"To the officers we were animals. But for all the talk of being

gentlemen, they were worse in comfort and ease than we were

when it got dark and cold and we howled our bloodlust

while we fought and killed."

2/19th Special Weapons Group

Restricted Area, Alfenwehr West Germany

Late Winter- January, 1986

Day 11 of Repairs

Day 3 of the Second Incident

Evening

Major Mallory was from Headquarters Platoon, in charge of S-2, and a known psychopath who had once strangled a Vietnamese prostitute to death just to feel her die while he was inside of her. How did we know? He bragged about it more than once while drunk to 'impress' us lower enlisted scum. His bragging was believed seeing as he had been arrested more than once for choking out German prostitutes before they sent him to 2/19th. I'd caught him eyeballing two of my female crew during REFORGER 85 and had immediately moved everyone out to Atlas without another word.

He was standing in front of me in his BDU's in front of the others and looking smug with himself.

I wondered if he'd strangled a hooker on his way up.

Standing on his left was Sergeant First Class Tashton out of Kill Shop and known to be an amoral douchebag. Another person with unsavory habits, he'd gotten drunk and bragged to some of us about how he used to buy little girls in Vietnam. He'd slurringly told us all about how after he got tired of them, he'd lead them out into the brush and shoot them in the back of the head before buying another one.

I hated that motherfucker ever since and plotted to kill him if I ever got the chance. The urge to flat out murder him had gotten even worse when he'd admired a 17-year-old private in my crew and commented that with a shaved pussy she'd be almost perfect. He'd asked me if I was willing to put her in his platoon on loan or maybe even swap her for one of his men. I'd almost had the chance to kill him during ARTEP when we were out walking perimeter guard but one of the privates came up just as I was reaching for my knife. Just seeing him there made my fingers long to wrap around the hilt of my Gerber.

There were three strangers sitting in the chairs that had been pulled in front of the orderly room clerks' desks, who had turned around to look at me when I had turned to face them, half of my body hidden by the wall. With the hand they couldn't see I flashed the signals for '12', 'armed', 'fall back' and hoped for the best that none of them could see me even though they had turned to look at me. I stared at them, standing straight up, wishing I had my brother's almost six and a half foot height, or my Father's massive build instead of the build I'd inherited from my father. Still, my back ramrod straight, my chest out, I knew that they weren't seeing someone who'd lost a lot of strength from a serious head wound, they were seeing a six foot tall almost two hundred pound Army forged killing machine.

I looked over the men in the Orderly Room, scanning everything as I stared. Their weapons, how close together they were, who was sitting by who, how close they were to their weapons, what equipment they had, and what patches showed on their uniforms. Most people might not know it but people have a tendency to sit near those they like or those that make them feel safe. How close they kept their tools, weapons in a soldier's case, showed how close they felt the need to use them use, and uniforms tell a story.

One was a colonel wearing a V Corps combat patch who had a face like a sheep-killing dog. His eyes were cold and I could feel him sizing me up. I stared back, unimpressed by what I was seeing and letting him know it with my body language. He was roughly my height, but even after the head wound I outweighed him by at least 30 pounds and was younger by a decade at least. He had airborne and air assault tabs, a combat infantry badge with a gold star, and while he had US Army he was lacking a nametag. There was no fraying on his cuffs, and several strings were hanging down from seams, not from wear, but like you saw on new uniforms all the time. His pant legs were stovepiped into his boots and while the toes of his jump boots were polished the heels and the rest was flat black. He had a pistol rig with an M-9 9mm Beretta, which surprised me since those were still being phased in.

...How interesting...

The two men on either side of him looked at me and the lizard in the back of my skull hissed a warning at me. One was blond, the other a brunette, and I noticed that their hair was outside of regulations and the blond had a mustache past the corners of his mouth, definitely out of regs. The men's uniforms looked just like the Colonel's except the blonde's boots were fully polished to mirror brightness. Both had on boonie hats, one in OD green, the other in jungle camo. Both of them were packing M-16A1's, one had it on the floor at his feet, the other had it across his lap and was tapping the stock with his fingers. Both of them had magazine's locked in. Neither had any facial scars, straight fingers without swollen knuckles. Both men's hair more than touched their ears and their collars. They didn't have unit patches or their names or their rank on their uniforms, but they wore air assault, airborne, and a combat infantry badge.

Their lack of current unit insignia patches, combined with their patches showing off what they'd gotten for additional training and the combat patches they were wearing, were all designed to make the observer believe that they were members of Special Operations.

The others were in uniform, all of them with boonie hats that were either on their heads or let fall behind their head with the retaining band around their throat. They were all kicked back in chairs or sitting on the desks. Those in chairs had their feet up on desks; those on the walls were either leaning against the wall or leaned back against their hands. Their weapons were just thrown on desks or leaning against the desks, except for three weapons that had been set on top of the filing cabinet behind Shaft's desk.

Once again, no name tag, no unit patch on the left shoulder. All of them sported combat patches, airborne and air assault, and combat infantry. All of their uniforms sported the faint creases of having been taken off the shelves, or out of storage, and never ironed or washed. The boots I could see only had their toes polished if they had any polish on them at all. All of their hair was out of regs, there were moustaches out of regs, and three of them had goatees.

The small patches over the pocket that showed that they were qualified for airborne and air assault operations both had wreaths on them, showing that the wearer had performed these operations under combat conditions. The combat infantry badge, normally called the expert infantry badge since you had attend a class slash test on it, was most common to see on infantry guys, but the wreath meant that supposedly these guys had seen combat. By their patches they were claiming to be infantry who had performed air assault and airborne combat operations.

