21 Chapter 21: Back in the camp

Today is Leila's first day to work again since she was in a vacation for a month.

She's currently wearing her usual uniform in the army which composed of dark green camouflage shirt and pants. She also wore her camouflage cap and her combat shoes. Her hair is styled in a bun. She has clear chestnut brown eyes as she already made up her mind.

She locked herself inside her room for three weeks already. She thought it should be enough for her to think things through. She decided to just let go of Leon even though she still loves him. It would be unfair for him if she will continue their relationship while there is guilt inside her heart.

She walked down the stairs and saw her mother and grandparents at their dining room and they invite her to eat with them.

Her mother is happy as she saw that she already started to go outside her room and is now dining with them again.

"Come, my dear. Have breakfast first so that you would have energy to work later", her mother said while smiling at her.

"Thanks, Ma. You're the best", she said while smiling back at her then sit at her own chair.

She also saw her grandpa reading at his newspaper and so she greeted him also and her grandma which is sipping in her tea.

They started eating. She doesn't feel anything wrong today with her body compared to the past few days as she sometimes feels noxious about what she ate but as she locked herself up her mother doesn't know about and she also just shrugged it off and tried finishing the meals that her mother prepared for her.

After they ate their breakfast, she bid farewell to them. She rode her motorcycle and went to their headquarters.

Leila's rank in the military is that she is a Sergeant which holds a squad consisting of ten persons. She first went to the canteen as it is already seven in the morning she knows that her teammates is currently having their meal. And she was right. She saw her teammates eating again in a fast pace as there are a timer during their meal. They have to finish their meal for ten minutes.

She waited until they finished and once they did, she approached them. Her teammates are happy to see her again as they didn't saw her for a month. They exchange pleasantries but the talk mostly consists of asking her how she is.

She also probed them about the current happening inside their camp. As she is talking with them, a woman wearing a set of uniform like them but, the difference is that she has a higher ranking at them which you could see from her pin which has her rank and name. She approached them and they all saluted to her.

"Good morning Lt. Madrigal", Leila and her teammates saluted.

"Good morning everyone. I see that you're finally back Sgt. Cara. How are you?", Lt. Madrigal greeted them back and smiled at Leila.

"I'm fine now Ma'am", Leila greeted and smiled back at her.

"Good. Well, you know the drill. Let us now go to the open field", Lt. Madrigal said.

"Roger that, Ma'am", they saluted and went outside the field.

The open field is where their exercises are being held. It has an obstacle course where you must climb over a ladder made of rope, crawl under a net, jump over a high wall and walk over a bridge made of rope.

In the open field, it has four squad which has ten members each squad. Lt. Madrigal is responsible for overseeing the whole exercise.

"So, everyone is already familiar with our weekly drill. As usual, the four squads will compete with each other. The fastest squad which could finish the task will be the winner and will receive a prize which will be announce later", Lt. Madrigal explained.

They conducted this exercises weekly so as to strengthen the bond of each squad. Since, they are not a trainee anymore they only conduct this once a week unlike the trainees which conduct it every day.

The four Sergeants which are the team leaders of each squad draw their lots to know what number they are. Leila also participates in this draw lot as she is a Sergeant. Base on the pin she draws, it has a number four written on it.

"So, everyone already draw their lots. Everyone be prepared. Squad number one start!", Lt. Madrigal said and the first squad start their obstacle course.

Country P, where Leila lives, is known for being a tropical country. It only has two seasons which is sunny and rainy season. As it is already seven-thirty in the morning the place is starting to get warmer.

As Leila and her squad is standing under the sun, she's feeling like something is quite wrong with her body as she feels like her body is starting to get exhausted even though she didn't do anything yet. But, she just brushed that feeling off and steeled herself saying in her heart, 'maybe I am just not used to it as I was in vacation for a month. I just need to train my body again'.

The first squad started their task while the team leader started to shout orders to her teammates. They end their task in a span of ten minutes and twenty seconds.

The second squad started and they finished the tasked in a span of nine minutes and fifty seconds.

While waiting for their turn, Leila already felt that there really is something wrong with her body. Her back is already drench with sweat but she just brushed it off.

The third squad proceeds and ended up with a time of nine minutes and fifty-five seconds.

"So, squad number four proceeds", Lt. Madrigal said.

This lead Leila out of her reverie, she said a brief encouraging words to her teammates and started to do their task.

While they are performing their task, she's already feeling unwell since the start but she just brushed things of. Actually she is only running and shouting orders at her teammates, while her teammates is the one performing the task. She is just overseeing their performance and observing what their teammates lack so she could train her teammates better.

'No, not now Leila, you must finish this task. Remember that you went away and left your squad for a month so you better repay them by winning this little contest', Leila said in her heart even though her eyelids is already feeling heavy.

'Leila just one more task to do. Bear with it', She said encouraging herself to finish the task while her teammates is walking on a rope that performs as the bridge.

"Squad number four done. Time finished, nine minutes and forty seconds. Congratulations squad number four for winning this task", Lt. Madrigal said while smiling at them.

Leila couldn't focus her eyes anymore even while Lt. Madrigal is talking, her mind is already fuzzy and then, everything went black. And the last thing that she heard is her teammates screaming and Lt. Madrigal asking her to wake up.

Her Teammates together with Lt. Madrigal took her in the military clinic. The military doctor checks up on her to find out the reason why she loses consciousness. After that she talked with Lt. Madrigal alone.

"Lieutenant, Can I speak with you for a moment?", Dr. Sanchez said. She is a middle-age woman that works in the military for decades now.

"Yes Ma'am, you may", Lt. Madrigal said.

She is directed to go and talk to her alone inside Dr. Sanchez office.

"Lt. Madrigal, did Sgt. Leila told you anything?", Dr. Sanchez started.

"None Ma'am, this is also the first time that I saw her again after a month of her recovery", Lt. Madrigal replied.

"Oh, I see. The thing is, is that, she's pregnant. It's a month old. She's lucky that nothing bad happened to her baby when she is conducting the exercise earlier. But, I talked to you about this Lt. Madrigal as you are her superior. I think it's best if you talked to her about it. Asked her to quit the military if, she wants to keep her baby safe", Dr. Sanchez explained.

Lt. Madrigal was shocked as she didn't expect this news. She thought earlier that maybe Leila haven't recuperate well but, she pushed her limits earlier which she should have not done ending up to her feeling unwell again.

"Okay Ma'am. I'll talk to her about it", Lt. Madrigal replied when she regained her composure.

"Thank you Lt. Madrigal. Don't worry I will be the one to tell her about her pregnancy", Dr. Sanchez said.