Josh’s POV

The river took most of the noise with it.

What was left was the sound of my breathing and the dull pulse in my leg that would not stop. Every heartbeat felt like a hammer against bone. The world smelled of smoke and wet moss. I had not realized how close I had crawled to the edge until the cold water touched my fingers.

I stayed there, washing off the blood that was not all mine.

Some of it belonged to the men who did not make it out of the blast. Some of it might have been ...