“Scrags don’t speak,” Denman answered in a neutral tone.

“Bullshit,” Cruz snapped.

“I heard him. He said he was hungry,” Jameson protested. “I heard him talk!”

“Me, too!” Cruz glowered at Denman and Maria, a look of betrayal on her face. “What the fuck aren’t you telling us?”

“Drop it,” Maria said in a firm tone.

“I heard it speak!” Cruz pointed at Ryan. “I heard it.”

Maria winced, unable to think of Ryan as anything other than her friend. To have him considered any less was difficult for her to process. “I said to drop it.”

“I’ll talk to the Chief Defender about it then, Vanguard Martinez,” Cruz said angrily.

“If you do, he’ll disregard it.” Denman yanked Ryan’s armor closed and began fastening it back in place. “He has been ordered to disregard any anomalies out here.”

“Why?” Cruz demanded.

“Because his job is to make sure we do ours. Efficiently, quickly, and without questions.” Finishing his task, he stood up and quickly stowed away his med-kit.

Maria could tell that neither Jameson nor Cruz liked this answer even while seeing the truth of it. Both stared at the body at their feet.

“But if they can talk, or think...” Cruz trailed off.

“Like us,” Jameson added, his eyes widening. “Shit!”

“It can’t be. Ryan died in the last push against the Scrags,” Maria said.

“You knew him?” Denman quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah. He was one of my best friends. I saw him dragged down by a pack of Scrags. He’s not like us.” Maria shook her head. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we don’t have all the answers.”

Omondi and his group pushed through the wall of Inferi Scourge. The big man stopped at the body on the ground. “Constabulary,” he breathed. Bending over, he searched for the dog tags.

Maria discreetly tucked them into her pack as she stepped away from the others. She didn’t want to give Ryan’s tags to Omondi. She could still remember her last moments with Ryan before he had been torn away. She had always mourned not being able to bury him, but now she could. The tags were sacred.

“So he just attacked you, randomly, for no reason?” Omondi asked, looking toward Maria.

“He was howling, stirring up the Scrags. He pulled them out of torpor. They all went crazy and then he attacked us while we were distracted.” As the words left her mouth, she knew that Ryan had deliberately stirred up the Inferi Scourge. He had been hunting them.

“And then you killed it?” Omondi asked.

A brief silence stretched a little too long for Maria’s comfort, but she wasn’t sure how to answer. Would the others keep quiet?

“We held it down and I killed it,” Denman said at last. “Then we remained silent and waited for the Scrags to re-enter their torpor.”

Omondi straightened and studied their faces one by one. Behind him, Mikado, Holm, and Cormier stared at the body on the ground. Their faces were expressionless, but their eyes were full of questions.

“It said ‘hungry,’” Cruz said in a timid voice, her eyes darting toward Maria. “We all heard it.”

“You imagined it,” Omondi said, dismissing her comment outright.

“No, it said ‘hungry’ and it was trying to bite Vanguard Martinez,” Cruz insisted. “We all heard it.”

“Scrags don’t speak,” Omondi said in a tone that made it clear the discussion was over. Swiveling about, he gazed down at Maria. “Don’t you agree?”

“Scrags don’t talk,” Maria agreed. She could feel all eyes on her, but she kept her gaze locked with Omondi’s.

“Burn the body. Keep moving. We have a long day ahead of us,” Omondi ordered. He waded back into the throng of Inferi Scourge, his team shadowing him.

Grabbing Ryan under his arms, Denman pulled him toward a pile of Scourge.

With a growl of frustration, Cruz kicked a dead body. Jameson merely stared after Ryan, his hand tracing the bite on his hand.

Maria followed Denman.

It was difficult undressing Ryan for his funeral pyre. The wounds on his torso were terrible to behold. The armor wouldn’t burn, so it would be stacked with other salvageable items. Denman helped Maria lift Ryan onto the top of the pile of bodies.

“I’m sorry about this, you know,” he said at last.

