Hollywood: The Greatest Showman

Chapter 19: Exhaustion

"Today is the first day, so let's rest well tonight. Tomorrow morning at six o'clock, wake up and get ready for training. Dismissed!"

The captain still didn't introduce himself, and after speaking, he calmly turned and left. His relaxed demeanor made others envious, as if today's training was just a warm-up.

However, at this moment, Renly didn't have the energy to envy the captain anymore. His body and soul seemed to have separated. Earlier, he could feel his muscles sore intensely, but now he felt like a walking corpse, burdened with a heavy weight on his back, every movement draining all his strength. He needed to go back and lie down. If possible, he didn't even want to eat dinner—although his stomach was already cursing him, having digested the sandwich from lunch long ago.

"Hey, you!"

A hoarse and somewhat sharp voice came from behind. Just those simple two words conveyed exhaustion. The tone couldn't hide the frustration and impatience.

Renly didn't pause his steps. He didn't think the person was calling him since there was no mention of his name, even though he could recognize it was Richard's voice.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, you flower boy who's showing off!" Richard was getting frustrated. He had been holding back his anger, and now, after the long training, all his patience had been exhausted. He exploded, "Do you have a thing with the officer? You knew there was training from the beginning today, why didn't you tell us? Are you just trying to see us embarrass ourselves?"

Although Richard's emotions were agitated, he still had some cunning. He accurately grasped the psychology of others—most of them hadn't changed into military uniforms on time. With just a few words, he managed to gather a bunch of allies and pressured Renly.

No one spoke, but Renly could clearly feel many gazes burning sharply on him. He didn't mind and was ready to continue walking forward. However, Rami, by his side, stopped in his tracks, looking around somewhat panicked. Obviously, Rami understood better than Renly the consequences of offending their partners in the production crew on the first day.

Renly's steps involuntarily halted, then he turned around, his gaze landing squarely on Richard.

Richard looked truly disheveled. His deep blue shirt was already indistinguishable in color, and the dirt and grime on his forehead and cheeks looked like camouflage makeup. His bare feet were covered in scars, a mix of blood, flesh, and mud, making a gruesome sight, far from the proud demeanor he had when they first met.

"Address me as 'sir'!" Renly's first words instantly froze the atmosphere. All eyes swayed between Renly and Richard, then they realized Renly was a Private while Richard had no military rank. Although a Private was still a soldier, and even in the military, soldiers interacted with each other on friendly and equal terms, the situation was different now—rank was rank.

Richard recalled the words of the colonel before the training started, his face becoming even more unpleasant.

"I'm not obligated to tell you anything, because you're not my flower boy," Renly's face, with its spring-like smile, clashed with the disheveled and confused looks of everyone else. However, his coarse yet humorous words made everyone chuckle softly. "Or, have you already prepared to sell your ass?" He paused slightly, and Renly's narrow eyes shimmered with a faint halo, then disappeared in an instant, like a demon's whisper, "But I'm rather picky."

"Haha!" Everyone burst into laughter together, disregarding Richard's face and applauding directly. However, the consequences were severe—many started coughing violently, their grimacing expressions clearly showing their discomfort. At this moment, everyone realized that instead of worrying about Richard's dignity, it was more important to go back and rest.

Renly once again took the steps like a turtle, and slowly moved forward. A little minion like Richard wasn't worth his effort.

After a while, Rami caught up with him panting, these simple steps were really a huge burden for his current physical condition, "Our barracks are not in this direction, you are going the wrong way." Rami kindly reminded that Renly was clearly walking in a different direction than the others.

Renly raised his chin and gestured to the No. 3 barracks not far away, "My destination is there." Rami didn't know why, Renly explained, "Our beds are only slats, at least we should have a piece of cloth to cover up, right?"

Such a humorous explanation made Rami grin.

The two dragged their tired bodies to Barracks No. 3. Sure enough, there were already few people waiting inside, and Renly and Rami were the first to arrive, "You guys reacted very quickly." In front of him was still the soldier who had distributed the uniforms just now, and at this time he also had a kind smile on his face, "It seems that you have had an extremely bad day. "

Renly shrugged his shoulders, but found that the shoulder muscles were very sore, and the sparse eyebrows couldn't help but be tangled together, which made the other party chuckle, and the smile on the corner of Renly's mouth had a touch of helplessness, "For you, this is just an ordinary day."

