Family Care

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 1

It was a dark night with the moon hiding behind large fluffy clouds; the few appearances it did make were brief and cast a weak light at best. A stiff breeze blew across the endless expanse of sand stirring up an occasional dust devil and blowing tumbleweeds erratically across the landscape.

The lone soldier on sentry duty paused to watch the sporadic progress of the tumbleweeds, his curiosity aroused. One of them, larger than the rest, seemed to have a mind of its own when it came to moving. While the smaller ones rolled along in rapid spurts the larger one moved slower and in more of a straight line. As he watched it it seemed to hang up on something and stopped altogether. When the others began to move again the larger one stayed stationary. As he watched he noticed that several of the other large ones were behaving in the same manner. He wondered if their larger size had anything to do with the way they were moving. The sentry watched them a bit longer before losing interest and turning away to continue his circuit of the camp.

Finishing another circuit the guard paused to locate the large tumbleweed again. It had broken loose and moved closer while he had been gone. Several of the larger ones were bunched together not far from where he stood. He was about to go check them out when one of them got caught by the breeze and rolled past where he stood. He watched as it hung up on a rock before tearing free and continuing on its way. A short burst of wind gave it another shove and it vanished into the darkness beyond the hill where he stood guard. The guard glanced toward the pile of tumbleweeds nearby and shook his head; they would blow on without any help from him.

After the guard moved on the tumbleweeds shook without any help from the wind. The men hiding behind them pushed them aside and crawled behind some nearby rocks. Left to the forces of nature the dry brush soon blew away. Using only hand signals the leader urged his companions to spread out along the bottom of the slope where the sentry paroled. Moving quickly before the guard could return they scattered among the many boulders at the base of the hill. By the time the guard returned they were all safely hidden in the darkness behind the rocks. The sentry stopped to look for the tumbleweeds but they had all blown away into the night. After pausing, he continued his slow circuit of the camp.

A slight sound drew the sentry's attention toward the center of the camp. He smiled as he looked at his watch, squinting to see the time. In the camp he could just make out the shadowy form of his replacement carefully skirting the sleeping forms on the ground.

"Everything okay?" Hitch asked as he climbed the slope to meet Tully.

` Tully nodded. "Everything's quiet, the only things moving out here are the tumbleweeds."

"I like a quiet night." Hitch answered with a grin. "It lets me sleep on watch."

"Don't let Sarge hear you say that." Tully warned with a grin of his own.

Hitch just laughed quietly. "It can be our little secret. You'd better get some sleep; Sarge wants to be on the move early tomorrow morning."

Tully nodded. "See you in the morning." He turned and picked his way down the slope toward their camp. Careful not to bump into the sergeants rolled in their blankets Tully found his own blankets and looked for a clear spot to bed down. Scraping some loose rocks out of the way he spread his bedroll and dropped gratefully to the ground. It had been another long day and he was more than ready to call it a night. Wrapping the blankets around himself he rested his head on his arms and closed his eyes.

There were still a few stones underneath him and Tully had to roll to the side to get comfortable. As he shifted positions he thought he heard a muffled thud. Rolling back to his other side he glanced up to where Hitch stood guard at the top of the hill. In the darkness he could make out the head and shoulders of a darker figure walking along the ridge. Thinking it was Hitch he pulled the blankets higher and went to sleep.

Tully awoke with a start as Troy shook his shoulder. "What?" Tully stiffened in alarm as he realized that it was still night; Troy had third watch and Moffitt was to take over until dawn. "What's wrong?" Instantly awake, he grabbed for his weapon as he rolled out of the blankets.

"Did Hitch take over for you?"

"Yeah." Tully nodded, looking around for the other private. "Why?"

"Was everything quiet when he took over?"

"Yeah Sarge, it was all quiet." Tully peered past the sergeant to see Moffitt climbing the slope toward the ridge.

"He didn't try to wake you about anything?"

"Nothing." Tully shook his head. "What's going on? Where is Hitch?"

"That's what we would like to know." Troy growled.

"What's Doc doing?"

"Checking the perimeter to see if he can find any clues. He thought he might find something on the hill to tell us where Hitch went."

Tully started toward the slope. "Hitch wouldn't just go off without telling anyone."

"I know, that's what has me so worried." Troy admitted. He looked around the camp as he turned to follow Tully. "Nothing seems to be missing."

"Other than Hitch you mean."

"Yeah, other than Hitch." Troy agreed. "When did you see him last?"

"O-one hundred when he relieved me." Tully answered, thinking back. "But I thought I heard a thud just before I fell asleep."

"A thud?"

"Yeah, it was kind of muffled so I wasn't sure."

"Did Hitch hear it?"

"I don't know Sarge." Tully answered. "I rolled over and looked for him and I saw someone walking along the ridge at the top of the hill. I thought it was Hitch; maybe I was wrong."

"Could it have been someone else?"

"I suppose so." Tully replied. "I couldn't see very well and I didn't hear any alarm from Hitch so I thought it was him. What do you think happened?"

