will run a fifteen-yard sprint. One shooter will attempt to hit as many as possible running through the fifteen yards. You will get one shot per person so don’t take any extra shots or you will be out of ammo. I'll go first, do we have any questions?" Group A looked back at Max without saying a word. "Good, then let’s get to it!"
Max took out the paint ball gun and pointed it towards where the men were going to run. "Go!" he yelled and each man ran after the other. Max shot furiously not missing one person running through. Clay was last and started to sprint through the fifteen yards. Max smiled before shooting and aimed the gun at Clay's chest, “Bam!” Clay dove to ground almost instantly after Max pulled the trigger. The paint ball zoomed over his head, and for the first time in a month Max had missed. Clay hopped up quickly and jumped with joy to the other side.
Max threw the gun to the ground, and shouted “Goddammit, I almost had that record for two months." Max ran over to Clay and said, “Clay, I haven't missed a shot in forever, I thought I had it perfected." Clay beamed back at Max and replied, “Your shot is perfect Max, I just knew you wouldn't expect anyone to do that. You thought I'd run to the other side just like the other men did." "Clay I can't wait till we’re on that battle field together, you'll be the best soldier who ever lived." Clay nodded at Max and ran back in line. Each man did this drill, and Max saw some good improvement since the first day at the firing range. When everyone was done Max announced, “Good job men, really good stuff out there. But in order for us to stay alive we have to be the best, let’s take a lunch and water break."
The men were exhausted already and ate very eagerly. Max pulled out the lunch his mom had made him, and started eating. Clay walked over to Max and sat down next to him. "I forgot my lunch today sir," Clay said in a depressed voice. "That's alright Clay, even you have to make a mistake every couple of years." Clay grinned at Max, and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry sir!" He pulled back after hugging Max. "I’m embarrassed to tell you this, but my dad is never proud of me. No matter what I do he just looks at me and says I could have done better."
"Well Clay what group is your father fighting in?" Max asked. "’Group C’, I think. He's not very fond of weapons." "Well Clay I want you to tell your dad that you’re in charge of ‘group A,’ and that you're the best soldier we have." Clay beamed. It was also the first time in his life that he felt like he had a purpose. After saying that Max handed Clay a portion of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Once lunch was over ‘group A’ practiced shooting, and worked on different battle formations. ‘Group C’ mostly worked on endurance training while ‘group B’ was at the firing range working on their accuracy.
"You guys are going to have to be a hell of a lot faster if you want to stay alive!" Rock yelled as group C ran around the training fields. Max watched from afar as he saw them all running. He needed to start establishing different posts for the soldiers to be set when the Red Death arrived.
After a long day of training all the groups finally headed home. Max had called a meeting with Rock and Mayor George back at the town hall. He rushed over and when he got there, Rock and the Mayor were already waiting. "You wanted to talk about something Max?" the Mayor asked. "Yes sir, I was wondering if we have any explosives or fuses. Also were going to need to reinforce the town wall. I know our men aren't trained enough yet, but we need to get started now to ensure our safety." "Well Max,” said the Mayor, “as a matter of fact we do have some explosives, but we don't have very much. And Max, Rock was just telling me how most of his men in group B couldn't even hit a fish out of water." "I know sir, but we can still train after we set up a defense. I can start teaching them lessons on how to use a gun,” Max responded.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean, I've been teaching them how to use a gun for a couple days now. What do you think will make your efforts so special?" Rock retorted angrily. "Rock I did beat you at a gun contest, I think I might be a little more qualified for the job." "Well fine then boy, you can deal with those clueless buffoons in ‘group B.’ I'll do a little bit of work with ‘group A’." "Oh that's already been arranged Rock, I have Clay as the leader of ‘group A.’ You can still train ‘group C’ though." Rock had fire in his eyes, it looked as if he wanted to get up right then and there and beat Max up. But for Max's sake the Mayor was there, and would not tolerate any violence. "You better watch your tongue boy, just because the Mayor is here doesn't mean I won't punch your teeth in." Max smiled and looked at the Mayor, “Thank goodness your dog is on a tight leash." Rock got up and walked out the door saying goodbye to Mayor George and slammed the door shut.
"Goddamnit Max, stop being so boastful!” said the Mayor. “Before you came he used to be the one calling all the shots, it hasn't been easy for him. So the least you can do
is be respectful, whether you like it or not he's one of the best we have." "I know Mayor I'm sorry, I get a little out of control sometimes." The Mayor shook his head and opened a cupboard, pulling out a bottle of liquid. "You see this bottle boy? This is the last bottle of wine in the entire universe." He pulled out two large glasses and filled them up to the brim. He handed a glass to Max and rose his glass in the air. "For the town!" Mayor George announced and they both drank the entire glasses.
Max walked home that night feeling really relaxed. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but he knew that the wine made him feel pretty good. He thought about Rich as he walked along the sidewalk, and found it strange that he’d accepted Max so easily. He wanted to be like him someday. Max remembered when Rich gave him the plasma ray gun, Rich had told him it was the fastest and most powerful gun ever made. There were only four in the world, Rich had claimed. Max pulled out the gun and examined it under a street lamp. He noticed little marks all across the gun, and saw that the marks were actually the initials R.G. and remembered that Rich's last name was Gordon. He pulled out a small knife and engraved the letters M.S. He pointed his gun in the air, fired a single shot, and shouted, ”I am King Maximus Secord The Third!"