“
The rage Jacob experienced was something new. He'd known fear and adrenaline in battle, but this was sheer unadulterated hatred. This was not the soldier who'd had killed Renee's family, but he was one of them. And he would do. Just a moment before Jacob had been lost in despair. Yet as his misery morphed into anger he felt better because now he had purpose and the purpose was vengeance. This enemy was going to pay for madam and the children and for Freddy and Leeland and all the others, too. He stared down the rifle barrel and saw... himself. Not Jacob Firestone, but pale blue eyes that reminded him very much of the teenage boy he faced in the mirror every day. In another life they could have been 12th-graders together swapping chemistry notes and talking about girls. He felt his finger loosening on the trigger.
No, he exhorted himself. You walked away from an enemy in this orchard once before and look what happened. You can't let this one go.
But when Jacob sighted down at the boy he beheld no menace. Only terror. There had been so much death and suffering already. What could possibly be gained by killing this poor, scared kid in the aftermath of a battle that was already over? Jacob lowered his rifle. "Get out of here, High School. Beat it!"
And when the stunned boy scrambled up, gawked at him in disbelief and ran off, Jacob felt reborn.
”
”