With the protectors even closer, Spike now saw the sacks strapped to their belts. They were bulging, writhing, and glistening with freshly spilled blood. The creatures’ attempts to bite through the thick fabric were futile, but it didn’t look like they tried any less. Five of the seven protectors’ sacks were half full. Warrior carried a head by its hair because he didn’t have any space left, and both of Magma’s were stretched to bursting. Every protector wore blood-soaked clothes. They looked tired, but no less able to fight. They were machines.
Bleach led his team back towards the national service area. For the first time in several hours, Spike saw all of the other teams, many of the cadets walking with tired slumps. From what he could see, Matilda looked to have coped just fine.
As the protectors entered the new wall’s perimeter, Spike watched Magma look at team Bigfoot. His usual scowl hooded his searching eyes. Hard to tell, but it looked like a slight sag to his frame when he didn’t see his boy.
“Ranger’s still not returned,” Hugh said.
At that moment, Magma fixed on Spike, his brow dipping lower, his jaw tightening. Spike dropped his focus to the ground. “I think he heard you.”
“What? He couldn’t have.”
“Well, he just looked at me like I said it.” Another glance at Magma showed Spike the thickset protector still stared at him.
A slight whine lifted the pitch of Hugh’s words. “I’m sorry. Shall I say something to him? That it was me? That I didn’t mean to say it?”
“No, that’ll only make it worse. Maybe he didn’t hear you. Maybe he just saw me looking at him.”
The same rage met Spike when he turned to Magma again. The same rage he’d been on the receiving end of from his precocious son too many times to count.
It took for the sound of a horn to pull Spike’s focus back to the gates. Fright—team Chupacabra’s leader—had reached them first and signalled they needed to be let back in. Each team leader had a similar horn, as did the protectors; it was the best way to communicate with the guards from outside the wall.
The familiar sound of chains rushed over wood as the gates shook and wobbled. A few seconds later, a gap split down the middle. Spike strained to listen for the distant call of diseased in case they’d heard the horn. Nothing. Magma might have been staring daggers into his back, but there was no other protector he’d rather have behind him if the diseased did turn up.
The teams bunched up and waited for the gates to open, the cadets queuing to get back in, the protectors stopping behind them. It took all Spike had to not turn around again. But what would he do? Talk to Magma? Try to awkwardly explain why he’d looked at him? The man probably just wanted to check on his son and go home for the day.
Instead, Spike looked at Matilda, mud on her face, the hummingbird clip in her hair. She looked back at him and raised her eyebrows. He mouthed, You okay?
It banished Magma from his thoughts when she smiled and nodded. The broad protector then crashed into the back of him, barging him aside and sending him stumbling forward as he pushed through the crowd to enter the city before many of the cadets.
“Guess he must have heard me,” Hugh said. “Sorry.”
Because he had nothing positive to say, Spike didn’t reply. Day one and he’d seen a team killed, and now his hero hated him. What a start!
“Spike?” Hugh said.
“Sorry, it’s been a long day. All I want to do is go back to the dorm and sleep. If this is day one, I don’t know how I’m going to feel at the end of five months.”
Hugh set off, the wheel on his barrow squeaking. Spike fought through his lethargy and followed him. How many steps would it take to get him from his current position to his bed?
But before he got carried away with thoughts of sleep, Spike heard the gruff clearing of a throat.
Sarge strode in front of them. He waited for everyone to enter and for the sounds of the chains to start up again to signal the gates closing before he said, “We all need to go to the dining hall so we can talk about what happened today.”
Although no one protested, Spike noticed many of the cadets around him sag in response to the order. As he watched the protectors walk off in a different direction, he exhaled hard and joined the others in following Sarge towards the dining hall. His bed would have to wait.
Chapter 6
The second Spike stepped into the dining hall with his team, he saw Ranger already at Bigfoot’s table, and his chest tightened. The same scowling demeanour he’d worn since the hole. Whatever went through his mind, Spike didn’t want to know. If only the tragedy that took Phoenix down had taken him with them.
