The chanting from the top rows got louder across the gym floor.

Matty kept his eyes on his own hands without a word, holding back every tear as the clock on the wall reached 1115.

The heavy side door of Shoreline Middle School clicked closed behind us.

I stepped onto the shiny linoleum, fine white sand from the Sandbridge dunes still caught in the leather seams of my EOD work boots.

Kenneth walked right behind me with the thick web leashes for Rex and Tank in his right hand.

The two Belgian Malinois stuck close to his knees, their claws ticking softly on the floor.