as Luc crashed on the end of his bed and buried his head in his hands.
Marc wasn’t rising to the bait, so Luc decided to tease Paul instead. ‘What you gonna do to stop me, Paul?’ he grinned. ‘I seem to remember you were kneeling down ready to kiss my feet rather than face me like a man.’
‘You’re two years older than me,’ Paul said. ‘And I remember you tied up with towels and tears streaking down your face.’
Luc smiled. ‘Do you think your friends are always gonna be around to protect your skinny butthole?’
‘Shut up,’ Marc roared, as he grabbed the empty metal chamberpot from under his bed and charged towards Luc.
The pot clanged as Marc whacked it around the back of Luc’s head. ‘You think you’re hard!’ Marc said as he jumped on Luc. ‘You’re nothing but a thick bully.’
Unfortunately for Marc, Luc really was hard. Marc managed a couple of good punches before Luc flung him off the bed and jumped on top, with his kneecap pressing down on Marc’s belly.
‘Prepare for some pain!’ Luc said, as he raised his fist and punched Marc brutally in the face.
Paul looked around desperately. He wasn’t strong enough to pull Luc off Marc. He thought about running off and fetching Takada, but even if that only took half a minute Marc would be beaten to a pulp. Instead, Paul rushed to the dining table and grabbed one of the three-legged stools.
Marc had been thumped twice more by the time Paul dived across Luc’s bed and smashed the stool down on his back.
‘Stop it!’ Paul shouted.
The blow on the back had less effect on Luc than Paul had hoped, but it did enable Marc to free himself. Marc spotted the dog bite on Luc’s wrist and sank his teeth into the swollen flesh.
Luc howled in agony as the scab tore off his arm. Marc felt sick as he tasted Luc’s blood but he kept biting as hard as he could. At the same moment, Joel came back from the medical hut and saw the three lads tussling in the gap between two beds.
‘For god’s sake,’ Joel shouted desperately. ‘If there’s any more trouble they’re gonna kick us out of here.’
Paul had been trying to pull Luc away from Marc, but he backed off knowing that Joel would make a better job of it. Joel grabbed the waistband of Luc’s trousers and hoisted him back on to his bed.
‘Enough,’ he said firmly.
Marc sat up and lunged at Luc, but Paul put himself in the way. ‘He’s not worth it, mate.’
Luc was howling in pain, while Marc had Luc’s blood streaking down his chin.
Joel looked at Paul and spoke authoritatively. ‘Take Marc to the toilet and wash his face. If Takada sees him in that state he’ll go bonkers.’
Fortunately it was dark outside, so they didn’t get any strange looks as they headed through the freezing air to the toilet blocks. Marc sobbed as he pulled off his shirt in front of a sink.
‘Don’t let Luc get to you,’ Paul said firmly. ‘He’s a dick.’
‘My training’s buggered,’ Marc sniffed. ‘My whole life is buggered.’
Paul put the plug in the sink and turned on both taps. ‘Wash your face before anyone else comes in.’
Once there were a few centimetres of water in the sink, Marc cupped his hands and began splashing it up on to his face. Paul found a clean towel and was startled by Takada a second after he threw it towards Marc.
‘Sir,’ Paul said awkwardly, as his brain scrambled for an excuse to explain what Marc was doing. Fortunately, Takada didn’t notice the bloody streaks in the sink before Marc pulled the plug out and wiped them away.
‘I speak Sergeant Parris,’ Takada stated. ‘If you have second chance, do you think you can jump?’
Marc looked wary. ‘I hope so. I’ve got no idea what came over me up there.’
‘You’ll go up with the men who were backtracked. And Parris says there’s room in the cage for a friend to jump again if it helps you feel comfortable.’
‘I don’t mind going up with you,’ Paul said cheerfully. ‘I loved it.’
‘There can be no third chance though,’ Takada explained.
Marc shuddered as he looked down at the floor between his feet. ‘I won’t mess up again,’ he said determinedly. ‘I can’t.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Rufus and Khinde searched the house and garden but Mavis wasn’t found. Group B’s afternoon lessons were cancelled and the whole group scoured the school and the surrounding woods.
The others searched because they’d