Almost as soon as I got out of the dorm I crossed paths with an oddly scarred guy. He clearly looked older than myself, and his eyes were completely empty. I didn't exchange any pleasantries, it was clear he wasn't intentioned for any, and didn't look back once he passed me. I got back to the ground floor and looked around for a bit. I was in a large corridor that led to the exit of the building, along it were only two doors, one which led to the intake area, and the other one that led to the cafeteria. Admittedly the doors were quite big as during meal hours the movement would be significant enough to warrant this sort of size. About 10 people side by side could fit through it, and the closing was likely automatic, reminiscent of a gate. Here however wasn't the place I wanted to explore, I wanted to find out about the camp at large, so I took this chance to venture out.

  Where I was now was the central building, everything else was spread out around it. I firstly ventured to the north, there, on the outskirts of the facility, I found the training yard, where our first day had started and effectively ended. Beyond the obstacle course was the live-fire range. I hadn't seen it on my first day, well more like I hadn’t paid it much attention. We would likely go there a few times. A gun is a soldier's best friend after all.

  Yet, the firing range wasn't the direction I wanted to take, a different building caught my eyes. There was a grim, windowless structure built from prefabricated walls. I was walking towards it until I noticed its heavily guarded nature. Perhaps showing up in the area in the middle of the day was not the best of choices, I might get back here at a different moment. I spotted not too far from it what looked like an electrical plant. A large building with wires going from it that ran through different buildings. There was a structure right outside it that reminded me of the dead batteries of the outskirts back at Colonial City, but seeing as electricity was working here, this was likely a live one.

  West from the main barracks was my next stop, there was what looked like a logistics sector, a cluster of squat, reinforced buildings that seemed to serve as the storage hub for everything that kept the camp running, except for electricity which was further north. Getting close, I noticed the largest of the cluster was what I assumed to be the supply depot. It was a heavily guarded structure filled with crates of rations, equipment, and whatever else we were deemed worthy of using.

  Following the directions from that area I reached what was dubbed as the armory. It was a thick-walled fortress, sealed behind layers of security. To the south, away from most of the chaos, was the medical station. Calling it a hospital would have been generous. It was a repurposed metal container, outfitted with a few cots and basic medical supplies.

  Scattered between these main areas were smaller, less defined structures. Barracks for the instructors, storage sheds filled with old training equipment, buildings that looked like they had been repurposed so many times that even the staff didn’t know what they were originally meant for.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Beyond all of this was a wasteland stretched in every direction, an unbroken expanse of red rock and dust. It was oddly familiar to the no man's land that passed the outskirts of my so-called home. Without any transport vehicle it was hard to imagine leaving this outpost.

  Having nowhere much left to explore, I headed back to the central barracks. Lunch time was approaching and I didn't really want to be all that late. I reached into the main cafeteria and saw a bustling filling of people. Trying to distinguish the few familiar faces I knew, I realised that everyone had divided themselves among their respective groups. I noticed Vicky, she had been assigned to Group 8, to which she tried to protest, but all points falling on deaf ears. She still sat with her group, though she often had an indignant expression similar to what a spoiled child may have. Oddly, Roberto was the only reason I knew that expression. Spoiled might not be the right word, but he did have that sort of face, and he had the closest thing to spoiled in the outskirts, through the people that took care of him throughout his life. Leo had made it to group 1, which frankly wasn't much to my surprise. His performance in the track assessments and the gym work was frankly impressive. Nora had made it to a respectable group 6, and unfortunately for the brother of the dead kid, he had been put in group 10.

  I walked up to the Group 3 table where my nine group mates were already present, I noticed some of them looking at me weirdly, Ralf was the first one to speak to me,

  “Enjoyed your little stroll outside?”

  I couldn't really decipher his tone, it wasn't derogatory, but it wasn't even completely warm. I tried to imitate the tone in my reply, but I feel like it was more curt than anything.

  “It was pleasant, the air is nice”

  It wasn't really a lie, the air was much nicer than back in the outskirts, I thought Ralf might get annoyed, but his sigh was more exasperated than anything. It was Stefan that filled in the gaps in my understanding.

  “Ralf is asking you to share what you saw, he doesn't care what you actually do, we're not a team just a group of individuals”

  I thought to myself that this wasn't as obvious as Stefan made it seem to be, but I decided there was no use to keep to myself information anyone can waltz out and look at. I described the facility, where the different areas were located. I was a bit more vague on the eerie place I wanted to try exploring later. I got a few extra questions regarding the location, just enough to pass the time until lunch.

  Lunch was fine, it wasn't much better than the ration packs from the outskirts, but it also wasn't food we needed to fight for. Apparently as well, it had the nutrients we needed to operate. One interesting touch was that groups 3 and above had access to an extra area with some fruits imported from a planet in Augusta which I assumed to be Nora's home as she was in an agricultural planet, known for its fertile soil. This division between the groups created some evident feeling of resentment with the others, but so much is to be expected.

  After lunch break the groups from my intake were directed to the firing range. The fact we didn't do any shooting during our intake day made more sense now, as, when we reached, we were put in our respective groups and assigned weapons based on the groups, with the lower groups only being assigned basic rifles or pistols, and us to group 1 being given more heavy machinery. In the end we had an effective subdivision of 3 groups. Groups 10 to 8 were given pistols and directed to Corporal Ali, groups 7 to 4 were given what looked to be a standard issue rifle I saw on the police a few times in the outskirts and were directed to Corporal Raven and us to group 1 were given what we were told was called an AR and told to go to Corporal Leya.