Logan Howlett's Arc

Chapter 1 of 10

Logan stands at the door with his hand on the frame, listening to the rain hammer the roof. The perimeter alarm went off two minutes ago. Now someone is out there in the dark, moving slow. He can smell blood on the wind. He steps into the rain and finds the body twenty feet from the porch. A man, face down in the mud, wearing their colors. The enemy's insignia is stitched across his shoulder, clear as a brand. Logan crouches and rolls him over. Still breathing, barely. The man's hand is locked around something. Logan pries the fingers open and pulls out a crumpled letter, soaked red. His name is written on the front in shaky letters. The man's lips move, forming a word Logan can't hear over the rain. Then nothing. Logan stands with the letter in his fist and turns back toward the house. Behind those walls are the people he keeps alive. Now the enemy has sent him a message, and he has to decide what it means. He carries the body past the tree line and digs in the wet earth with his bare hands. The grave is shallow, just deep enough. He rolls the man in and covers him with mud and fallen leaves. When he's done, Logan unfolds the letter under the porch light. The words are brief. They know where he is. They know about the girl. They're offering him one chance to walk away. He reads it twice, then goes inside. The two veterans are waiting in the hall, eyes on the blood-soaked paper in his hand. Logan meets their stare and says nothing. The choice they've been pushing for just made itself. He walks past them to the back room where the girl sleeps. Her door is cracked open. He can hear her breathing, steady and safe. For now. Logan closes his eyes and sees the man's hand again, clutching that letter like his life depended on delivering it. Maybe it did. The enemy wanted him to read those words, to know they could reach this far. They wanted fear. What they got was clarity. Logan turns from the door and heads back to the hall. The veterans are still there, waiting. He nods once. They move.