Kilo-29 (Damned of the 2/19th, Book 15)

Part 23

Site Kilo-29
Military Area - Main Facility
Winter, 1993
Day Two-Night

Donaldson and I threw ourselves against the door, screaming Meyers name, Kincaid yelled in denial, still sticking to Colonel Killain like he was glued to her. I was hammering on the door with my rifle, Donaldson was yelling, hammering on the door with his fists. The scream tore up the elevator shaft after us, sounds of animal agony as Tandy/Bishop took his time with the unfortunate soldier.

I spun and reached for the button panel, intending on going back for him.

Colonel Killain grabbed my wrist, pulling my hand away a second before I touched it.

"Sergeant, no." She snapped.

I tore my arm out of her grip. "I don't leave my men behind!" I screamed at her, reaching for the buttons again.

She grabbed my wrist again, her other hand coming up to touch my face. "Ant, he's gone." Deb told me softly.

Donaldson had fallen back from the door, sitting on the edge of the upended desk, his hands in his face, weeping.

Kincaid stood next to the Colonel, his face impassive.

Shads was staring at the door, the sad expression gone, just grim.

Wilkins was still staring in shock, his rifle forgotten in his hands. His mouth was opening and closing silently.

Natchez's eyes were wide, and he was trembling, but other than that he was silent, his face pale in the lights of the elevator.

The young men were gone.

Meyers went quiet, and I knew she was right. He was gone.

"Ant, we need you." Deb told me softly, pulling my eyes back to her face. Her eyes were wide, luminous, and deep deep blue. The wrinkles around the corners of her eyes were dark with exhaustion and fear, and her hair had gray in it. She made sure she had my attention before she continued speaking. "There's hundreds, maybe thousands of those things in here, even without Colonel Bishop we're in trouble, we need you."

"Don't forget those fucking suits." Kincaid said.

"What was it, Sergeant?" Donaldson asked, turning and facing me.

"I don't know." I told him honestly. The elevator shuddered, drowning out my words, and I waited for a second to try again. "It looks like a man, but it isn't. It's something else."

"Something old and dark?" Kincaid guessed.

"Yeah." I said, hanging my head. I was exhausted, in pain, and almost at the end of my rope. Being knocked out by explosive concussion isn't pleasant at the best of times, and my headache had gotten worse.

"You've seen this thing before?" Colonel Killain asked me, looking suddenly angry.

"Yeah." I reached up and rubbed my shoulder, which was warmer now but still throbbed. "I've seen it before."

"You said it was your old CO?" Natchez shook off the shock of seeing Meyers snatched through the narrowing gap.

"He was. Well, not what's chasing us now, but the man was." I told them.

"You're not making much sense." Donaldson told me.

"Is there anyone who isn't out to kill you?" Kincaid asked.

I stared at everyone, one hand on my knife. "I don't know. Is there?"

Wilkins opened his mouth and started to raise his rifle, but Kincaid grabbed the forward handgrips, pushing it down. He stared at Wilkins and shook his head.

"You don't want to do that, Wilkins, trust me." Shads said softly. "If we all went for him right now, he'd probably kill us all before the doors open."

Wilkins got a stubborn look on his face, but Kincaid jerked on his rifle to get his attention. "You haven't seen him in a fight, Wilkins, Shads, Dee and me have." He shook his head. "I'll back the Sergeant." The barrel of his rifle pushed up under Wilkins' Kevlar vest. "Make your decision."

"Sergeant, you said you know this thing. What is it?" Donaldson asked, moving next to Natchez.

"You wouldn't shoot me, Kincaid." Wilkins was saying.

I pulled my knife out about an inch, shifting to the side at the same time.

...kill them all, before they can betray you...

...Tandy's there, it's every man for himself...

...kill the new guys, Ant...

...don't do it, bunny...

"It isn't Capt... err.. Lieutenant Colonel Bishop any more." I told them.

"I'll blow a hole in you as big as the Texas sky, Wilkins." Kincaid's voice was soft, cold, deadly. "See if I won't."

...that's your boy, right there, brother...

...I know, Bomber...

