[MacGyverGod]

Finished chapter 3. Wasn't easy to write. Let's say it's my own version of the beginning of the Bushmaster episode. Also I did a little searching on the West Point site that's where I got the seven army values from. It's probably not entirely accurate with reality but hey it's just a story.

(We fade in as the texts of Headlines II appears and the track Orry's Challenged from North and South starts playing)
Headlines II
February 1941 – May 1941

Rommel arrives in Tripoli

February 12 1941
The British army in North-Africa has to deal with new enemy troops. In the Libyan Tripoli German troops has landed. They are reinforcing their Italian allies, whom suffered a series of defeats against the British. The head of the German fighting forces that are operating under the name Africa Core is general Erwin Rommel, a capable strategist who gained recognition in the past year while being the head of a tank division during the conquest of France.

The Balkan Surrenders

April 27 1941
The swastika-flag of the Nazis is waving now also on the Parthenon, the famous temple of the ancient times that looks over the Greek capital Athens. Greece surrendered on April 21 to the German army. Covered by the Greek infantry the British soldiers who were stationed there retreated slowly to the coast south of Athens from where they could evacuate their army across the sea. Yugoslavia capitulated as well. The German invasion of Yugoslavia followed up the fall of the pro-Nazi government of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia on March 27. The Yugoslavian troops were poorly armed and strong divided and could hardly offer little resistance to the German army that owns a superior battle force.

Bomb throwers attack London

May 10 1941
Bomb throwers of the German air force performed a mass attack on London. On a few hours of time five hundred and fifty German aircraft threw a carpet of hundreds extremely powerful bombs. It caused over two thousand fires and one thousand four hundred and thirty-six peoples died. A lot of streets in the center of the city are blocked and a big part of historical London lay in ruins. Also other British cities were heavily bombed last months, but not one city has suffered so much damage and nowhere else so many victims has fallen as yesterday in London.
(The music reaches it's ending and we fade out here)

(We fade in with the military music of The Abyss)
Chapter 3
The Bushmaster Competition
Six months later
May 1941

