Beginning of the Great War

Bernard Empire National Hospital – Intensive Care Unit

Elizabeth and some people are walking down the hallway.

At the end of the hallway, slumped on a plastic chair outside Room 307, sat Carl. His uniform was streaked with ash and dried blood. A bandage wrapped around his forearm peeked beneath his sleeve, and his head hung low, fingers gripping his hair as if to physically anchor his guilt. He didn't look up as Elizabeth approached, though his shoulders tensed.

"Carl," Elizabeth said, her voice clipped.

He flinched but remained silent.

"You failed."

Carl's jaw tightened. "I… tried to... The explosion—"

"Save your excuses for the tribunal." She swept past him into the room, leaving the door ajar.

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