Lauren nodded as she pulled her pack off her shoulder and handed James a metal canteen with a long plastic straw on top. ‘We found a standpipe inside one of the houses and topped our bottles up.’
James grabbed the canteen, fed the straw up through the base of his helmet and began to gulp.
‘Don’t drink it all, greedy guts,’ Lauren gasped, snatching her canteen back.
‘So, have you got any eggs left?’ James asked.
Lauren nodded. ‘I’ve got two, Bethany’s got four. You?’
James shook his head. ‘Have you seen Dana and Jake?’
‘We met up with them at about four a.m.,’ Lauren said. ‘They reckoned Kerry and Gabrielle were after them.’
‘Were they getting on OK?’ James asked.
‘Dana seemed her usual surly self,’ Bethany said, shaking her head. ‘But I actually got the impression that my psychotic little brother had started to enjoy himself.’
James nodded. ‘It might be fun if it was paintball or laser tag; but this simulated ammunition is too damned painful.’
‘I guess that’s the whole point of the exercise,’ Lauren said. ‘We’re supposed to be learning how to act when we’re tired and under lots of stress, not having some jolly shoot-up.’
James nodded. ‘I just hope we don’t get that ten-kilometre run for finishing last. Mind you, I’m wringing under this suit, so I could probably live with the cold shower.’
*
As soon as the siren went off, James, Lauren and Bethany ripped off their visors and took in giant gasps of fresh air. As they headed towards the square in the middle of the compound where they’d been instructed to meet at the end of the exercise, the three of them unzipped their overalls and pulled their hands through their sleeves, leaving the thickly padded arms dangling down behind their legs.
James was feeling slightly better and forty minutes’ chatting with the girls had helped refocus his mind away from his aches and pains, but they’d run out of drinking water.
Bethany scratched beneath the sweaty grey CHERUB T-shirt stuck to her belly as she walked. ‘God, I’m thirsty,’ she gasped.
‘Tell me about it,’ James said, as he pulled his T-shirt over his head.
‘You should be all right,’ Lauren huffed. ‘You drank most of mine.’
The morning sun felt nice on James’ bare back, as the T-shirt weighed heavy in his hands like a wet flannel.
‘You know what?’ he said exuberantly. ‘I’m so thirsty I could drink my own sweat.’
He held the T-shirt in the air over his head, poked out his tongue and gave it a squeeze. Bethany recoiled in horror as salty drips rained down on James’ face and tongue.
Lauren screamed out and gave her brother a shove. ‘James, stop that now. That’s the grossest thing ever.’
‘Don’t you want a drop then?’ James giggled, as he flung the soggy shirt at his sister.
Lauren dodged and the shirt splatted harmlessly against the pavement, but she still closed up and gave her brother a brutal kick on the ankle.
‘You’re disgusting,’ she raged. ‘We could go on a field trip to a sewer and you’d still lower the tone.’
James laughed as he picked up his T-shirt.
‘That bruise on your back is so bad, James,’ Bethany said.
James tried to get a look over his shoulder, but it was impossible without a mirror. ‘I expect we’ve all got a few of them,’ he said.
They rounded a corner into the square and were delighted to see seven kids from various teams standing in front of a fold-out table covered in bottles of mineral water. James shoved his way between a couple of smaller kids and grabbed two bottles. He drank half of the first one and was pouring the remainder over his head when he spotted Kerry. She’d stripped off her boots, socks and overalls. Her long black hair was soaking and she had drips trickling down her face.
They looked awkwardly at one another, unsure how to react after what had passed between them during the night.
Kerry smiled a little. ‘No hard feelings?’
James smiled back and gave her a quick kiss. ‘Nah, course not.’
‘Have you heard about Kyle?’ Kerry asked.
‘No, what?’
‘Took a hit in the neck. They had to take him to the hospital.’
‘These simulated rounds are bad-assed,’ James said, shaking his head. ‘Look at my back.’
‘Matches mine,’ Kerry said, lifting up her vest to reveal a giant red welt next to her belly button.
‘You’ve got a couple of bad ones down your legs, as well,’ James noted.
‘So,’ Lauren interrupted, looking at Kerry. ‘How many eggs has your team got left?’
