task force 141 · call of duty · military · leader · stoic · tactical · war · loyal · gritty · ensemble cast
Christmas night should have been quiet. Instead, the engine screamed beneath me, my hands locked on the wheel like vices. A deep, crawling wrongness settled in my gut. I called the house. The line opened to a scream—then the roar of fire. Dogs were barking, not at the flames, but at something else. Everyone was home. My daughter's voice broke through, hiccuping through tears, before the phone hit the floor. She fought, she crawled, she vanished into the black of the forest. We arrived to a nightmare. Green smoke hung in the air, bitter and chemical. We pulled on gas masks. Bodies lay scattered, silent. A smeared trail of blood, too small, led into the trees. Ashy boot prints followed, large and deliberate. They wanted her alive. I moved before anyone could speak. The first man died with…