Lurk

Chapter Seventeen

“He’s stone cold, Lew.” Snake – otherwise known as Nathan – made a short inspection of the sniper’s dead body.

The twins never used their real names at work, and it was for a variety of reasons. The main one was simple: there was a zero-percent chance of getting tracked down years in the future by some dead terrorist’s family members. The chances were slim, but equally valid.

Lewis, who’d been going by Spider for all these years, took comfort in hearing his brother speaking normally. He responded with the most miniscule of smiles, before the seriousness of the situation took over.

Pvt. Leo Smith, whom hadn’t kept his Christian name a secret, looked no different to normal. His skin was still a healthy bronze, as if all the life was there. But after double-checking his pulse, Nathan was sure that the friend they used to know was gone.

Lewis switched his head into gear, rolling over the body and fiddling with the head. He held Leo’s cheeks in a one-handed vice grip, searching for some sort of indication. “Don’t you think it’s kind of strange how the smoke just put itself out like that?”

Nathan checked Leo’s wrists, presuming that it would be the most likely place for a bite mark. But the body had neither bite marks nor any other apparent damage. It was as if his soul had just left on its own accord.

“Maybe, I guess.” Nathan’s voice trembled with uncertainty. “But we can’t assume nothin’ like that, can we?”

For the first time in a while, the Geordie accent that both had tried to mask was seeping back through. They’d been putting on a cockney face, hoping that it would lower the chances of getting bullied in basic training. It had sort of worked, in Nathan’s opinion, but as long as they stuck together nobody would hurt them.

“You know, I’m glad we didn’t get our tats removed. We wouldn’t have lasted out there, would we?” Lewis sat down on the hard floor, arms hanging loosely over his knees. As he continued to speak, an uncontrollable chuckle shook his words. “We barely scraped through basic training, let alone take on a whole fucking army!”

The siblings broke into nervous laughter, forgetting the troubles of the present for a few precious moments. The fact that their animal tattoos had brought them to this base, and forced them to live out the army days away from the frontline was of much significance. Tattoos were permitted, but not in places that would be on show. They were lucky to keep their jobs at all after such a risky move.

“Look at us, eh?” Lewis huffed, a semi-deluded smile appearing on his face as he jumped to his feet. His arms told it all. “We’re in the shitty countryside, surrounded by zombies, and we’re not even enjoying the chance to use our rifles!”

Nathan was concerned of his brother’s state of mind, but didn’t make an effort to stop Lewis from taking the L96A1 from its resting place at the windowsill.

The light of the moon lit the right of his face, while the rest hid in shadow. Both of his bright blue eyes were staring blindly into the distance, starved of reason or awareness. He lowered his voice to a gentle purr. “We’re not gonna leave this place, Nath. But if that’s the case, we might as well leave this Earth as heroes.”

“Look mate, you’re a bit tired,” Nathan interjected, yawning himself as he got up to intervene. “I think that Ma’d want us to get some sleep while we can.”

“Yeah, okay.” As Lewis slung the rifle away, he felt a warm hand clasp his left shoulder. “I suppose we should. But shouldn’t we take turns at watch – for safety’s sake, I mean?”

Nathan continued to yawn as he turned back, and slumped down onto the floor, careless of the comfort. “Go ahead... Just wake me up when you’ve had enough, okay?”