Chapter 58: Blood Shattered
He turned his head, and there she was. His daughter. She stood barefoot on the bloodstained floor, her favorite doll clutched in her hands.
"Why didn’t you save me, Dad?" she whispered.
The room melted away. He was back in their house—the smell of smoke thick in the air, the walls blackened and crumbling. His daughter’s body lay limp in his arms, her tiny frame charred and unrecognizable.
"Daddy..." Her voice pulled him back, cutting through the memory like a knife.
He blinked. The squad wasn’t there anymore. They were monsters—horrid, shapeless creatures dripping with blood. His rifle felt heavy in his hands, but his grip tightened instinctively.
"Stay back!" he roared, raising the weapon.
The first shot shattered the silence.
The soldier closest to him barely had time to react as the round tore through his chest, blasting him backward in a spray of blood and shattered bone.
"Shit! He’s gone rogue!" one of the squad members shouted, but it was too late.
The Platoon Leader moved like a predator, his movements unnaturally fast. His knife flashed as he lunged at another soldier, driving the blade into the man’s throat and twisting it with brutal efficiency. Blood poured from the wound as the soldier collapsed, his gurgling cries cut short.
The second mad soldier joined the carnage, his fingers digging into another squadmate’s face. With a sickening crunch, he crushed the man’s skull, his body crumpling to the ground like a ragdoll.