Much of the subdued chatter on the way there died down when the other cadets noticed the boy. They brought in the reek of mud and sweat as they took their seats.
Dark bags sat beneath Ranger’s eyes as if the chaos inside his mind ran him ragged. He’d always been a sadist, but he now looked like he wanted to set the world alight just to watch it burn. Not even Lance got a reaction from him as he took his usual seat on his left.
Whereas Ranger had watched Spike all the way to his table, he now turned his attention to Matilda.
The need to scream rose and died in Spike. While chewing on his tongue, he studied the deep pools of hatred in Ranger’s eyes. No longer someone who wanted to flirt, the stocky psychopath emanated violence.
When Matilda returned his glare with interest and then flipped him the bird, Ranger dropped his attention to the floor. She could look after herself, but something about the shame on the boy’s reddened face sent a shudder through him. Someone who cut that deep would seek revenge.
The rest of team Minotaur took their seats, choosing the same spots they’d had for the past month. Despite the smell of dirty and hard-worked bodies, Spike’s stomach rumbled because of the aroma coming from the kitchen. While holding his belly, he turned to Hugh. “I’m starv—” He stopped dead because of Hugh’s pallid face and followed his line of sight to Ranger.
“Why’s he looking at me?”
This time Elizabeth spoke up, reaching across the table and touching Hugh’s arm. She said it loud enough for Ranger to hear. “Ignore him. His head isn’t right.”
Although Hugh looked like he tried to turn away from Ranger, he managed only a few seconds before he looked back at him again.
The sound of Sarge’s heavy limp beat against the wooden stage. The remaining six team leaders sat at the long table. Spike’s gaze lingered on the unoccupied chair.
Before Sarge spoke, Ranger hissed across the room at Hugh, “You’d best watch your back.”
The reaction rose and died in Spike for the second time in as many minutes. Instead of talking to Ranger, he said to Hugh, “I don’t know why he’s going for you, but just ignore him.” His pulse pounding, he clenched his fists. Could he follow his own advice?
“I’m going to wait until you’re on your own and hurt you, you little clown. I’m going to torture you like I would a puppy. You have no right being here.”
Hugh whimpered, and many of the cadets between him and Ranger shifted as if the boy’s threats made them uncomfortable. A locked jaw, Spike looked at the top table and made eye contact with Bleach. Although his team leader didn’t say anything, he glanced from Spike to Ranger and back to Spike again before giving a gentle shake of his head.
“If you don’t die outside the walls, you’ll die inside them.”
“Ignore the prick,” Olga said. “He’s got issues.”
Although Bleach saw what went on between them, the rest of the team leaders and Sarge seemed oblivious, some of the cadets still weaving through the tables to take their seats. A deep furrow to Sarge’s brow, he looked preoccupied with trying to find the right words.
“We lost an entire team today,” Sarge then said and snorted an ironic laugh.
The attention of the room went to the man on the stage. If Ranger still looked over, Spike didn’t care.
“That’s a first. Before I go on, I want
to take a moment to honour team Phoenix.” Sarge bowed his head, Spike copying him when he saw many of the cadets do the same. “You gave yourself in service to this great city. May your spirits watch over us as we grow and prosper. Know we won’t forget you when Edin is liberated from the oppressive control of trying to live in a world where the diseased exist. Know you are the reason we’ll get there.”
When he’d finished, Sarge looked out over the tables. Regret glazed his faded blue eyes. He scratched his stubble before pulling in a deep breath. “Death happens on national service, although hopefully far fewer in one day than what you’ve witnessed today. When it does, we need to ask what can we learn? Could we have done anything differently?”