Kerry’s tone turned serious. She was always competitive and there was the unpleasant prospect of a ten-kilometre punishment run hanging over their heads.
‘All my team are back,’ she said dejectedly. ‘We’ve only got five eggs between us.’
Lauren snapped her head towards James and grinned. ‘I’ve got two, Bethany’s got four and Dana and Jake aren’t even back yet.’
Kerry allowed herself to smile. ‘I wouldn’t hold out much hope on that score; me and Gabrielle caught up with them.’
James couldn’t help smiling. ‘Who cares?’ he grinned. ‘We’ve still got more eggs than you, Kerry. You’d better hope either Kyle’s team or Team B have less than five eggs.’
‘Some of Kyle’s team are over there,’ Lauren pointed. ‘Kyle’s out, but they’ve got at least eight eggs.’
Kerry looked seriously troubled. ‘I can run ten kilometres easy, but how am I gonna get my little red-shirt through it?’
‘I’m sorry,’ James said solemnly.
Kerry didn’t seem to believe him. ‘I bet you are,’ she tutted, as she swivelled on her bare feet and headed anxiously towards Gabrielle for an emergency conference.
‘You can’t blame me,’ James shouted after her; though he knew she would because he’d broken her eggs.
Lauren looked up at James. ‘I wouldn’t worry, you know how moody she gets.’
‘Yeah,’ James nodded, breaking into a relieved grin that he made sure Kerry couldn’t see. ‘I probably won’t be getting my tongue in her mouth for a few days, but at least we’ve avoided the ten-K run.’
Lauren backed away with a look of disgust. ‘Eww, what an image: your horrible gobby tongue.’
A few more kids had arrived at the water table, including Dana and Jake, but it was the arrival of Team B that caught everyone’s attention. Whereas the other teams arrived in dribs and paint-splattered drabs, the Bs were all together. Their protective suits were unmarked and they held their helmets under their arms as if they were a NASA crew about to board the space shuttle.
‘We were fighting all night long,’ James gasped. ‘They’re not even sweaty.’
Lauren racked her brains. ‘I can’t actually remember seeing any of that lot. They must have hidden out, while the rest of us massacred each other.’
‘God they all look so smug,’ James said. ‘I bet they haven’t lost a single egg.’
*
And they almost hadn’t. The instructors, Mr Large and his assistants Pike and Greaves, arrived in three open-backed Land Rovers, blasting their horns and sending a shower of kids diving across the paved square. Large divided the teams up and began carefully inspecting every egg for the minutest sign of a crack.
Though Kyle himself wasn’t there, Team A scored eight. Mr Large actually broke into a smile after he’d finished inspecting Team B.
‘One slight crack means twenty-nine out of thirty eggs. It’s not often you brats impress me, but that is impressive.’
Team B was led by a fifteen-year-old girl called Clara Ward. She was in a couple of James’ science classes and he couldn’t stand her because she was well behaved, always handed her homework in on time and always got brilliant marks.
‘Thank you very much, sir,’ Clara said, as she made James hate her even more by smiling at Mr Large
and saluting him.
James made a gagging noise, then whispered in Lauren’s ear, ‘What a crawler. Cherubs don’t salute.’
‘I know,’ Lauren whispered back. ‘What does she think this is, the army?’
‘So how did you do it?’ Mr Large asked.
Clara smiled. ‘Sir, I rode up here on my bike a couple of days ago and checked out the compound. I found two easy-to-defend buildings on the northeast side, next to the lake. They’re only accessible via a narrow alleyway. We ran there as soon as the mission started and fortified our positions by moving some of the cars parked outside. The only resistance we encountered was one brief exchange of fire with a couple of members from Team D.’
‘Good work,’ Mr Large said crisply as he moved on to Team C and stopped in front of Kerry.
‘Oh deary, deary, dear,’ Mr Large said, when he saw the five eggs Kerry held out in a single polystyrene box. He took each egg out and carefully inspected it for cracks. ‘Five eggs,’ Large said solemnly. ‘Extremely poor. Even in the unlikely event that another team does worse than you, you can still expect me to write a negative report on your leadership skills.’
Kerry looked miserable as Mr Large strolled onwards with his two assistants in tow. James tried giving his girlfriend a sympathetic smile, but he couldn’t catch her eye.