All in new uniforms, with even the patches being new.

...one of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not quite the same...

Behind them, the windows showed me that a solid curtain of snow was sweeping toward us in a white wave. The break we'd had from the harsh weather was over, the snow turned crimson by the setting sun, a wall of blood heading straight for us.

The lizard in the back of my brain hissed again.

...icy knives stabbing into my chest with each breath, snow seeds sticking to the thick grease we'd applied to our faces, my hands insulated in layers of dirty socks that were now crusted with ice and snow...

Yeah, thanks for the image, little buddy, I get it.

"Ah, Corporal Stillwater, there you are," SFC Tashton stated unnecessarily, since he was basically repeating what the Major was saying. Everyone looked at him and then back at me as he kept speaking. "Major Mallory needs your assistance." Several of the men at the desks smirked.

"For what?" I asked, stalling for time since the Major had already told me what he wanted. I took a sidestep to put me dead center of the open space that acted as a doorway between the Orderly Room and the short hallway that passed by the mailroom, the copy machine, and the unisex bathroom. On my right were the offices of the XO and the 1SG. Directly behind me were the utility closet and the bathroom door.

My only line of retreat was back the way we'd came and either up the stairs or out the door to the exterior of the building.

No way was I making it.

The lizard was running all the options, operating on that strange fast forward that part of my brain ran in when I was in danger, running over every possibility it could conceive, no matter how unlikely.

In the split second between my question and the brown haired thug beside the Colonel repeating my words in a high pitched mocking tone, the little lizard had covered dozens of contingencies.

Including a large carnivore leaping out of the utility closet intent on devouring me. At first an unlikely seeming event, but then all too applicable to one of the hazards.

Tandy.

"These gentlemen need a briefing on the status of all of the nuclear and chemically capable sites that we run," Major Mallory told me, not really looking at me and speaking to me like a man would talk to a particularly dim child. "You'll also be turning over the records of the sites, including yours for them to review while I brief them on our current operational status."

Wait, what? Seriously? The damn sites were so clandestine that a medevac was only given a rough grid coordinate and we had to guide them in with flares. So wrapped in secrecy that for the most part garbage was destroyed on the site, and if we had to have a unit come haul away the garbage there were exactly three units cleared for the job and they had to follow one of us to it. Getting the garbage hauled off was a job that took two or three days just to arrange.

We were in violation of multiple treaties, even the much lauded SALT, and the Major expected me to just hand over the information?

Like hell I would

I looked at the Colonel and a hot bitter taste filled my mouth. The lizard hissed, low and angry, its tail twitching as fangs folded down from the roof of its mouth like a rattler. Not only did something about them annoy me, put me on edge, my little friend positively hated The Colonel, picking up on some cue that I couldn't.

And who do you work for, pumpkin?

"Let me authorize it with V Corps," I said, nodding toward the phones on the desks and standing relaxed. The LT didn't say anything from behind me, and I didn't hear him move, but I could feel his presence withdraw. The little lizard had thrown up a floorplan of the HQ Area and was keeping track of the LT. According to the lizard, he had ghosted back around the corner, and he had either slipped into the Ready Room to hide or was carefully opening the door to move into the stairwell.

If Nancy and Bomber didn't burst into the room, then he had slipped into the stairwell.

Normally I'd expect an officer to drop back into the Ready Room, hell, normally they would have barged right up to take charge of what was going on. Just the fact that the LT had dropped back and moved silently away told me that he was the type to fall back, get reinforcements, and come back at a better time with better information.

Sacrificing me in order to delay the enemy while the rest of Read-D prepped.

The right thing to do.

I may have been relaxed, but I still slid into Parade Rest as best I could, my right shoulder not allowing me to get into the correct position. However, it did put my hand right at the hilt of my Gerber.

When the Major started talking again the urge to draw my knife and go into kill mode filled me.

The lizard cautioned me to wait, to restrain my impulses.

"That won't be necessary, Corporal," the Major said, unaware that I was only a heartbeat from shanking him. "These men have authorization, I've already cleared them and there is no need for you to contact V Corps." That meant he didn't know the phones were down. Or he thought I didn't know and was keeping quiet about it. Either way it wasn't good.

Stall, Anthony, stall. My Father's voice. I needed to give the LT as much time as I could.

"Then I need to examine that authorization. Information on the company's sites is classified Top Secret information and a matter of national security, and the release of information is strictly prohibited," I reminded him. By sticking to protocol and standing orders, I could draw this out longer.

I figured I'd stick with the formal speech and tones, stick to SOP, be an anal retentive micro-managing jackass who has issues with anyone trying to impinge on their authority. In other words, act like an officer.

The Major flushed angrily, the flush deepening when one of the men sitting on the desks laughed mockingly. He glared at me, then spoke. "No, you don't. I'm telling you they have authorization," he told me, sneering at me for the last part.

...tell me what you want to, asshole, we both know you're full of shit...

"You don't have authorization to grant someone authorization, sir," I told him. The sheep killing dog faced fucker was glaring at me and my fingers itched to wrap them around his throat. One of them mimicked me in a high-pitched tone and I instantly wondered if they were a 9-year-old girl. It had been the same one doing the mocking the entire time, and both the lizard and I tagged him for a good stabbing as I continued. "Authorization for access to the operational status of Group and its components, as well as the storage and transfer sites is limited on a Need to Know basis, with a strict..."

