humiliation of having no eggs or ammo while the girls’ confident air suggested that they were doing OK. As they clambered over the wall, James made a rough count of the splats on their uniforms and realised they’d each taken six or seven hits, about the same as him.
‘What’s up with you?’ Lauren asked. ‘You’re all stooped.’
‘I was tired before we even started. Then I got a killer shot in the back and Kerry thumped me in the same spot with her elbow. It’s agony.’
Bethany laughed. ‘Lovers’ tiff.’
James ignored the jab. ‘I lost my canteen,’ he said. ‘Have either of you got any water left?’
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