While letting the silence hang, Sarge’s chest rose with a deep breath. “Firstly, what we can learn is the importance of staying together. There’s a reason your leaders ask you to hold your line and let the diseased come to you. If Freddie had remained with his team, the diseased wouldn’t have taken them down so easily. Ya trying to be a hero made it even worse. Also, you probably saw how Freddie changed instantly while Ya didn’t. Ya’s wound was superficial. Although both were infected—which is why the diseased moved on to attack someone else—only Freddie received fatal wounds. It seems the closer the injury takes someone to death, the quicker they turn.”
“It’s as if the body’s fight for survival accelerates the effect of the virus,” Hugh said. An impulsive reaction, his face flushed red as if he’d only just realised he’d spoken out.
Silence fell over the hall as Sarge fixed on Hugh. “What did you say?”
At first, Spike felt Hugh look at him. A default reaction whenever he got in trouble he didn’t know how to get out of. The boy then looked at Ranger, who glared back. It paralysed him, so Spike shoved him and nodded in Sarge’s direction. “You might as well say it.”
Hugh cleared his throat and his voice shook when he directed his words at the stage. “The virus reacts quicker in a body that’s failing, almost as if the fight for survival accelerates the effect of the disease.”
After he’d nodded a few times, Sarge said, “Check out brains over there.”
“You mean he has a use?” Ranger said.
Hugh flushed red again.
Where Spike had once seen strength in Ranger, he now saw shame. The boy had publicly humiliated Spike about his fear, and now he was experiencing it himself. Not only that, but he’d run away and begged to be let back in on day one. At some point he’d have to face his old man too. If Spike wanted to be the next protector, he had to keep his head down. Ranger couldn’t beat him outside the walls, so it looked like he wanted to do it inside. And he wanted to do it through Matilda and Hugh. No way would he jeopardise his future over a petty squabble with an idiot. Instead, he winked at Ranger and smiled.
Lance Cull’s loud and deep voice flew at Sarge. “Why don’t the diseased eat their victims?”
Despite Lance’s lack of etiquette, Sarge acknowledged the question with a slight nod. “They seem driven to infect and nothing else. They can last for several months, rotting as they walk, but from what we can tell, they don’t eat. Ever.”
“If they only last for a few months, why haven’t they all died out?”
Another good question, Sarge winced while pausing as if thinking about how to reply. He pulled on his collar, cleared his throat, and raised a finger in the air. “Make sure you follow these rules. One: stick together. Two: don’t try to be a hero like Ya. You’ll only succeed in weakening your team. Three: when someone’s been bitten, get ready to kill them. No matter who it is. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Olga said beneath her breath, “the same one Ranger’s lapdog just asked: why haven’t they all died out?”
From the looks thrown her way, it seemed that many of the cadets close to them heard Olga’s question. If any of the leaders did, they ignored it.
Spike looked around the room to see Ranger glaring at him again. He looked back at the boy for a few seconds before staring past him at Matilda. Sarge said don’t be a hero, but if he saw her in trouble, he’d do whatever it took to save her regardless of the leaders’ instructions.
“Right,” Sarge said, “now we’re in here and the place already stinks of your sweating bodies, you might as well eat before returning to your dorms to wash. I’d imagine you’re all exhausted. Because of our sudden drop in numbers, there’s more food to go around. So eat up, and think long and hard about how you’re going to deal with the next attack. There’s very few things in this life you can be certain of, but dealing with scores of diseased on national service is one of them.”
Again, Olga spoke for the benefit of those closest to her. “Scores of diseased that are coming from somewhere you don’t feel the need to tell us about.”
Spike watched team Yeti get up first for dinner. They walked to the hatch between the dining hall and kitchen. Although he felt Ranger’s attention still on him, he refused to look at the boy. He’d quieted down, and in his current state, maybe that was all Spike could hope for. Dog-tired from his day, he needed food, a shower, and bed, in that order. Five months of this could damn well kill him. And if it didn’t, he had another five-month fight for the apprenticeship.
Chapter 7
The near silence they’d eaten their dinner in—vegetable broth again, albeit more on account of them being six cadets and a team leader lighter—continued as they left the hall, the cadets quietly shuffling out. After the day they’d had, words seemed woefully inadequate.