"Don't you dare lecture us, you jumped up little bastard," Tashton snapped, interrupting me. "Don't you dare quote regs at me, I've been in the Army since before you were born."

...yeah, so has my 5-ton truck, who cares?...

The Major glared at me. "Just open the goddamn vaults or give me your fucking keys, your keycard, and write down your code, Stillwater, you little punk."

"Just take it from him," the black haired mimic suggested. I didn't look at him, but the lizard tagged him as priority prey, a weak link trying to use words to hide it.

"Sorry, sir, without V Corps authorization I will not relinquish my keys nor will I permit unauthorized access to secure areas." I told them the exact thing that was hammered into all of us every fucking time the unit thought we needed reminded. "I shall not write down nor communicate my authorization codes to any other, no matter what rank or position they hold, unless ordered in writing with the written orders verified..."

"Just give me your keys, Stillwater, you fucking ape," Tashton snapped. "Nobody here needs a lecture on protocol from a fucking hard site hammer head dipshit."

...well now, this could be fun...

"Sir, I object to that kind of language," I said, addressing the Major. Actually, it warmed my bones and the lizard gave a dry hiss of pleasure as he put his little clawed fingers on the combat button, caressing it lovingly. My arm was nothing but pins and needles, I was breathing slowly but deeply to keep my blood oxygenated, and not only were my muscles thrumming but I could feel my heartbeat thudding in my chest.

"Nobody gives a shit. Hand over the keys, you little punk, before I have them taken from you," the Colonel snapped.

"Eat my ass, bitch," I snapped at the Colonel. His two men stood up and I slipped my fingertips under my BDU top, my middle finger grazing the hilt of the knife. "I'd like to see you try, so send in your boys and let's do this."

The hilt of the knife felt warm. The lizard purred, running through multiple scenarios.

None of them were psychotics wearing cold weather masks, with insanity fueled strength and the ability of a madman to shrug off lethal wounds.

They were just men.

I'd hit the lights first and move into them. Grab a phone with my left hand and throw it through a window to shatter it, stab two, then drop back to the side of the wall, take the first one with my knife before coming back around the corner and killing them all.

"The keys, Corporal, give them over," the Major said, taking a single step toward me, more than likely completely unaware that it put him inside my reach. I could grab him and yank him into me in one smooth movement. He was visibly shorter than me, obviously skinnier than me, and I lifted my chin slightly to make a point of staring down at him.

"Sir, I respectfully refuse," I told him, relishing the way his face got even redder as he realized that I wasn't intimidated by him as a man or by his rank. The Colonel stood up, his face reddening. His fingers sought and found the grip of his shitty Beretta pistol and lingered on it.

...pull it out, Colonel, and let's get this party started...

"The keys, the keycard, and your code, Corporal, now," Tashton snapped, stepping forward. I glanced at him, curled my lip in my best Billy Idol sneer, and slid my fingers further under my BDU top, caressing the hilt of the Gerber with my thumb as I slid it slightly from the sheathe.

There was almost a yearning from the blade.

"Sir, I need to see his authorization," I stated again. "I need to see the paperwork from V Corps, III Corps, the NBC control..."

"Goddamn it, Stillwater, you little punk. I told you already, no, you don't," the Major told me. He stepped up till he was in my face. "You'll do what you're told, you fucking hammerhead. The Army doesn't pay you to think, it pays you to fucking do what you're told, and I'm telling you that you don't need to see shit." There were white flecks of spittle at the corner of his mouth and a vein on his forehead was writhing.

The lizard was curious what would happen if we nicked that vein. Would blood shoot across the room? How far would it go? Blood is yummy. Was there an eel or worm living under the skin of his forehead? Eels and worms are yummy, and leave you with a full belly and energy to fight and breed.

blood. Yum, the lizard thought, and my mouth flooded with saliva and the hot coppery taste of fresh blood. My stomach grumbled in hunger as I answered the Major.

"Sir, policy states that I am to never..." I started, still staring at that pulsing vein.

At a flick of the Colonel's hand that he probably thought I didn't spot, the nine men stood up. Behind them the windows suddenly went white as the snow I'd seen sweeping toward the barracks hit the building and turned the windows into mirrors. Most of the men stood up without grabbing their weapons, the asshole that kept mimicking me took the time to crack his knuckles before reaching for his weapon.

The biggest thing the part of my mind that was tracking everyone noticed was that all but three of them grabbed their M-16's by the handle instead of by the pistol grip, the forward handgrip, or the sling. Not only that, once they'd grabbed their weapon, they mostly held it by the handle, while one held it by the pistol grip, another by the sling middle of the sling so the weapon hung down almost to the floor, and the third held it where the upper and lower receiver met.

...how interesting...

"Corporal Stillwater, you are about two seconds from finding yourself facing a court martial," the Major interrupted me. He poked me in the chest with his index finger as he spoke. "I am giving you a direct order to turn over your keys, your keycard, and your access code."

I kept up my Billy Idol sneer, looking down at him and leaning forward slightly. "The UCMJ instructs me to resist an illegal order to the best of my ability," I told him. I lowered my voice to a growl. "I think I'd like that, sir. I'd really really like that, Major, but you won't."

"Excellent job of following security protocol, Corporal," the Colonel told me, pulling my attention to him. He'd stepped forward, smiling at me, but his eyes didn't match the warm approving tone he was trying to use. "You were right in insisting that my credentials be validated. However, there are extenuating circumstances and concerns."

