Chapter 5: 8 miles
<span style="font-weight:400">Garp and Rick arrived at the training ground.
<span style="font-weight:400">The one stooge that the Vice-admiral ordered was finishing the preparations for the exercise toe.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Everything is ready, sir!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Good, go back to your post”
<span style="font-weight:400">The marine said: “Sir, yes, sir!” and left.
<span style="font-weight:400">Garp turned to Rick.
<span style="font-weight:400">“First thing first I’ll test your stamina. You have one hour to do 50ps. Begin running! NOW!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick started running around the field. It was the size of a ser field, so about 290 m for a perimeter.
<span style="font-weight:400">An average adult man''s speed is 10km/h.
<span style="font-weight:400">For 50ps with a constant speed it would take about 1hour and 30 minutes toplete the task.
<span style="font-weight:400">For a 10 year old kid doing so under one hour was impossible.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘ He’s insane, even a normal adult would not be able to do 50ps in one hour! I’m a 10 years old kid, what does he expect ?! ’
<span style="font-weight:400">After his tenthp Rick could see Garp lounging on a chair, a cup of hot coffee in one hand and a cookie in the other.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hurry up kid, you got 40 left to go and you’ve been running for 25 minutes already. If you don’t speed up you’ll fail and no cookie for you.”
<span style="font-weight:400">‘You damn monster!’ screaming internally Rick.
<span style="font-weight:400">He picked up the pace, his past 18 months of training showing.
<span style="font-weight:400">At the one hour mark, Rick was exhausted, he failed to finish the 50ps.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘He went as far as 38, not bad.’
<span style="font-weight:400">Garp was looking at Rick with satisfaction.
<span style="font-weight:400">A kid just did what most of the adults joining the marines could not.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘He sure has stamina. Hehehe I’m going to enjoy breaki.. I mean raising him.Yes, raising him. Hehehe.’
<span style="font-weight:400">The vice-admiral approached his new recruit.
<span style="font-weight:400">“ You failed kid.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sir! I’m sorry, sir!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t be sorry yet kid. You’ll have time to be sorry after your punishment!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Garp looked at Rick with a crooked smile, making him, for the first time since he came into his world, fear for his life.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘Joining the marines was perhaps NOT the best idea I had.’
<span style="font-weight:400">“On top of not having cookies kid, you get to finish theps you didn’t do and do another three set of 50. Take a 15 minutes break between each set. As for the time limit, you have until sunset.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Having given his order Garp left the training grounds, soon after a marine came from where Garp went and went to Rick.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Vice-admiral Garp ordered me to watch your progress kid. You have 10 minutes left on your break”
<span style="font-weight:400">‘I’m gonna die, I’m really gonna die’.
<span style="font-weight:400">~~~~
<span style="font-weight:400">One week.
<span style="font-weight:400">It took Rick one week to finally do the 50ps in one hour.
<span style="font-weight:400">The marines in the barracks were so bored that on the third day, they came watching him “run” .
<span style="font-weight:400">Yes “run” because for Rick, what he was doing wasn’t running, it was torture. It was suffering.
<span style="font-weight:400">When the marines started to make bets about him either quitting or the time he’ll take toplete the task, Rick saw red.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘Keep it up you bastards, one day, one day I’m going to pay you all back. With interest.’
<span style="font-weight:400">On the fifth day Garp came by to do some inspection.
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick’s heart was full of joy.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘HAHAHA YOU MOFOS! Who’sughing now, huh? Who’s gonna get trashed by Garp, huh? Mwhahahahaha”.
<span style="font-weight:400">This feeling of tionsted 10 seconds.
<span style="font-weight:400">Itsted until Garp went to the betting booth and betted himself.
<span style="font-weight:400">The joy that Rick was feeling turned into pure rage and hatred.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘Screw all of you! I’m gonna finish this task before the end of the week, I’ll make every single one of you cry like a little bitch’, I swear!’
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick kept his words and on the seventh day’s morning seeded.
<span style="font-weight:400">His fellow marines were effectively crying. They lost their pay for the month. Half of them bet that Rick would quit, the other that he would take two weeks to do it.
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick could see some of them passed out on the ground, too shocked about Rick’s sess maybe, or the loss of a significant amount of money.
<span style="font-weight:400">The only one who wasn’t in this state was Garp.
<span style="font-weight:400">Nope, the old man wasughing, happy as a kid the morning of christmas.
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick wasying on his back, breathing hard when Garp came to him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I knew you could do it in a week kid!” He wasughing.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Thanks to you I made shit-load of money, hehehe.”
<span style="font-weight:400">‘What the… You won?! Of all the people, it was You!’
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick nearly passed out too from anger. The man who he wanted the most to lose won.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Good job kid, really. Not many can do what you did when they started in the marine, and even less at your age. You can be proud of yourself.”
<span style="font-weight:400">All Rick wanted to do was to jump on the old man and beat him to death. Even beyond, he wanted to beat him until all his frustration went away.
<span style="font-weight:400">Unfortunately he was too exhausted to move a finger.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sir. Thank you, Sir.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Here, take it you earned it”.
<span style="font-weight:400">Garp was handing him one of those chocte cookies he promised him.
<span style="font-weight:400">Rock took it and put it in his mouth.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘He may be a sadist , but at least he’s a good ma...’
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick couldn’t finish his thought as he fainted.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘The kid passed out of exhaustion, he really gave everything, hehehe.’
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oi, one of you, take the kid to rest.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sir, yes ,sir!”
<span style="font-weight:400">As a marine came forward to pick Rick up, Garp went away.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘I really found a diamond in the rough. I can’t wait to polish him.’
<span style="font-weight:400">Garp was wrong though.
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick didn’t pass out of exhaustion like he thought.
<span style="font-weight:400">Nope.
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick passed out of frustration.
<span style="font-weight:400">As it was not chocte in the cookie but raisins.