I tried. I tried so hard, but the only sound I could squeeze out was a strangled sob. I just lay shaking against Lyonya’s shoulder. Kostia sat down on the other side of the cot, his eyes like black holes burned in snow, and I saw the same helplessness in his carved face. We were snipers; the world of silence and darkness was where we lived. This terrible place of bright lights and loud voices had us both flailing.
