Sean ended up being awake the entire night until morning came and they were pulled back out. Lack of sleep plus confined spaces plus psyops music and sounds plus horrifying images had really impaired his physical and mental states, struggling to even walk properly now, not to mention the starvation from not eating.
He is then tied up to trees and had his bag yanked off, the fresh aroma of barbecued meat entered his nostrils. The masked men are having a barbecue party, a stark contrast to the starved cadets being tied up on the trees.
He looked at Louis next to him, who is still dazed.
"Psst, you ok?" asked Sean.
Louis muttered something about a 2m tall women. Sean sighed, feeling sorry for Louis, knowing that he must have met Mistral.
"That will be Mistral," whispered Sean. "She's bad news."
"What exactly is she?" asked Louis, still having a sense of dread. Sean shook his head. Louis interpreted as Sean does not know, which does not surprise him. Even if Sean is a UNSSD veteran, there are things beyond his knowledge.
Yet, what Sean really meant is "I cannot tell you."
A used skewer is hurled at them. "SHUT UP!!" roared a masked man.
Louis looked at the food, stars coming out of his eyes.
As if knowing his preferences, a masked man dangled a lobster in front of Louis, then ate it in front of him, adding insult to injury.
"God damn…" cursed Eddie, seeing that. "This is some emotional damage…"
"Save yourself some energy…" muttered Sean.
Eddie then turned to Carl, who has his eyes closed.
"Bro, you alive or not?" asked Eddie.
"Take care of yourself," retorted Carl, groaning, trying to get some rest.
"Albert," muttered Vera. "Don't you f***ing dare to take blows for me again, I can take care of myself…" She snapped, referring to yesterday's events.
Albert replied calmly, "no offense, but statistically women are more likely to…"
Vera rolled her eyes, "... we are all equal here in terms of breaking..."
"Same applies for the rest of you…"
"Would rather die than surrender…" muttered Clara.
"DID I GIVE PERMISSION FOR YOU ALL TO TALK?!" roared a masked man, coming over with a wooden bat.
He then beat up Clara mercilessly.
After being hung up like pigs for a few hours, the 15 cadets are once again thrown again into the water.
"WHY DO YOU ALL HAVE TO MAKE THIS SO F***ING COMPLICATED?!" roared a masked man. "ALL I WANT ARE THE BLOODY COORDINATES!"
"NOW CAN ONE OF YOU MAGGOTS TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO F***ING KNOW?"
Not getting a reply, he snapped, dragging out Ariel, tying her hands to the rope that held Sean suspended over the water, while throwing bags on the other cadets and ushering them out.
The masked men then unbuckled the rope hanging Sean, causing Sean to fall into the water, Ariel grunted, using all of her strength to pull Sean's 150kg body out of the surface and prevent him from drowning.
"VERY NICE COMRADERIE AND DISCPLINE!" commended the masked man sarcastically.
"BUT YOUR COMRADE IS GOING TO DIE HERE YOU DOOFUS!" he roared at Ariel, face close to her. "Your comrade is going to drown, because of your inaction! How long do you think you can keep him out of water?!"
Sean mumbled underwater, trying to say something to de-stress Ariel. He knows too well that the masked men (instructors) are trying to exert immense psychological pressure on her by moral kidnapping, which works best when she is effectively isolated, especially considering the cinnamon roll Ariel is.
"HOW ARE YOU GOING TO EXPLAIN THINGS TO HIS FAMILY? "Oh, sorry ma'am I let your son die when I could've saved him"," yelled the man.
Ariel screamed, holding on tightly to Sean.
After 15 minutes the masked men pulled Sean back out of the water and threw bags back onto his and Ariel's heads, bringing them away.
Sean's bag is yanked off, he found himself back in solitary confinement. Though what is different this time is that there are other masked men with him.
A masked man forced Sean back into a wall, pressing his head hard against Sean's, roaring into his face, demanding Sean confess and tell him the location of their camp.
Sean hurled vulgarities in exchange and the masked man did the same, and soon the entire room is filled with a chaotic combination of vocabulary from English, Chinese, Japanese and Bahasa Indonesia, which will no doubt need to be censored if they were ever broadcasted.
Losing his patience, the masked man then beat Sean down with an ice club he generated, the gesturing the other masked men forward, who begin to strip Sean's clothes off.
'LET GO!" yelled Sean, struggling to break free.
The men put on medical gloves. Sean looked in horror, understanding that they are going to perform a cavity check on him.
After a humiliating 10 minutes, Sean is left naked and alone in the cell. During the process he can hear the sound of struggles in the cells around him, knowing that his comrades were subjected to the same humiliation and torment, regardless of their gender.
