He smiled in a way that made my skin crawl. “Regulation is whatever I decide it is. Hold her.”
Two soldiers grabbed my arms. Not with enthusiasm, but fear.
Briggs pulled clippers from his pocket. They hummed to life with a sound that drew every eye.
“Please do not,” Lila whispered from somewhere behind me.
Briggs ignored her. Hair fell in uneven clumps, sliding over my shoulders and down my collar. I did not flinch. I watched the flag ripple above us and forced myself not to blink.
When he finished, he tossed the clippers into the dirt.
“Now you finally look like you are worth breaking,” he said.
The recruits released me. I knelt, gathered a handful of hair. My scalp burned from the cuts.
“One day, First Sergeant Briggs,” I said with a slow breath, “you will answer for this.”
He snorted. “I have been praying for that day. So I can remind everyone how worthless you people are.”
That night, when the base settled into restless dreams, I retrieved the encrypted satellite phone hidden in the lining of my duffel.