I looked over the Major's head, apparently dismissing him, which I could tell made him even angrier, but the lizard kept track of him for me.

...rip tear kill devour smash bite breed Nancy blood meat...

"Such as?"

"There is a distinct possibility that your land-lines could all be down as well as possible communication failures due to a lack of communication as well as a... confused chain of command," the Colonel answered, stressing the chain of command problems. "That's why I brought Major Mallory and SFC Tashton to vouch for me." He waved a hand at the two members of my unit. "Seeing as you currently do not have a commanding officer, I was told by your executive officer that these two men would suffice for authorization."

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter who told you what or who you brought. I'm not turning over my keys, much less my access codes, until I get proper authorization from V Corps."

"Listen, you little fucking bastard," the mimic snarled. "Either follow your orders or I'll beat your code out of your little ass." He took two steps forward, balling one fist and holding it up, still holding his rifle by the handle. The blond and the brown haired guys I'd first noticed stepped forward with him.

...we can do this right now...

The lizard flexed his fangs at what he considered prey and I smiled at him, the hands wrapping around the hilt. I'd do it all in one smooth movement.

"Hold," the Colonel said, holding up one hand. All three men stopped. I noticed that he didn't look back, his authority over his men complete. The ones who hadn't stepped forward visibly relaxed.

I gave the three men a nasty grin. "War Stocks Room, any time, little girls," I told them, smiling. "Nobody will interrupt our 'conversation' there, even though it will be a short one."

"Enough, Corporal," the Major snapped at me. I was tempted to tell him to go fornicate with himself, but kept my mouth shut. The red had faded from his face, and I could tell by his gleeful expression he'd come up with an idea. "Do I have authorization to open the site records vault?"

...aw fuck...

"Yes, sir," I told him. I knew what he was about to do, but since he obviously wasn't operating under duress and as long as he informed me that he'd be the only one to access the vault, there wasn't shit I could do about it. He had full authorization to all of the records, everything involved in the inventories of the sites.

I could have made an issue that I knew that he'd allow the Colonel access, but technically it was out of my hands and nobody would give a good goddamn about a corporal's gut feeling against an officer's wishes. If it came to pressing charges, I'd be the one heading to Leavenworth for some good old fashioned man-loving.

"I need you to assist me in opening the S-2 Vault so that I may ensure that security protocols are in effect." The Major smiled. He fucking had me and he fucking knew it.

The little lizard advised me to stab him anyway.

...go along, boy, for right now. Don't be stupid, right now you can't accomplish anything but getting killed... My Father's voice.

I nodded slowly, letting go of the knife and sliding my hand out from under my BDU top.

"Come along, Corporal," he told me, walking around me. When he reached out to grab my arm I moved out of his reach, curling my lip at him.

"Don't touch me, sir." I put the emphasis on the 'sir' and stared at him before turning around and walking toward the stairwell. A glance at the window showed heavy snow pouring through the broken glass. The wind was ice cold and sliced right through my BDU's. I paused at the door, next to the mailboxes, standing just to the left of the door in a spot Sams had shown me once.

"...kill that little punkass bitch," one of the men said, his voice coming to my ears perfectly thanks to a trick of acoustics.

"Just wait, Merryweather, you'll get your chance." The Colonel's voice was low, but he might as well been whispering in my ear.

...that's why you don't whisper, asshole, it carries further than a soft voice...

They all moved into the hallway with me in a gaggle. The Major looked at me, standing by the stairwell door and shook his head. "We're not going to take the stairwell, Corporal, we'll go across the loading dock."

I forced a laugh, harsh and mocking, and pointed at the door and the broken window next to it. Snow had already piled up under it in a fan at least two inches deep.

"The blizzard hit, I'm not exactly anxious to die less than 10 feet from that door," I told them.

"A little snow? Big fucking deal." The mimic sneered. "Oh, snow makes my nipples hurt." He said in a sarcastic whine.

... Zero visibility. The pressure of the wind was forcing us off step. Breathing was like a knife in the chest it was so cold. Tiny ice crystals, snow seeds, stinging the eyelids and eyeballs. Aching cold with each breath that made where my nose had been broken throb with sharp pains...

"None of you have extreme cold weather gear or are acclimatized to the cold and altitude, you'll all be dead before we reach the door," I told them. "We'll need to stay indoors. If you want to go around I'll meet the survivors at the secure records vault." I grinned. "If any of you make it."

"Let's just follow the good Corporal, Captain Duloc," the Colonel said in a chiding tone.

...'Captain' Duloc, huh?...

"Let's go," I told them, pulling open the door.

The wind shrieked through the window, tore through the short hallway, roared up the hallway, and made the entire framework for the stairs shudder. It sounded like the screams of damned souls as the wind carried a flurry of snow past me and whipped it up the stairs.

Without saying a word I headed into the stairwell, looking up to see if anyone else was there. I breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that it looked like the stairs were deserted, that nobody was waiting with a half-assed ambush plan that would catch me in the crossfire and chop me to hamburger. I kept moving slow, taking each step slowly and deliberately, noting that already ice had formed on the steps, making footing uncertain.

When I hit the landing, there was a crash of metal on metal and the wind cut off, telling me that the door had been shut.

"You see, Captain Duloc, if we'd gone outside the good Corporal would have been right," the Colonel said. "Imagine, if you would, being outside in that rather than indoors."

