Page 13 of Mariposa
She lives.
“What a shame,” I murmur to Sergeant Slater next to me. His hazel eyes gleam with dark satisfaction. He slaps my shoulders and roars with laughter. Our humor is dark and morbid, something normalized in the military, and I think it’s to prevent us from feeling the extent of the darkness we go through in training or deployments. It’s better to laugh about situations than to feel.
I continue to exit the pool area and move on to the next event, where I will instruct the other students. Slater walks with me and pats my shoulder with a wicked curve of his lips because he knows I’m right. She doesn’t fucking belong here.
I head towards the next grading task and let Booker attend to the weakling.
I don’t care if she lives or dies. It’s my job to eradicate the frail, spineless candidates.
I always break them.
I always celebrate when I hear the words: I quit.
She will break for me.
They always do.
7
VIOLET
EIGHT MONTHS UNTIL GRADUATION
Drowning is…not fun. I failed the first water portion test, and when I woke up, I thought that was it for me. But Sergeant Booker made it clear I had one more chance after he brought me back to life. Luckily, I passed the water portion on the second try without passing out or freezing. I’ve never been so happy to complete a portion of the school.
I’m in the middle of Land Navigation when I faceplant into the dirt. My rifle flies from me. I cough, sending dirt into my nose. I huff and reach for my canteen, but it’s quickly kicked away into a pile of leaves.
I swear, it’s Willis.
I turn around to spit insults at the asshole, but I’m face to face with those mesmerizing but cruel green and blue eyes.
Master Sergeant O’Connell.
Beast.
He doesn’t like me. He makes it known every chance he gets with his deafening silence and glares. Still, it doesn’t deter me. It only fuels my ambition further.
“Get the hell up!” he snarls, and my heart jolts to my ass. Geez, he’s scary. Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
Of course, I do everything I can to keep calm and collected. Sucking a deep breath into my lungs, I turn away from him. Every muscle aches, burns, and screams at me for rest, but my will to prove everyone wrong keeps me going.
Bite your tongue, Violet. Bite it off if you have to. Don’t give them what they want.
“Quit or die. Either way, you’re not going to make it.”
I get on my knees, push myself off the ground, and head for my rifle that landed by a tree trunk. When I get it, I swing it over my shoulder as he continues after me, crushing branches underneath his boots.
He’s trying to get in my head.
“You think you’re here, in my course,in my classbecause you’re good enough?”
Ignore him.
“No, it’s because your father was someone.But to me, you’re no one!”
Asshole.Lies.They’re just lies to get inside my head.He doesn’t mean it.
“You’re just another number to me. Twenty women have attempted to become special operators under my watch and all twenty have failed. What makes you so special?”
