Coletta was still in the rain, tied to the pole.
The iron wire was tied so hard around his neck that it pressed deep into his skin.
He had puked on himself twice already, and by then he was all dirty with it.
He was soaking wet, shaking, coughing and stinking, while the rain never stopped battering on his head, and the wind blowing against his wet clothes.
He could clearly feel the fluid inside his lungs, a symptom of pneumonia. He had constant shivers and very bad nausea.
How could he... How did he get in such bad condition?
All of that selection process should have been within his reach: the fatigue, hunger, cold... He had gone through all of that already, when he was child and used to go hunting with his father: he had always endured everything, and the cold too.
What would his father have told him, had he been there with him?
You have been beaten by the clothes thing, Ricardo. A trivial matter of clothes and it's a shame, because you could have done it. You could have passed that selection, and you would have deserved it.
Physically, you were up to it. The problem is that no mistake goes unpunished, in this life.
I've told you a thousand times: no mistake goes unpunished.
Maybe, this time, you will finally remember it for good.
Behind him, hidden behind the corner of the building, where no one could see him – Gates talked into his ear.
He had to raise his voice because the storm was becoming a real thunderstorm.
“Quit, Coletta”
But he didn't reply.
“You have fluid inside your lungs. You have bronchial pneumonia and you are in hypothermia”
“No” said Coletta.
“You are dying, this is no failure. Dying for a selection is senseless. It's not worth it. It's better to die on the field, isn't it? You didn't pass the cold resistance test: there's no failure in that. There are no ways of training for cold resistance. No one would say a thing”
“G-g-go and f-f-uck yourself, sir”
Gates looked at him.
“You are dying Coletta. If you don't pull out now, you'll pass out and die. Do you think you are the first rookie we'll lose?”
Coletta didn't reply.
Gates clearly saw him take a breath and then renounce replying, as if he couldn't even speak.
Then he closed his eyes and fell asleep with his neck still held by the iron wire.
Gates would have to take him away from there before he could suffocate on his own puke, or his fever became real pneumonia.
So he came out from the corner he was hiding behind, and went close to him.
Coletta had really fainted this time, and for good.
Gates shook his head.
Then he looked at his wrist-watch and even if Coletta couldn't hear him, he said:
“Congratulations, Coletta”
Then he smiled.
“You did it, dickhead”