Man at War – Excerpt No. 273

10 June 2026

“Over here,” Aelred called out.

Marc went over while Murphy continued to work with the Sergeant. All of the men were spooked, reminded that the threat of things that went bump on the night was real.

At the periphery of the massacre there was a stack of bodies. Each man was drained entirely, but there was also the faint sound of a heartbeat.

“You hear it too?” Aelred asked.

“What are the chances?”

“…low.”

Black and white nighttime photograph from the “Man at War – Carried by Six” series. A soldier lies motionless on his back atop an enormous mound of thousands of spent shell casings that blankets the foreground of a barren battlefield. Other fallen soldiers are scattered among the massive pile of brass and debris under a dark, cloudy sky with a visible moon, powerfully conveying the staggering scale of firepower and the overwhelming human cost of war.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.