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1000 Strong - Part Four

Adrenaline was cursing through every fiber of my skin, but anger and fear swirled together in a single harsh, furious, throbbing knot in my throat. My troops were heaped on the benches, the floor and against the walls. Most were bloodied... those that had made it anyway. But all were defeated. I could see it on their faces and in the way the leaned against anything and everything, even each other.

I flipped a single bullet between my fingers as I paced the room. "Listen up!"

Everyone snapped into attention... slower than usual.

I cleared my throat, attempting to open my airways around the knot that was sitting there like a rock. "This is not the end. They may have pushed us back this time, but we are not defeated!"

"They killed more than half of us, Captain." Private Banks was holding his arm closed. The wound appeared to my to the bone.

"Yes. They did," I agreed. "But we still have numbers. And the most important thing is that we have experience."

"We had experience before we went to the slaughter. I've fought in wars for twenty-three years!" Corporal Moyes pointed toward the door. "Many of us had plenty of experience. Many of our dead had plenty of experience. They still picked us off like we were offering ourselves up."

I wrung my hands for a moment before stopping and looking them all over. "Stand up. Now," I ordered them. "We have experience fighting them now. Now we gather our intel. Who saw any of them being taken down? Who took any of them down? How? What's their weak points? What weapons work best? How did they come at us? What weapons did they use? Now? We step back, wrap up our wounds, get cleaned up and reorganize. Then... when we're ready, we hit them where it will hurt."

"But we lost so many people!" Private Banks spoke up again.

I stepped up and got right in his face, our noses almost touching. "And unless you want the rest of us to die, too, I suggest you start searching your negative little mind for things that will be helpful."

Stepping back out to look over the soldiers, I pulled my shoulders back. "Jones! You take the severely wounded. Carpenter! You take the mildly wounded. Everyone else, line up. Reynolds and Martin will be taking any intel you have to offer. I don't care if its just an eye color. Everything matters. Now, go!"

I watched and hoped we'd get enough to give us the upper hand this time. We needed it.