Texas Nights - Book 13 of the Damned of the 2/19th

Repeat

Charlie Company Area
15th FSB Operations Area
Fort Hood, Texas
CONUS
Friday
22 November, 1991
1000

It was raining again as I walked down the sidewalk toward the Charlie Company offices. There were a few people from the battalion clustered up underneath the overhang, drinking soda and smoking cigarettes. They stopped talking as we went by.

Actual was behind me, clustered up together. They'd clustered up on the plane ride aboard the Lear Jet, to Fort Hood airfield, and clustered up again on the military version of the school bus. They'd been silent the whole time, like me since we'd been led out of isolation and aboard the jet.

We were all pale, haggard looking and drawn, dressed in BDU's. Wide eyes with dark circles around them, bloodless lips, and an odd sense of exhaustion about us.

The guidon was out, which meant that Captain Jane was in.

Donovan looked like death warmed over, but doing his best to stand up straight and look like nothing was wrong like I was. Trying and failing.

I stopped at the steps, pulling open the door and waving them in. "Wait by the Arms Room, Actual," I ordered.

They nodded tiredly and moved silently into the Orderly Room.

Peel was last, and I followed her.

The three privates and the one NCO in the Orderly Room all stared at us.

They could see the same thing I saw. That 1,000 yard stare. The way we all seemed to have an odd odor about us.

Thermite enhanced pressurized napalm with magnesium enhancement, scorched metal, and burnt flesh.

Not that it was real. It was probably all in my head.

If it was real, we all reeked of it.

I didn't bother knocking, just walked into Captain Jane's office. It was an effort to pick up my boots, even though I didn't want to drag my heels and make life hard on whoever had extra duty and was responsible for buffing the floors.

Master Sergeant Prager moved out of the chair when I shuffled up and waved at him, grabbing his papers and moving over to the side.

I just collapsed in the chair, staring at the floor.

"Chief?" Captain Jane asked gently.

"Yeah?" I asked, staring at the floor.

"Are you all right?" She asked. Master Sergeant Prager started to move but stopped suddenly and I knew that Captain Jane had signaled him to remain in place.

"My men need two weeks off. At least. Light duty. Therapy. Psychological counseling," I said slowly. "They might need medicated. Within the next 72 hours, at least one will break and need to be admitted to the hospital."

I looked up at her. "We'll all need put on suicide watch," I said.

"Talk to me, Heather," She said, gently, getting up and moving over to shut off the lights. She cracked a chemlight then moved over to squat down beside the chair. She put her hand on my knee, squeezing gently. "Are you and my soldiers all right?"

I laughed. It had a bitter sound. I could hear the razor edge of hysteria in it. "We're not infectious, if that's what you mean."

"Are there any casualties?" She asked me. She'd taken to rubbing my thigh. At a motion from her Prager knelt down and began gently rubbing my other thigh.

"Nobody who matters any more," I laughed. "Actual is a hundred percent, ma'am," I laughed louder. "I got them through it. I didn't lose a single one!" I started laughing harder.