The smell of disinfectant burned Thomas’s nostrils with every inhale. Beneath the strong chemical scent lived other smells. The metallic scent of blood. The nauseating stench of rotting flesh, diarrhea, and vomit. No matter how much bleach and ammonia the nurses scrubbed into the instruments, bedsheets, and surfaces, the smells lingered.

Thomas was thankful for George’s incessant talking to distract him from the moaning, crying, and screaming coming from the other cots, occupied by soldiers suffering from trench fever, gangrene, or injuries sustained in the latest volley of gunfire from the enemy.

After Boomer and the others helped the next crew seal the hole, they checked in on Thomas. Frederick did not join them. Boomer explained that the explosion in the German tunnel had created a pocket of carbon monoxide that Thomas accidentally tapped into when he burrowed too deep in the wall to set their next torpedo.

“I’m sorry,” Thomas said.

Boomer patted his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. There was no way to know the wall was so thin at that point.”

“I could have gotten you all killed,” Thomas added, recalling the men, young and old, whose lives were stolen by carbon monoxide in the coal mines back home.

“That’s why we bring canaries in with us,” Mole said.

At the mention of Feathers, Charlie excused himself to go get some fresh air. He didn’t return until the men were leaving for the dugout. Thomas told George and Charlie to go with them to get some rest, but they refused.

Two hours later, a doctor examined Thomas and told him he was lucky his crew carried him out of the tunnels when they did. A few more minutes’ exposure, and they would have been carrying out a corpse. He ordered Thomas rest and fluids, then released him back to active duty.

George and Charlie accompanied Thomas back to the tunnels. As they neared the entrance, Thomas noticed the crew’s birdcage tucked in the corner beside the door frame. Feathers’s lifeless body still lay at the bottom of the cage.

Charlie knelt beside it. “I’d hoped the fresh air would bring him back too.”

“I’m sorry about Feathers,” Thomas said.

Charlie reached a finger through the wire frame and stroked the canary’s tiny head. “It’s not your fault.”

“No. It’s Eton’s,” George said. “And he knows it. That’s why he didn’t come see you, Tommy. I hope Bagger’s kicking him off the crew as we speak before the idiot gets us all killed.”

“He didn’t know about the leak any more than the rest of us,” Thomas said.

“No, but he should have. He was supposed to be watching Feathers. If he had been doing his job, he would have been able to warn us as soon as the bird started acting funny.”

Thomas’s head throbbed with pain. He was too tired to argue with George that Frederick might have noticed the bird sooner if he and George hadn’t been fighting.

“What will they do with Feathers?” Charlie asked.