Republic Reborn: Against the Stars and Stripes-Chapter 97: No Waiting For Daylight

"I think that girl has a crush on you," Vicente uttered in a low voice in the stillness of the night.

I was staring at the sky and its beautiful host of stars, listening to the music of the crickets and the gentle rustle of the grass, when the random statement came out of nowhere.

I looked at him across the small campfire. His round eyes reflected the flames. He had gained a bit of flesh in his cheeks, likely due to the extra rations Isabela had been giving him ever since she took charge of the kitchen staff in Kasily.

"What girl?" I asked, scratching an itch on my neck and reflexively slapping at it. My palm came up empty. False alarm—but I had already killed maybe twenty mosquitoes, and my hands, face, and neck were riddled with bites.

The mosquitoes were having a feast in Landi, especially with a hundred recruits sprawled out in the open, asleep in the middle of the road. They lay with their backs against the soil and their heads resting on their packs. All their equipment—except for their uniforms, ammunition pouches, rifles, and boots—had been removed and laid neatly beside them.

It was the second week of advanced training, meaning a far more intense regimen and even more drills packed into their already tight schedule. That night, they hadn’t expected to be sleeping out in the open—but I was introducing yet another lesson.

Surrounding the sleeping recruits at a distance were small campfires for the officers I had assigned to stay awake. Vicente and I had taken position to their east; Colonel Abad and Capitan Roque were to the west; Dimalanta and Pedro, to the north. To the south, hidden from sight and knowledge, were Eduardo and his men, along with a couple of swivel guns they had temporarily unmounted from the ship.

"Señorita Alicia... she lights up whenever you’re around, and she won’t stop staring at you," Vicente said, picking up the pan that had slid down from the coconut log he’d been using as a seat.

I exhaled loudly and returned my eyes to the stars and the silver crescent moon. "She’s just grateful, Vicente. Don’t read too much into it. If I had saved you, you’d be beaming at the sight of me too."

"Yeah... but I wouldn’t be twirling my hair or raising the pitch of my voice when I talked to you," he muttered, pursing his lips.

I chuckled. "It baffles me how you can be that observant and still as dense as a rock."

He raised his eyebrows and leaned in with a hand cupped to his ear.

I picked up the iron pot and the corresponding metal ladle from beside me and stood. "I said it’s time to wake them up."

He promptly followed, snatching up his pan and a rock before waving to the rest of the officers. Soon enough, they stood from their seats, each armed with their own noise-making instruments.

I exhaled deeply, cleared my throat, and struck the pan with the ladle. Then I began yelling as I walked slowly but deliberately toward the sleeping recruits. Vicente and the rest of the officers followed suit, with Dimalanta—ever the overachiever—shouting at the top of his lungs.

Suddenly, the roar of a small cannon tore through the air. We flinched, even though we’d expected it. Eduardo and his men had begun firing the swivel guns with dummy rounds.

As anticipated, the initial response was chaos. The recruits immediately grabbed their rifles and started aiming them, despite being unloaded, as if it would save them. The cadets had been briefed beforehand, but they too froze momentarily.

Teofilo Roque emerged as the most promising of the cadets during the first week of advanced training. That night, he was also the first to recover from the shock. After a few moments, he began shouting orders to his men, instructing them to grab their gear and run to the drill fields. Lorenzo Madrigal was the second to compose himself and quickly mirrored Roque’s commands. Mario Nepomuceno and Cristobal Madrigal took a bit longer to snap out of it but eventually remembered their instructions.

We continued marching forward, banging pots and pans, shouting, and herding the recruits toward the drill fields like exorcists driving out demons in some bizarre ritual. In their panic and haste, some left equipment behind. One recruit ran straight into a bayonet dummy and got knocked out—Capitan Roque had to drag him up by the collar to get him back on his feet. Several others ended up in the wrong platoons and had to push their way back through the running crowd.

Finally, I raised a hand to halt the noise. One by one, the swivel guns fell silent. The last echoes faded into the night.

Breathless, disheveled, and wide-eyed, the recruits stood in formation in the drill field, grouped by platoon.

Roque’s men had arrived first, but several had left their equipment behind. Lorenzo’s platoon came in second, almost all fully geared. Nepomuceno’s group was third—many lacked rifles or wore only one boot. The younger Madrigal’s platoon came dead last, but perhaps already expecting to finish last, they had at least made sure to bring all their gear. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Though not as frightened, we officers were just as drenched in sweat, still catching our breath. I might’ve lost my voice from all the yelling—but thankfully, I wouldn’t be the one handling the debriefing.

Colonel Abad had been doing some of the lectures on my behalf these past few days. Among the officers, he had studied my training materials the most thoroughly. With his background as a schoolteacher, he could instruct effectively—sometimes even better than me or Dimalanta.

I gave him a nod. He returned it and cleared his throat.

"What a disastrous result this is," he began, his voice slightly hoarse. "Most of you were caught asleep. If this had been a real ambush or attack, you would’ve been annihilated. You must understand that in real war, there will be no warnings—no waiting for daylight. That’s why you need to learn how to perform under sudden pressure and in total darkness."

"This was your first drill, and failure was expected," he paused. "But some of you performed better than the rest, and here, we reward those who excel."

"All platoons except Lorenzo’s will march an extra mile during your daily march."