Page 45 of Monsters within Men
The rest of them played a few rounds, with Vitt reigning champion. With the sun warming his back, and the sight of Zeke so relaxed around them all—at last—the tension Noah had held in his body since last night melted away.
As Vitt shuffled the deck in between rounds, a loud whistle came from the jetty. It was their warning whistle: starting high, ending low. Every pair of eyes magnetised to Habib. Noah’s gaze shifted past Habib to the far side of the lake, where a group of people emerged from the trees, heading clockwise towards them.
Splat jumped up, frowning. “Oh hell, no.”
“What?” said Zeke, squinting through his glasses in confusion.
Noah would recognise that swagger even if Tobias Newman was a thousand miles away from him. Two others from his squad joined him, trailing behind as he charged towards them, a large, dark sack slung over one shoulder.
“What’s he doing here?” said Frankie, awoken from her slumber.
“Causing trouble,” said Noah. “Whatever you do, don’t rise to his bullshit.”
“Hopefully Habib stays on his chair then,” said Splat.
But Habib had other plans and abandoned his rod to join them. “If they think they’re stopping here, they’ve got another thing coming,” he said, his arms folded over his chest.
Zeke curled into a miserable ball, pulling the coat even tighter around him.
“I’ll meet them on the path,” suggested Noah—anything to avoid Newman terrorising his squad.
“Nah, just sit down and ignore them,” said Splat. “They might walk straight past. Let’s continue with the game.” They gave in to him, rolling the eight dice and pretending to concentrate on their cards.
When the trio were close, Aoife said, “Just leave him to Meredith and me,” while rubbing her eyes and letting out a yawn. “He’s usually a tad less of an eejit when we’re around.”
Before anyone could reply, a booming voice shouted down the bank. “Afternoon!” Newman climbed down the hill, closely followed by Brandon Penn and Sebastian Moss, the usual suspects.
The three intruders sat down on the bank, bridging the gap between the previously sleeping girls and the rest of Squad E to form a semi-circle. Tobias flung the sack he was carrying down in front of him.
“Afternoon. I didn’t realise you guys were off today,” said Meredith, sitting up on her towel, cross-legged.
“We’re not,” said Newman. “Some plans changed and half of us weren’t needed. Kitchen sent us out for some rabbits.” He nudged the bag with his foot. Frankie shuffled backwards, wrinkling her face. “You can thank us when you’re eating dinner later.”
“We will definitely make sure to do that,” Vitt said, her voice level and sugar-sweet.
“We were about to head back in a second.” Habib was the only one standing, arms crossed.
“Really? Didn’t Noah just get here?” said Brandon. “We saw him sit down about twenty minutes ago.”
Noah tensed. How long had they been spying on them for? Beside him, Wolf sensed his unease and growled softly, baring a slither of teeth at Squad C.
“Forrest, get your pet under control,” snapped Tobias, all earlier pretences dropped. “One day, your indulgence in him will cause someone to get hurt. I, for one, won’t hesitate to put him down when that time comes.”
As if hiding, the sun went behind a cloud. Squad E all shuffled nervously at the change in tone, eyes snapping over to Noah—naturally deferring to their commanding officer to see how he wanted to play it. Habib, rocking backwards and forwards on the balls of his feet, looked ready to explode. Zeke hid under his coat as if it were a shield.
Noah swallowed back his anger to ask, “Why are you here, Newman?”
“Just wanted to congratulate you on your next assignment. And ask you who you blew to get it.” On either side of him, Sebastian and Brandon snickered.
“What the fuck, Tobias?” said Vitt.
Noah planned to inform his squad at dinner, after they’d enjoyed their rest day, and Savannah and Luo rejoined them. How on earth did Tobias know when Noah was only assigned the mission an hour ago?
“What assignment?” Habib’s eyes darted between them.
“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you, Newman,” Noah said, coolly. “I suggest you take it up with Captain Murphy if you have a problem with how she is allocating our assignments.”
“I only have a problem with nepotism.”
