Page 101 of Monsters within Men
Noah laughed, albeit a shadow of his usual one. “I hope not, else I’ll have to writehimup.”
The others were standing in a semicircle when they returned to the field, with Brodie in the middle, as if they were standing guard of him. Brodie, not meeting Noah’s eye, mumbled an apology and agreed not to question Noah’s authority again.
“Sir,” Brodie added, at the end of his brief speech, likely due to Vitt glaring at him.
Noah looked Brodie dead in the eye. “Campbell, if you defy a single further order, you’ll be cleaning the toilets for a month.”
Brodie nodded. “Understood, sir.”
Noah turned to address the group. “We’ll meet at seven a.m. sharp for breakfast tomorrow before joining C and K for briefing. I’ll see everyone then.” Noah’s eyes scanned his squadron, landing on Zeke’s for a second too long, its gaze screaming,I’ll seeyouin my roomin about thirty minutes. Please be quick.
“Can you carry all that, Zeke?”
Vitt’s sceptical look made him even more determined to lift both the heavy duffle bags that housed supplies for their mission. The task of transporting weapons, food and camping gear from the armoury into the six vehicles allocated to them was not one he was relishing.
“Hey, I can bench two hundred pounds now.”
Vitt raised one eyebrow.
“Well, I can lift it an inch off the ground, at least.”
Habib appeared, chuckling as he grabbed the bags from Zeke’s struggling arms, throwing them over his shoulder like they were bags of feathers. He surprised him by ruffling Zeke’s hair, almost affectionately.
When all thirty of them, plus five dogs, were hovering around in the car park, the atmosphere was bizarrely jovial—like they were about to head out on a grand adventure. Krish from Squad K caught Zeke’s eye and smiled, making him feel at ease. At least he vaguely knew one of the strangers that they would spend the next forty-eight hours with. He recognised a few others from border duty, including Lowenna. Noah spoke at length yesterday about his respect for the tall, thirty-something brunette. Her face was stern as she ordered her men to pack and repack the vehicles several times until the arrangement met her satisfaction.
“Hi, Zeke, right? I’m Alex.”
Zeke turned to find a tall, blonde stranger beaming at him.
“I’ve seen you around,” Alex continued. “It’s great to meet you properly.”
He was spared from replying by Noah appearing from thin air, annoyance etched onto his face as he pressed bags into Alex’s hand and gave him a long list of orders. Zeke turned so that nobody would see him laugh.
To his dismay, he ended up separated from Noah when Lowenna split them into groups for the six vehicles. Even though she was the same rank as Noah and Tobias, her additional years of experience meant that she held ultimate command of the platoon. Tobias frowned deeply when she started ordering C and E’s personnel around, especially when she mixed all three squads up for the journey.
Vitt instantly shotgunned driving the van that she and Zeke ended up in. He hopped into the passenger seat and a handful of people he didn’t know climbed into the back, shielded from them by a retractable partition that nobody made any attempt to open. The barrier enclosed Zeke and Vitt into their own private bubble, causing him instant anxiety—he liked Vitt, but had never spent extended time alone with her.
“So,” Vitt said, once they were past the gates and on the open road, wide and clear—for now. Their van was at the back of the convoy, the other five vehicles snaking ahead of them like they were all magnetically attached. Vitt put the car in self-drive and turned her wide, freckled face to him. “How’s it feel to be at the three-month mark?”
His brain shut down in the classic way it always did when the conversation turned to himself. “Good, I guess.”
“You don’t look like you’re going to throw up, freeze, or run away at the first opportunity anymore.”
“I mean, I achieved two out of three things already. A full house would be too much.”
“Noah seems pleased with your progress,” Vitt said. Was she looking at him like that to keenly observe his reaction?
“I guess,” he replied, turning to gaze out of the window at the countryside, where large, bramble-like weeds had long since overtaken manicured fields. He prayed Vitt would change the topic, but alas, no such luck.
“You haven’t seen him at his best, to be honest,” she said. “He’s amazing, the best CO I’ve ever had, but ever since Khyan…” She trailed off, sighing. “I’ve known him since he arrived here after Rotterdam five years ago. I’ve never seen anyone—anyone—so broken as he was the day Khyan died.”
Khyan. Zeke continued to wonder and wonder about him, late into the early hours of the morning. The question was often on the tip of his tongue, particularly when he saw Noah brush his hand over the dove tattoo on his wrist.What happened to him, Noah?
Vitt sighed, tapping her hands against the wheel. “God, they were so sweet together. Sickeningly so.”
He swallowed, pushing down his green-eyed monster, reminding himself for the millionth time it wasn’t appropriate to be envious of a dead guy.
Vitt looked over at him. “Do you know what happened? Noah won’t mind me telling you.”
