The Army Camp

It's been some time I wanted to write this story. It may sound ridiculous to you but bear with me because it may not be the first time you heard this and it is not new in the military camp.

It happened in the National Service Training Programme, which is a compulsory training camp for selected Malaysians. At least one in a family will be randomly chosen for the program. There was a man in his young adulthood selected for the program. He was enrolled in the program with his girlfriend and some of his best friends from high school. 

The camp was located deep inside the tropical forest with no town or villages nearby. However, there is a highway that connects to the camp to ease local transportation. Therefore, unless it is urgent, no one could leave the camp in the span of these six months.

Everything in the camp was new and exciting for the young juniors. Males have a short and tight haircut, and females are permitted with hair up to only shoulder length. Everyone is wearing the same despite ethnicity and background. The young cadets trained for eight hours a day under the sun, and everyone was red and sun-tanned. Some kids who had never been to the gym or were involved in physical training had a hard time adapting to the new lifestyle. Some fainted during the training and were admitted to the military hospital. Most will be granted sick leaves up to three days before they can join the training again. Home-sicking may be something unpleasant to the cadets, but friendship and good foods are the fuel that keeps everyone going. 

The young cadets barely have time for hobbies. Most people would spend their time sleeping when they're not in the field. Else, they would gather in the barrack chitchatting by their bed. The daylength training grinds everyone up and you can barely do anything else after stepping out from the scorching sun. The young man barely sees her lady anymore as the female barrack is separated from the male's. However, they could see each other sometimes during the march especially the jungle march. The captain would put females and males cadets together during the jungle march as they were cautious of the "something" in the jungle. The young female platoon who was new to the place, who has never been through physical exercises; with lowly spirit, some tend to fall into a hysteric stage during the jungle march.

There are rules to obey during the jungle march, for example, you shouldn't call each other names, you shouldn't say something disrespectful in the jungle, you shouldn't march alone and you should complete the march before the sunset. However, there is always someone who is daring enough to put those warnings to the test. 

It was the platoons' fourth jungle march. As always, the cadets were reminded of certain things they should and shouldn't do in the jungle before the march. There was a girl who claimed herself to be an atheist who decided to break the rules to testify against the beliefs. The girl marched with four of her companies, including the man's girlfriend and she decided to break the rules one by one. First, the girl decided to call her friends' names, and nothing happened. She got motivated and decided to say something disrespectful to the jungle. Nothing happened. At last, she decided to delay the march. She did everything she could to slow the others down. That includes tying her shoelaces, pretended to have heatstroke, requested for rest, and refused to move forward. 

Her companies got panicked about what is happening but they're not allowed to leave their company behind. They tried to bear with her and even take turns to carry her on their back but still, they couldn't catch up with the platoon's pace. At around 630 evening, it was dim in the jungle. The group got nervous but there was nothing they could do to speed her up. At about 700 in the evening, it was dark in the jungle and they have to use a torchlight to navigate their way back. One of the girls, the man's girlfriend started to shiver for no reason. She was conscious but couldn't control the agitation of her body. The atheist girl started to notice something unusual now, she regretted her attitude and tried to help the girl back to the camp. However, both of their footsteps became heavier as though something is pulling them backward. At about 830 in the evening, they reported back to the camp.

The next morning, both of the girls failed to report themselves for the morning march. They were soon admitted to the military hospital due to high fever and were seemingly psychologically traumatized. They refused to see anyone and when visited by the captain, they became emotionally unstable, they hid in the blanket, laughed, and cried uncontrollably. They were given three days of medical leave as usual and have to report back to the camp after. After three days, one of the girls reported back for training. However, the girl who challenged the rules didn't. Their fever was gone and they were back to the barrack but the atheist girl behave more strangely now. For example, the girl would wake up at the midnight to comb her hair with a creepy smile on her face. She wouldn't attend the training session but would sit on her bed laughing at the corner of the room. 

The captain realized something strange and paid a visit to the girl in the barrack. He sat by her bed and tried to talk to the young lady but she wouldn't respond. The cadets gathered around the bed out of curiosity. Out of a sudden, the girl broke into hysteria and the cadets have to press her down to the bed. Both medic and religion teacher (Ustaz) were called to the barrack. The doctor injected her with diazepam but there was no sign of calming her down after almost two minutes. She was unbelievably strong. Soon, the other girl who was just recovered from the fever broke into hysteria and now they have to hold her down too. The Ustaz was convinced that they're possessed and needed deliverance. The Ustaz started the exorcism with Quran verses. The two girls displayed extremely painful physical expressions, their faces were contorted and they uttered a few prolonged screams. The hysteria was somehow infectious, three other girls in the barrack broke into a scream after few minutes. To stop this, the two girls were brought for quarantine in a small submarine, each at a separate compartment.

It was until the next day when the man knew that his girlfriend was quarantined. Due to the concern of hysteric condition, no visitor was allowed to see her. The young man was panicked and rushed into the female camp during the lunch break. He was worried and wanted to see the girl. He was stopped by the security guards and camp leaders but he didn't care. He went straight to where they kept the girls. The submarine was located at the end of the female barrack, on the ground floor. He has to go through a group of females cadets who were chitchatting there during the lunch break. It is strictly forbidden for a male cadet to walk in the female camp without permission.

There was a guard tr trying to stop him but soon they broke into a fight. The guard seems to lose his mind when he attacked the man with a tactical knife. It was a rare occasion, the man withdrew his tactical knife and in the scuffle, he slit the guard throat. People around were shocked. The cadets kept telling the young man that both of the girls are possessed and the Ustaz kept them there so that their hysteric conditions wouldn't be infectious. The man wouldn't listen and proceeded to the submarine.

Upon arrival, he saw the submarines' hatches for both of the chambers were covered by pages torn from the Quran. Approaching the submarine, his footstep became heavier, as though the clock slowed down. He has difficulty in drawing his step forward or backward. Looking at the hatch decorated with Quran verses, the man felt dizzy and short of breath. He noticed something wrong now and decided to make a turn back. He felt such a gravity from the hatch that dragging him nearer to it. He tried his best to pull himself together and make a turn back. With all his strength, he turned his head and noticed all of the female cadets were frozen. They slowly turned their head towards him and gave him a creepy smile. He noticed things went out of control now and he has to get out of the place ASAP.

There are more than fifty female cadets staring at him with a creepy smile and they approached him slowly in small steps. He knew he has no other way to escape and he decided to jump off the fence of the building into the hillslope. He quickly climbed over the fence and breakfall at where the biomasses were the thickest. While he recovered from the fall, he saw the female cadets jumped off the fence and landed their heads at the rocks down at the hillslope. The dead bodies piled up in just a few seconds and there was no word to describe the horror he saw. Now, his feet are lighter and he proceeded to run across the jungle to the highway. He waved at the vehicles passing by and finally, a heavy truck stopped for him.

There is something that is better left untold.