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

The wind whipped around me, the blood soaked parts of my BDU's quickly getting stiff and sticking to me. My side hurt from all the laughing, and my knee kept bucking. I could feel the loss of the adrenaline that had powered us through the combat in the tunnels, and part of me knew we were goddamn lucky.

Logan and Kebble wouldn't have trained to use the tunnels properly. That, and they were two dipshits facing off against three stem winding motherfuckers and a motivated titty slinging bitch.

Things kept whispering at me from the snow. The kid who beat the shit out of me in the Junior High School because his mom was friends with my mom and I couldn't fight back. The girl who took my virginity who was hit by a car. My mother. Voices in German. Voices I didn't know.

I ignored them and kept slogging through the snow, following the trail Bomber was blazing.

How the hell had a nice boy... oh... wait... I wasn't a nice boy. This is what I deserved.

I needed a nap.

I was getting really tired.

My hand found the windows for the mag office, and I jerked realizing I'd been stumbling along without really paying attention. I hurried forward, finding the broken window.

When I climbed in and turned around I smiled at Nagle, who was sitting on my desk lighting a cigarette.

"Close." I said, shaking myself to get the snow off of me.

"My rifle's frozen up." Bomber said, pulling on the charging handle, which stubbornly stayed where it was.

"Take mine." I told him, handing it off. He looked doubtful, but took it anyway, and I drew the .45 I'd taken out of the QRF armory.

"Warm up later, let's go." Nagle said. Taggart nodded, her teeth chattering, but didn't argue.

"You see them, fucking waste them." I said, and the other three nodded.

"Boys, you're pulling drag, Taggart, you're with me." Nagle said, moving over to the door. "Anything happens, Taggart, kneel down so the boys can add their firepower. Go left against the wall, if it's too ugly, go prone." She smiled. "Welcome to 2/19th, troop."

Taggart smiled, a fiercely joyous expression that seemed out of place on the young woman that only a little before had pleaded for everyone to step back and stop before things went too far.

Now that things were too far, she was hanging in with us. No flinching, no backing down,

We went out into the mag area, where the desks were piled up by the window, trudging through the six inch deep snow, which crunched under our boots. The lights were flickering, and one of them went out with a pop that showered down sparks that hissed as they hit snow.

Nagle kicked open the door to the first hallway section with one good kick, ice shattered off the doors. I was panting, a bad case of dry mouth, and my side hurt like I'd just ran a marathon. The hallway was dark, the light dusting of snow unmarked by bootprints. Icicles hung from the ceiling and frost coated the walls. The emergency light was just a pale dull yellow that shed no light on anything, still flickering but doing nothing to illuminate the hallway. The snow got deeper as we trudged through the hallway, passing room after room, and almost halfway down the hallway to the double doors when we heard them.

"They aren't in their room and the war stocks rooms are still locked, maybe they went down to open the armory." Kebble was saying.

"I'm going to kill that pregnant bitch, she fucking shot me..." Logan was saying.

We were already moving as the double doors opened.

Taggart went left, dropping down on one knee, firing as she moved. Nagle went right, dropping down at the same time. Both women tucked into the doorways, which were sunk almost six inches into the wall, which was double cinderblock thick. Bomber threw himself forward and down while I dropped down and fired the pistol.

Logan grabbed Kebble before we could even move, swinging her in front of him as we fired. Kebble screamed, and Logan shoved her away, throwing himself out of the line of fire and behind the double doors.

Kebble stumbled forward and went face first into the snow. We lunged up and pounded down the hallway, sliding to a stop in front of Kebble. She was laying in a spreading blood pool, moaning and moving feebly.

Nancy leaned down, pulling her head up by her softcap.

Kebble had been shot twice in the face, one bullet tearing a furrow across her temple, the other one having hit her under the right eye and exited at the right jawbone. Blood was drooling out of her mouth, a bright red trickle that thickened when she exhaled, blood bubbles roiling out from between her lips and pouring from her nose.

"Hello, Cock Sucking Kebble." Nancy said, squatting down. "Remember when I told you I was going to kill you." She smiled. "I kept my promise." She dropped Kebble's head with a thump and stood up.

"Please. Help me." Kebble whispered, blood pouring out of her mouth and onto the floor.

Taggart squatted down lifting Kebble's face up and cradling it in her hands, ignoring the blood that poured down her fingers, steaming in the cold.

"You tried to kill me and my baby, Kebble." She said, then spat in the other woman's face before snapping her face downward so that Kebble's face hit the tile with a splat. "Bitch." she snarled as she stood up.

Bomber stepped forward, kicking Kebble in the ribs. "That's for losing my goddamn paperwork all the time."

The other three looked at me, and I just looked down as Kebble raised her head again and pleaded with us to help her.

"Goodbye, Kebble. Enjoy the snow." I said, moving past her and pushing open the double doors before stepping into the hallway beyond.

From further down the hallway, behind us, came a low liquid chuckle and a scraping noise.

"I don't think you'll have much time to enjoy it." I threw over my shoulder as the others quickly moved by me into the hallway.

"Let's head to the Game Room and finish this." Taggart said. We all nodded and Nancy pushed open the stairwell door, leading the way down the icy steps that were covered in shattered ice, snow, and blood.

When we reached the first floor and opened the door, Kebble began to scream.