After a long time, part 5 of this awful story is done. I think i will stop here. Now that my army days are over I don't see a point continuing this.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

After an extensive weapon’s training, it was time for the soldiers to get assigned to guarding duty. It was a really easy task, although it had risks and dangers, as well as responsibility. After many years, the authorities established a two-soldier guarding shift. And that’s because the suicide rate had suddenly increased lately. Many people, over the years, shot themselves on guarding duty. So the new orders were to have two soldiers on each guarding unit, in order to lower that rate.

The new order was happily accepted by the soldiers, because it changed the whole perspective of guarding shifts. It was going to be more fun. They could talk to each other, something essential for time to pass by quicker and if they were careful, they could smoke, eat, drink, even do pranks to other guarding units that were spread around the camp.

Securing and guarding a perimeter was a relatively easy task. All you had to do is keep your eyes open, identify everyone in that perimeter and report anything suspicious to the camp’s head watcher via radio. Identifying a ‘trespasser’ was a three-step task. First, the guard had to stop the ‘unsub’ by loudly saying "Halt! Who’s in the area?". The ‘unsub’ could be a person passing by, a patrol unit, an officer checking on their performance or an officer in charge of escorting the guards for the next shift. In the first situation they would let the person pass by. In all other situations they would have to approach the ‘unsub’ for the second step of the identification. When the ‘unsub’ and the guard were 5 yards away from each other, the guard would silently say a number. The ‘unsub’ would counter say another number. After that the guard would allow the ‘unsub’ to approach closer for the third step. At the distance of 3 yards the guard would stop him, demanding for a password. After he gave the password, the ‘unsub’ was free to sign a piece of paper evaluating the performance of the guard.

The numbers and password were predefined and different every day. If the ‘unsub’ didn’t stop after the halt-warning was said twice the guard had the right to load his gun and yell "halt or I will shoot". In the case that the ‘unsub’ didn’t stop after that warning, the guard could attack him with the stock of the rifle. He could only shoot if his life was in danger. That was the guarding protocol for the camps that weren’t in war zones. Some of the soldiers were following that protocol to the letter, others were only serious with the officer checking if they were doing their duty correctly, because the punishment was usually harsh.

Jake decided to play it cool at his first shift, so that the other soldiers wouldn’t tease him being ‘geeky’ and all. In the back of his head he knew that he had to follow protocol to the letter.

A corporal that was in charge of escorting new guards to each guarding unit entered the barracks and waited in the atrium for the guards. He was really sleepy, since it was 1 am and he was changing the guards every 4 hours, from 3 pm earlier that day. He took a big drag of his cigarette and exhaled loudly, showing a slight loss of temper, as the guards were late.

It was pitch black outside, cold and windy. It was raining heavily earlier that day and the ground was covered in slippery mud. The soldiers finally gathered and with the corporal started the shift change.

-"Hurry up now guys, you are late. It’s not fair to the other guards waiting in such cold weather", said the corporal while walking fast uphill for the first guarding unit.

Jake, having trouble adjusting to the low temperature, turned up the collar of his jacket. As they were going downhill towards the last guarding unit where Jake was stationed a soldier slipped on the mad and slid down the hill, taking another one down with him. The others started laughing loudly, but stopped immediately after the corporal gave them an earful. They continued and changed the guards.

Jake was paired up with Charlie, an 18 year old kid. They started talking about their lives, getting to know each other. Jake took cover behind a tree and lit a cigarette. They were both tired and sleepless and stopped talking after a while. Charlie sat on a big rock, exhausted from last day’s training sessions. He kept complaining about his boots not fitting well. All of a sudden Jake was startled by a sound coming from the area next to the tree he was standing.

-"Chill out Phat, it’s just the wind man", Charlie said laughing at Jake’s reflective movement.

Jake calmed down, thinking that he was really tired and he was hearing things. He leaned his back on the tree taking a long drag from his cigarette. The moon was finally uncovered from the dark clouds and he stared at it as it was covered again after a few moments, leaving darkness behind it.

The whistling sound of the wind was torn as the sound of a branch snapping was heard. Charlie quickly jumped from the cliff and grabbed his gun. Jake threw the cigarette away and aimed towards the source of the sound shouting:

-    "Halt! Who’s in the area?!"

There was no response and Charlie now repeated the same sentence. An indistinct sound of steps echoed in the air and they both took a few steps back. Jake loaded his rifle while fear was running through his spine.

-    "Halt or I will shoot!!!", he shouted. There was no response, but the sound of steps was more distinct now. It was clear that someone was approaching them. Charlie pointed his flashlight towards the source of the sound, only to see a thick layer of bushes. When the bushes started shaking, they both aimed at them. Both of their hearts were pounding, as they were not getting a response.

To their surprise, Jack, the camp’s dog came out of the bushes, waiving it’s tail. They both burst into laughter...