Traitors (Damned of the 2/19th - Book Five) - Finished

Wait, THIS is Worse...

2/19th Special Weapons Group Barracks
Restricted Area - Western Germany
Early Winter - 1986
Day: Eighteen

Oakes was screaming outside, long drawn out shrieks of agony and terror. Everyone but Hendricks, Nelson, and Clifton were staring at the door. Kebble was staring with an open mouth as Oakes began pleading for mercy, her pleas suddenly turning in shrieks of torment. I felt at my back, the comfortable presence of the bayonet under my fingers, then grabbed my glasses and stood up. Bomber and Nancy did the same, both coming to their feet. Bomber handed me an M-16 and I handed it to Taggart, who was pale in the bright light of the room. Bomber nodded, and handed me a pistol, which I checked the action on and put the bullet into my pocket. Nancy was pulling at the ends of her laces and tying them, while Bomber was pulling on his field jacket.

I'd fallen asleep in my boots, so all I had to do was pull on my field jacket and grab my BDU cap.

"We open this door, it might get ugly." Nancy said, standing up and grabbing her field jacket. I nodded, moving up to the door. Outside, Oakes shrieked again.

"Let's just finish it, one way or another." I said, my words slurred. Nancy frowned at me, but nodded.

"Let's do this shit." Bomber said, coming up to stand next to me.

"Just leave the door shut." Kebble whispered.

"Don't. Open. the. Door." Logan said.

"Fuck that, I'm not leaving anyone, even Oakes, to Tandy's mercy." Nagle said, reaching out and putting her hand on the door knob of the left hand door. "Ready?"

I nodded, Bomber grunted, and Nancy yanked open the door. As Oakes screamed and pleaded not to be drug back into the darkness.

Beyond the door, the snow had piled almost a foot deep, mounded here and there, covering the counter, spattered with dark red steaming blood streaks and spatters. Scraps of uniform, dark red and steaming, were scattered around on the unmarred snow. The lights were bright, illuminating that the left hand window had broken and snow had fallen in, while the right hand window and the glass on the double doors was just cracked.

"Shut the door." I said, stepping back.

From the hallway Oakes pleaded for help.

"Aren't you going to save her?" Kebble asked.

"It's a fucking trick." Bomber said, stepping back from the door.

"I can hear her." Logan added.

"Look at the fucking snow! There's no boot prints, no foot prints, no place where Oakes would have been laying while Tandy tore into her." I yelled. "It's a fucking trap! The building is playing tricks on us!"

The lights in the CQ Area snapped off, two of the fluorescent lights behind the CQ Counter exploding in a mass of sparks that drifted down onto the snow. Somewhere in the building a fire alarm blared three times and cut off.

"Fuck this." Nancy said, and slammed the door, turning the lock. Not that it would do much good after the LT had kicked it open.

"Raleigh, how are out patients?" Nancy asked, turning around and walking back to her bunk. I yawned, stretched, then winced as pain blazed up in my shoulder when I tried to lift my arm to shoulder level.

"Hendricks is sleeping pretty good, the wound stopped seeping." Raleigh said, yawning. "Nelson doesn't look good, there's a lot of blood in his chest tube, but Clifton would probably be awake if we weren't putting Hydocodone in his IV."

"Keep Clifton and Nelson asleep." Nancy ordered, taking off her boots. "They'd probably run their fucking mouths and end up getting killed for being mouthy fucks."