I ducked back down, my heart in my throat as I took in the mess that was the remains of the Union army in front of me. “These men can’t win,” I said as Elliot scrabbled over to join me. “There’s no way.” To my right, one of the soldiers, the miracle man, was listening intently to another solider, who was informing him that they were down to one or two rounds per man. I looked over at Elliot, eyebrow raised.

“Rounds?” I asked. “That sounds like a lot. Why does the miracle man look so worried?”

“The miracle man?” Elliot asked, then shrugged. “I guess that’s as good a name as any. I should know who that guy is. I remember reading somewhere about a colonel who got shot in the belt buckle. He’s important. I know that much.”

“Rounds?” I prompted again.

Elliot shook his head. “He means everyone only has one or two shots left. That’s not enough.”

“Especially since reinforcements just arrived,” I said, jabbing my thumb behind me. The entire situation looked hopeless, which made no sense since I knew the Confederates didn’t win this battle. I turned back to watch the miracle man as he surveyed his bedraggled troops, his young face pinched with worry. Because I was looking at him, I saw the Butterfly. A Confederate soldier, who I’d assumed was dead, had just rolled over, a revolver already in his hand as he took aim at the man who’d already cheated death once. I lunged to my feet and ran, even though I knew that I’d never make it to the Butterfly in time. Luckily, I didn’t have to. The miracle man was still staring over the wall, lost in thought, when I shoved him hard from behind. We both fell forward as a bullet zinged past our heads, missing us by mere inches. I hit the dirt beside him and rolled, fully expecting a second shot. But a second shot never came. Looking up, I saw Elliot wrestling the Butterfly’s arms behind his back, and then everything went black.

Chapter Nineteen

Elliot

I opened my eyes and immediately looked over to see the same goofy grin on Regan’s face that was on my own. We’d been thrown into a completely unknown simulation, and we’d managed to capture the Butterfly. Granted, it wasn’t the cleanest capture. Regan had literally tackled that guy, but still. Not bad, all things considered. That’s when I noticed that every other partner group was watching us, and my heart sank. Glancing up, I saw frozen images on all three monitors showing the same Butterfly in various degrees of capture. We’d finished last.