His back to the house; he rips off his mask. The lungful of air hits his brain like ice and shocks his senses back from his thoughts. The black APCs have formed a concave around the house. Floodlights bleach its sides. Operatives in black wander back and forth in its shadow.
He blinks, trying to wipe what he has seen from his eyes. The bodies, the way they-
It's not the worst thing he’s seen. That unnerves him. Makes him think there will be worse to come. You think you’re ready for it. You think the initial shock is the worst of it. But it's the hours after that hold you in their clutches.
Someone is talking to him and he isn’t listening.
‘What?’
His commander. ‘I said are you alright?’
He nods. It’s all he can do.
What were those symbols? Painted on the wall in god-knows-what. They seemed to move when you looked at them.
‘We need to debrief,’ says his commander. His face bears their mark. He thinks. Then it moves.
Paddy Dobson
12th August 2021