"Fuck that little punk," Duloc grumbled.

I led them up past the first floor when a shout from below made me pause on the landing between the first and second floor.

"Yes?" I asked calmly, turning at the waist so I could see them. I knew that staying calm would piss these guys off worse than anger, and angry men made mistakes.

"Why aren't we using this door?" The voice was unfamiliar, a heavyset African American guy with an OD green boonie cap on his head.

"Female only hallway. No titties, no entry," I told them, turning away.

"Face me when I talk to you, motherfucker." The guy sounded pissed. "Who gives a shit if it pisses some stupid bitch off? Let's go this way."

"Yeah," someone else said.

"I'm not getting an Article-15 for a shortcut," I told them, deliberately keeping my back to the black guy with the stupid hat. "If I get seen walking down that hallway and one of the female troops report me, I'll be on extra duty so fast it'll leave my shadow behind."

"I said face me when you talk to me, motherfucker," the guy repeated.

"I've seen shit before, no need to look at it again," I told him, starting to move up the stairs. The smartass mimicked me again and the Colonel told the guy who kept bitching at me to keep it down.

...I'm going to stab your ass and watch you die...

I wanted to keep them from getting a good look at the CQ Area or put any of the other soldiers on Rear-D in danger. I had a bad feeling about letting these guys near Rear-D.

"He's right, those ugly bitches will report a man for farting," Tashton agreed. "They go to EO over fucking jokes."

"Whatever, let's go," another one of them said. I shrugged and kept walking up the steps till we hit Hammerhead Hall on the second floor.

My brain was working in overdrive. The little lizard was still holding his finger on the button that made my thoughts seem to run faster, like some kind of mental shorthand. Images and half-formed thoughts and memories flashed in my mind.

Barracks layout. Rooms of people in the barracks I could trust. My Father. The Rangers who had replaced Saber-Niner that helped protect Atlas, that we trained with, that had rescued us, that I'd drank with. Bomber. Nagle. Stokes. The area around the barracks. The motorpool. The War Fighter Tunnels. Arctic survival training. Westlin. My brother. Tandy. Aine. The messhall. The dispensary. Distances, elevation changes, pathways, the terrain. Weaponry we had access to. My sister. The hospital.

The little lizard in my head was tossing certain images against the lit wall behind him so that they stuck in a pattern.

The tunnels. The motorpool. The Company Area. The floorplan of the barracks. Images of Bomber and Nagle and Stokes. The meat tenderizer coming at my face. My mother in the midst of screaming at me to beg for Jesus' mercy with her arm upraised to bring the belt down on my face. The feel of the knife as it went into a body. The way I moved as I killed the man who had grabbed me and moved in among the other five who hadn't realized what was happening yet.

The Colonel. His men. Major Mallory. Sergeant First Class Tashton. The LT. The rest of Rear Detachment.

They were starting to adhere together into some kind of form but even though it nagged at me I couldn't see the bigger picture.

When I opened the door and stepped out into South/Near Hammerhead Hall, I noticed that the lights were all on and the hallway was as bright as noon. Some were only glowing dimly, others were overbright and eye watering, almost half were flickering, and all were buzzing. A few of them shot sparks. There was frost on the walls, making it look like faeries had dusted it. The waxed tile on the floor glittered and sparkled like it was made of diamond. Some of the lights were covered in frost, making it so they threw rainbows, the flickering of those lights making the fluorescent tubes seemed otherworldly. It was a study in how wan winter light could cause a man to go blind.

It was beautiful in a deadly way.

That image was thrown up with the other images.

For reasons known only to God and her, Aine was in the hallway, halfway down the Near Hammerhead Hall, standing under the gutted emergency light. She was dressed in a light cotton dress, almost see-through, bare feet, and obviously no bra, her bright green eyes watching us as we headed toward her. She looked luminous, her alabaster skin glowing, her auburn hair a deep rich color, and her little bow mouth as bright red as if she'd put on lipstick.

Or had finished drinking blood.

...Aine pulled her head back from my bare chest, her sharp little teeth having broken the skin. Blood welled up in a small oval, matching the blood on her lips, that smeared her chin. She sighed and wiggled against me, grinding her crotch against mine...

...'now, take me now, deeply. Aine gasped. My blood was on fire, my mind wiped away by lust, and I had no choice but to do what she said...

The memory vanished when one of the men behind me shoved me to get me moving. I wasn't even aware I had stopped at the sight of Aine, but now I was aware of just how aroused I was. Hatred, rage and lust all surged in my blood and the lizard's plans started to fade.

The little lizard made a suggestion, the urge coming bubbling up out of my subconscious, and I slowed my steps until the Major and Tashton passed me. Next was the Colonel, and then his boys. I put up with elbows to the ribs, and 'Captain Duloc' driving a sharp jab into my kidney that I let leave me leaning against the wall. I put one hand against my back and sagged, gasping in 'pain' from the blow.

Aine laughed, her eyes bright. Her laugh shimmered in the cold air, a perfect match for the frost on the walls. Its echoes seemed to glimmer from the frost and the sound made something inside of me shiver.

Captain Duloc looked at her and visibly straightened, as did everyone else. Their breath steamed out in the front of them as they stared at her and she stared back. Her green eyes, too large for her small heart-shaped face, sparkled with mischief as she let her eyes roam over everyone.

