"Alfenwehr brought out something in her."
"Something dark and powerful."
"She was in more danger then us."
"Our little fruit bat."

2/19th Special Weapons Group Barracks
Restricted Area Bravo, Alfenwehr West Germany
Late Winter- 4 February, 1985
Day 3 of Repairs
Day 3 of the Third Incident
1000 Hours

The room was quiet, just Parker laying on the single bed, propped up, reading a book he'd picked up somewhere and me sitting in the chair at the desk. The fridge was humming and the radiator pinging, but that was the only sound in the room.

Outside, well, that was a different story. We'd heard the kid with the bouncing ball, the tap shoes girl, marching, yelling in German, and people screaming since we'd gotten up at zero-six. We'd had a half hour respite at first formation, but Lieutenant Wright had ordered both us back to our room to rest.

Which annoyed me to no end. I was fit to work, help with the repairs and refitting, but instead the LT had me up keeping an eye on Parker.

I took another drink off the beer when suddenly my ears popped. Parker winced, putting a hand to his left ear. It suddenly got easier to breath.

"Positive pressure system's on. Grouse musta got the environmental systems working," I said.

Parker flexed his jaw a few times. "That what that is?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Musta got the parts to fix it."

"You guys did a number on it, huh?" Parker asked. He took a swig of his beer, obviously glad to just be talking.

"Forty-millimeter HEDP round to the back, HE grenade to the console," I lit a cigarette. "That system isn't tied to the Warfighter Tunnels, and denying them the barracks was a primary objective at that point," I told him.

Force them to come straight at us if they want to survive

"In it to win it, baby," Parker quoted. I raised up my beer in a salute and he returned it, smiling.

We were quiet for a few minutes more.

Three light taps came from the door, forcing me to put out my cigarette and get up to shamble over to the door. In the time it took me to get there whoever it was tapped three more times. I sighed and opened the door, fully expecting to find nobody there.

Aine stood in the hallway, wearing starched and pressed BDU's and a field jacket. She held a small glazed clay covered pot in one hand and a cloth in the other. She had her arms crossed at her abdomen, pinning two MRE's to her stomach. From the ceiling light snowflakes were drifting down and I could hear several of the vents behind the suspended ceiling rattling.

"May I come in?" Aine asked softly, hugging herself and shivering hard enough to make the lid on the clay jar clatter.

"Get in here before some ghost comes by and melts your face off," I snapped, stepping back.

"Thank you, Aodan," she said, her voice quiet and subdued. She moved by me and into the room, not waiting for me to shut the door.

I didn't lock it. It never failed, once one person showed up in your room, people would keep stopping by.

She moved over and dropped the MRE's on the end of the bed.

"I grabbed Ham Slices and Chicken ala King," she smiled. She set the little clay jar on the bed, patting the lid after she did so, then put the folded cloth on top of it. She gave each of us a smile then dug in her thigh pockets, pulling out a can of Orange Crush and a can of Pepsi.

"Even brought drinks," she smiled. She handed Parker the Pepsi and me the Crush, cracking them open before handing them out. She sat down, picking up the cloth. "Once you are done eating, I need to tend to Parker's wounds."

"Doc Woolworth was in here earlier," Parker said, tearing open the brown plastic bag. Everything fell out and onto the bed and he grimaced.

"She is a skilled healer. I wish I had her talent," Aine sighed wistfully.

We were silent for a bit, Aine just sitting on the desk, thumping her feet against the three side drawers, me and Parker washing down the MRE's with soda and slowly making our way through the entire thing.

"Remove your top, I need to treat your injuries," Aine said. Parker didn't bother arguing, just removed his BDU top and then his brown T-shirt. The bruising was still severe around the bandages that Captain Woolworth had put on after she had examined him.

Aine got up, moving over to the bed, and sitting on the edge. She put the pot beside her, lifted the lid and I could see the beeswax seal break. She laid the cloth down and patted it before looking at Parker.

"Are you ready?" she asked. Parker nodded and she smiled. "It might sting a bit, but it will help."

Parker looked doubtful, looking at the bluish colored salve in the little glazed clay jar. "Oohkay..." he said, drawing out the word.

"Hush," she said, smiling. She carefully removed the bandages over the wound on his chest and the surgical incisions, looking at them and shaking her head. "You are strong to survive such an injury, John Parker. The fact it was inflicted coming to the assistance of my Aodan obliges me to help care you."

Parker looked at me and I nodded, giving him a half shrug and lighting a cigarette.

She dipped two fingers into the the small pot and began smearing a thin layer of the bluish salve onto Parker's wounds.

"Kinda feels like Icy-Hot," he mused. "Burns a little then feels warm and tingly."

"It's an old recipe," Aine smiled. She unbuttoned her lower pockets on her BDU top and pulled out small folded pieces of paper with runes drawn on them. She unfolded them, revealing powders of blue and red. She added a fingertip of salve to the powders, stirring it with her finger, then began to draw lines and swirls on Parker's flesh. She smiled at him. "This will draw out any bad spirits, keep any evil from poisoning you."

"Um, thanks?" Parker said, glancing at me. I just shrugged.

