Cold Hatred (Book 2 & 3 of the Damned of the 2/19th) -Updated and Rewritten

Cold Hatred Part: 9

"Hardship defined us. From the hell

Of Special Weapons training to

The sheer inhumanity of our postings

It was hardship that made us what

The Army wanted us to be.

A Horseman of the Apocalypse

The Horseman of Madness"

Chapter Nine

2/19th Special Weapons Group

Restricted Area, Alfenwehr West Germany

Late Winter- January, 1986

Day 11 of Repairs

Day 3 of the Second Incident

Morning

The dream shattered as the alarm clock went off. I was already moving, still half asleep, vaulting off the top of the bed, hitting the slick tile, and busting my ass as the frost instantly melted under my warm skin and my feet went out from under me.

Bomber laughed, swinging out from his bed. "Nicely done, spaz."

I got up, rubbing my elbow and trying to get the tingling in my arm to calm down. I moved into the bathroom, turning on the shower and looking at my reflection in the mirror.

"Nobody likes you. You are worthless beyond the fact that you will die so that someone better than you will survive. You will never be worth anything more than whatever good your death can do. Nobody will ever love you, everyone can barely tolerate you, and you deserve nothing good," I told my reflection. "You will die alone, and nobody will know or care that you are gone."

I waited a minute to see if anything let me know that things had changed. Nothing happened, so I shrugged and got into the shower, relishing the pounding spray. The door opened and closed and Nancy slid into the shower, holding out the soap.

"You OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" I answered.

"You're shaking. Nightmares?" she asked me, twirling her finger for me to turn around. I did so and she started washing my back with the Irish Spring.

"No, just dreamed about Operation Copper Window," I told her.

"No such thing," she answered, putting up the soap and scratching my back.

I grunted, unwilling to answer. It'd been a royal bitch the whole time, but we'd done it. The site had been completely up to speed, passed its NATO inspections.

Chief Henley had gotten another Meritorious Service Medal for that. I'd gotten told to get back to work and Chief Henley had tried to tell me that knives were not allowed at the sites. I'd ignored him and kept carrying my knife.

"Soap me up," she told me, turning around. I washed her back, then finished up washing each other off. The alarm had gone off at zero-seven, so we had about two hours before formation, so we weren't in any hurry as we started to move together.

We'd just finished when a knock came at the door and Stokes' voice sounded out. "You guys gonna be much longer?"

"Naw, we'll be out in a minute," Nancy yelled back. She grinned at me and kissed the middle of the scar that went around my shoulder. "Should I leave you in here for her as a present?"

"Naw, just let it go, babe," I told her, getting out and grabbing my towel. I dried off real quick while Nancy turned off the water, then handed it to her. I had a set of boxers in the little shelves beside the shower and pulled them on just before Nancy wrapped the towel around her waist and walked out.