SG Vol. 1 pt. 8 (Patreon)

I let out a loud yawn and open my eyes. Another argument last night resulted in me getting kicked out of bed to sleep on the couch instead. Kate apparently didn’t like me calling her out on taking my wallet and truck without my permission. Then she got mad that I took Naomi out for a nighttime ride when she has school tomorrow – today. I know she doesn’t actually give a shit about Naomi, but if it means having a reason to be mad at me, she’ll pretend to be the best fucking mother in the world.

It’s four in the morning. I’ve got one hour before I need to head to base. There’s nothing but frozen food and Mom’s leftovers, so I’ll go grab something at the store for Naomi’s breakfast and lunch, and then I’ll just buy some more groceries on the way home tonight.

Fuck, I’m tired.

Running on next to no sleep is easy whenever I’m deployed, but when I’m home like this… even if I’m lying on a couch that’s too small for me to stretch out on, I don’t want to get up.

But I have to.

Time to get this day started.

…

Thirty minutes later and I’m back with some basic groceries.

A homemade sandwich, an apple, and some gummies that are actually vitamins. This’ll be her lunch.

I crack open her door to check on her.

“Papa?” Naomi sleepily asks me. Dang kid and her sensitive hearing. I didn’t want to wake her up since she’s got another two hours before she has to go to school.

“Morning, angel. I made you a lunch, it’s in the fridge,” I tell her.

“Are you going away again?” she asks, sounding like she’s about to cry.

I rush over to the bed, hug her, and place a kiss on her forehead. “I’ve got to go to work, but I promise I’ll be home later today. Alright? I’m not being sent away. I’ll just be over on the base. You could even have me called for in case there’s an emergency and I’d be able to get to you.”

“Does missing you count as an emergency?”

I kiss her forehead again. “I wish it did.”

She giggles. “Okay, papa. Can I go back to sleep?”

“Of course you can. Get some rest, and make sure to pay attention to your teachers later.”

“Okay,” she says, slipping back off into sleep.

I leave her room and close the door so that any noises I make won’t disturb her.

“Pay attention to your teachers, huh,” I say under my breath. I wonder how many of the brats I’ll be teaching will be told the same thing. Well, probably none of them. They’ll have been living on-base for months now if they’re getting put into a classroom for VSU piloting.

I’m supposed to teach them how I was taught, right?

We’ll see how many get transferred out within a week. My teacher was as scary as the demons he was preparing us to go against. If that’s who they want me to be, that’s who I’ll be.

I just hope they cover my ass as much as they covered hers. The shit she put us through that should have gotten her court-martialed…

It’s true what they say about desperate times calling for desperate measures. They wouldn’t have let her get away with it otherwise, and now they’re telling me to do the same.

I toss on my fatigues and step outside. The academy is only a few miles away from here, so I’ll go on a jog to make myself even more tired. The more tired I am, the more of a raging bitch I’ll be to my students. Just like my former teacher.

The Stuart-Okabe Air Force Academy is right next to the hangars by the airfield. I’ll need to take the long way around if I don’t want to risk that engineering maniac spotting me. Knowing her, she’s already hard at work and running around performing maintenance. She’s going to have a lot of work to do after that last op.

A blast of cool air slams into my face as soon as I open the academy’s doors. It’s as cold in here as I remember it being back when I first stepped through these doors. Too cold.

Then I remember getting to class and stepping into an oven. She always told us that if we weren’t sweating, we weren’t learning. Even when it came to reading.

“Morning,” an annoying man sitting in the chair in front of me says.

“Go away. It’s too early to deal with you,” I tell Zane.

“You’re always so cold to me! Don’t you want me to show you where your class is? Or would you rather pick a random room and hope that everybody can find you?”

“Do you have to be so annoying about it? Just show me where I’m supposed to be.”

“But you just told me to go away! I’ve been waiting here just to help you, even predicting that you’d come in this way, and you don’t appreciate it.”

“You’re right. I don’t. Now, show me where I’m at and leave me alone.”

“How’s Naomi?”

“She’s great. Still not putting on any weight, but she’s doing good in school and—”

I pause when I notice him staring up at me with a smile.

This bastard.

“Come on, don’t start frowning again! You looked so happy and sounded much nicer when talking about her,” Zane tells me.

“I seriously hate you,” I reply.

“Well, we both know that the ones you hate are the ones you marry.”

“You’re so funny that I forgot to laugh.”

Zane finally gets up from his seat and walks away, beckoning me to follow him.

If he’s taking me where I think he’s taking me… yeah, it’s down this hallway, and… a right, and he’s stopped.

“Look familiar?” he asks me.

Yeah, it fucking does. This is the hellhole that gave birth to me.

I open the door and am met with the same classroom that I thought I’d never make it out of. Everything looks exactly how it did back then. Fuck… it’s been eleven years. Can’t believe that much time has passed already. Feels like just yesterday that I was – “Hey,” I say, “has this place been cleaned at all? Fucking dust everywhere.”

“Not once since she left,” Zane answers.

“Why?”

“There’s a rumor that anybody who touches any of her belongings will hear her screaming at them whenever they try to sleep for the rest of their lives.”

“Seriously?”

Zane nods his head. “And she always said that every single thing in this room, from the carpet to the ceiling, belongs to her. Even you students belonged to her until you graduated. Remember how nobody would ever directly touch any of you except for her?”

“Fuck me, you’re right. I do remember that. Thought it was just some hazing bullshit. Can’t believe I never heard of that.”

“And now you’re here to take her place.”

“Where is that crazy woman anyways? Anybody ever find her?”

Zane shakes his head before saying, “Took her unit, disabled all tracking, and nobody’s heard a single thing from her since. She might not have even made it to the mainland with how much fuel we think she had when she took off.”

“She always was a fucking lunatic.”

“Reminds me of somebody I know. Now, get your class ready. Your students will be here soon.”

“Seriously? How the fuck am I supposed to get this shithole clean?”

“With your hands, presumably.”

“I seriously hate you.”

“I know. Also, wear a dress shirt and tie tomorrow. You’ll blend in better with your other teachers.”

“You think I give a shit?”

“Not in the slightest, but it might help you make friends!”

“Get out of here before I drag your ass into this room and make you hear her screaming at you for the rest of your life.”

Zane smiles at me and waves. “You know where to find me if you need anything.”

“No I fucking don’t.”

He pauses and blinks a few times at me. “Oh, right. I’ll be over at the headquarters. The usual office.”

“You think I remember? I try to scrub as much of you out of my memory as possible.”

“Is that why you remember our promise?”

“I—”

“I know, you hate me. Have fun teaching, Lance.”

I grumble as he walks away.

Annoying bastard.

Turning around, I look around and spot where I used to sit.

Only three of us are left out of my class. Not sure where they are right now, but I know the rest have either gone MIA or KIA.

“Kill. Survive.” That’s what she told us. She started every day off with that.

I look behind me. The same old chalkboard is here.

I pick up one piece of chalk, probably used by her, and write two words with it on the board.

“Kill. Survive.”