Heaven in Hell

ONE FOR THE TEAM!

PRESCOTT'S POV:

My entire body was aching and all I wanted to do was curl on the bed and sleep off. But my hunger always wins over. I know Chief is going to be with the team outside so I take out my hidden stash of food and stuff my face with some bread, cheese and salt crackers. Nothing like them to make your stomach stop begging with those awful sounds. 

Once I'm not completely dying of hunger, I put the left overs back and get to wiping down everything so that he won't find obvious traces of bread crumbs or crackers lying around. Satisfied, I take a quick shower and set my alarm for a much deserved nap before I report to Chief for some more planking time. 

I was sure my plank days were behind me when I left KMA. I had researched Navy SEAL enough to know that their routines did not include planking. Yet, somehow, failing for Colonel has me paying up with Chief. It is like having two guns pointed at you - one at your head and the other at your heart. 

--

I groan at the hellish sound of the alarm clock telling me that I need to get my ass moving. I bang at it but get up knowing that being late will only add to my miseries. I get out of the barracks only to face Chief and the team walking in. 

"Surprise Inspection" Roshesh mouths. Well, let's hope he is too old to bend down and view the middle of our beds to find taped food items. 

"Plank Prescott. Officers, feel free to correct him any time his posture is not right. Rest of you, get in" Great! I now have two dogs watching my ass while he finds evidence for killing me. The kids would have no chance of stopping or maneuvering him. 

I hear a bang from inside and my insides drop to my feet. If he finds out that stash of food, I can't imagine the consequences. Next thing I can see is Ashwin and Kyra carrying Arjun to the infirmary with Chief following them muttering to himself about 'weaklings'. As soon as Chief is out of sight, both the Officers run in and bring out the stash of food that I was sure they did not know about. 

Officer Siddharth stands above me while Roshesh runs off somewhere and is back before Chief returns. They stand in the same position as before as if they haven't moved from there while my heart is beating thousand kilometers per second thinking about what the heck they just did! If they had gotten caught, he would have skinned them alive before he even started with their punishment. God, how did I get lucky to have such a team? They had my back today, risking their own in one of the most stupidest ways I can imagine. 

My shoulders and back, abs and legs can scream all they want but there is no way in hell I can fall from this plank knowing what my team just did. 

--

KYRA'S POV:

When Arjun faints, I had no idea what he had planned for us. The smartass knew that Dr. Darcy had just stepped out and that would mean that either Chief or we, under his supervision, would administer an IV. That meant, Chief was out of the room giving a chance for us to pass our inspection. 

I gave the signal to Ro and he got to the task of saving Dad's secret food from Chief's hands. He barely gets enough food. If Chief found out, he won't get whatever little food he was getting and he would still pay hell for thinking he could get away with it. I don't know what Sid & Ro did but when we got back, we still failed our room inspection without Chief finding out any stashed food that could get Dad in trouble. 

Failing an inspection always meant adding a few hours to your daily routine. We had all figured that out by now that you cannot escape those extra hours no matter how hard you try. 

While Dad was still going strong in his plank, though he looked like he was killing himself on it, we had push-up vivas right outside regarding our CQB session yesterday. Thankfully, we managed to answer 80% of his questions with the correct tone, accuracy and speed. We only had to do about 200 push-ups to get to the end of the viva. The additional ones for failing never got counted. 

--

ROSHESH'S POV:

He has already given us a very limited time to hit the red zone and here we are wasting that little time on room inspection and viva. Please sir, let us go or else we will fail today too and there will never be an tomorrow. I am more than satisfied with today's run and I do not wish to ever repeat begging for a chance or doing a presentation on how I plan to achieve a target. 

"Dismissed" Thank you, Ass-Lord. 

I immediately get to the task of ensuring that we hit our red zones before time is up and we are dug deep in hell. 

--

PRESCOTT'S POV:

I manage to hold on to the plank but I did not keep a count of the time. If I thought of time, I would have fallen by minute 1. Chief just stood beside me in complete silence. If it weren't for his shoes staring right back at me, I would not even know that he was there. 

"Get up" What? He is asking me to abandon a plank. I jump back up happy to give my shoulders and core a much needed break. I would have kissed his feet right now and shouted thank yous if it did not get me in trouble. 

"You held it for 25 minutes. A thing that made you beg after 40 seconds was held for 25 minutes today. I expect similar progress tomorrow, Prescott, or else, we both know that there is a stash of food to be found. Am I clear?"

"Chief, I.. Clear, Chief" 

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A/N:

Sorry, it is short, but it is back-to-back updates. So, hip-hip-hurrah for that, right?