Tony pointed his rifle at the clouds and pulled the trigger while his men hopped about.
The massive army on the road kept on marching. The odd gunshot was not enough to alert it. Tony pointed his rifle again and this time yanked the trigger five times, a second between each shot. The rhythmic shooting was not a normal sound of war, and it caused the front lines of the army to take a knee and search their surroundings. Eventually, men spotted Tony’s group up on the hill, and while their distant shouting was too far away to discern, at least they didn’t start firing their weapons.
“They’ve clocked us,” said Tony. “Let’s move, but keep your hands in the air.”
The men moved at a slow walk, their equipment rattling free at their sides. A part of Thomas’s army broke away – a meeting party. Tony met them in the lower half of the field and they knew right away who he was. “Colonel Cross! Good to see you. General Thomas is nearby. I’ll take you to him.”
“Thank you. My men have been out in the field for several days. Do you have any water?”
“Of course!” The small meeting party handed over their canteens and Tony’s men drank thirstily. Then they got moving again, covering the final ground between them and the army.
General Thomas was visibly surprised to see Tony, which confirmed his suspicions that his superior had not expected him to return. “Colonel Cross, what a relief to see you. How was the mission? I don’t see Sergeant Pearson with you.”
Tony glanced briefly at his men. Each appeared anxious, and he could only imagine what was going through their minds. Clearing his throat, Tony offered the lie. “We were met with hostility. Sergeant Pearson and two other men didn’t make it.”
Thomas’s grey eyes narrowed. “And what about Mass and his unit?”
“Confirmed dead. They were already in a bad way when we found them. They didn’t present a challenge after the initial exchange.”
Thomas looked past Tony to one of his men. “You, what is your name?”
The soldier flinched as if slapped. “Me, sir?”
“Yes, you!”
“Corporal Dendoncker, sir.”
“What kind of name is that?”
The soldier shifted awkwardly. “My grandfather came from Belgium, sir.”
“Well, Belgium no longer exists, so perhaps the name will die with you. You served with Pearson overseas, didn’t you? You’re quite the soldier, if I recall his words.”
Tony noticed Dendoncker had his fists clenched. Was it Thomas or Tony he wanted to punch? How close had he been to the now-dead Pearson? “I served with Pearson in the Fusiliers, sir, then again in the war against the demons. All told, I’ve known him a good five years.”
“He was a good man, yes?”
“A fine soldier, sir. Yes, sir.”
Tony’s breath caught in his throat, and he tried not to reveal his anxiety. If he made a run for it, he might be able to bolt into the trees and escape, but that wasn’t how he wanted to end things. That wasn’t the way he wanted to be remembered.
Remembered by whom?
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Thomas told Dendoncker. “How did Pearson die, if it’s not too painful to ask?”
Tony bit down on his lip. He thought about lifting his rifle and trying to take off Thomas’s head before the men gunned him down. At least his death would mean something.
Dendoncker let his head drop, staring at the ground. “He was shot, sir.”
Thomas nodded. “By whom?”
Dendoncker looked up at Tony and then back at Thomas. “By one of the men we were attempting to neutralise. Like Colonel Cross said, they weren’t happy to see us.”
Thomas glanced over at the other men, probably to check if any of them objected to that version of events. None of them did, and it caused the general to snort through his nose. “Very well. Colonel Cross, I expect you and your team to remain close by. I value your input in matters of warfare. Have you met Colonel Livingstone? He’s the acting chief of our ground forces, answering directly to me.”
Tony had to stop himself from groaning as the leathery-skinned, grey-eyed sadist appeared from a group of nearby men. Tony had fought the demons in Turkey alongside Livingstone when he had been a mere captain and Tony a sergeant. While they hadn’t personally come to blows, Tony had witnessed him execute injured soldiers rather than get them to safety, and he had once seen him capture a badly burnt demon and tie it to a post in the middle of camp. His men had thrown rocks at it for days before it expired. Some men thrived in times of war – even enjoyed it – and Livingstone was one of them. Tony fought down his dismay and offered a handshake and a smile. He had expected to be shot, so this was at least a better situation than the one he’d anticipated. “Good to see you, Colonel Livingstone. Congratulations on the promotion.”
“And to you, Tony. Sergeant to colonel, that’s quite the monumental rise to power.”
“I like to think I earned it.”
Thomas nodded. “You did, Colonel Cross, and I hope you continue to conduct yourself in the same exemplary manner as you have done previously.”
“Of course, sir. That’s why I need to tell you to turn this army back, right now.”
Thomas spluttered. “I’m sorry, what did you just say? Do you not see what’s happening here? We’re about to take back our country. The enemy is licking its wounds and we must not give it the chance to recover.”
“You don’t understand, sir. We encountered a demon army on the
