Left. Right.

Left. Right.

Left. Right.

Those were the thoughts that occupied Seth’s mind as he jogged the track. His sweat was cascading off his body. It was enough to make a puddle if he just stood in place. It didn’t help that the sun was also blazing down on him as he ran.

Left. Right.

Left. Right.

He had stopped thinking about anything else long ago. Seth’s only concern was about moving one foot after the other. He didn’t have any energy left to think of anything else. All his energy was concentrated on moving his legs.

Why was he running again Why did he put himself through this torture?

Right, because a certain Jacks told him to.

His instructions were simple enough. Run as much as possible so that Scout can get a good measure of you. The metal sphere was floating overhead the track field, watching the runners Seth’s fellow intern Kong Kravos could be seen not far off away from Seth on the track field, also in dire shape from running.

When Jacks had told them to run, Kong reluctantly followed those orders. He sprinted across the track. It wasn’t his top speed as far as Seth could tell, but it was close. Seth reckoned that Kong probably wanted to get this task over with as soon as possible. Kong had ran pass him a few times in the beginning but was currently paying the price now as he inevitably slowed down.

Seth had began his run with a controlled pace. The first couple of laps were easy enough as he ran. His body was trained and use to physical activity thanks to his master’s guidance. In fact, the first ten laps could be done in his sleep. Twenty laps was a bit of a struggle, but still manageable. After thirty laps, that was when his body began protesting. His leg muscles were burning as he pushed himself to continue after each run. It didn’t help that he had lost count after 36th lap.

In the end, he gave up on trying to figure out the number of laps he ran and decided to just focus on pushing himself forward.

Hence his current situation.

Left. Right.

Left. Right.

His body was concentrated on moving one leg forward at a time. Only two words were in Seth’s mind and the rest of his body was on autopilot.

Even though making them run on the first day was unreasonable, Seth had to admit that he enjoyed activities like this. There was just something about running without a goal in the mind, pushing your body to the limits. It forced your body to move and pushed away all the needless thoughts.

It was relaxing in a way.

Not that he was a sucker for self-inflicted punishment.

It was just that he didn’t have to worry about the Federation suspicions, his college search, his failure to form a core, and other small problems that had piled up without his noticing. All his thought process was focused on one thing.

Just

Keep

Running.

Seth could feel his exhausted body slowly coming to a halt. His jog had slowly decreased in speed to a power walk and then a crawl. His breathing had slowly became a mess as his lungs demanded more air after each passing moment. He could feel his body slowly stopping and knew he would last much longer on the track. Soon the moment came as he predicted.

Seth body mutinied and he collapsed on the floor. His body refusing to move another inch, the only action allowed was the intake of air as Seth inhaled and exhaled the much-needed oxygen to keep himself functioning.

While the ground wasn’t the cleanest place to take a rest, it currently felt like heaven to Seth’s exhausted body. You could throw his body into a bed of thorns and Seth would still find it comforting. That was how tired he was. Seth was about to fall asleep if not for a certain person.

Something hit Seth’s leg and crashed onto the floor afterwards. Seth could only groan in protest as his body had become most numb from all the jogging. He did not even bother turn his head to see who it was that his kicked him as he there. He heard something like a grunt in response. Automictically, he knew it was Kong on the floor who had issued that grunt since there was only one person who had been with him running on the track. Whether it was an apology or an insult, Seth couldn’t tell, nor did he care. All he cared was it disturbed his resting body.

Then Seth heard another voice, this time belonging to Major Jacks. “Great, you guys are done running. Take a break, get changed, get some chow in you and then meet me in my office at 1. I got some work prepared for you guys.”

Jacks had began walking away but decided to say one last thing. “ Just so you know right now it is past 12 so you boys better hurry up.”

Two groans could be heard from the track field which Sergent Jacks took as an acknowledgement.