Her eyes were locked on me, although it would be hard to tell for anyone between us, as her long feline tongue slowly moved over first her lower lip then her upper lip, ending by rubbing the tip of her tongue on her two small front teeth.

She had their complete attention, nobody could look away from her with that cherry red tongue in motion, her deep inhalation and the slow exhalation, and the way her hips rocked side to side slightly, making her dress undulate.

Nobody could look away if they didn't know what she was.

I jammed my hand in my pocket, pulling out my D-ring of keys. I kept my fist tight on the keys to keep them from jangling and glanced down to the see the red tag with the blue stripe on the smaller ring that I needed. I looped my pinky through the little ring and looked back up when Aine spoke.

"Oh my," Aine breathed. "Slowly, slowly, it's too nice a job to rush." She quoted, her hand reaching out to brush against Major Mallory's arm and I could see the Major gasp when her fingertips touched the cloth of his BDU sleeve. "Oh my." She breathed. The Major slowed slightly, shifting slightly toward Aine as her hand stroked up his biceps and she lowered her head so she was looking at him through those long eyelashes. Her fingertips grazed up, over the Major's shoulder, and I saw goosebumps appear on the back of his neck.

...her touch...

She grazed her fingers across SFC Tashton's cheek, still smiling that enigmatic smile. I was still getting the keys aligned so I could just open the D-ring slightly and pull the keys off. The fact that the little gaggle had turned into a line that had slowed down as they all went past Aine wasn't lost on me.

The key came loose and I smiled slightly as I stood up. I quickly blanked my expression before anyone looked back at me. Nobody bothered, everyone paying attention to Aine, her petite little body, and how her hard red nipples were visible through the dress. Even the guys who turned to look behind them wouldn't have noticed me if I suddenly burst into flame. Aine was their sole interest. She touched exposed skin on some, their hands, necks, face, or pressed lightly against the cloth of their sleeves or torso on others.

...her fingertips grazing the swelling under my eye, coming back smeared with crimson from the gash under my eye. The pain vanished. I suddenly felt feverish but didn't care, becoming instantly hard and my body needing, begging for her touch...

...'my boy, mine, now and forever, mine', she said softly in a sing-song voice, bringing her fingertips up to lap at the blood on them. My blood from where her cousins had beaten me for breaking up with her...

Her fingers touched Captain Duloc on the lips, just under his nose, and she pressed slightly, her fingertips and nails vanishing into his mouth for a moment. Her fingers left saliva on his face as her fingers trailed across to his ear, where her touch stopped. Captain Duloc's expression went blank as he kept turning his head to face her, and I saw his pupils widen to swallow the blue of his eyes.

One of the last men, who's boonie-hat was behind his head, stopped and turned to face her, licking his lips as her fingers traced along the bottom of his jaw. He reached for her breast and she stopped him by poking the sharp tip of her index fingernail into the middle of his palm.

"Later, when we're alone," Aine purred, pressing slightly with her pointed fingernail. He exhaled a plume of condensation as her hand went from along his jaw to his cheek while she kept murmuring to him. "Oh yes, alone, we'll feast on one another."

...those sharp babyteeth that never fell out taking little bites out of the raw steak she held in her hands, slicing through the bloody meat like a knife as the blood ran down her chin and dribbled on her bare breasts. She giggled as I strained against the restraints on my wrists that kept me bound to the chair. She kissed me, then wiggled on my lap, her skin hot against mine, before letting me take a bite of the bloody meat...

...'eat, I'm ripening and you'll need your strength, eat'...

I was lagged about ten feet behind everyone as I passed Aine, who smiled at me and blew me a silent kiss with a wink.

She also took the handoff and nodded when I mouthed a single word at her.

"Watch the ice on the steps on the way down to S-2," I called out. I glanced behind me to see Aine walking back toward the near stairwell. Her pert butt held my attention for a second until I saw something that made the lizard whimper in fear as we were both reminded that we were looking at Aine.

The frost on the floor was unmarred by her bare feet.

"Shut the fuck up," Tashton snapped without looking back, but I didn't care, I was more interested in the strange men in front of me. The lizard highlighted each one, taking into accound every little bit of them.

The strangers held their weapons by the sight rail, by the handgrip, or the sling over their shoulder and the weapon pointing ahead of them. None of them walked in step, and three had their free hands jammed in their pants pocket. All of their hair was out of regs, none of them had the same layout on their LBE's, and the two of them were wearing softcaps inside the building, one backwards, the other cocked way up. The ones with the boonie caps had allowed Aine to tug the caps up onto the top of their heads. None of them had taken them off. Most of them scuffed their heels on the floor, and they'd already started to gather back up into the gaggle they'd been in earlier.

...how interesting...

Ahead of me, Major Mallory pushed through the mid-point doors and then headed into the stairwell. A shriek welcomed us and sobbing moans followed us down the stairs. I spun the small ring of keys with the red tab with a blue stripe around my index finger as I carefully moved down the steps. The pressure of the men in front of me on the frost had made the stairs slick. One lost his balance as his foot went out from under him because of the ice and he dropped his weapon as he grabbed at the railing to keep from falling down the stairs.

Below us, the weapon clattered to the tile and the noise echoed in the stairwell as the sobbing moan suddenly cut off.

"Watch your step," I said, able to keep my amusement out of my voice.

"Fuck you, dick," He snarled. Captain Duloc mimicked me again.