"What is it?" Donaldson asked, staring at me. His eyes flicked at Natchez, who was alternating staring at me and staring at what was going down between Wilkins and Kincaid. Natchez was pointing his rifle at me, but not really paying attention to it, fixated more on what I was saying and Kincaid's obvious willingness to kill Wilkins.

"We don't know. You can't kill it, it strikes when we didn't expect it, drug men away into the dark and killed them." I shook my head. "That's all we know."

"Sergeant Ant may know what it is, but I don't think he caused it." Shads said, sitting against the desk. The elevator shuddered and groaned, almost drowning out his voice. "It came for the Colonel here. No offense."

"None taken." Killain waved it away.

"Like I said, we don't know what it is. We just knew it killed." I told them, shrugging. "I survived four winters with the fucking thing outside and sometimes in the barracks with us."

"How?" Killain asked. "How the hell did you survive?"

I shrugged. "Didn't give up."

The elevator slowed, and without prompting Kincaid and Donaldson turned to the elevator doors, their weapons up and ready. Killain ducked down and I flattened against the wall, rifle ready to go.

The lights were still out in the corridor, but the elevator lights showed us that the hallway was clear.

"Natchez, Wilkins, you're on the Colonel." I said after glancing into the corridor. "Kincaid, you're with me, Donaldson and Shads, drag."

I glanced out. Looked clear.

"Get her there alive." I stepped into the hallway and looked around. In the distance I could see two small blobs of light where the chemlights were still putting out enough to outline themselves but that was about it.

"Where are we going?" Colonel Killain asked me, looking around. "You didn't bunk down in the Civilian Living Quarters section, did you?"

"No." I answered. "Military section. Protect the package, gentlemen."

"Stop calling me that." Killain snapped.

"No, Ma'am. Until we get you back and debrief you, you are the package. If Kincaid, Shads, Donaldson, or even me have to die to make sure you can get back there, then that's what it will take." I looked at her. "You have operational knowledge that Major Darson doesn't, you're trained to make the system sit up and beg, and you've explored this site and know its mission."

I turned away from her and started down the hallway. "I'm just paid to break shit."

Moving through the darkness I really missed Bomber, Nancy, and Jackson. They'd learned to move silently over the years, learned to control their breathing so it didn't sound like a hallway full of hound dogs after a fox hunt, and didn't let their gear clink around.

I'd have to show them how to silence their gear.

"Those things won't be out, not with Bishop having taken a victim." Killain said.

"His name was Meyers, Colonel." I growled at her. "He was one of my men."

"Sorry. Since Bishop took Meyers." She amended. "That was always a warning he was coming for last week or so. Those things would scatter, then we'd hear Bishop out there."

That reminded me. "How many did you say there were?"

"Hundreds, maybe thousands." Killain told me.

"Hmph." I didn't trust myself to answer.

"How do you know?" Donaldson asked.

"One of the Bishops guys said he saw them moving through a corridor, said they took almost 20 minutes to all go by." She answered.

Deb, you should know better than to lie to me.

"What happened to him?" Wilkins asked.

She was silent for a moment. "Bishop grabbed him from inside a vent."

I made another non-committal noise.

That wasn't Tandy's style. Bishop was a tank, he liked to come in hard, no dancing, and trade blow for crushing blow until his open was on the floor.

It wasn't Bishop's style either.

I watched Colonel Killain's eyes as we moved through the airlocks and past the various doors. She kept catching me watching her and twice gave me a questioning look. I just kept staring till she broke eye contact and looked away, flushing at her neck and the backs of her ears.

We moved into the Officer's Living Quarters area and hustled to where the OIC's office was. The camera above the door tracked us and I waved to it. Before we could even get to the door it swung open, one of the Major's meatheads standing there and hurrying us in.

A quick headcount showed me that they were all there.

"Where's Private Meyers?" Major Darson asked me.

"He's dead." I said. "We couldn't recover the body or his gear." I moved over to where one of the meatheads was sitting in a chair and waved him away. He sat there for a second until I glared at him, then he finally moved. Major Darson told one of the meatheads to go secure the door we'd come through by leaving the bar straight out, and he saluted and left.

"Colonel Killain, United States Air Force." She introduced herself.

