Chapter 22 · Guns Inside the Wall

The shelling stopped three hours ago. Red Hammer flags sat on the ridge like a promise. I stood in the command room and stared at the supply manifest Cole had pulled from the cache we'd dragged in through the side gate last night.

Someone had known we'd be there.

Leah came in without knocking. Her hands were still pink from scrubbing blood off in the med tent. "Six dead. Twelve more if we don't get antibiotics in the next two days."

I didn't look up. "We got antibiotics in the last drop."

"Had them." She crossed her arms. "Half the stock's missing. Same with the morphine."

That made me look up.

"Someone's been skimming," she said. Her voice was flat. Tired. "Or selling. Or both."

I set the manifest down. My hand wanted to curl into a fist. I kept it open. "How long?"

"Don't know. Could've started weeks ago. I only noticed because I went looking for the good stuff after last night's mess."

Cole appeared in the doorway behind her. Dirt still caked on his neck. He'd been out on the wall since dawn. "They're regrouping. Hammer's boys. I count maybe forty on the ridge.