The second Spike exited with his team, he saw Ranger and Lance waiting.
The same vicious twist to his large features, Ranger focused on Hugh. “You won’t be here at the end, boy.”
A quick check showed Spike the team leaders were still in the hall. “What are you hoping to achieve by going for him?”
Clearly stirred up by the drama, Lance bounced on the spot, his face alive.
“He’s a weak link,” Ranger said. “The sooner he goes, the safer it will be for the rest of us outside the walls.”
Where Spike wanted to swing for the boy, Hugh had the opposite reaction, his shoulders slumping while he dropped his attention to the ground. Elizabeth reached out to comfort him, grabbing one of his large hands.
A twist to his sneer, Ranger shook his head. “We could do with the diseased taking your girlfriend from us too. You’re dead wood. The pair of you.”
“They didn’t run away earlier,” Spike said.
Both Ranger and Lance puffed out their chests, Ranger the mouthpiece for the pair. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
A tight twist wound through Spike’s already aching back. When he clenched his fists, the small cuts covering his hands burned. “You should deal with the fear you’ve developed around the diseased.”
“And you’d know.”
“You were more than willing to point it out to me when I was at my lowest ebb. It took a stint in the hole for me to deal with it. Have you thought about going back for another visit?”
Ranger’s dark eyes lost focus as if he’d returned to the hole in his mind. A few seconds later he blinked several times. Many of the cadets had stopped to watch the strange reaction. The boy clearly still had venom racing through his veins, but he didn’t seem able to articulate it. Instead, he turned away from team Minotaur and headed back to his dorm, Lance a few steps behind.
“He’s lost it,” Max said. Some of the other cadets muttered words to the same effect.
Heidi shuddered. “His dark little eyes give me the creeps.”
While watching the hunched shoulders of the stocky boy and his tall greasy friend walk away from them, Spike sighed. “Were he anyone but Magma’s son, I wouldn’t worry. But you know he’s got a ticket all the way to the trials. He’s a first-class liability, and he’s not going away anytime soon.”
The silence hung for a second before the cadets moved off; Hugh and Elizabeth led the way, the two of them still holding hands. Just as Spike passed the edge o
f the hall, someone reached around from behind the wall, grabbed him, and pulled him towards them.
When he saw who it was, Spike said, “Tilly?”
Half smiling, half flushed, she tilted her head back to indicate her intended destination. “Come with me.”
“Where?”
But she didn’t answer. Instead, she moved along the narrow side of the dining hall while the rest of the cadets headed back to their dorms.
Just before he rounded the next corner after her, Spike looked back at his team. Although Hugh and Elizabeth still appeared to be reeling from Ranger’s unprovoked attack, Max, Olga, and Heidi all smiled at him. Max even gave him a thumbs up.
Spike followed Matilda to the side of the dining hall with the large windows looking out over the national service area. A pillar dissected the wall of glass every few feet.
“There all still in there,” Matilda said, pointing through one of the windows. All of the team leaders and Sarge remained on the stage. Without another word, she darted across the first window and hid behind the large pillar on the other side.
A careful eye on the leaders, Spike jogged to catch up to her. “Where are we going?”
Instead of responding, Matilda darted across to the next pillar.
The leaders hadn’t yet clocked them, so Spike drew a calming breath and followed her again.
At the second pillar, Matilda spoke. She fought to get her words past her quickened breaths. “If we want privacy, we need to make sure they don’t see us.”
“And we want privacy?”
Matilda darted across the third and final window.
Some of the leaders were leaving the hall. Juggernaut and Sarge remained. When Bigfoot’s leader hugged Sarge, Spike paused to watch before running to Matilda on the other side. “Did you just see that?”
Together they watched the two men pull apart, the tears on Sarge’s cheeks catching the light.
“He’s normally so shut off,” Spike said.
Beyond These Walls (Book 2): National Service Page 4