Page 107 of Monsters within Men
Noah headed over to the church’s large wooden doors, which sat under an ornately carved arch. Zeke, waiting for him in the shadows, joined him without speaking. Simultaneously, they lunged for each other’s hands, lacing their fingers together before pulling apart.
The interior of the church was dark and musty, the air heavy with the stench of decay. Cobwebs covered the pews and altar, and most of the stained-glass windows stood shattered, letting in icy wind. Dim moonlight lit up a wooden floor littered with debris and the remains of several typeBs, their ruined bodies sprawled out in grotesque poses. Several walls were scarred with deep gashes, as if something tried to claw its way through the plaster. The atmosphere was eerie and unsettling, as if the ghosts of the past still lingered within the walls of the abandoned holy place.
“Lieutenant Forrest!” Krish, with a few others, called him over to the corner. “Come see this.”
On the floor, several makeshift beds—wooden planks and cardboard covered in filthy sheets—were divided by lines of rocks. Had the typeBs marked out their own personal territories? Surely not.
Nearby, soldiers gathered around a small red tent.
“Do you think they set the tent up themselves?” Krish asked.
“No way.” Habib, looking exhausted, came to stand next to them.
Noah stared at the tent. “What do you think, Zeke?”
Zeke appeared startled to be consulted, then shook his head. “They don’t have enough fine motor skills for that. Nor the executive function. I mean, at least, we thought they didn’t. These guys have broken all the rules today.”
Noah pulled back the flapping door to look inside, shining a light around the small space.
Shock coursed through him like an electric current.
Pieces of paper covered every inch of the groundsheet, and sides of the tent, affixed with tape. Strange markings covered each piece, some crude and indistinguishable, others forming recognisable shapes. Other heads crowded with him in the opening, gasping when they saw the spectacle.
“Is that a map of the church grounds?” Zeke pointed to a piece of paper on the floor.
Noah squinted at the lines that formed rectangles and circles. “I think you’re right. I’m going to get Lowenna.”
thirty
Zeke
Aftertheexcitementdieddown, Lowenna broke them off into teams to secure the perimeter, remove the typeB corpses and clean up the church the best they could. Zeke, on the cleaning team, fought back several waves of nausea as he scooped up piles of entrails and guts. Eventually, Frankie noticed his swaying body and insisted on taking over so that he didn’t faint.
Meanwhile, other soldiers carried in their boxes of supplies from the vans, then set up camp for the night. The platoon spread themselves across the church—lots of people opted to push pews together in the aisles to form beds, but others took over the small kitchen, office and children’s playroom.
Noah ordered that the tower, offering an excellent vantage point, be turned into a watchtower, and Lowenna set out a rota, with at least eight officers being on duty throughout the night. Zeke inwardly groaned about being given the last shift—waking up at three a.m. after this hellish evening was the last thing he wanted to do.
The evening meal comprised of tinned food warmed on portable stoves. Some officers combined their tins, going ‘all in’ to share a meal. Others ate their food straight from the can. In addition, everyone was permitted to take one protein bar from the box.
While most of Squad E sat about relaxing and enjoying the respite, Noah scurried around with Lowenna and Tobias. He smiled whenever he looked his way, but Zeke wished he could pull him down to sit with them, or drag him off to a quiet corner. One of the many downsides to secretly dating your CO, he guessed.
An impromptu talent show of sorts began, starting with Luo performing handstands, putting all his weight on his bionic arm and spinning around. This inspired Aoife to cajole Savannah into performing dance lifts with her. Where they mustered the physical or mental energy from was anyone’s guess.
Afterwards, the mood died down again—most of K were fairly subdued, on account of their loss—and small pockets of people gathered in circles to talk or play games. Aoife left their huddle to flirt in a dark corner with Florence Bloomer from Squad C and Habib and Meredith struck up a light-hearted argument about whether she was going to be successful in her conquest and whether they could consider it fraternising with the enemy.
“They’re not all pricks,” Meredith said, rolling her eyes. “It’s just Tobias and his three musketeers we need to look out for.”
“That Florence girl seems cool. We helped each other out of a sticky situation earlier,” said Frankie. Large clumps of her hair were knotted with dried blood; she was delaying joining the long line for the icy hose-pipe-shower outside that Zeke had endured earlier.
Habib, after licking the packet of his protein bar to salvage every crumb, replied, “I wouldn’t trust any of them to have our backs when push came to shove.”
“Hey,” said a voice, sliding in beside Zeke.
He turned to find Alex’s face smiling at him. Smiling at him, as well as pressing his thigh against Zeke’s. “Um… hi?”
Frankie burst out laughing at something before turning it into a cough. He glanced behind him to see Noah staring over.
“I saw your epic headshot earlier.” Alex said. "Great work."
