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

Cold Hatred Part: 20

"Use until destruction. You find that on

certain military equipment and supplies

now and then.

You could also find it in our personnel jackets.

Just ask Lancer."

Warfighter Tunnels

2/19th Special Weapons Group

Restricted Area, Alfenwehr West Germany

Late Winter- January, 1986

Day 12 of Repairs

Day 4 of the Second Incident

Early Morning

The dream shattered and I clawed awake, my hands crossing in front of my face to stop the meat tenderizer from hitting me the face. I was laying at the bottom of the middle stairwell, pinned in place by a bayonet through my shoulder, and my mother, her face hidden by the cold weather mask, was swinging that meat tenderizer. Everything was blurry, but I could see a bunk above me. My leg, left biceps, chest, and stomach hurt, but the steel band around my chest was gone. My left and right arms were bound to my stomach, both of them in slings.

"Nagle! Stillwater's awake!" Lanks called out. I looked to my left and right, but everything past about 3 inches was a blur. Goddamn it.

"Welcome back, Stillwater," Lancer said from beside me. I looked to the right and saw the blur across from me waving.

"How's it going, Lancer?" I asked.

"I'm blind," Lancer said, then sighed. "Guess my career's over."

"Is it permanent?" I asked.

He laughed bitterly. "Nagle says one eye's missing and the other probably has steel embedded in it." He laughed again, this time with real humor. "I fought most of that goddamn fight thinking the lights were out and yelling at a dead guy to bring me NVG's."

"How many casualties did we take?" I asked.

"Out of twenty-two of us, not counting you guys, we're down to five combat effectives, not counting Sergeant Butcher, Sergeant White, and Major Mallory. Not sure how many are fit for light duty, but Lancer is definitely out," Nagle said. She put her hand on my forehead and smiled. "No fever. You're bouncing back."

"How long was I out?" I asked. "And help me up."

She shook her head. "You've been down for about two hours. You might not be hurting that bad, but I put a narrow gauge chest tube into you so your goddamn lung will inflate, stitched up two bullet wounds in your stupid ass, and fixed whatever it was you did to your left arm." She knelt down and laid her head on my stomach. "Dobbs may or may not lose her eye."

"Yeah. Thanks for reminding me," Dobbs said from down past my feet.

"Hey, don't bitch, that makes you my queen," Lancer laughed. "I can be like that dude in the movies, that blind guy that what's his face, Rutger Hauer played!"

Dobbs laughed. "Be grateful, huh? Don't make me laugh, the whole side of my face hurts."

"I can get a sword and be all vwoosh, clang clang." Lancer was over there waving his hands and making sound effects. Dobbs and Lanks were laughing while I petted Nancy's hair.

"Lemme up," I said again. Nancy sighed and sat up.

"You're gonna be a pain in the ass about this, aren't you?" she asked. She took my glasses out of her top pocket and settled them on my face.