Chapter 9

Gunfire echoed around Nyla as she sprinted through the night. She didn’t pause as her platoon members called out to her.

“Major!” she screamed, her voice hoarse from breathing in the smokey air.

An enemy soldier emerged from the night and sprinted towards her. She sent him flying with one swipe of her arm. He hit one of the few trees in the town square with a sickening crunch before falling to the ground, dead. Nyla didn’t give the body a second glance.

Out of the darkness, the labored breathing of hundreds of men rose, but Nyla sought only one: the Major’s. She knew his breathing better than she knew her own. Finally, the signal she had been waiting for appeared – she heard him whisper her name. In seconds she was by his side behind the half wall where he had taken refuge.

There was blood soaking his front. “Major! What happened to you! Where are you shot?”

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