‘So, Team D, led by The Addams Family,’ Mr Large said, allowing himself a dry laugh at his own little joke.
‘Six eggs, sir,’ James said, holding out the full box.
James had checked the eggs for cracks less than two minutes earlier, but his heart still thumped as Mr Large ran his eye over them.
‘They’re all OK,’ James said edgily.
Mr Large picked out the first of Lauren’s two eggs. ‘Whose eggs are these?’ Large snapped.
Lauren stepped forward with a sense of dread. ‘Sir,’ she said weakly.
‘It has Lauren Adams written on these eggs,’ smirked Mr Large.
‘That is my name,’ Lauren said, too knackered to manage a sarcastic tone.
‘No it isn’t,’ Large grinned. ‘Your name is Puke. I’m not counting these eggs, because they haven’t got your correct name on them. Four eggs for Team D. You finish last.’
James, Dana, Bethany and Lauren were all familiar with the sense of complete doom you get when Mr Large nails you for no reason other than the sadistic pleasure it gives him. But Jake hadn’t been through basic training and didn’t know that answering back only made things worse.
The youngster violently hurled his helmet at the ground. ‘I’m not doing any run,’ Jake yelled furiously. ‘This is a total stitch-up.’
Mr Large swooped forward and grabbed Jake by his damp red T-shirt. He plucked the boy off the ground with one arm and screamed directly into his face. ‘DO – YOU – WANT – TO – PICK – A – FIGHT – WITH – ME – JAKE – PARKER?’
Jake looked so scared, James thought the poor kid was either going to faint or piss himself.
‘When are you eligible for basic training?’ Large snarled.
‘May next year, sir.’
‘Ten months shy of basic training. Not a good time to make an enemy of me then, is it?’
‘No, sir,’ Jake quaked.
‘I make the rules here,’ Mr Large shouted, as he dropped Jake from two metres up. ‘Don’t any of you forget that.’
Jake crashed into the ground and tried his hardest not to sniffle, as Bethany bent forward to help her little brother find his feet.
‘Four valid eggs for Team D,’ Large repeated. ‘Team D gets the punishment run.’
James looked at Jake and Lauren’s miserable faces and struggled to control his anger as Mr Pike stepped into the fray.
‘Come on, Norman,’ Pike said gently. ‘You can’t expect these kids to work hard and stay motivated if you pick out the loser before you even start.’
James was shocked. He’d worked with Pike on a couple of training exercises. Unlike Mr Large he always played fair, but this was the first time James had ever seen one of the junior instructors dare to question Large’s authority.
Large turned furiously towards his colleague. ‘Mr Pike, when you are the senior instructor, you can count the eggs.’
James felt emboldened by Pike’s interference. ‘He’s right,’ he said, hardly able to believe that he was daring to backchat Mr Large. ‘I’m not going on any run until I’ve spoken to the Chairman about this. You can’t keep on having a go at Lauren. She’s already served her punishment for hitting you.’
‘I’m giving you a direct order,’ Large screamed.
‘And I’ll obey the direct order as long as the Chairman confirms it,’ James screamed back.
‘I’m right with you, James,’ Dana said, stepping up beside him. ‘Let’s see the Chairman. We can make a formal complaint about Lauren being bullied.’
Lauren and Bethany both murmured in agreement and a noise went up from some of the kids in the other teams as well.
‘If you go and see the Chairman, you will all fail this exercise,’ Large shouted.
James shrugged. ‘So what? It’s only an exercise. I’ve already passed basic training and you don’t have the authority to suspend us from missions.’
‘Drop it, Norman,’ Mr Pike said. ‘You’re not going to win this one.’
Mr Large turned around and looked at Kerry. ‘All right,’ he sighed, ‘Team C, ten kilometres. Grab your packs.’
James turned to Dana and nodded. ‘Cheers for backing me up.’
‘I’m going to see the Chairman,’ Dana said. ‘I know training’s supposed to be tough, but the way he’s bullying Lauren is totally out of order.’
Lauren looked at Dana and smiled guiltily. ‘I’m sorry I called you Cheesy earlier.’
9. SOAP
It was two o’clock that afternoon when James woke up and decided to go check on Kerry. He listened at her door for a second to make sure she wasn’t sleeping, but he could hear her TV.
