MrSlippyFist :
"W--we" his voice trembled. The Major's face was stern and still, yet sweat and tears streaming smoothly down his cheeks. He could see his wife, clutching their son, a dozen rows back. The infected, half a dozen rows behind her. "Sir! What do we do?! Major?!" The Sergeant shook him hard, but the Major could hardly hear him, hardly feel anything at all. All he felt was the tenderness of her touch, on his chest, and the sounds of her breathing in the darkness. The gentle coo of his son's laugh. The way they squealed together in the rain. He thought there would be more time. There was a pit, forming in his soul. Its depths, the guilt of love, and its high walls, the shadow of duty. The Major's eyes locked with the Sergeant's, his brother in arms, for whose life he was also responsible, and then down at the crowd surging beyond the walls. He thought, they'd have more time. It was his decision to make. His heart crumbling in his chest, the words falling out, cold and hollow. "We must close the gates."
2026-09-12 17:45:34