Our Teammate Novels & Stories

Then, almost reluctantly, a smile tugged at her mouth. “You really are different,” she murmured. I snorted, looking away for a second just to steady myself. “Different doesn’t always mean good.” “Maybe not,” she said, her voice soft, almost playful again. “But in this case, it does.” The corner of my mouth lifted without permission. My chest didn’t feel so heavy anymore. I looked back at her, locking eyes, and said the words before doubt could creep in: “You’d make a great teammate.” Her shoulders stiffened, but not in surprise, more like she was holding herself together. She blinked, like she wasn’t expecting me to say it so directly.

My eyes scanned the teams, until I found my name on team two. Caitlyn's was placed on team 1, how unfortunate. My eyes widened when I saw Isaac's name on team 1. I have to beat my own mate? Bring it.I walked to my team their shoulders sagged when they saw me. I'm a good actor, honestly I've got everybody fooled."I'll go easy on ya Cal." Isaac called from across the gym. In the middle of the gym were soft dodge balls. I wish we had the hard dodge balls, but we don't.

I rounded up and rushed to the training ground and I was barely early. “Gentlemen, we all know why we are gathered here,” the commander began. All twenty-five of us arrayed in one straight line, facing the board, “we've all worked very hard for this moment. Today, each of you representing your pack will earn them a place…” my mind drifted from the commander's speech as my eyes met Vance’s. We always imagined that we'd be side by side with each other and it didn't matter which of us ended up at the top of the board. Vance always believed I could still beat him, but I knew he was always going to be ahead, and I was okay with that.

I said. He looked at me for a moment. The smile did not leave his face. That was the thing about it — it had not shifted since he said my name. Not tightened, not flickered. It sat there like something that had been placed and was not going to be moved by anything I said. "We are teammates," he said again. "We are going to be in the same training sessions, the same games, the same spaces. Every day." He looked at me pleasantly. "You might want to think about how you would like that to go."

Jay I glance over to the table in the back and recognize half the team sitting there. Some new faces, some that I already met. I fetch a beer from the bartender and walk over to the table filled with my new teammates because running is what got me into this mess in the first place. “Miss me?” I ask. “Like a bad injury,” one of them says. “Yeah,” another adds. “We were just saying the locker room felt too peaceful lately.” Ryan kicks an empty chair out from the table toward me. “You can take my chair since you already took my spot on the power play.”

𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒔 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 " 𝒀𝒆𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 . 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑱𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒏, 𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝑯𝒖𝒆 𝒇

“I’m by your side one hundred percent. We’re a team now, remember? We’re in this together.” Together. Oh, how she loved that word.

"I understand." "But," I continued, "we can be something else. We can be teammates. We can be people who trust each other in combat, who have each other's backs when it matters. We can work together toward the same goal. Reaching the Core, ending this nightmare, getting out of here alive." "Teammates," she repeated softly, testing the word. "Yeah, Teammates. Not friends for now but people who fight on the same side. People who can count on each other when things get bad." I paused. "And in the between-space, things are always bad."

"But it's good to know we've got each other's backs." I nodded, feeling a sense of camaraderie with my teammates. We were in this together, and we would stop at nothing to protect each other.

As a team! 'What?!' They all exclaimed. 'That's right, you should all sharpen you skills and know your teammates' movements so that it can be assessed properly in missions,' Aiden added. Ryan looked back at his team mates: Suzanne was giving him 'doey' eyes and smiling foolishly, Ethan was pointing, yelling at him to get back there while Andrew was using his laptop, seemingly unaffected by the ruckus caused by their shouting squad 'member'! He groaned. I have to work with--them?!