Chapter 3
Ava lay still.
Mud covered her mouth.
Her shoulder burned like fire.
Somewhere behind her, a soldier whispered, “Did he just kick her?”
Derek crawled past her and pushed up to his knees like nothing had happened.
Sergeant Major Hayes stood near the line, his face unreadable.
Ava slowly planted both palms into the mud.
Her arms trembled.
Derek looked back and laughed.
“Come on, Monroe,” he said. “Don’t make it dramatic.”
Ava lifted her head.
Her face was covered in mud, but her eyes were clear.
She pushed herself up, one breath at a time.
Then she looked straight at Derek.
“You just disqualified yourself.”
The laughter stopped.
Derek blinked.
Then his smile returned, colder than before.
“You think anyone will believe you?”
Nobody moved.
The rain got louder.
Ava wiped mud from her mouth with the back of her hand.
She looked at Derek like she had been waiting for him to finally show everyone who he really was.
Derek stood taller.
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “You got no proof.”
For a moment, something in Ava’s face almost broke.
Not fear.
Not shame.
Something older.
Something heavier.
Then Sergeant Major Hayes stepped forward.
His boots sank into the mud.
Derek’s smile faded a little.
Hayes raised one hand.
In it was a small black training camera, no bigger than a deck of cards.
May you like
“I believe this video.”
Read Part 4 to find out what the hidden camera had been recording since dawn.
