Fifth Quarter Read Free

Tic?"
     
    "Y-yes." It didn't seem to matter that he was at least a foot taller than the woman he faced.
     
    "What?"
     
    "If I wake you up again, you'll kill me."
     
    Watching from his bedroll, Bannon snickered and Vree tried not to smile in response. "Close enough. Go clean up, you stink." As the kid ran off, she turned on Emo. "One of these day, I will kill one."
     
    "Not a chance." Wiping streaming eyes, the corporal heaved a satisfied sigh. "You're too good. And now the little shit knows he can die. Thanks to me, he's a better soldier."
     
    "Thanks to you ?" Vree snorted, bending and dragging her kilt out of her pack. "Which brings up another question," she continued, buckling the limp, blue pleats around her waist. "Why am I always chosen to give these little lessons of yours?"
     
    "Because you look so sweet when you're asleep," Emo told her, secure in his rank. Those of the Fourth Squad standing closest to him made exaggerated movements away. "That pointy little face of yours goes all soft and you have the cutest habit of cupping your cheek with one hand." His voice lost its false, syrupy tone, and he snorted. "Your brother, on the other hand, looks dangerous only while he sleeps."
     
    "That's because I'm dreaming of you, Emo." Bannon stood and scratched at the triangle of brown hair in the center of his chest. His nose wrinkled at the smell of unwashed bodies, latrine trenches, and great vats of boiling mush. "Life in the army," he murmured. "Gotta love it."
     
    " 'Cause you can't do shit about it,' " several voices answered in unison.
     
     
     
    "Vree? You going out tonight?"
     
    Vree turned her head and stared incredulously at the woman standing just beyond weapons' reach. "No, Shonna. I was feeling bloated and I thought I'd check if my black breeches, my black tunic, and my black ankle boots still fit."
     
    Shonna shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck with one hand while the other traced circles in the night air. "Yeah, well, I mean…" She sighed deeply and started again. "Look, do you think that maybe, on your way back you could pick up a chicken or something?"
     
    "I'm on target, Shonna."
     
    The other woman looked uncomfortable but dragged up half a grin. "So kill a chicken, too."
     
    The food provided by the seven armies was nourishing but monotonous. A number of establishments outside the perimeter took advantage of that and for a price no one had to live on mush, black bread, and sausages.
     
    "You lost at dice again." Vree knew her too well for it to be a question.
     
    "Yeah, but I'll come around. It's just…"
     
    "It's just more of the same. And the answer's no."
     
    "Then lend me a crescent." Shonna took a step forward, hand outstretched. "Until payday."
     
    "No."
     
    Shonna's hand dropped under the weight of Vree's response and she wiped her palm against her kilt. "I thought I meant something to you."
     
    A few hours of pleasure, an attempt to raise a barricade around other desires… "Not after you tried losing my money at dice."
     
    "I should've known better," Shonna muttered sullenly. "Your kind doesn't have feelings." Her voice straddled the line between challenge and insult.
     
    Vree merely stared, expressionless, until the other woman nervously began to back away.
     
    As she turned and stomped toward the center of camp, sandals slapping against the packed dirt, Bannon separated from the shadows to stand at Vree's shoulder. "She wasn't good enough for you, sister-mine," he said softly. "But then, who is?"
     
    Her gaze pulled around by his tone, Vree caught a glimpse of an expression she couldn't identify and wondered, not for the first time, how much he knew.
     
     
     
    The Sixth Army had camped close enough to Ghoti to intimidate and far enough away to maneuver, leaving a large expanse of scrubby ground to be crossed under the eyes of enemy sentries perched on top of hastily erected earthen defenses. Fortunately, shadows were plentiful and the sentries were