Divided We Fall by Trent Reedy Page A

you fire?”
    Meyers’s face twisted into a kind of snarl as he stood up. “You talking to me, Sergeant Kemp?”
    “Damned right I am!” Kemp pushed himself away from the table and paced the room.
    “Well, you better check that attitude right now, Sergeant Kemp, because —”
    “What are you going to do? Court-martial me?” Kemp threw his hands up. “We’re probably already headed to prison for that colossal screwup out there!”
    Meyers circled the table in four long, fast strides. “We didn’t do anything wrong!”
    Kemp ran at Meyers and grabbed him by his uniform coat. “Why’d’ya shoot!?”
    “There were shooters in the crowd. Self-defense!” Meyers shoved Kemp back.
    “Bullshit!” Kemp drew back his fist.
    “Luchen!” I dove for Sergeant Kemp, caught his arm, and pulled him clear. Luchen knocked his chair over as he rushed for Meyers, dropping his shoulder into Meyers’s gut and doing his best to push the big staff sergeant back.
    “Let him go,” Kemp said. He threw his elbow into my stomach to break away. He held up his fists for a fight, but the other guys had rushed between them both now. Everybody except Lieutenant McFee.
    “You shouldn’t have fired,” Sergeant Kemp growled.
    Meyers backed away from the guys, holding his arms out from his sides as though he was so stacked that he couldn’t put them down. He made a big show of breathing real loud through his nose and staring at Kemp. The quiet settled. “We took fire from armed protestors in the crowd. I called Lieutenant McFee for instructions. He ordered us to fire.”
    “That is not what happened!” Kemp said.
    “Yes it is!” Meyers stepped up to the lieutenant. “LT?” McFee did not look up. Meyers grabbed his shoulder and shook him. “LT! You told us to fire, right? You gave the order. Tell him.”
    “I don’t care what he says,” Sergeant Kemp said. “That is not what happened!”
    “Listen to me, you dumb sons of bitches!” Meyers shouted. “It doesn’t matter what really happened out there. Okay? I don’t know what really happened. Neither do you.” He pointed at one of the generals on the wall, at the picture of Governor Montaine. “But these guys are going to want to know. They’re going to bust in here any second and we better have an answer for them.”
    Was he talking about cooking up a story? A cover-up? When people were dead? How did I get stuck in the middle of something like this? I couldn’t let them lie for me. Dad always used to say that a man should never lie to avoid responsibility for the wrong he’s done.
    “I’ll tell you what happened,” I said quietly.
    Specialist Stein sat back in his chair. Everyone but me sat down too. “They did have guns,” said Stein. “I swear to God there was more than one guy shooting at us from the crowd. That’s why —” He swallowed. “That’s why I fired. Shooting at them.”
    “I’ll tell you what happened,” I said louder.
    Kemp glared at Stein. “There was no way that —”
    “I shot first!” I shouted. “I got nailed in the middle of my mask by a rock and I … I don’t know … I jerked the trigger or something. The weapon fired. It’s my fault.”
    Sergeant Kemp slouched in his seat. He put his face in his hands. “It’s okay, Wright. It might have happened to anyone.”
    “Yeah,” said PFC Nelson. “But the Army gets real pissed about accidental discharge.”
    “Yeah,” Meyers said. He looked hard at Kemp. “One of the guys in your team —”
    “In your squad!” Kemp said.
    “In my squad,” Meyers agreed, speaking calmly. “In the lieutenant’s platoon. We’re all in this. And we better figure out what we’re going to say because when they start asking —”
    Sergeant Ribbon sprang to his feet. “Atten- tion !”
    We all stood up and snapped to attention as an officer in a dark blue Army service dress uniform opened the door. He stood for a moment in the shadows at the end of the room. I couldn’t see him all that