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{-Personal log, LCpl Judas T. Morrison. Date Log Created: June 22nd 2548}

    I still remember the reactions of each squadmate. Fabrice was stunned as he was hauling the HVI out of the room. "What the fuck, man?" he said to me. "You didn't have to shoot her." He's entirely right. I didn't realize it until I heard her husband screaming at me in agony. I didn't realize it until I saw her bleeding out on the floor in front of me. I panicked. Not just during the moment when I snapped but afterward, too. This all could have been avoided if I didn't make a very bad decision.
    "There's a thousand other ways you could have handled it," Farrah said to me. She's right too. That was when we got to the roof and Fabrice reported to the Sergeant. I don't blame him for saying something. It's not like Sandover wouldn't have found out though. The HVI was crying his eyes out and screaming the entire trip back to the Heart of Valor. Oddly enough, the Sergeant didn't seem to care. I don't know who that upset more; my squadmates or myself. "Standard Operating Procedure," she said. I didn't want to believe that and I think Farrah didn't either. She had no context for the situation and I think it hit her harder than it did Fabrice. I mean, he was there and he still didn't like it. I can't imagine what Farrah thinks of me now.
    There were a few minutes where everyone was trying to talk to me, trying to find out what went wrong. I just stayed silent. I couldn't bear to say the words. I fucked up. Then, they got distracted by seeing the Covenant carriers descend over the city, burning everything to glass and ashes. I didn't even need to look; it's the same as every other time. I even remember the smell. But amidst all that destruction, all that death… none of it compares to the one that I caused. I still hear the screams. Not the ones of the people burning below us, but the screams of the woman as I took her life. The screams of her child, locked in the room beyond as we-as I-left them both to die.

Description
{-Personal log, LCpl Judas T. Morrison. Date Log Created: June 22nd 2548}

    I still remember the reactions of each squadmate. Fabrice was stunned as he was hauling the HVI out of the room. "What the fuck, man?" he said to me. "You didn't have to shoot her." He's entirely right. I didn't realize it until I heard her husband screaming at me in agony. I didn't realize it until I saw her bleeding out on the floor in front of me. I panicked. Not just during the moment when I snapped but afterward, too. This all could have been avoided if I didn't make a very bad decision.
    "There's a thousand other ways you could have handled it," Farrah said to me. She's right too. That was when we got to the roof and Fabrice reported to the Sergeant. I don't blame him for saying something. It's not like Sandover wouldn't have found out though. The HVI was crying his eyes out and screaming the entire trip back to the Heart of Valor. Oddly enough, the Sergeant didn't seem to care. I don't know who that upset more; my squadmates or myself. "Standard Operating Procedure," she said. I didn't want to believe that and I think Farrah didn't either. She had no context for the situation and I think it hit her harder than it did Fabrice. I mean, he was there and he still didn't like it. I can't imagine what Farrah thinks of me now.
    There were a few minutes where everyone was trying to talk to me, trying to find out what went wrong. I just stayed silent. I couldn't bear to say the words. I fucked up. Then, they got distracted by seeing the Covenant carriers descend over the city, burning everything to glass and ashes. I didn't even need to look; it's the same as every other time. I even remember the smell. But amidst all that destruction, all that death… none of it compares to the one that I caused. I still hear the screams. Not the ones of the people burning below us, but the screams of the woman as I took her life. The screams of her child, locked in the room beyond as we-as I-left them both to die.