Ever since Eli and Tretij had gone missing -- again -- it had been the same questions, over and over and over again. What did he tell you? What do you know? How long has he been planning this? Where is he? How many did he take with him? Tell us. Tell us. Tell us.
Sometimes they were gentle with it. The fake cowboy tried to be friendly, to appeal to David's sense of loyalty. Nobody expects you to betray Eli, except that was exactly what they expected. He said, I know the Boss would be awful proud of you if you could help us out, as if David cared about that at all. Or, You've got a good heart, don't you want to do the right thing? That almost made him laugh. Nobody on this base cared about 'doing the right thing', why was he being held to different standards?
At least Miller wasn't a hypocrite, though he was harsh in his approach. Why did he leave you behind? Are you in contact? Is it that psychic? What aren't you telling us?! Out of respect for the straightforward ( and frankly astute ) questions, David did open up a bit for him. No, he was not in contact with Eli ( true ); no, Tretij probably wasn't behind this ( true ); and as to why his brother had left him behind... that was complicated. Except what he said was, I don't know, which wasn't entirely true. None of it really mattered, because Miller didn't believe him. Fine. So that was where honesty got him.
The commander had been to visit, but he hadn't lasted long. He hadn't seemed to know what to say, and David hadn't given him anything to work with. He had spoken with the cowboy and Miller for a while after that. They'd mentioned bringing in a woman, which David hadn't understood. Did they expect that sniper to torture him? But she didn't show up, so it couldn't have been that.
It came as a surprise when the commander returned to try again. Reflexively, David sat up straighter, raising his eyes. He paused. Pursed his lips, just a bit. The thing about being a twin was that you could lose yourself if you weren't careful. Though they'd spent the first decade of their lives apart, they had come together so perfectly that they quickly forgot the separation. Or tried to. Or Eli tried to. Dave got the feeling that he was more comfortable being an individual than Eli was, sudden abandonment aside. He loved his brother more than anything, but he had made an effort to practice distinguishing them in his mind. So he noticed the little differences. A scar here, the angle of the nostril there. Even the beret he wore looked off.
But David wasn't allowed to be smart. Adults didn't like it when he was smart. But he didn't have to act stupid, either, so he said, "You got a haircut."