Man at War – Excerpt No. 320

By the third day, Marc was back at the holding facility along with Sergeant Moore and Lance Corporal Delany. The presence of humans was noted, but Aelred had already explained the need for their presence. Still, the guards had to keep a sharp eye on them as the candidates underwent training.

While he hoped for six candidates to make it through this first step, he ended up with five. One almost went feral, and the other remained catatonic. Joseph Franko, Louis Posey, Henri Lever, Georges Sawyer, and Paul Gilpin were all that remained.

Aelred tried to convince him to keep John Bravos, the one who was comatose. Marc declined because he needed vampires who could handle the strain and be trusted not to kill those they fought with.

Black-and-white vintage-style photograph with a torn-paper border, showing five soldiers in early 20th-century military uniforms standing in a formal line on a muddy field. Each holds a rifle at their side and wears a peaked cap with a poppy pinned to the chest, gazing directly forward under a dark, somber sky.

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.