Major Mallory opened the door, exposing the short hallway. On the right side of the hallway, right after the door, were mailboxes, then the door to QASI and the S-2 area. On the left were the rest of the mailboxes and the access to the War Stocks Room, where the water-heaters were, the oil tanks, and the access to the generator room and another War Stock area. While the guy who dropped his rifle retrieved it, Major Mallory unlocked the S-2 area.

"Hey, what's the big fucking door?" the guy who dropped the rifle asked from under the stairs.

"It leads to underground tunnels," Tashton answered.

"Really?" the Colonel asked, and I noticed he was interested.

I needed to distract him before Tashton or Mallory gave up the fact that the War Fighter tunnels contained communications gear, an armory, barracks, and more.

"Major Mallory, sir, I must insist that anyone not on the access list be forced to wait in the hallway while you inspect the records to make sure they're secure," I called out as I stepped off the stairs. "Without the normal security detail present when we open the vault, I have grave reservations about opening it, sir." I kept my tone clipped, formal, and military correct.

Captain Duloc made 'nee nee me nee' noises in a high-pitched voice while I spoke.

"Shut the fuck up, dickhead," the one from under the stairs said, "or I'll shut you up."

"My men are here to provide the Major security, Corporal," the Colonel said.

"Security?" I asked, looking at the Colonel's gaggle of men. "Normally the Rangers provide security for the Group." I shook my head. "I'm not convinced that..."

The Colonel gave an exasperated sigh. "If you must know, Corporal, my men are drawn from SEAL Team Three."

These assholes? I put on a suitably awed look as I looked at them. SEAL Team Three? Aw fuck, I'm a dead man.

"Just open the fucking vault and you can go back to whatever it is you hard site apes do," Mallory sneered, pushing open the heavy steel security door that led into the S-2 office. "Let Stillwater through, I'll need him to open the vault."

I put up with the sneaky punches, the elbows, and snickers as I moved through the gaggle of 'soldiers' to meet up with the Major. The Major led the way through the S-2 Office door and hit the lights, waving me forward. Three of the florescent lights blew out in a shower of sparks that rained down on the desks and the computer monitors on them. Three lights were left, one dark, one flickering, and one a pale sullen yellow glow.

"The Vault, Stillwater," Tashton snapped, putting his hand between my shoulder blades and pushing hard.

I let it stumble me, 'slamming' me into a desk. I waited for a second before raising up, giving the others time to come into the room. I reached down and rubbed my knee, making a pained noise.

Eleven targets. Enclosed area. Fifty feet deep. Twenty across. Bad lighting. Icy footing. File cabinets on the left. Ten desks and chairs. Two garbage cans. One copy machine. Ten circular waste-bins.

One exit.

A killing ground.

"Any day, Corporal," SFC Tashton said, pushing me again. I 'limped' forward to stand next to Major Mallory.

"You gonna be able to do this?" the Major asked me, standing beside the vault door.

The vault door looked like it belonged in a bank, complete with a spoked wheel to pull back the bolts. On either side of the vault door were plastic flip back lids that covered the card slots. At the base of the red lids were keyholes. Beside the lids, opposite of the vault, a red light burned brightly above a hexadecimal keypad. Above the keypad and next to the bright red light were unlit green and yellow lights. I walked up to the far one, lifting my key-ring, and watched the Major.

"Just banged my knee, sir," I told him.

"My knee and nipples and pussy hurt. Waaaah," Duloc whined from behind me.

I ignored him.

"Get over on that one, Stillwater," Mallory told me.

"Fuck that, just have him give me the stuff, I'll fucking do it," Tashton said. "We don't need him."

Without speaking, I turned around and looked at him. "And how are you going to make me give up my code?" I asked.

"I'll get it out of him," Duloc said, stepping forward.

I motioned him forward with waggle of my fingers. "You gonna suck my cock for it?" I gave him another Billy Idol sneer. "Those dick sucking lips look hungry."

He slammed his rifle onto the top of one of the desks and started to step forward when the Colonel grabbed his arm. "That's enough, Captain. Go out in the hallway." Duloc looked like he was going to argue but closed his mouth. His eyes still burned with hatred as grabbed his rifle and left the room.

"Stillwater. Now," Mallory said.

I was silent as I passed him, moving to the far side of the S-2 vault door. I reached into my left breast pocket and pulled out a box for a deck of cards.

"Aw, you gonna do magic tricks for us?" Duloc asked from the doorway.

"Yeah, I'm gonna pull your head out of your ass," I snapped back. Someone laughed, but I was opening the box to shake the cards out slightly. I thumbed through them until I found the right magnetic swipe card, pulled it out, and held it between my teeth while I put away the deck of cards. Once it was away and my pocket buttoned, I held the keycard in the same hand as the key.

"Ready," I told him, holding up my key and the card. Duloc mocked me again, complete with shaking a limp with his ring and middle fingertips pressing against the tip his thumb.

...rip tear shred pain blood meat crush smash...

The little lizard was daydreaming of Duloc as a small rodent screeching as it grabbed him by the neck and disemboweled him with a sweep of his powerful back legs.

"Insert key," Mallory said. Without a word, I inserted my key.

The LED's went live above the keypad, reading "READY", and the red light went out to be replaced by the amber one burning brightly.

"Turn key clockwise," Mallory said. I rotated it 180 degrees and let go. There was a click and the lid popped up slightly. I flipped up the red plastic shield to expose the card swipe slot. The Major glanced at me to make sure we were both on the same page. The little tag, red with a blue stripe, swung back and forth on the quarter sized ring.