Six months had passed now and our trainings became harder and harder each week. No wonder, O’ Neill had to get us ready for the Bushmaster Competition. It’s a simulation of a war zone where in soldiers are tested in the ways of war.
It was a bright sunny day in early May, so considered the weather conditions it shouldn’t be so bad. I expected the weather to be terrible.
We were now standing inside of a hangar, in front of a plane. As usual I was standing in the middle of the first row with my friends left and right of me.
Colonel O’ Neill was standing in front of us.
‘Six months. That’s how long it took for me to get you guys ready for this,’ he said while walking from left to right. ‘Even though, it’s still early for you guys. We organised this competition because you are the only class who have made good progress over the last months. Congratulations for that, but you still got eighteen months of training ahead of you, so you’re not out of my misery yet.’
He stopped walking around and stood still in front us. (The music stops here)
‘After those eighteen months, you must pass this test on a much higher level. This is still an easy course. Well, easy? It depends from what angle you look at it, because gentlemen, even if this is a simulation, we shoot with life rounds.’
Hearing him say, that life rounds will be used, made the group feel a little uneasy. Some were murmuring something to the ones next to them.
Some said: ‘No, we’re gonna die!’
Others were just too stunned to say something
O’ Neill’s eyes lit up in a taunting way when he mentioned it.
I looked around to see how the group reacted. Everyone was a little worried about using real bullets in a simulation. Everyone, except for Murdoc. He just kept standing there cold and concentrated and calculated like a predator ready to catch his prey. The fact didn’t seem to bother him much.
I was not happy about this. I even began to think that O’ Neill was crazy.
‘Sir, you can’t be serious about that,’ I said.
‘Oh, yes, I can and believe me, they’re real.’
I really wanted to say more about it. Using guns with real ammo still bothered me very much and I shivered each moment I think I have to shoot somebody. The gun trainings were merciless and no matter how hard O’ Neill tried on converting me in using guns, there’s always one part of my conscience that says no in using it. I use them because I don’t got a choice. If I get in the engineers corps, I don’t need them. It’s just now during training that I use them.
‘Gentlemen, this plane here will take you up, to the area where the competition is held. The idea is that you use your parachute to land in the war zone where the fighting and shooting has already begun.’
He paused for a moment, before he continued.
‘Alright, it’s almost 1400 hours. The time has come to participate. Everybody grab your gear and get on the plane. Double time it.’ (The military music starts again)
So we took our gear, guns and other weaponry and a map of the territory before we went on the plane. It took off and a few moments later we were airborne at four thousand feet.
The interior of the plane wasn’t that special. At each side of the plane there was a bench installed were we sat on. There was only one person standing in the plane and that was O’ Neill. He grabbed a steel bar near the ceiling of the plane to stay steady. (The track The Jump from Rambo: First Blood part II starts playing)
‘MacGyver?’ Jesse said, who was sitting next to me.
‘Yeah.’
‘I’m scared,’ he said.
‘Don’t be,’ I said to comfort him. ‘You’ll be alright.’
‘Yeah?’
‘I’ll take care of you.’
‘But those life rounds…’
‘Don’t think about it.’
‘But I do.’
‘If you don’t think about it, it can’t bother you.’
Jesse looked at me shocked.
‘That out of all people, you say something like this.’
‘Yeah, I know how it sounds.’
‘Are you scared?’
Than I looked at him.
‘Yeah. I am. We should be scared. Every soldier is supposed to be scared. If they’re not scared, they’re not soldiers. It doesn’t matter how crazy they are but they are scared.’
‘What if it goes wrong down there?’
‘It won’t.’
‘But what if it does?’
‘Than I wouldn’t dare to think of the consequences. Look, Jesse, we’ll make it, okay? All of us. I make sure of it.’
I saw Jack nodding out of my eye corner. He sat across me with a few of the others. Than I saw Murdoc looking in my direction. He sat in the farthest corner of the plane. He had an evil grin on his face. He took out his knife and looked possessed at it.
The light in the plane jumped on green.
‘Alright, everybody it’s time. Once you’ve landed, you go South. Good luck!’ O’ Neill said and opened the door. Everybody started to jump out of the plane. After the first one jumped there were only three left in front of me. When I was about the jump O’ Neill held me back.
‘Don’t forget to pull the chord.’
‘Thanks for reminding me. If you find me dead down there, you know what happened.’
O’ Neill patted me on my shoulder smiling and I jumped out of the plane. While falling I saw everybody else jumping as well. I could’ve sworn that when Murdoc jumped I heard him screaming for my name.
‘MACGYVVVVVVEEEEEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!’
I kept an eye on my watch to see when I had to open my parachute. The time had come to open my parachute. I pulled the chord and the parachute opened. Others opened theirs as well. I just couldn’t stop noticing the view I had. It was an outstanding view, than why do we ruin it with wars and change the world as we know it?
Than suddenly I was taken from someone above me.
‘Hello, MacGyver, guess who?’
‘Murdoc!!! Are you crazy?’
‘Yes I am.’
Murdoc grabbed me from above and we spun around in the air.
‘Let me go!’
After all these months he still tried to kill me.
‘What do you think, MacGyver? You and I dying, together, right now?’
‘Well, how about you letting me go?’
My time to open my parachute was running out.
‘No can do,’ Murdoc responded.
I struggled to get free. With an elbow blow in his chest I succeeded in that and than I saw his chord and pulled it. His parachute folded open and than he let go of me. I continued my freefall and than opened mine as well.
The ground was coming closer and I was trying to steer my parachute to it. There were trees under me and I saw distant columns of fire. The closer I got to the ground to more I heard shootings and explosions. When the ground was closing in on me, it was like I was falling faster and faster. It was not long anymore before I would end up at the treetops. I focussed on the treetops trying to get in between but there wasn’t much space between the trees and than I ended in them. The branches scratched by me and my suit. It didn’t hurt… much. The next moment with a heavy pull I got stuck in a treetop. I was just hanging there in a tree with parachute on. When I looked up the cloth of the parachute was all torn up. Now what? (The music stops here)
‘Great! Now I’m dangling here on my parachute in the trees.’
The ground was still far below so I just couldn’t let myself drop down. I wouldn’t make it in one piece. It’ll result in an open leg fracture.
I released the straps of my but I made sure I didn’t let go. There were solid branches nearby, if I just get to them by swinging to them, I might be able to climb down from the tree. So I did. I climbed down to the ground.
When I finally was back on the ground I saw Jack, Jesse, Chuck, Neill, Tommy, Charles and Andrew coming to me.
‘Oh, there you are, Mac,’ Jack said.
‘Is everybody alright?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, we survived it so far,’ Jesse said.
‘What do we do now?’ Andrew asked.
‘Find that box and survive this test,’ I answered. ‘O’ Neill said we have to go South.’
‘Than, let’s do that,’ Tommy said.
‘Look, if we cover each other’s back, we’ll be alright.’
‘Come on, let’s do it. We’re wasting time,’ Charles said.
(The track Hang On from First Blood starts playing here)
