I changed Vas's text color from dark blue to gray because I was told the dark blue is hard on the eyes. Since Vas is the main character and you'll all have to put up with him for some time, I thought it was a legitimate enough reason to change. I edited all the other posts to reflect this change.

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Kara stared at Brom’s decapitated body.

When Kara and Brom had rounded the corner, the creatures were waiting.

They’d killed Brom quickly and he’d joined their ranks shortly thereafter.

The remaining three Scouts fought defensively and held for long minutes until the trainees arrived.

Kara had wanted to use a formation to surround the Risen and overwhelm them, but she’d known it would be risky with similar numbers and fresh trainees.

It had been Vas’s split-second decision to jump into the fray and attack the Risen.

The result had been spectacular.

Seven Risen were defeated in less than half a minute.

Kara knew his decision had been the correct one, but she questioned the reasoning behind his decision.

She had figured he’d simply given himself over to rage, but as soon as the Risen were dead he had returned to normal.

Was it possible that Vas had used himself as a distraction so that the Scouts could take advantage of the moment and overwhelm the Risen?

The small trainee with a shield and broadsword had followed Vas right into the fray and killed two Risen on his own, and a tall tan girl had beheaded another of the Risen with a stroke of her halberd.

Kara had only reacted fast enough to kill a single Risen herself.

Kara glanced up when she heard a clicking sound, only to witness Vas’s sheath close around that strange two-handed sword.

She took a long breath and let it out slowly before walking over to Vas and his group of trainees.

There was no doubt about it; they were Vas’s fighters. Fresh from daily training, sleeping inside a warm building, and eating until they were full for months had turned average people into warriors.

All the Scouts had started that way, before the endless nights. Before long marches with almost nothing to eat every day.

Kara stopped in front of Vas and eyed him. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that the short man and the tall woman were standing defensively behind Vas.

Vas was watching her. She’d never noticed how tall he was. Easily a head and a half above her. Six foot. . . How many inches was that? Four? Five? Almost two meters? Ridiculous.

“That was stupid.” It was all she could think to say. She wasn’t even particularly angry at the man for charging in, since it had gone so well. The problem was that he couldn’t hope to do the same every time such a situation arose.

“I was thinking the same. I’m glad it worked out so well.” Vas smiled ruefully. “I am sorry about your friend.”

So he’d noticed the dead scout? Had he questioned her ability to make decisions because he saw her companion was turned Risen?

Vas bowed his head, “I am also sorry for my actions.”

The short man behind Vas walked up and clapped him on the back. “Don’t take his actions to heart, ma’am. He’s just a combat junkie, didn’t mean to ruin any plans or formations.”

Kara raised her eyebrow at the man. ‘Ma’am’? Seriously? How old did she look? She couldn’t be more than four years his senior. “Fem’s the name, you can count on me!” Fem had apparently taken her attention as a sign that he should introduce himself.

Kara snorted and shook her head.

She looked at the sky for a few moments. The sun would be going down in a few hours, and they were about three hours away from the barracks.

“Let’s get moving.”

Kara looked over to see Ender give his thumbs up from beside the body of Brom. Ender had gathered the former Scout’s snowshoes, weapon, and rations.

The group formed up again, and Kara led them alone back to the barracks.

Vas shook the snow off of his boots inside the wood-floored Scout barracks. It seemed to be a former school building.

The building was freezing cold, and now that the sun was going down the temperature was dropping rapidly. It was nothing like the warehouse.

Many of the trainees were shivering and they were already in their new sleeping bags.

The entire group was in a little room, likely to utilize body heat and keep them all as warm as possible.

Kara stood watching them with arms crossed. “Make sure it’s two people per bag. Sleep naked.” She instructed.

She glanced at Vas with a curious expression, “Not planning on sleeping?” Vas shook his head. “Who keeps watch?”

Kara smiled, “Not you, tonight.” She inclined her head to point in the direction of two fully dressed Scouts who were sitting up in the corner talking to each other quietly. “Will you sleep, as well?” Kara snorted, “Of course. What kind of leader would I be if I was too tired to make decisions?”

Vas nodded to himself. That made sense, he’d never thought about that aspect of leadership.

Delegation and trust was an important part of being a leader.

“It’s not that I know they’ll stay awake all night and that I’d be woken up if something happened,” Kara stated, breaking into his thoughts. “The problem is that sometimes things are beyond my control. I have to just let go and believe they’ll keep me safe so that I can get a good night’s sleep.”

Selene walked up to the two of them. “Do you two want to share my bag with me, since we’re. . . uneven? I have the extra-large one.” Kara nodded.

Vas had always turned Selene and the others down, but he couldn’t think of a good excuse anymore. He’d always been afraid that he’d have nightmares and thrash around, accidently hurting his sleeping partner.

However, it was something he’d have to overcome sooner or later. He wouldn’t be able to sleep alone out in the wastes. “Yes, thank you.” Vas’s word were quiet, but they made all of the people in their sleeping bags turn to look at him.

“The hell?” Fem’s voice. “You turned me down twenty times at least. I thought you were afraid of sleeping with people!” There were murmurs of agreement from all of them.

Vas figured he’d come clean sooner rather than later. Jade was glaring at him like the time he’d kicked her shin during practice. “Nightmares. I thrash about sometimes.”

“You were scared of hurting us?” It was Jade’s voice, incredulous. “Yes.”

A hand touched his back, and he turned to see Selene smiling at him.

“Don’t worry, if you slap me I’ll slap you right back!”

“I don’t think that’s a very healthy basis for a relationship,” Joust stated.

The room broke into laughter.

It didn’t quite reassure Vas, but it did make him feel better.