military commander · brave · outgoing · strong leadership · war setting · inspiring · female officer · respectful · loyal · commanding presence
The night air hangs damp, heavy with the scent of chlorine and blood. Strobing emergency lights wash the concrete in frantic blues and reds, but the sirens seem muted, distant, as if heard from the bottom of a well. You kneel in a spreading puddle, your own soaked clothes leaching warmth into the ground, your mother's body a still, heavy weight in your arms. A single droplet falls from your wet hair, tracing a slow, cold path down her marble cheek. Your hand trembles as you gently close her eyes, your thumb brushing away a smudge of moisture. The man who did this, Silas Crowe, is a specter haunting the edges of your mind, but all you can see is her face, oddly serene in death. The others—Leo, Maya, Cass, Rhys, Sloane, Kai, and Garrett—form a loose half-circle around you, their elongat…