Radioman (A 2/19th Spinoff) - Complete

First Impression

The barracks were cold, that was the thing I noticed first. People moved back and forth rapidly, moving furniture into the massive building. The building felt weird to me, like the air was too thick and heavy, but at the same time it hard to catch my breath, the air ice cold and slicing at my lungs as I almost panted.

"Hey, Ant, CO wants to see you as soon as you get back," one of the men said, leaning against the built in counter. His name was Sandostavowitz.

"What's he want, Whiz?" Ant asked.

The guy just shrugged, turning back around and lifting a drill to put the hinge on a doorway at the back of the small area behind the counter.

"Follow me, new meat," Ant growled. I noticed that seemed to be his normal voice and wondered what happened to his throat. He grabbed someone's arm. "King, where's the CO's office?"

The guy was a big man, heavy muscle, and his prominent scarred knuckles were noticeable as he rubbed the stubble on his jaw with one big hand. "Take those stairs to the bottom, go past the mailboxes, take a right, the Orderly Room is down there, they'll know which office the CO is in."

"We get a new one yet?" Ant asked.

The big guy, King, nodded. "Yeah, some full bird that came in after they hauled you off. He came up here to take charge of the reconstitution himself, left the XO back at Graf with the rest of Group."

Ant shook his head. "Dammit."

"Hey, did Olson make it?" King asked.

Ant shook his head. "Died on the evac. They tried, man, but..." Ant's voice trailed off.

I was looking so I saw something pass in King's eyes. "Dammit," He said softly. "He looked bad, but I'd hoped..."

Ant nodded. "Wheels went over his chest, man. Crushed his chest." King nodded, rubbing his jawline again.

"Dawson?" King asked.

"ICU. I asked a nurse, said he lost that arm," Ant answered. King winced.

"Johnson?" King asked.

"Broken back, broken pelvis," Ant said. "They're probably going to put her out."

"Goddamn that drunken asshole for running over your guys' tent," King snarled.

Ant just shrugged.

They went silent, and after a second Ant led us down the stairs.

I wondered how many people were killed a month in this unit. I noticed that Ant was limping and that someone had used OD green duct tape to seal the leg of his uniform shut. I also noticed that on his other boot he had a knife in a boot sheath and I wondered how come he was allowed to carry that in uniform.

We passed by the mailboxes, took a right, and I felt the temperature drop again. At the end of the little hallway there was a room on the left, a broom closet, the door open, on the right and the office door in front of me was open, revealing an empty office. In the room there were men putting down file cabinets, plugging in phones, and putting the drawers in desks.

Did they just activate this unit? I wondered. Oh, yeah, their barracks burnt down.

"Shaft?" Ant growled. A pretty woman in her 20's turned around. I noticed that her bun was starting to come undone and was already below her collar in the back, making it out of regs. She was a pretty woman with a winning smile.

"Heard you died, Ant," She said, stepping forward and hugging him. He took off his helmet and held it over a desk marked "SPC SHAFT" with a nameplate. The woman nodded and he set it down.