So we went on our mission to retrieve the whistle. The closer we got to the South, the louder the explosions became.
The next moment we heard the explosion of a grenade nearby not far away from us followed by gunfire.
‘Wow! Is everybody alright?’ I yelled.
‘Yeah, we’re all clear!’ Andrew yelled back.
We all started shooting around us with our MP40’s. Even I, and I hated it out of the depths of my soul. Sometimes I deliberately missed. It just didn’t feel right.
‘Come on, keep going.’
‘We’re at your tail, Mac,’ Jack said.
There wasn’t much time to waste and it wasn’t safe. We ran further in the woods, in the South direction. Soldiers were shooting, ducking and hiding. There were even tanks going through the woods.
One of the tanks fired and a cannonball was sent through the air. The ball flew through the air and blew up when it hit the ground causing a giant crater in it. The soldiers that were near the explosion got blown away.
‘Let’s go!’ I said.
We ran to the battleground, joining the other soldiers in war. We switched from weaponry and with our Winchesters in our hands we went for cover behind some bushes.
Another explosion caused on a rain of debris falling on us. From the left, they started shooting at us. Neill and Chuck covered us by shooting back. They killed the soldiers.
‘Grab their gear,’ I said, ‘meanwhile I’ll check out the situation down there.’
‘Mac, what about us?’ Jack asked.
‘You stay there in the bushes,’ I said, ‘and cover me and cover Neill and Chuck as well. I’ll be right back.’
When I was about to move, Jesse held me back.
‘MacGyver?’
‘What?’
‘Be careful.’
‘Yeah!’
Slowly I crawled and then ran further down the road ahead, out of sight of the others. When I started running and I became to target of a sniper. The bullets ricocheted near my feet always missing by an inch, but I felt the bullets near to pants sleeves. The safest thing for me was to hide behind a tree. Or at least I thought so.
For a moment it was quiet but when I peeked from behind the tree, the shooting started again.
Another shot was fired and than I heard a thud. I peeked again from behind the tree and saw the sniper laying on the ground.
‘You, okay?’ a voice said.
‘Neill?’
‘Yeah.’
‘We’re here too, Mac!’ Jack said and the others came as well.
‘Alright, come on,’ I said and took them further to the South.
‘So what’s the plan?’ Neill asked.
‘I don’t know yet.’
‘Do you think this whistle is in this part of the battleground?’
‘Maybe. I think it’s better we split up in small teams. Than we can scout out more turf.’
‘Great idea,’ Andrew said. ‘I’ll go with Tommy and Charles to the Southwest.’
‘Good! Neill, Jesse, Chuck, you’ll take the Southeast corner. Jack and I’ll continue down the South road. When the whistle’s found, we’ll know.’
So we split up. Everyone went into their direction to find that whistle.
‘Mac, you really think, we’re going to find that whistle.’
‘Yes, Jack. If it’s here we’ll find it,’ I said while continuing down the street.
Than sound of a tank was heard. It spotted us and fired their cannon at us. A fireball was released and flew in our direction.
‘Jack, get down!’ I yelled and threw him to ground with me on top of him.
The next second the explosion followed. Jack and I covered ourselves when bits and pieces fell on us.
‘You ok, Jack?’
‘I’m fine, Mac. What are we going to do? We’re right middle in the open.’
‘I know, Jack. Let’s just wait till it fires again, then we run.’
‘Run?’
‘Yeah, run.’
‘Run.’
‘Ready?’
The tank fired again.
‘Now!’
Jack and I stood up and ran each to another direction. We started running to the other side.
‘I’ll see you on the other side,’ I yelled to him.
The tank fired again in my direction. The cannonball blew against a tree knocking it over. With a lot of creaking and wobbling the tree fell with a loud bang. I ran by the tank further away from it. When I ran deeper into the woods I ended up at a small rocky cliff. It wasn’t very steep but I wouldn’t want to fall into it.
I heard soldiers screaming and shooting at each other. Grenades were tossed and another series of explosions followed.
The tank I just ran away from had turned and boomed out of the woods shooting again with their cannon at the remaining soldiers.
Than my ears caught the humming sound of something that was closing by. It didn’t came out of the woods but… from above it.
A battle plane flew over shooting over the ground. I ducked for cover on the ground and when the plane turned around he fired again. The bullets were close by and I rolled over the cliff. On my way down I rolled over several times over the hard surface. Wham! Splats! A couple of moments later I hit the ground again with a hard thud and I remained there motionless for at least five minutes.
(The music fades away here) Everything was black in front of my eyes. I couldn’t see nor hear anything during that time.
When I regained consciousness I felt somewhat dizzy and unable to move. I sat on a chair with my hands tied behind my back. My head was sore and heavy. I felt dried blood on my head, it must’ve been from hitting my head. I opened my eyes and tried to figure out where I was. It was a place with no windows except for a small opening near the ceiling at the farthest wall. A machine gun was installed there. The battle outside was proceeding. Someone was operating it. I couldn’t see who.
‘What… what is…?’
‘Oh, good. You’re awake. Welcome back,’ the man said.
He turned around. It was O’ Neill.
‘Colonel?’ I said.
‘Yeah.’
‘What are you doing?’
‘We captured you. You’re now a POW.’
‘A what?’
‘A Prisoner Of War.’
‘Well, not for long,’ I assured him
‘We’ll see about that,’ O’ Neill said not convinced.
‘What is this place? Where am I?’
‘In a bunker.’
‘What are you going to do me?’
O’ Neill got a sadistic look in his eyes.
‘Hey, MacGyver, ever been tortured?’ (Tense music comes up here)
‘What?’ I was shocked he said that. This didn’t seem like a simulation to me.
‘Every soldier gets tortured once in a while. During the Great War I was captured several times too and they tortured me sometimes day and night. But I never gave in. Not once.’
‘Good for you.’
‘Now, we’re going to test your strength.’
‘What?’
‘Soldiers has to be prepared for everything. Guards!’ he yelled.
‘You’re going to torture me?’
‘That’s right. I’ve got many methods to get to information.’
‘And what’s your favourite?’
O’ Neill snickered. ‘I won’t tell! That’s the surprise.’
‘What do you want from me? I haven’t got any information, except the order you gave me. Retrieving the whistle.’
‘There is no whistle. Guards,’ he yelled for the second time. ‘Where the hell are they?’
O’ Neill went to take a look where his guards were at but than the bullets pierced through his body.
‘Jesus!’ I exclaimed.
‘MacGyver, are you alright?’ the person asked who shot O’ Neill.
‘Andrew.’
‘That’s right.’
Andrew untied me.
‘Come on, this way. We’re very close to the whistle. I just checked my map.’
‘How’d you find me?’
‘Chuck saw you being taken away and we followed you.’
‘O’ Neill just told me there is no whistle.’
‘What?’
‘Unless he was lying to me, we’re on a suicide mission.’
‘The son of a b*tch,’ Andrew swore and kicked O’ Neill’s body.
I looked at O’ Neill but there was something wrong with him, something I couldn’t place yet.
‘What’s wrong?’ Andrew asked.
‘I don’t know. It’s just… never mind. Where are the others?’
‘They’re waiting outside, trying to stand their ground.’
‘OK,’ I said taking my map. ‘According to the map, the whistle should be in this bunker.’
While the others tried to stand their ground, Andrew and I searched down the bunker. It took us sometime to find the whistle but in the end I found it.
‘I got it, Andrew.’
‘Great.’
We ran back outside the bunker and blew the whistle. Then the explosions and gunfire suddenly stopped.
The dead got up again.
‘Damn, we lost again!’ someone said.
‘Hey, what is going on here?’ Tommy asked confused.
‘I’ll tell you when we’re back at West Point,’ O’ Neill said who showed up behind us.

