Free Welcome to the Marines (Corporate Marines Book 2) by Tom Germann Page A

as a testing day so that time ends up being used for studying.
    Every spare minute was going to be used for studying. This is going to be hard.
    Everyone is on edge after some of the announcements, especially after we learn the fail rates. Curiosity is curbed for most of us as we hope not to draw attention to ourselves. The rules appear strict, and they are. Break them and you’re out. But there are also expectations and gaping holes in the way things are organized.
    The example that I see of this is fraternization. The message is that friendships are frowned on. Cooperation? Encouraged, but don’t think that anyone else is your friend or you are in trouble. But we are all young and healthy. It only makes sense that some of the people here will be hooking up, even if it is only in a storage locker for five minutes at two in the morning.
    There are no consequences listed for that. I wasn’t allowed to make friends, but I could bang a different partner every night of the week and that was ignored.
    It happens with some of the candidates. Me? I looked at the number of people here and the failure rates. Then I looked at the holes in their logical rules. Aside from talking to others when I have to, I’ve decided to keep as far away from everyone else as I can. I have a feeling that those who take some time with a ‘friend’ for a few minutes are likely off the course.
    The one person that this does not affect is our friendly, outspoken blonde. In one of the early classes in the auditorium when we were getting a pre-lecture chat by the mad professor, everyone saw an arm pop up right at the front. I knew who it had to be and I was amazed by how brave she was. The “mad prof,” as most of us think of him, has breath that would burn through steel and he has a nasty habit of spitting when he talks. The first two rows of seats are always almost completely empty when he lectures and we have consigned them to never be used again as they are covered in a layer of toxic spit that is likely being used as a tool to kill off the weakest of us. I just stay back in the third row because half the time he can’t figure out how to turn on the microphone. This way, I’m able to hear most of what he says on those days. A few brave or stupid people accept being covered in saliva for the chance to hear everything he says.
    Of course, he was completely thrown off by someone asking a question. Given some of his mad ramblings that went off on tangents that had no purpose, none of us ever asked anything. Anyone who did was running the risk of an answer that made less than no sense.
    But she had her hand up and he stopped his ramblings and addressed her. “Yes, candidate? You have a question?”
    She piped up nice and loud. “Thank you, sir. I was curious about the purpose of having us in a section of ten that is always together but then none of the sections are ever together very much during all these classes. It does not make a lot of sense. Can you shed some light on this, sir?”
    She had done a great job stroking his ego and I knew that we would get a nice pat answer that made no sense. I was wrong.
    The professor grinned like a mad monkey and chuckled. “That is an excellent question. I was wondering how long it was going to take for one of you to show the brainpower to ask a question similar to that. Honestly, I didn’t think any of you were smart enough to ask it!”
    He started striding back and forth across the stage, waving his hands and muttering before he continued. Thankfully, he had his microphone on for once. “Yes, yes! You see, this is all about the section and the life that a few successful candidates will enjoy for as long as it lasts.” He stopped and stared at us. It was hard enough with all the studying and trying to stay focussed. His ramblings were driving some of us insane. I had a feeling this was deliberate. The more of us that snapped now, the less money the Corporation would have to spend on those of us that