The explosion at the battlefield will scatter parts of Nedrick’s New American Army in all directions. Arms. Legs. Heads. Hands. Ears. The tunnels will rumble. The Sniper will run quickly to the safer tunnels, her husband close behind her, until they find a boy. The boy will beg them to stop. The boy will say there is too much smoke. He will say they are trapped. He is familiar to me. He will have come from a barn safe house that looks like Ellie’s barn.
They will hear footsteps from behind. There will be a flamethrower and a man. The head of Ferret Company who has hunted them for over a year. A man who drives a red pickup truck.
“Why don’t you come with us?” the Sniper will say.
The man will consider this. He will look at the boy. Something will change in him when he sees the boy. Something will soften.
“It’s over,” he’ll say. “I’ve found you.”
The boy will think the man is talking about him and will run toward him. The man will fire his flamethrower at the three of them: the Sniper, her husband and the boy.
But it will not be over. Nothing is ever over until there is no breath left. And when he leaves them there, scorched and bloody, they will be breathing.