The other party smiled and nodded, "It's not even a day. Sometimes, in just an hour, you feel like you've walked several times between heaven and hell. "

"Is it like 'Full Metal Jacket'?" Renly asked curiously.

The other party paused and thought about it seriously, "The movie shows about 50% of the real situation." Judging from the expression, this already seems to be a high evaluation, "However, it is more like a 'Platoon' than an 'Full Metal Jacket'."

(A/N: Platoon is movie about Vietnam war)

"So you fought in the Vietnam War?" Rami, who was standing next to him, also interjected curiously.

The result made both Renly and the soldier laugh, Rami didn't know why, Renly explained, "The Vietnam War ended in 1975." The soldier in front of him looked like he was forty years old at most, probably younger, and naturally could not have participated in the Vietnam War.

Rami scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, and the soldier replied in the affirmative, "Gulf War, and then I went to Iraq again."

Renly instantly understood, in 2003, the United States launched a war against Iraq, dragging the entire United States into an endless quagmire, obviously, after the Gulf War, the soldier in front of him participated in this war.

The soldier noticed the comprehension in Renly's eyes, and the two short meetings were just the details of those eyes and limbs, but they showed a fact: Renly had made solid preparations, not just to prepare for the "The Pacific", but to really understand the war.

"Tim Barneys, First Class." The soldier took the initiative to extend his right hand in a gesture of friendship.

"Eugene Sledge, Private 1st Class." Renly also stretched out his right hand, and the two shook hands lightly in the air, but Tim didn't let go immediately, a smile appeared in his eyes, and Renly immediately came to his senses, "Renly Hall, civilian." This made Tim heartily throw his head back and laugh.

Rami, who was standing next to him, didn't know much about the situation, but stared at the brief back and forth between the two of them, but Renly's voice rang out, "Rami Malek, it should also be a civilian."

Then Rami saw Tim's right hand stretched out towards him, and he quickly shook it, "Nice to meet you, I mean, sir! Merriell Shelton." Rami replied, making Tim smile and nod.

Tim handed the bedding to Renly and Rami, and then said meaningfully, "This is a boot camp, don't take it lightly, they won't relax the standards just because you are actors. So far, this is just the beginning."

Renly had a hunch that Tim was talking about more than just the next nine days of training.

Leaving the No. 3 barracks with a bunk, and then they saw the others dragging their tired bodies out of the barracks one after another, and they finally realized that they didn't have a bunk, if they didn't want to sleep on the plank tonight, they could only move their sore bodies again, "Train-Rest-Move-Rest", this tossing mode almost consumed their last bit of energy, and the dejected appearance looked like the zombies in the "Walking Dead" attacking the city, which was really spectacular.

In comparison, Renly and Rami were in pain, but at least they didn't toss.

Richard lay on the plank, almost lifeless, making sounds like a tortured bunny. Other people sat on the plank unwillingly, staring blankly at the empty beds, seemingly motionless, their brains completely shut down.

Renly placed his bedding on the plank, and Rami settled down on the empty space to Renly's right. After arranging the bedding and sheets, Renly lay down directly. Even lying down brought waves of pain from his back. He gritted his teeth to relax. After a brief moment of pain, he finally felt a bit comfortable, but then the sensation returned to his feet, which was simply torturous.

"I feel like such an idiot right now," came a self-deprecating voice from Renly's left. It was followed by a series of clattering sounds, and Renly turned his head to see two large 29-inch suitcases, blocking the corridor between the beds. There was simply no place to put them. "James... no, Robert Lesley," the person continued with self-introduction, "I haven't gotten used to suddenly changing my name."

"Eugene Sledge," Renly responded, extending his hand for a handshake. "Or Renly," he added with a tug at the corner of his mouth, smiling. He knew it was the best time for socializing, but his exhausted brain couldn't function properly. He drifted into sleep, his eyelids not even struggling.

James looked around at the other actors in agony, then at Renly, who had fallen asleep directly. He looked at his own suitcase, then simply opened his bedding and lay down. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep, too.