Sean painfully re-dressed himself, persevering on.
Just as he is done, he is thrown back out into the opening again by the masked men. One of them guided their attention to a cadet wailing in a corner, along with the 2 Mistral had broken this morning.
"THEY HAVE ALREADY CONFESSED! SO WHY ARE YOU ALL STILL SO STUBBORN? USE YOUR F***ING BRAINS AND FREE YOURSELVES!"
Sean and the rest glared at them with a mixture of hatred and understanding. While they can sympathise, to confess is a betrayal of their duties as soldiers.
"Traitors!" yelled Eddie at them.
"Useless scum!' scolded Carl.
The cadets followed suit in their insults at the 3 that had given up, forgetting the humiliation that they have suffered.
"SILENCE!"
The cadets refused to comply, and were soon sprayed with high pressure hoses, shutting them up physically.
"I hope more of you can make the right decision!"
(A few hours later, night time)
"I will talk, I will talk!" yelled a cadet, begging the masked men to stop their torture and forceful interrogation as soil is shovelled onto him.
After one whole day of forced interrogation methods ranging from beating, drowning, cavity searches, solitary confinement, psychological torture and sensory deprivation, the rest of the cadets are holding on by a thin thread. All of them are scarred, physically and mentally.
The cadets are now in a cemetery, and are lying in empty graves. The masked men have thrown them into freshly dug graves, threatening to bury them alive.
"4 of you have already confessed!" announced a masked man. "Hurry up people, there aren't much chances left!"
Erika tried to free herself out of the grave, only for her to be kicked back inside as soil gradually enveloped her. She tried again, using her core to push herself up when her arms are tied up behind her back, as with the rest of the cadets.
A masked woman lowered her FN5-7 pistol onto her, pushing the barrel against her forehead.
"Want to tell me where your base is at?" she asked.
Erika spat at her face.
Suddenly, Carl started convulsing, foaming from his mouth as he passed out, muttering gibbering in Norwegian. Alarmed, the masked men all stopped their actions and immediately dug Carl back out.
"Number 23 you, ok?" asked the masked woman worriedly, pulling back her FN 5-7.
Little did she realise it's a ruse, and Carl snapped awake, forcefully headbutting her in the face and then pounced and pinned her down.
"AHHH!" Sean screamed, using all of his core strength to sit and stand up and charged at the masked men when they are still shocked from the surprise attack, man piling them with his 150kg heavy body, and the rest of the cadets followed suit, successfully coming out of the graves and man piling the masked men.
"AHH!" screamed the masked woman as Carl bit her, drawing out blood. The rest of the cadets followed suit, lashing out with all of might using all of the means they have in disposal to cause hurt in a primordial madness.
Louis bit down on the ear of a masked man, tugging it like a feral animal. Ariel used her legs to hold a surprised masked man in a throat lock.
Seeing the situation getting out of hand, Nanami and Jay who had been observing the training immediately charged out with other instructors. They are in Exo-suits wielding riot gear, forcefully breaking up the fight.
Nanami grabbed her FN 5-7 pistol loaded with rubber bullets and fired into the air.
"Everyone, calm down!" she ordered.
"Session is over, all of you who remained here pass!" Jay announced.
With that, the masked men pulled off their masks.
Sean and the other cadets collapsed onto the ground, relived to have finally finished the torture segment of SERE training.
(1 hour later)
"How do you all feel?" asked Franz, walking with Herbert, Mistral, Reza and Maia, holding onto their masks. They are heading to the medical bay to check on the cadets.
Maia's left hand is bandaged from Karl's bite.
"Guilty, honestly," said Herbert. Reza concurred, saying that he had never spoken vulgarities so frequently, in both English and Bahasa Indonesia.
Franz gave a bitter laugh. "Being merciful to them now will be a disservice. As you all know, the enemy will not show restraint in torture, unlike us."
"Mistral already showed them zero restraint," quipped Reza.
"Oh, you have seen nothing..." replied Maia, with an apprehensive afterthought.
"Let's go check on how they are doing," interrupted Franz
They strolled into the area of the camp bustling with doctors, nurses, medics and medical robots.
Franz noticed Phineas walking over quickly to them, removing his name tag and Lieutenant rank plates as he does so.
"Doctor Wang!" greeted Franz with a smile. "How are the—"
Before he can finish, a hard slap came straight at his face, sending him staggering back from the shock and impact. Everyone who witnessed it is stunned, after all, it's rare that someone will lay a finger on the King of Bast*rds.
Phineas shook his right hand in pain, glaring at the red hand print he had left on Franz's right cheek, while Franz rubbed his face, still stunned.