Twenty minutes later we were back at the hanger at West Point. Again we were standing in our rows with O’ Neill in front of us.
‘OK, gentlemen. You might be figuring what that was all about, right? It’s very simple. You were shooting with blanks. That’s why everything happened bloodless.’
‘But what happened than with those who got blown away?’ I asked.
‘Well if they got wounded or injured, there are always medics around. We could’ve taken parts out of the tanks ammunition or the grenades but than the test would lose credibility. You’ve been shooting with blanks this time, gentlemen. It won’t be like that next time on your final test when you graduate within 18 months. Than the bullets are real, just as real as they are in the war.’
‘So you actually weren’t going to torture me?’
‘I had that in mind though, if it wasn’t for you friend, private Andrew over there.’
General Hammond and Thornton entered the hangar. Hammond went to O’ Neill and whispered something in his ear. O’ Neill acknowledged.
‘Will privates MacGyver, Dalton, Neill, Chuck, Jesse, Andrew, Charles and Tommy step forward, please?’ he asked.
So we stepped forward.
‘As the winners of this years Bushmaster Competition in the lowest class, it’s an honour to give you your dog tags.’
General Thornton opened a box with necklaces in and metal tags attached to it.
‘You’ll be awarded with this tags not only because you won the competition but also because you have the seven army values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, Personal Courage- and the "Cadet Honor Code". Cadets don’t lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those who do. Congratulations.’
O’ Neill placed the dog tags over our heads and shook our hands. When he was finished, he continued: ‘Those who didn’t win the competition, can get their tags with General Thornton in his office. You all deserved it and did well out there. I’m proud of you all.’
Everybody started to applaud, except for Murdoc. I saw the anger and jealousy in his eyes.
‘There’s one more thing and than you’re all dismissed! The Generals and I arranged a visitation to our own Sea Force in December. We’re going to Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.’
Again everybody started to cheer and applaud.
‘Dismissed,’ O’ Neill said and everybody parted ways. (Tense music comes up again)
Murdoc was the first one to leave. Angry and probably disappointed that he didn’t met me on the battlefield. Better luck next time, Murdoc.
(The music reaches it's peak and we fade out here)

[MacGyverGod]

Updated as well. From the next chapter on the story continues to everything I've written over the past two months.