“I saw them take him,” Maria sorrowfully responded. “He sacrificed himself so I would survive.”

Touching Ryan’s torn cheek, Maria whispered a prayer in Spanish. Stepping back, she crossed herself. “None of this makes sense anymore,” she said at last. Drawing the small, handheld flamethrower, she made sure it was loaded, then fired at the pile. A fire instantly roared to life. The flames spiraled above the pyre as thunder rolled and somewhere in the distance rain began to fall. The smell of burning flesh and ozone washed over her.

Timidly, Denman reached out and rested his hand on her back. Touched by his gesture, Maria gave him a sad smile. Deep sobs came from deep inside her and she wished she could cry. Though her eyes remained dry, her body shuddered with her despair.

* * *

 “I have new orders,” Omondi said hours later as the bonfires burned low and the squads sat in small huddled groups talking. He loomed over her, his face hidden by the darkness of the night.

Maria glanced up from the novel she was reading on her pad. “What are they?”

“We’re dividing the squad. I have orders to take my half to the hydroelectric station.”

Widening her eyes slightly, Maria set her pad aside. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s not our place to understand orders,” Omondi said in a tone that was both tired and rather cross. “We obey them.”

The chastisement burned a little, but Maria refused to let it rile her. Too much had happened during the day to let one more thing pile on top of her already overburdened mind. “I suppose they split the squad for us?”

Omondi handed over his pad and Maria scanned the list. It took only a few seconds for her to give Omondi a sharp look.

“Your squad is all SWD security.”

“We’re all Inferi Boon Special Ops,” Omondi corrected her tersely. Yet there was something in his voice and posture that revealed his own misgivings on the situation.

“Of course.” Studying the list, Maria began to realize that she truly didn’t know the SWD security on the squad very well other than Gutierrez. They usually hung out in clusters on their own and though they did join in the joking, it was the Constabulary members of the squad that Maria interacted with on a more personal basis.

Peering over her shoulder, she recognized that even now, as the squad relaxed during their break, there was a visible break between the Constabulary and SWD soldiers. She returned the pad to Omondi and folded her arms over her chest.

“You will continue with our original plan and eventually meet up with my squad. We’ll maintain regular contact and you’ll need to send your reports to me.”

“We only have one medic,” Maria pointed out. Denman was staying behind. She was relieved that he wouldn’t be departing, but she was also concerned about the health of the soldiers leaving with Omondi.

“We’ve been out here long enough to know what we need to watch out for,” Omondi said dismissively. “We have our orders.”

“And when do you leave?”

“Now,” Omondi answered.

His expression was tense, his gaze fixed, and the lines between his eyes deep. Omondi was deeply upset about something and it was seeping out in his features despite his resolve.

“Tonight?” Maria arched an eyebrow.

“You’ll be in charge of the wristlet timers for your squad now. The schedule will be transmitted to your pad. We’ll have daily debriefs after our squad goes into blackout.” Omondi’s dark eyes peered into hers. “Though this is an unexpected alteration in our plans, remember: we’re doing this for the citizens of The Bastion. We’re soldiers in the soon-to-be-ended war for survival against the Scrags.”

Maria nodded. “Yes, sir.”

She followed in his wake as he made his way to the center of the soldiers enjoying their break. His formidable presence drew the attention of every man and woman. Maria could see trepidation fill the faces of a few while others merely looked curious. Omondi’s booming voice filled the night air, drowning out the soft moans of the Inferi Scourge around the camp. He delivered the new orders in a strong, firm, commanding voice. Whereas Maria had sensed that he may have misgivings when he had spoken to her, there was no sign of those feelings when he addressed the squad. His strength, confidence, and charisma swept away the shock and dismay. By the end of his rousing speech, the split squad was cheering and ready for the next phase in their mission.

Within the half hour, Chief Defender Omondi and his newly formed squad marched into the darkness of the night, their forms slipping away into the moaning Scourge.