Since Zilard's job was to handle personal assignments by the Boss, he didn't have anything specific to do until 2000 hours. His current job would start tomorrow  morning. This evening, he would meet Kaitar and prepare for their sojourn through the desert.<br/><br/>The Enforcers had a<span style="font-style: italic">gym</span>for lack of a better word for it. It was the standard plywood and two-by-four construction with galvanized steel roofing. It looked like a Quonset hut. The weights were whatever the group could get their hands on, to include repurposed steel poles. Several items jerry rigged together to work as a workout room.<br/><br/>However, Zil wasn't interested in lifting weights today. Someone had hung a heavy bag from the ceiling. The bag was made of goat hide and filled with old rags. It was tied to the floor to prevent it from moving too much. A little play was fine. There were a few old pairs of gloves that folks shared; not enough for everyone.<br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSmtHBMjXLU">Warrior's Call</a>playing on the boom box.<br/>Zil removed his boots and socks, vest and weapons. He stood barefoot with a sleeveless T-shirt on. He pulled on the left glove, fastened it and then the right and fastened with his teeth. He stood in front of the bag and jumped up and down. He moved his legs in and out and performed several repetitions of jumping jacks. His moved his feet back and forth alternating left and right or an exercise called scissor jacks. After about three minutes of jumping, he stopped and began performing squats. He lowered himself so that his thighs were parallel to the floor and then returned to the starting position. He continued with the squats for ninety seconds then went down and held it for forty-five seconds. After doing squats with the occasional hold for three minutes, he stopped and began doing burpees. He squatted down with hands on the floor, then thrust his legs out behind him into the push-up position. With the gloves on, the weight is on the fists, rather than flat hands. He performed one push-up and then brought his legs back next to his hands. Then he stood up, jumped up and repeated the exercise. He continued to do burpees for three minutes. Once he completed this warm up, that took roughly ten minutes, he drank some water and returned to the bag.<br/><br/>The bag work out was intense. As a right-handed person, he led with his left. His left would jab and then cross with his right. Jab, Cross, Jab, Cross and reset. Jab, cross, jab, cross and reset. He repeated this process several times insuring to keep his gloves up the entire set; which lasted three minutes. He focused on his technique as well as power. He pivoted on his feet and lead with his shoulders on each punch. His upper torso rotated while punching left, right, left, right. The rear foot gives off the impression of stamping out a cigarette on the ground up on the ball of the foot. Hitting muscle failure means that every exercise following that point is building muscle and strength.<br/><br/>Next, he struck the pad, Jab, Cross, Hook, Cross, dropped back to create some distance, pivot on his left foot, left toes pointing to the left, leaned back slightly, swung his right arm back, making sure to keep his left arm up executed a right round house or round kick into the heavy bag. He chambered his right leg, with the lower leg bent and just before impact, whipped his lower leg extending the foot into the pad. The front of the ankle or lower shin is the point of contact. He repeated the process, jab, cross, hook, and round kick several more times. He finished this set after three minutes. Then dropped and performed fifty push-ups.<br/><br/>He stood back up in front of the bag, gave two jabs, slipped his head by ducking as if someone were trying to punch him and then delivered a devastating right cross. Two jabs, slip, right cross, change step into a left cross, slip, right jab. The change step is a hop that moves the feet so that now the right foot was in front. He continued to perform this drill for another three minutes. When this was complete, he dropped and knocked out another fifty push-ups. Zilard would remain in the gym exercising his shoulders and legs for at least two hours. He really wanted a partner to hold pads for him. Then he could train on various punching combinations.<br/><br/>When his routine ended, he dropped off the gloves, toweled off, put his shoes and socks back on and returned his equipment to their normal carrying position. He would return to the barracks to clean his shotgun.<br/><br/>Next stop, the Enforcers armory to see the armorer. Several weapons remained in the arms room if they were not needed during daily operations. Zil was interested in an assault rifle. "Kilo, you have an MA5B on hand?" Zil asked the armorer on duty.<br/><br/>The man was sitting at his desk with his head resting on folded arms. He did not move or acknowledge Zilard's presence.<br/><br/>"Kilo! Wake up!" Zil yelled at the sleeping man who now became responsive.<br/><br/>"Huh? What the fuck you want, half breed?" Kilo the armorer looked up at The Enforcer.<br/><br/>"You got any<a class="postlink" href="http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/MA5B_Individual_Combat_Weapon_System">MA5Bs</a>on hand?"<br/><br/>"Yea, what the fuck? What do you want it for?"<br/><br/>"I'm heading into the Voidlands tomorrow. I need something with some range. This scatter gun is great in town, but useless out in the desert," Zil held up the shotgun to show Kilo.