CHERUB: The Fall Read Online Free

the back of a truck just after sun-up, and Large gleefully announced that they each had to carry a ten-kilogram metal weight, on top of the tents, utensils, drinking water and clothing already crammed inside their packs. Hot drinks and porridge were to be served ninety minutes later at a meeting point fifteen kilometres away, and those who didn’t make it would go hungry until the evening.
    Lauren made it in time for breakfast, but that had been the high point of her day. It was dark now, and she lay inside a two-person tent with swollen ankles and red welts where her pack had chafed her shoulders. She watched the sleeping bag of her best friend, Bethany Parker, swelling and dipping as she breathed.
    ‘Bethany?’ Lauren whispered, as she reached across and gave her companion a gentle nudge.
    Bethany didn’t stir, so Lauren decided that it was safe to wriggle out of her sleeping bag. She’d kept her jeans on, so she only had to slip her unlaced boots over her socks before she crawled up to the zipper holding the tent flaps together and opened it slowly to keep down the noise.
    The full moon gave Lauren enough light to see by as she crept between two rows of tents and into a cluster of trees at the edge of the field.
    ‘Rat,’ Lauren whispered. ‘Are you out there?’
    The heavily built twelve-year-old called softly back in his Australian accent. ‘Over here.’
    Lauren smiled as she sighted Rat, sitting with his back against a tree trunk. ‘How’s it going?’
    ‘Been better,’ Rat said, as he ran a grubby hand through his tangled hair. ‘Twisted my ankle when we crossed that lake and my back is killing me. You?’
    ‘About the same,’ Lauren said, giving a resigned shrug as she sat in the grass and snuggled up beside Rat.
    ‘How come you’re so late?’
    ‘Bethany. I thought she was never gonna fall asleep.’
    The pair turned to face each other and exchanged a quick kiss.
    ‘Is that all I get?’ Rat asked indignantly.
    ‘You smell like BO and you’ve got dried-up baked-bean sauce around your mouth.’
    Rat tutted. ‘Well Large had us walking and running for like, twelve hours. You’re no pot-pourri yourself.’
    Lauren gave some thought to this before leaning in again and giving Rat a much longer kiss.
    ‘You know,’ Rat said when they broke off, ‘I’ve been thinking.’
    ‘Riiiiight,’ Lauren grinned. ‘That explains the clanking noise I could hear when you and Andy were walking in front of me earlier.’
    ‘Seriously,’ Rat said, a touch irritated. ‘We’ve been sneaking around behind everyone’s backs ever since I finished basic training. I reckon it’s time we went public.’
    Lauren scowled at the grass between her legs and let out a deep groan. ‘If I’d known you were gonna start on that again I would have stayed in my tent.’
    ‘I want a normal girlfriend. This is driving me nuts.’
    Lauren grabbed hold of a branch and hauled herself off the ground. ‘Goodnight, Rathbone.’
    ‘Don’t be like that,’ Rat said, as he reached out and grabbed Lauren’s trouser leg.
    ‘Let off or I’ll boot you one.’
    ‘You’re doing my head in, Lauren.’
    ‘I like it the way it is. I don’t want the pressure of everyone talking about us, and making snide remarks and asking what’s going on all the time.’
    ‘You’re so full of crap,’ Rat snorted. ‘You’re just scared that James will take the mickey. It’s totally immature.’
    ‘Hey,’ Lauren snarled, raising her voice above a whisper for the first time. ‘I’m not immature. Now let go of my bloody trousers.’
    ‘You’ll have to tell James that you’ve got a boyfriend sooner or later,’ Rat said, as he defiantly tightened his grip and tugged Lauren towards him. ‘I mean, he’ll get upset if you don’t invite him to your wedding and he’s bound to suspect something when you start knocking out kids …’
    ‘What makes you think I’ll ever be getting married?’
    ‘I spent all day looking forward to meeting