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It was night in the wasteland as a Brotherhood of Steel soldier went down under the ground for his final bout of training. A bunker was set aside for this one last obstacle course before the plunge, when this fine soldier was to be sent out to earn his name in the field. He was issued down a long corridor into the dim illumination, ending up in a small room with a metal door. In front of that door was his tester.

A small framed man of five foot six stood in a full suit of green painted metal armor from his shoulders to his feet. A bandana wrapped around his mouth and nose and a set of fogged googles covered his eyes. His head was completely uncovered, exposing a short full head of dark brown hair that still had dirt caked to it. Once the initiate was close to him he spoke up in a definitive manner.

"I am Senior Squire Rahm. I will be monitering your abilities through this exercise."

The young man held up a clipboard and thumbed over a couple of pages.

"Since I was called here on short notice I did not have a chance to go over your files. Why don't you start off by introducing yourself."

"It seems we're letting in anyone who can pull a trigger these days. First of all don't ever call me sir again. Simply do what I tell you to do and say what I tell you to say. As for your request, denied. When someone speaks to you next time initiate, listen. Now follow me."

The instructor stated as he turned and went up to the door. It opened and he ushered the Brotherhood soldier down a short corridor and into another room. Some straw-stuffed, burlap sack dummies stood around on metal poles. One such dummy stood off to the right, three more stood across the room, where a white firing-line was drawn on the ground several meters from them. Weapon lockers and ammo boxes lined the sides of the room where the dummies weren't.

"We will start off with the basics so I may evaluate your skills as you have them now."

The instructor said as he pointed to the lone dummy nearby.

"Strike the dummy."

Rahm had his head buried in the clipboard, writing furiously, before he motioned with his hand to bring the recruit over to the firing line. A table sat off to the side with an assortment of smallarms. Pistols to hunting rifles adorned the surface of the table. All manner of bullets and magazines also sat beside the appropriate weapons, which were all in the safe position.

"Now you will show me your capabilities with a firearm."

Zarek grinned, rifles and pistols were his specialty. "Finally..." He muttered under his breath as he picked up a colt .45. He checked the magazine first, being sure to keep the gun pointed down range at all times. After sliding the clip into the handgun he noticed a pair of safety goggles and earplugs nearby. He put the earplugs in tight and fixed the safety goggles on just right. Still pointing the gun down range he flipped the safety off and called out "Safety off." which was followed by him opening fire on the dummy. His skill with small guns made up for his near sighted vision in pretty much every situation except for sniping at long distances. He had nailed the dummy slightly to the left of the heart, then in the gut twice, then in the neck, shoulder and collar bone three times. He emptied the rest of the clip trying to shoot the dummy in the head which, while was less accurate than aiming for the heart, did more immediate lethal damage in his opinion. About 3/4 of the shots fired at its head hit. He grinned and flipped the safety back on calling out "Safety off." as he removed the clip and set the colt down with the other handguns. He put a fresh set of bullets in the magazine and then placed it next to the other clips.

Glancing around the other guns he spotted a hunting rifle. He picked up the fairly light weapon and, just as before with the colt, kept it down range, loaded a full magazine, flipped the safety off, and then called "Safety off, opening fire." as he took aim. He began firing repeatedly at the dummies heart, not aiming anywhere else. Most all of the shots landed close enough to the heart that it would be lethal, and a few actually hit the exact spot were the heart was. He continued firing until the clip was empty, then flipped the safety on, announced that it was on, then pulled the clip out. Bullet by bullet he reloaded the magazine and set it next to the other ones.

