CAIRN POINT OF VIEW

The horn sounded before the sky had even begun to lighten.

It tore through the barracks like something alive, sharp, metallic, and merciless, rattling against the stone walls and echoing through the wooden beams above us. The sound didn’t just wake you. It dragged you up, whether your body was ready or not, ripping sleep away before you could even hold onto it.

Around me, the others reacted slower this time.

Groans filled the room, low and strained, as bodies shifted ...