PART 12
Ava looked at Grant.
He swallowed hard.
“I won’t do that again.”
“No,” Ava said softly. “You won’t.”
Major Monroe approached next, Chief Keene beside him.
Monroe looked embarrassed.
But not too proud to show it.
“Staff Sergeant Stroud,” he said, “your actions today saved an entire reconnaissance element.”
Ava’s voice remained even.
“They saved themselves. I helped.”
Keene studied her carefully.
“I wondered where they buried that call sign.”
Ava looked away.
“They didn’t bury it.”
She paused.
“I did.”
Keene nodded like he understood more than he said.
That night, the outpost was quieter than usual.
No one laughed near the weapons tables.
No one called her Ghost Rifle.
In the mess tent, a full tray was set across from her before she even sat down.
Holt took the seat beside her.
For once, he didn’t talk.
After a while, Ava glanced at him.
“You’re allowed to ask one annoying question.”
He almost smiled.
“Just one?”
“One.”
He hesitated.
Then he asked, “Do the names ever stop following you?”
Ava looked down at her hands.
The mess tent noise faded.
“No,” she said.
Then she looked toward the dark shape of Black Veil Forest beyond the outpost.
“But sometimes they walk quieter when the living make it home.”
Outside, the forest sat black beneath the moon.
Black Veil still held secrets.
May you like
It always would.
But it did not hold Bravo Three.