"It is my pleasure, John Parker," Aine said softly. She began drawing swirls, triangles, lines on his chest. In particular lines, both straight and wavy, leading away from his wounds and toward the runes she drew carefully. She sang softly in Gaelic as she worked and I saw Parker visibly relax. When she was finished working on his chest, she had him sit forward so she could rub in the salve before painting his back.

When she was done Parker leaned back, the tension and pain gone from his face.

"It burns a little but I feel a little better," Parker said, yawning.

Aine leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "I am glad, John Parker." She put her hand against his chest and gently pushed him back against the stack of pillows. "Rest now."

Parker yawned, nodding, and closed his eyes. Aine put away the cloth and pot then moved over to the lower bunk bed and laid down. She closed her eyes, folding her hands on her belly. I watched her, looking her over.

Her freckles were pale brown, her hair seemingly muted and lifeless, her skin almost translucent and her blue veins prominent. Even her lips were pale, almost bloodless.

She looked washed out, used up.

"Miranda Stokes is coming, Aodan," Aine said after a few minutes, once Parker's breathing had steadied and evened out.

"Are you all right, Aine?" I asked, glancing at the door real quick.

"Spring is a long way away, my Aodan. This place is further from spring than most and I fear I may have overextended myself," Aine said quietly. "I need to rest," she opened her eyes and looked at me with pale green eyes. "Can you sleep in the arms of someone tonight? You were alone when you called out in confusion and pain and it took much of my strength to succor you."

"I'll try," I promised.

I must have had bad dreams. Real bad ones if she had felt it necessary to "come rescue me" like when we were children.

"Thank you, Aodan," Aine said, sitting up. "She is about to knock and has someone to relieve me of my duty of watching over Parker."

I sighed, getting up and walking toward the door right as three sharp raps echoed through the room. I opened it up to find that Aine was right and Stokes stood in the hallway, shivering and rubbing her arms.

"Jesus, it's cold up on this floor," she bitched. She smiled at me. "Lieutenant Wright wants you to come down to the CQ Area. You and Aine both," she said, looking past me. Behind her one of the new Rear-D personnel stood. A guy with the nametag Danforth with pin-on Pv2 rank on top of faded square patches where sew-on rank used to be.

I wondered what he'd done to get demoted and sent to 2/19th.

"Go in and have a seat, make sure Parker isn't kidnapped by Nazis or eaten by a werewolf," Stokes said, waving Danforth forward.

"He's asleep right now, he should remain asleep for a while," Aine said, smiling as we both moved to the side to let him by.

"Don't touch my shit," I grunted, stepping out into the hallway. I promptly hit the ice and frost on the tile and slipped. If Stokes hadn't have smoothly grabbed me and took control of my movement I'd have busted my ass right there.

"I won't," Danforth said. His voice wasn't filled with the edge of resentment or defiance that soldiers who got sent to Alfenwehr as a punishment usually had.

"Sorry. Have a beer or two, they're in the fridge, and I got extra smokes in the freezer if you want a pack," I told him before I shut the door. I turned to Stokes. "What's with him?"

"He had a nasty attitude and tried his hand against your brother," Stokes shrugged.

"Foolish. Liam would crush one such as him like a bug," Aine scoffed.

"Will just grabbed him with one hand, slammed him against each wall of the hallway a few times and dropped him. Pretty much knocked the pissiness out of him," Stokes chuckled. "Obviously one of those 'fight the biggest person' dudes."

Aine took two steps and slid for a ways on the ice on the hallway floor, smiling, then skipped on ahead, vanishing into the near stairwell after she struggled with the door for a moment. I noticed that Stokes slowed down slightly and did the same.

"Is it just me or does she looks different?" Stokes asked.

"How so?" I grunted, lighting a cigarette.

"I don't know. Washed out? Thinner? Like there's less of her here than back when she was following you around with a burlap sack to scoop you up in and run off," Stokes said. She shivered and rubbed her forearms. "Her hair looks dull and washed out, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I noticed it too."

"Maybe she should see the doctor?" Stokes said. She glanced at me and shook her head. "Dumb question. It's the mountain, isn't it?"

I nodded. "Maybe. She usually gets sleepy and lazy toward the end of winter. When we were living together she slept a lot during the snowy days."

Stokes shook her head. "She's not completely human, is she?"

I shrugged. "She's just Aine."

Stokes suddenly reached out and pulled me into a side-arm hug, squeezing me tight. "I'm not criticizing her, Tony. She was with us at the end and that's what matters."

"Oh."

"Come on, we better catch up before she runs off and eats someone," Stokes laughed. She pushed open the door and the wind whipped around us. She looked up, into the darkness of the fourth floor. "Window must be busted."

"Yeah, I'm sure," I grunted.

As we moved down the stairs a woman started screaming below us, terrified shrieks mixed with sheer agony. I shuddered slightly, wondering who she was before her screams were frozen in the ice of Alfenwehr.

I was grateful to push through the door and into the CQ Area.

Until I saw the men in suits gathered up around the LT.

"Ah, good, Corporal Stillwater, just the man I wanted to see," LT Wright smiled. He waved at the men around him. "These gentlemen are interested in talking to you."

I'd left my Gerber in my room.

Shit.