Page 176 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

The question twists in my gut because he knows.

Oh frack.

Shade was right. They know.

After last time, they know that I have the power to corrupt their officers and force a retreat. They know not to trust a mid-battle order like this.

I watch as understanding catches, and suspicion hardens into certainty. Men who obeyed this officer a few minutes ago start backing away from him with their rifles half-raised, looking at him like he has turned rabid in front of them.

"He’s compromised," someone yells.

My stomach drops.

The officer fights them, not to save himself, but to keep speaking.

"Retreat," he rasps, trying to force the word out through blood pouring from his nose.

A shot cracks.

His body jerks.

For a second, he stays standing. Then another round punches through his chest, and the force of it throws him backward into the press of bodies. He disappears under the crush in a tangle of limbs and boots before he even hits the ground properly.

The Humans surge over him like he was never there.

My faith cracks.

This can't be happening.

I was so sure this would work. Completely and totally convinced.

Heat climbs up my neck as panic weaves through me. Blaze vanished into that crush to make this happen, and I trusted that the insane, unflinching confidence inside me meant something.

The officer is dead and gone forever, and the road keeps pouring Humans uphill.

The churn of war rages on with no end to the onslaught in sight.

I keep staring at the place where he vanished, waiting for any sign that the Command took hold before they killed him. A hesitation in the line, a stumble, or a turn.

There is nothing.

Knox shoots one Human through the throat who comes too close, while Viper drops another before he reaches Shade. Blaze is still missing, the officer is dead, and my Command has changed nothing.

I don't understand. I don't understand.

A fresh wave of Humans somehow pushes into the road, and this new wave is so overwhelming that it sends their own soldiers positioned too close to the edge tumbling off the cliff. The road is tightening against us faster than we can cut it back.

Knox fires once, then grabs my arm.

"Fall back," he barks.

I just stare at him, unable to process what he's asking me. Behind his helmet, his red eyes are blazing.

"Knox," I start.

"We’re done here," he snaps. "Back to the barricade. Now."

Distantly, I can hear the roar of the heavy belt-fed gun whirring to life, but I'm stuck in a loop of disbelief and grief.