RANGERS CHAPTER 5

Morgan awoke from his sleep with a snort. His shirt drenched with sweat due to the nightmares plaguing his dreams. Looking around the large cargo bay that the Rangers called home, Morgan sighed with relief. His head landed on the pillow once more as the back of his hand covered his forehead. Staring at the roof of the shipping container his bed was in. 

A whistle came from his left where Jacinta lay awake as well. Below her Matteo also sat awake, eyes wide. Seems everyone was having trouble sleeping despite the order to rest they were given. Morgan sat up on his bunk and faced the two before speaking. 

“How are you going?” 

His voice emitting empathy as he spoke. Jacinta shuffled a bit on her bed then shook her head quietly. Morgan looked down at Matteo who almost looked like he was in shock. Morgan was quick to realise that everyone was scarred by the experience on the shore and decided to talk about something else to try avoid the subject. 

“Jacinta, how is your family doing?” 

Reacting to the word family as if waking from a dream she thought for a moment before speaking. 

“A friend next door is taking care of them while I do the trials. I feel bad though, because I know how much of a handful my family can be" 

Morgan shared a smile with Jacinta. He didn’t quite understand family life as he never had much of one. He didn’t even know his father or mothers name. All he knew was Gary, who was a teacher, more than a parent.  Morgan hung his legs over the edge and continued talking to Jacinta. 

“Well, I bet they are proud of you for doing this” 

Jacinta seemed to lighten up and gave a limp smile to Morgan, offering a small thank you. Morgan fixed his gaze onto Matteo who was mumbling under his breath. Morgan said his name to get his attention but had no luck. Jacinta tried as well but the same result applied. The two confused, shared a look. Ranger leader called for a line up and the small squad of recruits ran to their positions. All except for Matteo who lagged behind, still muttering to himself. Ranger leader took notice and asked what was wrong with him but no one could give an answer. The Ranger leader spoke, his words clear and defined. 

“Today is the last day of training, and the first day of your career as a Ranger. Each and every single applicant we have had during this period has exceeded our expectations. But unfortunately, only one of you will be going through to take the role of Ranger. There are two tests to show your worth to me and my team. If you follow the Lieutenant , she will be taking you to said tests” 

His hand pointed to the Lieutenant who had her Ranger gear on, weapons included and told the recruits to follow. Once they began following they started a quick jog to the furthest wall of the bay. There were three doorways, painted while with rows attached to them. At the end of each row was a  dimly lit target. Circles with various numbers were on the head and torso of the target. The Lieutenant yanked a rope and the targets were elevated to the height of a ghoul , much taller than the door frame. 

From behind Morgan, the Ranger Leader passed him a pistol. An m1911. The pilot and sniper did the same with Jacinta and Matteo before walking back to a line, painted on the floor. The Ranger leader spoke, loudly. 

“You have been given guns with live ammunition. There are seven rounds in each gun and you are going to shoot all of them at the target”

He was quiet for a moment and the air seemed stiff. A gun with real ammo? This should feel a lot different to the rubbed bullets we used in training, Morgan thought. The Lieutenant stood stiff like a guiding statue before the thundering voice of the Ranger Leader erupted from behind them. 

“ENEMY TARGET. OPEN FIRE!” 

Without a hint of hesitation the Lieutenant yanked the cord which sent the targets barrelling toward the group. Jacinta fired first and Morgan followed shortly after. The recoil from the gun almost non existent as Morgan learned to predict and control gun recoil in his training. He fired a single shot hitting the target in the shoulder region but unloaded the rest of the magazine upon seeing how fast the target was actually moving. 

Just before the target arrived at Morgan the gun clicked and the top half slid back, exposing the barrel of his m1911 pistol. He let out a short breath and looked over to Jacinta who seemed pleased, hitting mostly the body region with a few headshots. Morgan shifted to his own target with a few shots just missing the head and about four toward the centre of the body. Morgan looked to Matteo who hadn’t even lifted his pistol to fire. Ranger leader approached and took the gun out of his hand before patting him on the shoulder and speaking. 

“Sorry but this is an elimination test and you didn’t fire a single shot. You’re out"

Matteo stopped mumbling under his breath and shifted his gaze to the Ranger Leader. 

“Out...?” 

“Yes. I will be doing up a recommendation for you to the officers, after a short psych evaluation”

Matteo seemed to have snapped out of his mumbled state but it was too little, too late. His head hung low and the last Morgan saw of him was his feet dragging as he exited the bay. Ranger leader spoke up after taking the guns, having them reloaded and given back.

“This is the final test. I hope you are ready"

Morgan and Jacinta nodded and prepared themselves for the last test. Ranger leader looked at them with an insane glare then spoke. 

“Shoot me"

Morgan stopped and looked at the leader in confusion. Why would he shoot the Ranger Leader? Is the nightmare finally getting to him? Is he getting too old to do this? What possible reason could he need to be-

But before Morgan’s rushed thoughts could finish a shot rang out and a shell hit the floor. Morgan jerked his body to the right where Jacinta had fired directly at the Ranger Leader. Morgan’s body shook as he turned to face the Ranger Leader who still stood tall and without a scratch on him. Morgan’s mind raced once more but his mouth couldn’t form words. Was it a dream? Another nightmare he was having? But before he could manage the Ranger leaders hand landed on Morgan’s shoulder. Morgan looked up at the man and only managed to stumble out one word. 

“...How...?” 

The Ranger leader took the gun out of Morgan’s hand and pulled the magazine out. It was loaded with blanks. He looked back up to Ranger leader who spoke .