There was one more gun he wanted to use, and that was his AK-47. He slung it off his back and checked his clip. It was full. He flipped the safety off and aimed down range. He intended to not let go of the trigger, so rather than aiming for the heart he aimed for the dead center of the gut. He inhaled and then exhaled several times until he felt he was ready. Checking his aim once more he squeezed down hard on the trigger, not letting go. As the bullets blasted out one by one at such an amazing speed, he tried his best to keep the gun aimed at the center of the chest. He felt as if time had slowed, and he could hear each crack of each bullet flying out of the chamber. It was as if he could watch as each bullet leaped from the end of the barrel and dug deep into the dummy. He continued on and on for what seemed like forever until finally the clip was empty. He stopped and inhaled once more. It seemed as though pretty much all his shots had hit somewhere on the dummy waist up to its neck. He turned the safety off, then called "Safety off." as he let it hang from the sling that held it to him. He removed the clip and swiftly reloaded it. Popping the full magazine back into his AK-47 he slung it back over onto his back and turned around to face the man in the green metal armor.

Now he was steaming he turned to face the man in the green armor, as he angrily picked up his assault rifle and clicked the safety back on without saying a word. Clenching his teeth he said angrily

"It's basic safety protocol to alert the drill sergeant of the condition in which your weapon is in during any kind of stationary live fire exercise. Pardon my language sir but you'd have to be pretty stupid not to know something as simple as that."

He felt like he was about to explode. It was one thing for someone to be tough on the lower ranking members but this idiot was blatantly insulting him and the only reason Zarek could see behind this immature behavior was that the man must have some self esteem issues and must feel like he has to be ridiculously hard on the new guys to make himself feel good.

Sighing Zarek untensed a bit and shifted his position into a less aggressive and formal pose.

"No....continue on......"

He was really starting to get a headache from this.

Nodding, Zarek moved over to the table with the grenades on them. He picked one up that he was quite familiar with, incendiary grenade, and got into a position to throw it.

"Fire in the hole!" He called out as he pulled the pin on the metallic cylinder. He quickly visualized tossing it at the center dummy, trying to get it right in between it's legs. As he wrenched his arm back, feeling his body tense up, he grinned slightly. Letting his right arm suddenly blast forward as if it had been building up some sort of unbearable force he watched as the nade skidded along the floor quickly, sliding towards the dummy...almost there....and then- ah crap. The grenade had about four feet past the dummy, darting inbetween it's legs then grinding to a halt a second after. Instinctively, he ducked down and waited for the familiar sound of crackling flames. Less than a second later he heard the sound of flames lapping away at the air around them. Calmly, he uncurled himself and stood up straight, watching as the flames that exploded across the floor of the firing range trickled up the straw dummy's legs, climbing higher and higher slowly, devouring it as if it were a brahmin and the flames a starving death claw.

Zarek nodded and crouched down slowly.

Sneaking......one of my specialties

As he quietly began moving through the artificial wasteland, he glanced around for the other initiate. Making his way over to a stack of crates he quietly glanced past it, surveying the rest of the room.

If there was one thing that he had learned growing up in a small, near defenseless, little shack in the middle of nowhere, it was how to sneak when the baddies came. Usually it was a band of raiders, and when they came, the whole family just snuck out back and quietly kept their distance from them.

As he finished surveying what he could see of the room he silently made his way over to a set of bins, making sure not to step on any cans, large twigs, or anything else that would make much noise. He continued this process until he could see the door well within view, he had not yet spotted the other initiate, but he had been watching his back, and making sure he was well hidden.

Eventually, as he got closer to the door, he spotted the other man, roaming about, checking behind crates and barrels, searching for him. Luckily, Zarek was already ahead of him, which gave him an advantage. Keeping close to the walls, he creeped over to the door. The hardest part in learning about sneaking, had always been how to open doors. He doubted that they kept this door in excellent condition, so if he opened it slowly, it would probably make a loud creaking noise. The way to make it open silently, he had taught himself, was to open it quickly.

Reaching out for the metallic knob, he gripped it tightly. He began to sweat a bit, feeling slightly pressured. As he turned the knob, he got ready. Quickly, he swung the door open, crept inside, then swung it almost all the way closed. The door never made a creak.

Just before it slammed shut though, he stopped it, then slowly pulled it closed.