"Uh, Major Darson, United States Army." The Major saluted her and she returned it.

"Everything been OK back here, Major?" I asked, lowering my head in exhaustion.

"I managed to secure this section of the living quarters.

I made a show out of digging in my rucksack and pulling out medication bottles while the others told Major Darson what had happened. They mostly got it right, so I didn't bother with correcting them, except to tell Kincaid to go prepare the room next to this one for Colonel Killain and to go to the one across from this one with Donaldson when the Major was done interviewing them. Kincaid nodded, and Donaldson went over and began gathering up the three of our's gear. I asked one of the meatheads to borrow their canteen so I could wash down some medication and took it in few view of everyone.

Colonel Killain watched me with glittering eyes before going back to telling Major Darson how they'd come in and started exploring the site when they got attacked. I put my chin in my hand and stared at the floor, listing slowly to one side and slowing my breathing. After a few moments I closed my eyes and let the painkillers ebb away the pain from my shoulder, ribs, and head. Plus, my left ass cheek hurt for some reason.

"Sergeant Ant, are you all right?" The Major asked me when my chin slipped out of my hand for the third time and I jerked up swearing and rubbing my shoulder.

"Took my medication, I'm kind of fading out." I told him, slurring my words. "I'll probably be out for a couple of hours."

He nodded, then waved at the door. "I'll talk to you when you wake up, Sergeant. The Colonel and I are almost done, then I'll post hallway guards and try to come up with a plan of attack."

"Roger that, sir." I said, staggering my way out the door.

I caught Kincaid in the hallway and talked to him for a moment, handing off my battle rattle to him before going in the room.

The room was dark and quiet. The vent was covered by a dresser that had been pushed in front of it, and a T-Shirt was hanging over the camera to preserve the occupant's modesty. It had two bedrooms off of it, a bathroom complete with a tub big enough for three people, a kitchen and dining room, and even a small room I knew was basically for a servant. I prowled through it, checking the vents, but Kincaid had paid attention and made sure they were all blocked. I returned back to the doorway and leaned against the side of the door opposite of the light switches.

Time seemed to drag on, but I waited in the dark thinking dark thoughts about dark things. I took off my eyepatch and put it in my pocket, knowing that I'd be better off without it.

It was nearly 20 minutes later when the door opened and Colonel Killain came in. She hit the lights and walked toward the middle of the room, setting her rifle down on the coffee table in front of the couch and stripping off her gear.

I locked the door.

She finished dropping paper she was pulling out of her pockets while I walked up behind her and stopped only a pace from her.

When she turned around and saw me, she let out a short scream then laughed nervously. "Ant, did you want something?"

"What are you holding back, Debs?" I asked her, staring at her. She was staring at the left side of my face.

"Nothing, Ant, I swear."

"We were lovers, Debs, what are you holding back?" I asked again.

"Nothing. You're getting paranoid again, Sergeant, take your medication." She tried the command bit.

"If that's how we're going to play this."

I stepped up and pushed hard against her chest, so she fell back against the couch and ended up looking up at me while I slowly drew my knife, letting her see it.

"Ant?" She sounded scared.

Good.

"You lied, Debby." I told her, looking down at her.

"No, Ant, I've told you everything there is to know." She told me, licking her lips.

Oh, Deb, you know you've never been able to lie to me.

"No. You haven't." I answered, sitting on the arm of the overstuffed chair.

She swallowed and nodded, her attention fixated on the knife. "I did tell you and Major Darson everything."

"You're equating my looks with my brains again." I glared at her. "What are you holding back?"

I could see it in her eyes, weighing whether or not she could take me, whether or not she could lie to me. Her eyes went to the knife again, then back to my face and I knew she was staring at my ruined, bloodshot eye.

"It's about to get really unpleasant in here." I told her, standing up. "I will find out, Colonel, you will tell me."

She swallowed.

"Won't you?" I asked, moving around the coffee table.

"WAIT!" She almost shrieked it, her eyes darting from my knife to my face. "I'll tell you!"

I backed up and sat back down.

"Start with those things." I told her. Her head jerked.

What she told me made me physically nauseous.