Page 10 of Monsters within Men
Savannah eyed him for a moment before changing the subject. “Who’s on mug duty then?”
“It’s Luo’s turn,” said Splat, evident annoyance in his voice. Was he still angry about the drawer situation? “Where is he?”
“One guess, like,” said Aoife, grimacing, at the same time as Vitt said, “Off-piste.”
Splat jumped up as he scanned the room, his eyes landing on a table three across from them.
“Boss, are you going to go get him, or should I?”
“It’s not against the rules to eat with a different squad, Splat.” Noah sighed, as if he were tired of repeating himself.
“It is when it’s Squad C,” Splat muttered in reply.
Something caught Vitt’s eye, and she leaned across the table. “Noah. Don’t react, but Newman is on his way over and he has an especially punchable look about him today.”
“How’re we doing today, Squad E?” the intruder said from behind him, slapping Zeke hard on the back and almost choking him on a mouthful of water. “Fresh blood, aye? Shame you guys won’t be out and about with us for a while, though.” His large frame pushed against Zeke as he reached forward to shake Frankie’s hand. “Tobias Newman,” he said. “If you get bored with these losers, there’s a spot open in Squad C.”
“Fuck off, Newman,” Habib said, with a bored expression.
“Woah there, no need for language. I was just being polite. I like to make new friends.” He brought his hands down to rest on Zeke’s shoulders and squeezed. “What’s up with this one, then? Nervous is he?”
Zeke felt his face heat and surged forward, trying to wriggle his way out of the other man’s grip. Gone was yesterday evening’s bravado.Say something,he urged himself, but his traitorous mouth remained clamped shut. Tobias squeezed harder. “Seems like a sweet kid, though. Careful not to lose this one.”
A loud metal bang erupted from the end of the table. Noah had slammed his metal mug down so hard a few droplets of liquid splatted over the table. “Remove your hands from him or I swear to God Newman—”
“Relax, relax.”
Tobias’s firm grip relinquished its prey. “Always a pleasure, Squad E. Enjoy your break from the front line.” His laugh faded as he moved away from the table.
“And send back Luo,” Noah shouted after him.
After a moment of tense silence, Zeke, face still burning and eyes firmly planted to the table, asked, “Who was that?”
“Una fica assoluta,”Vitt muttered. She looked at the piece of bread in her hand with disgust. “He’s the CO of Squad C, can you believe? He’s a joke of a lieutenant.”
“His squad is now third though,” Splat said, pointing up at the leaderboard. The rest of the squad let out noises of shock and protest as they craned their necks to view the scores.
“Stop staring,” Noah said, his eyes on his food. “How many times have I told you to ignore that stupid thing?”
“Shall I go and get Luo?” Habib shot glowering looks toward Squad C’s table.
“In a moment.” Noah raised his hand and Habib sat down. He stood up and each of the squad members turned towards him. “Right then. The first five to do patrol duty are Hab, Meredith, Savannah, Luo and Aoife.” There was a collective groan around the table. “We’ll swap around each day.”
A bell sounded and all around them, people started moving. Zeke caught Frankie’s eye, not bothering to conceal his nerves. Frankie caught his arm as they trailed out of the canteen, giving it a squeeze.
“We’ll warm up with some basic fitness drills,” Noah said. He stood, flanked by Splat and Vitt, in a small outdoor training field. Lines on the ground formed a track, and wooden beams, bars and hurdles were clustered in the middle of the oval.
Zeke’s stomach clenched with nerves. It was as if he’d been transported back seven years to school and was about to be dragged through a sports lesson. Physical exercise had never been his forte, as his comrades were about to discover. Many a time he’d hidden himself in the corner of a library with a book, choosing to face the wrath of the attendance officer rather than the humiliation of the football pitch.
“You’ll need to lose the glasses now.”
Noah’s voice refocussed his attention. Wishing for the millionth time that he could get over his squeamishness about touching his eyes to wear contact lenses, he removed his glasses and placed them on a nearby bench. Behind Noah, the world slipped into a haze of green and brown.
“Let’s get on with it then,” Frankie said, rising to her feet. She bounced on her feet before lunging into leg stretches, her braids swinging in the air.
They started with five minutes of suicides—some sort of fresh hell involving sprinting to progressively further lines—with Wolf chasing after them, nipping at their heels. After, he collapsed next to Frankie, his breathing hard and laboured. He twisted onto his back to see Splat roll his eyes while subtly shaking his head.
“On your feet, both of you,” Noah said. “You think you’re going to sit down whenever you like in the field?” Noah stepped towards him and offered him a hand, but Zeke ignored it, pushing himself to his feet. He wouldn’t let these smug arseholes win.
