MAD STAGGERED OUTSIDE the Communications Station, wishing she could catch a glimpse of the battle raging overhead. The wind still whistled against her ears and snow still fell, but many of the tanks in the valleys were still flaming and many of the bodies were still bleeding, dotting the landscape with small pools of orange and red.

Lyle approached her, his eyes tired, distant, and haunted, as she was sure hers were. Gil, Blair, Pops, Stache, and Walker lay dead along with a row of ...