"Swipe card," Mallory said. I followed his instruction and watched the amber light blink three times. We'd done it close enough together and both of the cards had been read.

I'd been tempted to take the one with the bent corner that had been ruined just to frustrate the Major. I'd pushed the Colonel's men pretty hard, and I could sense that Major Mallory was starting to seriously consider Tashton's suggestion to try beating my code out of me.

Not that it would work.

"Input code," Mallory ordered. The entire room filled with anticipation. I could see the Colonel and his men lean forward in eagerness. The lizard left off its daydreaming and my whole body thrummed with readiness. I suspected that, as soon as I punched in the code, 'bad things' would start to happen.

When it went down, I'd make sure that Duloc took a long time die. Screaming in agony the whole time and drowning in his own blood.

I considered for a split second against punching in my actual code. I knew that punching in the wrong code twice would lock out the keypad for thirty minutes. That would keep the Mallory, Tashton, and their new friends from accessing the vault.

Or I could just punch in one code. It was for Atlas' bunkers, but the military was nothing if not redundant. If I punched in that code it would completely lock out the keypad until it was physically opened up and the ROM flashed. I was supposed to use it if I was ever under duress.

Cold War Bullshit to many, but now I was facing a situation where it was called for, that my duty called for serious consideration.

"Don't bother with the lockout code, Corporal," Major Malloy said as I reached for the keypad. "As the OIC of S-2 I'm able to reset the keypad, so it won't do you any good even if you punch it in."

...goddamn it...

I punched in the eight digit code, reciting the nursery rhyme I used as a mnemonic aid. I had a head full of codes, and it was too easy to forget them without those aids. Unlike ATM's or the movies, there was no beeping as I punched in the code in. The LED's didn't show the code I'd punched in, simply put up a # sign for each input.

The amber light above my keypad blinked twice before going out and the green light lit up. I looked over in time to see the Major put in the last two digits of his code. The amber light blinked twice and the green light came on.

Without being told, I rotated the key counter-clockwise. With a thump, the heavy-duty bolts snap back as the remaining lights dropped down to a barely visible glow. In a couple of seconds, the lights brightened. The dark one and the flickering one both exploded in sparks while the sullen one just came back with a glow.

The feeling of danger increased and I stepped back. "Permission to be excused?"

"Whatever," he told me, grabbing the spoked wheel and spinning it.

I turned and headed toward the door but the Colonel stepped in front of me, bringing me to a stop. I couldn't go around him with the desks in the way, so I looked at him and cocked my head.

"Do we require anything else of the good Corporal?" the Colonel asked.

"No, we have what we need," Major Mallory grunted, still turning the wheel. I tensed for a blow from behind from Sergeant Tashton. He was standing directly behind me, close enough I could almost feel his breath.

The seconds stretched out almost unbearably, but Colonel stepped aside. "Let the good Corporal go, gentlemen."

I pushed through the Colonel's men, putting up with a punch in my ribs, another attempt to thump me in the balls, and a few other petty blows. I exited the S-2 office and turned toward the stairwell, eager to reach my friends, reach the LT, and let them know what was going on. Two of the men followed me out, closing the door behind them.

Captain Duloc stood by the door, glaring at me, and I tried to move past him, facing him, as he stepped slightly further into the doorway to force me to turn sideways to get by him with only a couple inches separating us. With a grin, he suddenly tried to knee me in the balls, but I was ready for that trick again and twisted slightly to take the hit on my thigh. I shoved him, hard, starting to smile, figuring that he was wanted to throw down and I was ready for it. He started to raise his hands and I slammed the heel of my left hand under his chin, driving the back of his head against the wall with a crunch. I put three hard punches into the bottom of his rib cage, feeling that lower rib pop and go soft on the second punch. Duloc cried out as I got in close, kneed him in the balls, and grabbed him by the throat before I slammed three quick punches into his nose. His eyes rolled back and I dropped him, turning in place, to see that two of the other guys had left the room and followed.

The black guy was stepping forward and raising his rifle, while the other was yelling something and dropping his rifle. I snatched the barrel of the rifle behind the flash suppressor, yanked it toward me until I felt him start to pull back.

That's when I drove the butt-plate into the middle of his face. Blood sprayed and he let go of the rifle and put his hands to his face.

...I thought you wanted me to face you, sweet heart...

I let go of the weapon and turned to the other guy, already knowing he was within reach of me and it was about to get ugly.

At the same time as I turned into him, he reached up, put the heel of his hand against my forehead, and pushed hard.

Normally that would have been little more than a slightly painful annoyance.

My head hit the edge of the doorframe, the cold steel corner impacting the back of my skull.

The world flashed and vanished as a high pitched whine filled my ears. My limbs disappeared from my awareness and the taste of peaches and engine grease filled my mouth along with the smell of beef jerky and honeysuckle. I was aware of my body falling, of the guy who'd just disabled me grabbing my arm with who knew what intention. He wasn't expecting my dead weight and I fell from his grasp, my limbs splaying out as I dropped awkwardly to the floor. I hit on my back, and my limbs began thrashing.

I was laying on the cold tile floor, at the base of the stairs, in the middle stairwell, on my back, blind, and having a seizure. The lizard shrieked as the lines went down, his control station went dark, and the silhouette of my body went blank, only a strobing red circle around my head.

...dammit, little brother, you gotta quit getting your ass kicked...

A low, liquid chuckle, more of a cough than a laugh, heralded my being pulled into blackness.