‘Yo,’ James grinned as he poked his head inside the door. ‘How was the punishment run?’
Kerry was sitting on her bed in a dressing gown. She paused her DVD recorder and shrugged. ‘Oh it was great fun. You can imagine what sort of mood Large was in after you’d all upset him.’
‘Me and Dana went and spoke to the Chairman about the way he’s bullying Lauren. He said he’s gonna speak to Mr Pike and Mr Large about what happened.’
Kerry smiled. ‘I’ve heard that Mr Large has got to watch his step. He’s already had a couple of written warnings about his conduct.’
‘Imagine if he got sacked,’ James grinned, as he reached into his pocket and grabbed a sheet of turquoise paper. ‘It would be soooo beautiful.’
Kerry laughed, ‘Yeah, he’d probably have to take a job as a nightclub doorman, or a security guard.’
‘I don’t care what job he gets,’ James said, grinning like an idiot and fanning the piece of paper in front of his face. ‘Just so long as he’s out of my life.’
‘OK, I get the hint,’ Kerry sighed. ‘What’s on the piece of paper?’
James flicked the sheet across to Kerry and slumped theatrically across her bed. ‘I’m a sick little boy,’ he giggled.
Kerry raised a hand to slap him. ‘Get your boots off my bed,’ she said sharply. ‘How many times do I have to tell you?’
James rolled on to his back and started pulling off his boots as Kerry read the note aloud.
‘James Adams, ten days excused from all physical activity due to dehydration and exhaustion … How did you pull that little scam?’
‘It’s not a scam. I went to the medical unit to get the wound on my back cleaned up. The nurse touched me and asked why I was all hot and clammy. I told her how I felt weak during the exercise. She reckons I’m dehydrated and probably still under the weather from that stomach bug last week.’
Kerry shook her head. ‘I still reckon you’re faking.’
‘The nurse also said that lots of snogging would help me recuperate.’
/>
‘Oh I’m sure she did, James. I’m not going anywhere near you if you’re hot and clammy. I don’t want your germs.’
James’ head was flat against the double bed, while Kerry was propped up so she could see the TV. He moved forward a few centimetres and delicately kissed Kerry’s wrist.
‘You’ve got cute little hands,’ James said.
Kerry smiled as she lifted her hand off the bed and stroked James’ cheek. ‘What are you after, Adams?’
‘Nothing, I was just thinking. It’s a nice day out. Maybe we could make sandwiches and go up to the lake. It’s usually packed when it’s sunny, but all the other kids are in lessons today so we’d have it to ourselves. Maybe we could splash around, chill out, lie in the sun for a while.’
Kerry looked out the window. ‘It is nice out, but I’m halfway through EastEnders.’
James scowled at the screen. ‘You and your dopey soap operas. Violet’s varicose veins and Sammy stealing the Christmas club money to pay for his sex change. I don’t know how you sit through that rubbish every day.’
‘Well I happen to like them,’ Kerry said. ‘So you can either sit with me quietly until it finishes, or you can bog off.’
‘Can we go for a picnic after?’
Kerry shook her head. ‘I’ve got Neighbours to watch after this.’
James tutted. ‘God Kerry, you’re so boring sometimes.’
‘Haven’t you got about fifty lots of homework piled up on your desk?’ Kerry said bitterly. ‘Why don’t you actually do it for a change, instead of ripping off me or Kyle?’
‘Fine, I’ll go if you don’t want me,’ James said as he got off the bed. ‘I just thought a picnic would be fun.’
‘Let’s face it,’ Kerry said, ‘you don’t want a picnic. You want a quick swim, then you want to spend the rest of the afternoon snogging and trying to get your hands on my boobs.’
‘Well, you are supposed to be my girlfriend. I waited for you for six months while you were in Japan. You come back and you never want to do anything. I don’t know why you even want a boyfriend.’
Kerry jumped off the bed and put on a look of mock astonishment. ‘Do you know what, James?’ she snapped. ‘That’s the most sensible thing you’ve said all day. Why do I want a boyfriend? All you do is moan on and on about school. I’m sick of lending you money and bailing you out with homework that you left until the last minute. I’m sick of not being able to chill out, or go where I want with the girls because you’re always around.