Halfway through the tunnel, Sourer stepped on a pressure plate.
The squad looked up. Not at the mine. At him. boy brigade rank
One by one, shadows moved. Sourer, sobbing. The twins, holding each other. Pod, checking Mite for wounds. Finch, staring at Eli with something new in his eyes. Not fear. Respect. Halfway through the tunnel, Sourer stepped on a
Eli’s squad was six boys. The oldest, Private Finch, was fifteen with the eyes of a fifty-year-old. The youngest, “Mite,” was barely eight, a scavenger who couldn’t hold a rifle but could crawl through gaps no man could fit. There was quiet Pod, who carved wooden birds when he thought no one was looking. The twins, Sour and Sourer (no one remembered their real names). And Eli. Halfway through the tunnel