I wake up to a feeling of immense hunger. I look around and realize that I’m still in the kitchen. ‘Did I fall asleep at the table.’ I look down and see a small puddle of drool. ‘I fell asleep on the table.’ I get and stretch. ‘Fuck my neck is sore. I’m not going to be able to get rid of that until tomorrow.’ I look over to the other side of the table and see Dave sleep in his chair. ‘I wonder why he didn’t go to his bed. Well he’s basically a flesh robot so it can’t be helped.’ I walk over to the fridge and think of eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon. I open the fridge and a carton of eggs, a frozen packet of hashbrowns, and a package of bacon are inside.

I grab the ingredients and start to prepare breakfast. I put the hashbrowns in the oven while I fry the bacon. Once finished I fry the eggs in the bacon grease leftover. I put 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, and a mountain of hashbrowns on to a plate and the same amount on another and place both plates on the table. After putting the plates down I stick what's left of the carton of eggs and the package of bacon into the fridge. I then go to a cupboard and pull out 2 forks and 2 knifes.

I look down at my plate. “Eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns never get old.” I look over at Dave who has woken up. “Let’s eat.” We both dig in. After breakfast I take a shower then I go outside and knock on Charlie’s door. The door opens after a couple minutes and Charlie comes out.

“It’s 6 am. Why are you here so early?” He asks.

“I was going to ask if you wanted to train.” I say.

“I might as well, I’m already up.” He says then closes the door. After a few more minutes he comes out in a fresh shirt and camo pants. “What do you usually do in morning training sessions?” He asks as we walk into my room.

“Normally we just do physically training.” I say.

“Why are you in your armor if you’re going to do physical training.” He asks as he looks at.

“So I can get used to moving and just generally being in my armor.” I reply. We reach the basement door and Dave joins us.

“What kind of exercise do you do first?” He asks.

“Well, first we run for an hour around the basement.” I say.

“Ok sounds good.” He says then stops. “I should probably get my armor.” He rubs the back of his head then runs back up the stairs.

I look Dave. “Let’s get started. I have no doubt that he’ll be able to keep up.” We start jogging side by side. At first it’s easy but after the first 5 minutes my lungs start to feel tight. ‘Jesus, I wish I had run more while I was in college.’ Charlie soon came down the steps and joined us. We ran in silence. After 10 minutes the tightness turned into a burning. ‘Even after doing this for 9 days it still kills me.’ By the 20 minute mark my sides start to hurt.

“I need to catch my breath you guys can go on ahead.” I say as I slow down to a walking pace. After a couple minutes I can jog again. This goes on for an hour. I collapse on the floor after the hour ends. My breathes coming in short quick gasps.

“Are you ok Josh.” Charlie asks as he kneels down beside me.

“I’m… Fine…” I say in between gasps.

“Ok.” Charlie says, obviously not convinced. After 5 minutes my breathing calms down and I’m able to get back up.

“So, what’s next?” Charlie asks.

“Next is push ups and sit ups.” I say as I kneel down on the ground. I place my hands shoulder length apart and get off my knees. It doesn’t take long for me to reach my limit. ‘Fuck my arms feel like jelly and my legs feel like lead.’ Dave and Charlie both continue but Dave wins out eventually.

“Jesus, how strong is Dave.” Charlie asks as sweat drips down his face.

“He’s 2x stronger than a normal person.” I answer. I then sit on the ground. “Hey Dave can you hold my legs?”

“Affirmative ‘Josh’.” Dave responds as he stops doing push ups and places his hands on my feet. Like push ups I don’t last long doing sit ups. After we finish sit ups we all sit down.

“So, what next” Charlie asks.

“We rest for an hour then do it all again.” I say.

“Sounds good.” Charlie says. After resting for an hour we get up and continue training. In the afternoon we train with our weapons and Charlie continues to give me advice. Day after day passed and slowly but surely we improved. My aim improved as did my endurance and strength. Dave hasn’t had anyone to teach him so he just practiced swinging his sword. Charlie has gotten more comfortable with his gauss carbine but couldn’t practice much due to his limited ammo, instead he practiced with the Lasgun I gave him.