He estimated the distance as only a couple of miles. He knew Jack would never see his reflection with the sun behind him. They had planned for that. Em got a fix on Jack’s position and immediately set out in the direction of the flash. Jack was supposed to gather some sort of protein and nutrition other than their meager food supply. He also would be finding water. After two hours, at the top of the hour, he would again climb a tall tree and shine his mirror toward the west, hopefully signaling Em with his location. This they repeated each half hour until dusk. Before the sun descended fully, Em found Jack.
From there, they made their way east until sunset. Without stopping to find food and eating what Jack had found, they reached their goal with time to spare. Their plan was to beat all previous times for the extreme survival test. Only four others before them had ever made it back to camp in less than seventy-two hours. Finding each other had been essential. Em had been able to smuggle extra food. Jack had hidden the pieces of mirror that they had used in each of their bags. When they found each other, they drew their maps in the dirt and planned where they would spend the first night. Once there, they would get a precious few hours of rest before they would drive themselves to the end with no additional rest.
Once again, the island gods must have been shining on them because their plan worked. Now, Em was squatting on the side of the mountain eating pineapple, waiting on the rain to stop so he could descend upon the camp at the bottom of this one last hill.
Jack was across the valley, set to come down on the other side. Their plan was to come into camp before Sergeant Cannon and the other instructors even finished their coffee. Each of them felt that the daily predawn rain shower would keep even the sergeants inside their tents. As he waited on Jack’s signal, which he would only be able to see when the sun chased the rain away, he thought about the last eight weeks. He tried hard not to think about Corby. He only hoped that Corby could recover in time to graduate with his class. He remembered getting the news of Corby’s accident. That was also the day he and Jack met Christian Jefferson, another member of Colonel Roth’s team. It was also the day before he called home for the first time since leaving in the spring.
For the first three days, Cannon had led them from place to place. They filled out more forms than either of them had even thought possible. All Em worried about was mail. He asked Sergeant Cannon every chance he got. Sergeant Cannon avoided answering, saying he would have to check on that. After Em asked him for about the seventh time, he told him it would be two to three weeks. He said since everything would be forwarded through a California naval station, it could possibly take a month. Hoping his new atmosphere would keep him from agonizing over the silence between him and Irene, he immersed himself in training.
Daily, before sunrise, they began by running. Running and running and running, a little bit farther up the mountain each day. After showers and breakfast, they had school. Sergeant Ramsey told him and Jack that they were like first graders again. “Only speak when you are ordered to” were the first words he had spoken to them. Neither of them was anxious to find out what would happen if they broke the rules. Even though they were fresh from basic training and were used to following orders, Ramsey’s tone indicated that he was not to be argued with.
After a week and half of this, they started other aspects of training. They were never allowed personal time. From reveille to vespers, every minute was accounted for. The only chance he and Jack had to talk was a few minutes each night, right before they passed out from exhaustion.
One night, Jack said, “Em, I’m not even tired; I can’t wait for tomorrow!”
“I know, I feel it too!” Em answered. “There is so much to learn and remember.”
“I’m not talking about that stuff. I mean, we’re gonna do stuff, wild stuff. I think Colonel Roth is the real deal. I’m showing him that I am too! I mean, we are too.” Jack finished with the grin that Em had learned meant “You know what I mean.” The two of them had learned what they thought was everything about each other. Later, they would learn that you never ever really know of what someone would be capable.
They ended each of the first ten nights talking, but the conversations were never more than a couple of minutes long. They were simply exhausted every single night. Their instructors had meant this to happen so they never had time to feel homesick.
The first ten days were just a peek at what they were in for. The training intensified daily. They were pushed and pushed until all they thought about was training. When Sergeant Cannon brought them mail after twenty-nine days, Em didn’t know what to say.
“Never thought I would see you struggle for what words to say.” Sergeant Cannon smiled when he handed Em eight envelopes. He gave Jack three.
Em scanned the handwriting quickly and saw five from Irene, one from Corby, one from his mom, and one he didn’t recognize. He couldn’t wait to open them, but he also wanted to open them in private. He tucked them into his duffel bag. Jack and Sergeant Cannon just stared at him. “What?” Em began. “I don’t know which one to open first, and we have to get back to class, and… there’s just no time to open them now.”
“Unbelievable, Storybook. Nothing but ‘Sergeant Cannon, when can I get mail? Sergeant Cannon, heard anything about mail yet? Sergeant Cannon, wah, wah, wah!’” Sergeant Cannon laughed as he walked away.
Jack just tucked his letters into his bag. The look on his face revealed nothing as usual.
“Hey, you hungry? Let’s get something to eat before class starts.”
The two of them were always hungry. Each of them had gained at least ten pounds of muscle, but they were lean to the bone. Their weight had remained about the same as it was when basic training had ended. Em had got on the train in Kentucky just three months ago. He had gained almost twenty-five pounds. He felt so strong. He wanted His dad to see him now.
They entered the classroom and noticed the new guy at once. He was standing with his back to them. He turned as Jack and Em entered the room. “Good morning, airmen. I’ve been looking forward to meeting the two of you.” Christian Jefferson was dressed in fatigues just like them. He had four stripes on his sleeve. Em thought he looked way too young to be a staff sergeant. He was six foot tall, probably weighed 175 pounds, and he was a black. Em knew that there were blacks in the military, but up to now, he had been surrounded with all white sergeants. The only blacks he had seen were usually in the kitchens.
He introduced himself and told them that he looked forward to working with them. Em and Jack looked at each other, and both of them smiled. They knew that things were starting to take shape. With Sergeant Jefferson, that left only two remaining spots on their team unaccounted for. Neither of them knew anything about this sergeant that stood in front of them, but they knew that his presence meant their adventure was getting closer to reality.
Each of them shook Sergeant Jefferson’s hand, and he said, “Call me Jeff.”
Then the door opened, and Sergeant Ramsey told them he was ready. The three airmen immediately turned toward the front of the room. Sergeant Ramsey then took control and said, “Have a seat, gentlemen.” He began another boring lecture on diplomatic protocol. Em and Jack used this time to size up their new teammate.
Colonel Roth had told them that he would only use men he trusted completely, so this eased their minds a little. After Sergeant Ramsey spoke for more than twenty minutes, he leaned back in his chair and asked Jeff if he had anything to add. This surprised Em and Jack. They started to fidget in their seats. Jeff stood up and walked to the front of the room.
It became apparent immediately that Christian Jefferson was not your normal black enlistee. He spoke with an authoritative tone and used a slight Southern accent that Em guessed originated
