'This is…'
Atticus watched the scene unfolding before him with a clenched fist. He knew, he knew, that the children weren't real. The Great Verge had created them, they were nothing more than constructs meant to pass as citizens.
But the trembling eyes were real enough. The way their tiny bodies shook. The sight of small heads rolling across the ground. The hollow, bloodshot stares of the soldiers forced to watch it all happen.
He had never hated a situation so hard.
As blood soaked into the earth, another group of children was dragged forward and forced to their knees.
"Now where were we?" the man said lightly, smiling as though he were out for a stroll.
"Ah, yes. Lay down your arms and join our mighty army. Do that… and I'll spare these innocent souls."
Blades pressed against small throats once more.
'This is it.'
The full scope of it finally settled in.
They weren't just attacking morale. They were breaking minds.
