Dev entered the narrow pipe. The moment he did, it felt like he had stepped into a dark pit with no way out. The tightly packed walls created a suffocating feeling, giving the illusion that he couldn't breathe.
He kept crawling forward. The deeper he went, the more it felt like he had entered an endless tunnel of darkness.
Suddenly, his head slammed into a sharp corner. It was a junction—one path straight ahead and another with tighter turns. Of course, Dev's luck wasn't on his side. He continued crawling through the twisted path, banging his head more times than he could count in that cramped space.
Twenty minutes passed like a blur. His arms burned, his back ached, but finally—he saw moonlight.
Dev picked up speed and crawled out, completely covered in mud.
Without wasting a second, he ran toward the next obstacle—the rope climb.
He jumped and started climbing fast. But halfway up, a strong gust of wind hit. The rope swayed hard. His legs lost grip, nearly throwing him off.
He slipped down a bit before finally getting a solid grip again. The rope had already peeled some skin off his palms, but it wasn't anything new. He'd felt worse during those endless pull-ups. Gritting his teeth, he took a deep breath and kept going.
Soon, he reached the belly crawl area.
Other trainees were already there, crawling under barbed wire barely a foot off the ground.
He watched as one trainee lifted his body up slightly—and instantly got shredded by the barbed wire. The trainee's scream echoed, shaking everyone.
Dev joined the crawl. It was way harder than it looked. He kept low, dragging himself forward, elbows digging into the dirt. At one point, he raised himself slightly and felt the sharp sting of iron cutting into his back. He instantly dropped down and kept crawling like a worm.
And then, finally, the last obstacle: a 15-foot jump into cold water.
Dev didn't hesitate. He took a clean dive.
[Dev POV]
I hit the water perfectly. The cold hit my skin like a slap.
And suddenly, I remembered.
Back home, my father once threw me straight into the lake to teach me swimming. No warnings. No prep. Just—splash. I'd flail and sink, and he'd wait a bit before pulling me up. Then he'd say, "Move your hands. Don't panic."
That was it. That was the lesson.
While kids these days learn from coaches in warm pools, I learned with the old-school method. Maybe that's why I don't fear water.
I surfaced, took a deep breath, and pulled myself out.
But once I was out, the adrenaline crashed. My body stumbled. Legs shook.
Still, I got up. Forced myself to walk straight.
Finally, it was over.
Or so I thought.
"Let's have a run back again!" Rana shouted.
What the hell, man.
We started running again, dead legs and all. When we reached the regular training ground, the General was waiting on the stage.
"I heard you already did your warm-up," he said with a smile. "I was gonna join too, but you guys were just too energetic and finished without me."
A few guys looked like they wanted to cry.
"Anyway, how was yesterday's therapy? Loved it?"
No one responded. Our faces were blank.
"Since yesterday was a lenient day, today's task needs to be harsher. I heard you all love swimming. There's a river nearby—let's go for a wash."
A deadpan silence spread across the group.
I genuinely thought the obstacle course was the end of the day.
It was already hell. I thought I could sleep, maybe even rest properly.
But these guys were just getting started. I swear they're trying to make us break—and maybe even die.
We reached the river. It wasn't calm or clean like a pool. Its flow was rough, uneven, wild.
And then came the order.
"15 kilometers of swimming. In this river opposite to the current."
I had just run 10 kilometers half an hour ago.
Are they trying to drown us and cover it up as a natural accident?
Because that's what it felt like.
No one said anything. We just looked ahead.
"Dive" Soon a shout was heard
Following that we started diving and swimming keeping enough distance not to get in way of each other.
And who said be calm like water didn't he never went to river. Since we were swimming opposite to current the water was crashing directly in us. Initially the flow was slow and for 3 Km we were holding good but then a high current portion came and damn the water felt like we were crashing in rocks. A tired poor guy wasn't able to hold much and was defeated by river.
I don't know where he went.
[Dev pov ends]
From a high cliff, the trainees looked like insects swimming in chaos. The instructors watched their struggle closely, quietly carrying out the process of elimination.
Those who couldn't keep up were caught in underwater nets—hidden from the trainees' view.
The sudden change in current was brutal. Most trainees' minds and bodies couldn't adapt to the shift. Every change slowed their swim, chipped at their morale.
By the midpoint, bodies started giving out. Several trainees passed out mid-swim, carried away by the merciless flow.
Dev didn't know what was happening around him. He was just swimming. No thoughts. No fear. Just movement. His stamina had already adapted to long-distance effort, but the relentless force of water made his muscles sore, his limbs almost numb.
Eventually, they saw it—a saffron flag. The finish line.
The moment they climbed out of the river, most of them collapsed. Some were coughing up water. Others just lay there, unmoving.
Without goggles or gear, their eyes were bloodshot, raw from exposure.
Dev lay on the ground, tilting his head to drain the water from his ears, when he heard a voice.
"How was the bath, soldiers?" General Arjun stood there, voice laced with mockery.
"Take a good rest. I hope to meet all of you again. And I hope you all want that too."
With that, he walked away.
Dev crawled toward Karan.
"You alive?" Dev asked, voice hoarse. and out of nowhere said "I... somehow miss Angel."