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Sparkles, though looking like he was on the verge of passing out, joined St. Nick in The Army Song.

The Army’s on its way.

Count off the cadence loud and strong;

For where’er we go,

You will always know

That the Army goes rolling along.

Julian looked directly at the Taliban’s leader. The man’s dark eyes were a complete void, like no soul was housed inside his body. Leaning forward on his chains, ignoring his shoulders’ protests, Julian got right up in the man’s face. “I will not talk.”

Valley Forge, Custer’s ranks,

San Juan Hill and Patton’s tanks,

And the Army went rolling along.

A single gunshot rang out. It echoed throughout the cave, ricocheting until deafening, but it still would not block out Sparkles’ remaining voice.

Minute men, from the start,

Always fighting from the heart,

And the Army keeps rolling along.

The second gunshot fired. Julian did not look away from the cold, lifeless eyes of the man in front of him as the cave eventually fell silent.

Julian clamped his jaw shut, locking his teeth together to the point of pain but still did not open his mouth. The mantra inside his head continued even after the Taliban departed from the cave room, leaving Sparkles’ and St. Nick’s bodies behind where they’d fallen next to Lamb Chop and Patriot.

I will not talk…

I will not talk…

I will not talk…

CHAPTER7

PRESENT DAY

[WiseWave620: Is nine cups of coffee a day too much?]

* * *

Tally woke at five-thirty in the morning when her alarm went off. The sound disoriented her, though, because it was coming from above her head rather than to her left as usual. The feel of microfiber under her and the smell of baking soda, polyester, and cotton clued her in quickly that she was on her couch, not in her bed.

Sitting up, she froze. Tally must have fallen asleep waiting for her mystery man to return. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d been holding one of her chef’s knives. She clicked her tongue. Where was it? She couldn’t feel around for something like that or risk losing a finger. But she couldn’t detect it.

Her phone’s alarm was not as distracting as people might think, but it was still annoying. Tally carefully checked herself and the couch next to where she was sitting up before scooting over to the edge to reach for her phone. Based on where the noise was coming from, she must have put her phone on the magnetic charging disk on the end table. Why couldn’t she remember doing so?

For that matter, when had she put a blanket over herself? A quick feel told her it was the crocheted blanket she’d made when Simone had dragged her to a class during her pregnancy with Amelia. Simone had been insistent that she would quilt, crochet, and sew all her baby’s clothes, blankets, diapers, and sheets. She’d wanted to be a ‘green mom’ after watching some videos online. That insistence had lasted less than two weeks before she’d thrown in the towel, went toCostco, and stocked up on disposable baby supplies. Tally didn’t judge her. She figured her bestie was growing a human inside of her and was allowed to do whatever the fuck she wanted. Plus, Tally had learned to crochet, which was a hobby she continued to this day.

Or she used to before she got extremely busy at her restaurant.

Her cane was still where she left it.

Most people didn’t realize that a blind man’s cane or a walking cane had different colors to signify the extent of the user’s blindness. Tally’s was all white. While that meant nothing to her, it did signal that she was completely without sight. It could also mean that the person had no usable sight. A cane that was white with a red bottom meant that the user had low vision, butsomeusable sight. If the user had a white and red striped cane, it signified that they were deaf and blind.

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