He crushed the cigarette under his heel and tucked the carnation back into his pocket. The stray dog had moved on, disappearing into the mouth of a storm drain. Jeff wondered if it had found a place to curl up, or if it was still running, still looking for something it couldn’t name.

He lit a cigarette with trembling fingers. The smoke tasted like the inside of a hospital tent. He didn’t mind.

“That’s you,” Jeff muttered to himself. “Mutt Jeff.”

The name had stuck after the war. Before that, he’d been just Jeff, or Private First Class Jeffries to the men who didn’t know him well enough. After the Armistice, after the gas had finished its slow work on his lungs and the nightmares had carved out a permanent home behind his ribs, he’d come back to the city and found it didn’t want him. Not the way he was. Ragged. Unhousebroken. A creature that had learned to bite first and ask questions never.

Chapter 4, Up.5, ends.

The carnation had been left on the bar. A message, maybe. A taunt. Someone knew he’d been there. Someone wanted him to remember that even the flowers in that place were bred for one purpose: to look beautiful while they rotted.

The pale carnation pressed against his heart like a promise.

Pale: Carnations -ch.4 Up.5- -mutt Jeff-

He crushed the cigarette under his heel and tucked the carnation back into his pocket. The stray dog had moved on, disappearing into the mouth of a storm drain. Jeff wondered if it had found a place to curl up, or if it was still running, still looking for something it couldn’t name.

He lit a cigarette with trembling fingers. The smoke tasted like the inside of a hospital tent. He didn’t mind. Pale Carnations -Ch.4 Up.5- -Mutt Jeff-

“That’s you,” Jeff muttered to himself. “Mutt Jeff.” He crushed the cigarette under his heel and

The name had stuck after the war. Before that, he’d been just Jeff, or Private First Class Jeffries to the men who didn’t know him well enough. After the Armistice, after the gas had finished its slow work on his lungs and the nightmares had carved out a permanent home behind his ribs, he’d come back to the city and found it didn’t want him. Not the way he was. Ragged. Unhousebroken. A creature that had learned to bite first and ask questions never. He lit a cigarette with trembling fingers

Chapter 4, Up.5, ends.

The carnation had been left on the bar. A message, maybe. A taunt. Someone knew he’d been there. Someone wanted him to remember that even the flowers in that place were bred for one purpose: to look beautiful while they rotted.

The pale carnation pressed against his heart like a promise.