PART 6
Colonel Hale’s voice dropped.
“Let me be clear. I am not asking because I don’t know. I am asking because your answer will decide what kind of soldiers you become.”
A recruit near the end of the line shifted.
Maddox turned his head slightly.
The recruit froze.
Emily recognized him.
Private Owen Briggs.
Nineteen years old.
Farm kid from Ohio.
Maddox had made him crawl through gravel until his elbows bled two nights earlier.
Briggs looked at Emily’s cheek.
Then at Maddox.
Then at the colonel.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, voice shaking. “He hit her.”
Maddox’s face turned white.
Another recruit spoke.
“He threw her gear first, ma’am.”
Then another.
“He’s been targeting her all month.”
Then another.
“He said he could make people disappear from the program.”
The silence broke all at once.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just enough for the truth to breathe.
Maddox snapped,
“Shut your mouths!”
Colonel Hale turned toward him.
“Staff Sergeant Maddox.”
He stopped instantly.
“You will not address my recruits again.”
May you like
My recruits.
The words landed hard.