“if you hesitate in a fight and let everything go through your head, you will die. I’m sorry but, you’re out. Jacinta is the new Ranger. I’m sorry" 

Morgan felt empty. His whole purpose was to become a Ranger and he let it slip. He watched as the Ranger Leader shook hands with Jacinta and congratulated her. Everything became inaudible and the voices seemed to fade as he left the bay. Opening the hatch he walked into a densely populated hallway, with workers running around everywhere. Despite having all the commotion around him all he could look at were his feet and all he could hear was their shuffling. 

As Morgan walked he found himself back at his old room. It was vacant and cold. He sat on his bed and lay down. Thoughts rushed his head of all the things he could have done differently with wishes of this all being a dream. But it wasn’t. He had failed and he would never get another chance like this. 

Outside the room Gary pushed his way through the crowds as he rushed to Morgan’s room. The door was closed when he arrived and he knocked on it asking to be let it to no response. Gary tried again but the same thing happened so he pushed the door open. Inside Morgan had curled into a ball and lay motionless on the bed. Gary moved over to him and sat on a stool next to the bed. He puffed for a little bit before speaking.

“Hey, you alright kid?” 

Morgan didn’t respond and he was facing the wall so Gary couldn’t see his face. Gary sighed and spoke again.

“Look kid, I know it’s tough, it was your dream after all. I’m not gonna give u some bullshit speech about how everything will get better. Just know that I’m always gonna be here to support you and take care of you and are you listening?” 

Morgan let out a loud snore and Gary leaned over him realising he was actually deep in sleep. He sighed and sat back down in the chair. He rubbed some sweat off his forehead as Morgan lay asleep next to him. 

“Poor kid. Probably had it rough and needed some sleep" 

A couple minutes passed and out of nowhere a boy arrived at the door . He was short, had blonde hair and wore a blue cap. His clothes were also blue with a button up shirt and shorts and a bag hanging off his shoulder. He was a courier. 

“Hello sir. Are you Mr. Morgan?”

Gary shook his head and pointed to the body inn the bed. The boy nodded and went through his bag. It was stuffed to the brim with papers and assorted cardboard. He pulled out a small envelope for Morgan and asked if he could leave it with Gary to which he accepted. The little boy then briskly ran off into the crowded halls. Gary looked at the envelope and seen a Ranger symbol on it. He decided it was none of his business so he sat it down and left it with Morgan. 

A few hours passed and Morgan rolled over, falling out of his bed. He groaned and forgot he wasn’t in a comfortable bed like the Rangers had, anymore. Reaching up to the bed he felt the letter and brought it to his still tired eyes. He looked over it and upon seeing the Ranger symbol was wide awake immediately. He hesitated for a moment before opening the envelope. 

Inside was a couple folder pieces of paper and a coin. The coin was an old two dollar coin from the old world. It’s engraved picture was faded but it appeared to have an aboriginal person on one side and another person of the back. Morgan slipped it into his pocket and then opened the first bit of paper. It was a recommendation from Ranger leader to any job faction. It was specified to the Officers but was able to be used in any job on the ship in the event Morgan didn’t want to be an Officer. The second piece of paper was a letter from Jacinta. Morgan read it out loud to himself. 

“Dear Morgan. I’m sorry you weren’t picked to be a Ranger. I know we aren’t t meant to talk about it, but I could see you were deeply disturbed by the ghouls, and I didn’t want you to go through that again. I did my best to push ahead of you so you wouldn’t have to go through that horror again, so I’m sorry. This morning you said my family would be proud of me and It made me feel a lot better, so thank you. I think this world needs people like you in it, so I think you should do something you like and keep helping people. Sincerely Jacinta. P.S. my family live in room 111. You should give them a visit for me"

Morgan looked at the paper and smiled. He wiped his eyes and nose before standing up and putting the note into his little storage box next to his bed. Looking outside it appeared to be late afternoon so he decided to go for a walk. The workers had died down and were thinly populating the hallways now. Morgan approached a door with the numbers one-eleven on it and raised his hand, hesitating for a moment, then giving a gentle knock. 

The door opened and a woman with a child grabbing her leg answered. In the back on the lit room were two other children looking over to see who was at the door. Morgan wasn’t sure what to say but after a quick mention of Jacinta he was brought inside to one of the busiest rooms on the boat. The children asked Morgan about their sister and Morgan told them of how impressive their sister was. They received the news that she was a Ranger earlier that day and were all excited to find out. The woman shared her condolences with Morgan about not getting in but he laughed it off. The woman offered to take Morgan down to the hall with them for dinner but he politely declined with the excuse that he was still tired from training. As he left the kids all called out to him and the door shut leaving him in the dimly lit hallway. He smiled and began walking back to his room. 

A man rounded the corner and stopped Morgan. He slowly moved toward him as Morgan backed off. Two more men began approaching from behind. Morgan seen them and raised his fists ready for a fight but a voice called out from the dark, sending the goons back into the shadows. The voice was attached to a flashlight that landed on Morgan. 

“Holy shit, it’s you” 

The voice sounded familiar and Morgan shielded his eyes from the light trying to make out the figure. The light clicked off and before him was Derrick in an Officer uniform. It clung to Derrick’s large body with all its might, trying not to falter at any point and rip. Morgan sighed in relief as Derrick approached. 

“Hey, you need a hand getting home?”

Morgan let out a faint laugh and confirmed Derrick's question. Derrick walked by his side and began to talk. 

“I heard you didn’t get in. What happened out there?” 

Morgan let out a laugh and spoke.

“Its a long fucken story"