<br/><br/>The armorer stood up, yawned deeply and stretched wide and long. Zilard watched Kilo go through his routine. He scratched his butt then reached for the ring of keys at his waste. He walked to a weapons rack, unlocked the padlock and removed a rifle. Each rack held ten assault rifles. After locking the rack, he brought the rifle to the arms room window, which had five vertical bars across it to prevent unauthorized personnel from getting inside. It kept people honest. Kilo wrote down the weapon model and serial number on the register. Then he entered his name, 'Zilard Pek', date and time to record who took the rifle. Once Zilard signed for the rifle, Kilo slid it under the bars to him.<br/><br/>Next, Kilo pulled out another pad of paper and wrote up the M90 CAWS shotgun. He took the shotgun in and handed Zil a receipt acknowledging that he took the shotgun from him. "You want some mags?" Kilo asked.<br/><br/>"Yea, can I have eleven?"<br/><br/>Kilo bent down, pulled out eleven aluminum ammunition boxes and slid them under the bar to Zilard who stuffed them inside his vest. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and walked back to the barracks. He removed the M90 magazines and cartridges and inserted 7.62mm magazines into the ammunition pouches in his assault vest. The rifle magazines each held 30 rounds.<br/><br/>Zilard reached under his bunk and pulled out his rucksack. Inside was wet weather gear, a poncho liner, three more rations, a change of clothing to include three pair of socks and three T-shirts. He kept trip wires, illumination flares, detonation cord, fuze cord and some insulated copper wire. He picked up his ruck and headed off to the quartermaster's office.<br/><br/>"Hey Romeo, can you help me with an issue?" Zilard asked the Enforcer's quartermaster who handled most of the supplies the Enforcers used. He worked closely with Boss Neiro and the town's supply administrator.<br/><br/>"Sure thing, Lizard," Romeo presented a friendly demeanor. "What you need?"<br/><br/>"Three hundred fifty, seven-six-two ball, four pounds of plastiques, eight blasting caps in a wooden box, an electric firing device, and two rations," Zilard ordered from the quartermaster. "Oh yea you have any half gallon bladders? I'm heading into the desert tomorrow. I will be gone for a few days or more.<br/><br/>"mmm, the Boss must have something special in mind."<br/><br/>"Yes sir," Zilard answered as Romeo counted out the boxes of 7.62-millimeter Full Metal Jacket ball ammunition. He handed them to Zilard in a steel box and filled it up with the rest of the equipment. Zilard immediately loaded the magazines and placed them in the rucksack. He would put them in the assault vest after he returned to the barracks. The plastique explosives were placed in one of the outer pockets of the ruck and the blasting caps inside the top flap. It was important to keep the two separate. Caps can go off rather easily. You don't want them anywhere near the plastiques if they accidentally set off. He didn't have the luxury of personnel and figured he would take the risk.<br/><br/>Later that day, he bumped into Rooster and Whitey. Rooster stood 5' 11" tall, with red hair cut into a perfect Mohawk, poking about five inches above his head. He also wore a red goatee. The brown-eyed man resembled a rooster, which is how he got his nickname. Whitey was actually a very dark black man named Dorum Sadik. Whitey stood 6' 5" tall and was completely bald; a very muscular man who rarely spoke.<br/><br/>"Rooster, Whitey, have your shit packed and wired tight. We are heading out at first light," Zilard spoke to the two men.<br/><br/>"Where we going, Lizard?" the thin Rooster asked. He was always dirty; appearing as if he hadn't bathed all month. He smelled foul and was always sniffing. Maybe he was ill or maybe he indulged in some narcotic ingested through the nasal passages.<br/><br/>"Voidlands," Zilard spoke.<br/><br/>"Really!? What the fuck? Far out, man," Rooster laughed at the prospect of going into the desert. "What are we doing in the desert, man?"<br/><br/>"Looking for Boss Neiro's lost caravan. Get a<a class="postlink" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_Special_Operations_Vehicle">Roller</a>from the motor park. Get five or six water cans from Romeo and have your personal gear loaded aboard by zero five tomorrow morning when it is time to go. Check with Kilo to see if he has an<a class="postlink" href="http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/M247H_Heavy_Machine_Gun">M two-forty-seven</a>to mount in the pintle. There is a good chance we will make contact tomorrow. Nice to have more firepower than the other guys." Zilard thought a few more seconds to see if he was missing anything. "Draw weapons and ammunition for yourselves too. One of you is driving and one of you is manning that<span style="font-style: italic">pig</span>." The pig Zilard was referring to was the M247 Machine gun to be mounted on the pintle behind the front seats.<br/><br/>"You got it Lizard," Rooster winked at him as the two walked off.<br/><br/>Zilard simply shook his head and headed to the dining tent for lunch.<br/><br/>Later that evening, at 2000 hours, Zilard found himself outside Boss Neiro's office. He could hear the old man talking to someone, but couldn't make out what Neiro and the other man were saying. He knocked, then entered when told to do so. Inside the office, he found Boss Neiro seated behind his desk and the Shyiine Scout, Kaitar.<br/><br/>"Come on in, Bora-Demir," Boss Neiro spoke in an authoritative tone as if asserting the fact that he was in charge. He also used Zilard's Shyiine sobriquet meaning<span style="font-style: italic">Iron Hurricane</span>. He wanted to give Kaitar the impression Zilard Pek was a professional Shyiine soldier and would be a valuable asset on the mission to locate and return the lost caravan.<br/><br/>"Boss, I have notified Rooster and Whitey. They will have a roller and machine gun for the morning. We've secured our equipment; ready for the op tomorrow morning." Zilard informed the Boss about his preparations.