"Alright rookies, we're going to have to train fast since there's a battle already in progress on awake Island!" One of the American soldiers barked to the group of men not in uniform before him.

He looked intimidating with his long brown beard, gruff features, and large build.

"Why don't we wait until the next battle to join the fight?" A man with light brown hair and sky blue eyes spoke up.

The officer responded by walking up to the man and standing close to his face, his gaze hard.

"Are you a coward?" The officer sneered.

"Yes." The man replied without hesitation.

"Then why are you here?" The officer prompted.

"I was drafted." The man admitted.

"Name?" He questioned.

"Matthew Fredrick, but I prefer Matt or Matthias." The light haired man stated.

The dark haired man reacted with a backhanded slap to his face that made him fall hard to the ground, a large red handprint already forming on the right side of his face.

Wordlessly he pushed himself up off of the ground with a soft grunt and kept his gaze fixed to his torn shoes to avoid further punishment.

"That's sir to you." The officer growled.

The officer scrutinized him before moving back so he could face the whole battalion.

"My name is Commander Morrison and I will be teaching y'all how to hold and shoot a gun without shooting your self in the foot." The officer introduced himself.

Quiet snickers erupted through the crowd at his accent.

The commander glared at everyone, causing them to instantly fall silent.

"Follow me." He instructed as he marched off into Fort Shafter, the new to be soldiers stumbling to catch up to him.

"Well this should be fun." Thomas remarked jokingly.

The group stopped in a large grass field where targets were already set up, racks of weapons in the back of the field with mock barriers made of sacks between them and the targets.

"We're going to start with the M1 Garand since it all be the most common weapon everyone will use." Commander Morrison announced, picking up a long dark brown rifle from the rack.

Without warning, he turned around and shot a target directly in the center, earning oohs and ahhs from the new recruits.

"You, you're up." Commander Morrison tossed the gun to Mark, who managed to catch it with fumbling fingers.

"That's the trigger, that's the trigger guard, there's the safety, then there's the butt plate, the butt swivel, the stock, rear sight, receiver, operating rod, trigger house grouping, bolt, stock ferrule swivel, rear hand guard, front hand guard, stacking swivel, gas cylinder, front barrel, sight, and bayonet stud." The Commander listed off rapidly as he pointed to different parts of the gun, making Mark extremely confused.

"Here, let me help." A different officer offered, stepping up to Mark and showing him the different components at a slower pace.

The officer had curly brown hair, a chiseled jaw, and steely hazel eyes that observed Mark as he found the trigger and flipped off the safety.

"Thanks sir." Mark nodded in appreciation.

"The name's Captain Scheid." The man replied.

"Mark Fischbach." Mark smiled.

"Everyone else grab a rifle and some ammo off of the rack and get to work, Captain Scheid and I will be walking around to see what y'all can do." Commander Morrison snapped, causing everyone to snap into action.

Mark managed to find a free space behind the makeshift barrier by Matt and a stranger with chocolate brown hair and cobalt blue eyes.

He looked to be about Mark's age and seemed just as nervous as him, if not more.

"Hey, what's your name?" Mark asked him as he fiddled with the safety.

"I'm Ethan, and you?" He replied with a friendly smile.

"Mark." Mark stated simply before returning his attention to the task at hand so he wouldn't be yelled at.

He squeezed the trigger and let out a huff of frustration as the bullet whizzed past the target completely.

Matt on the other hand seemed to have no problem being fairly accurate as most of his shots hit fairly close to the center.

"You're really good!" Mark mused as Matt took another shot and hit the line next to the center.

"My brother and I used to have rubber band gun fights with our friends at this abandoned warehouse we found and fixed up to be our own little studio." Matt explained, his gaze becoming distant for a moment as he smiled fondly while reminiscing.

"I promised him and the rest of my family that I'd come home, so I am." Matt proclaimed in fierce determination as he started reloading his gun.

"My name's Mark." Mark introduced himself.

"Matt, or you can call me Matthias." Matt responded.

"Why Matthias?" Mark asked.

"Just a nickname my brother and step brother made for me." Matt shrugged.

"Nice." Mark smirked.

"Fischbach!" Commander Morrison  barked, causing Mark to jump to attention.

"Yes sir?" He asked.

"If you're talking, then you must know how to load and shoot the gun perfectly. Why don't you demonstrate for the group?" The commander directed.

Mark nodded in understanding before taking a deep breath and reloading his gun with extreme precision.

He closed one eye in concentration and looked through the sight with the other as he fingered the trigger, feeling everyone's eyes on him.

Yet he didn't care.

He wasn't afraid.

Mark squeezed down on the trigger and watched as the bullet sailed through the air, hoping to at least hit the target.

The bullet embedded in the center of the target.

Mark let out a sigh of relief as some of his fellow soldiers I training clapped for him, including Ethan and Matt.

"Impressive progress for your first time holding a gun." Tyler remarked.

"Lucky shot." Commander Morrison scoffed.

"That's all for today, go find a bunk." Commander Morrison dismissed them with a wave as if they were nothing more than pesky insects.

The men mumbled amongst each other as Captain Scheid led them to the large bunker building filled with bunk beds.

Mark crawled onto the bottom bunk he found, glad to be able to relax for a little bit.

"Hey Mark, how're ya holding up?" Thomas asked Mark as he climbed up to the bunk above him.

"I'm tired mainly." Mark admitted.

"Same here." Thomas chuckled.

"Lights out!" Captain Scheid announced as the lights turned off.

Mark rolled over onto his side and listened to the snoring of his new roommates until he finally fell asleep.