Chapter Ten
It was almost dark when they walked into the small clearing, two miles away from their camp on the river.
“My God,” Sharakova said, “what happened to him?”
“He was tortured,” Alexander said. “A slow, painful death.”
Six members of the platoon, along with Tin Tin Ban Sunia and Liada, stood looking down at the body. The rest of the platoon had stayed in camp, with Kawalski.
A dozen foot-soldiers waited nearby, watching the surrounding woods.
Autumn took a yellow and blue scarf from an inside pocket to cover the captain’s genitals, at least what was left of them.
“Goddamned animals,” she whispered as she spread the scarf over him.
“Did they do this because we killed so many of them on the trail?” Sharakova asked.
“No,” Alexander said. “He’s been dead for several days. I t