"I think someone took him but we won't know for sure until Moffitt finds something."

"I'd better make sure Moffitt's okay; I wouldn't want whoever is out there to get Doc too."

Troy nodded absently. "Good idea, you stand guard so he can concentrate on finding out what happened."

Tully nodded and fished a matchstick out of his pocket. Biting anxiously on the sliver of wood he hurried up the hill to find the British sergeant.

Moffitt had gone to the base of the hill and was kneeling on the ground near some rocks. He turned with his rifle ready as Tully approached.

"Easy Doc, it's just me."

At the sight of his driver the sergeant lowered his rifle and nodded a greeting.

"Troy sent me to stand guard while you look around. Find anything?" Tully tore his eyes from the sergeant to scan the dark desert beyond the rocks.

"It looks like someone was kneeling here recently." The sergeant pointed out some small indentations in the sand not yet erased by the wind. "The rocks sheltered the tracks from the wind or they would have been erased by now."

Tully strained to see further into the darkness. "Do you think they're still here?"

"Not likely." The sergeant answered with a shake of his head. "If they took itch they woud have wanted to get away beforeHitch they would have wanted to get away before he was missed."

"Why didn't they attack the camp; the rest of us were asleep?"

Moffitt shrugged. "Perhaps there were only a few of them and they didn't want to risk a fight."

Tully considered the answer and it made sense to him. The Arabs were mostly armed with antique weapons that put them at a disadvantage when facing soldiers from either side. Both the Axis soldiers and the Allied soldiers carried more recent models in weapons. Even if they had been outnumbered and caught sleeping the Rat Patrol would have most likely won the fight. It never occurred to Tully that it might have been German soldiers who took his buddy.

Moffitt began walking back toward camp.

"Aren't we going to follow their tracks, at least to see what direction they took?"

Moffitt shook his head. "The wind has wiped out any tracks by now Tully."

"But we don't even know if they took Hitch with them."

"We'll get the jeeps and check out that wadi we passed before choosing this one for our camp. It's the only place close by where they could have hidden their mounts."

"Then you think it was Arabs?"

"I'm afraid so." Moffitt admitted. "German soldiers would have attacked our camp."

"If the Arabs took him what do you think they plan to do with him?"

Moffitt didn't look pleased at the question. "I don't know Tully, but it can't be good."

"So what now?"

"Now we are going to go check that wadi; what we do next depends on what we find there."

Moffitt's possible meaning sent a shiver down Tully's spine but he nodded wordlessly. It occurred to him that they might find his friend's body in that wadi, or anywhere between there and the camp. He wanted to find their other driver, but he wanted to find him alive.

"Tully, are you coming?"

Tully jerked at the question and looked up guiltily. "Sorry Doc, I was just thinking."

"There's no sense worrying about what happened until we have more information." The sergeant suggested gently. "It's possible that Hitch chased off the intruders and followed them to make sure they really left.

Tully gave his sergeant a skeptical frown. "Hitch wouldn't do that. If he had seen something he would have alerted us. He never would have gone off on his own like that."

The sergeant turned away without answering. He continued toward the camp, keeping his eyes on the ground as he walked. Tully started to follow but a dark spot near the rocks caught his eye. Veering off to the side he bent and retrieved the object.

Moffitt paused at his driver's actions. "What is it Tully?"

Biting his lip, Tully held up the red kepi he had found near the rocks.

Moffitt took the hat from Tully and ran his fingers around the rim. "No blood." He announced.

"That doesn't prove anything Doc; it could have fallen off before they hit him." Tully argued.

"We don't know that they hit him. He may have gone along with them under the threat of a weapon."

"They must have hit him; he didn't give us any warning. The only way they could have stopped him from warning us would have been to knock him out."

The sergeant paused, not willing to bring up the other possibility. "Let's go tell Troy what we found. I'm sure he'll want to take the jeeps when we go to check out that wadi."

"Why?"

"I'm sure he'll want the extra firepower."

Tully frowned. "I thought you said that there were only a few of them."

"I said it was most likely that there were only a few of them, I could be wrong. At this point all we have is conjecture."

"But wouldn't they have attacked the camp if there were more of them?"

Moffitt shrugged. "Perhaps some of them stayed with the horses. It would have been a lot more difficult to sneak a large group of men up to our camp. I would think that the number of men who managed to sneak up on Hitch would have been rather small."

"They didn't sneak up on Hitch."

"What?" Moffitt stopped so fast that Tully nearly ran into him.

"I said they didn't sneak up on Hitch." Tully repeated. "I think they snuck up on me."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because it's true."

"Í don't understand Tully."

"There were these tumbleweeds…" Tully began. "The big ones were moving funny, you know, different from the smaller ones."

"That makes sense." Moffitt nodded. "The wind would affect them differently, relative to their size."

"That's what I thought too." Tully admitted. "I watched them for quite a while but it was really dark and I couldn't see very well. After a while I decided that they were acting different because they were bigger." Tully looked miserable as he explained his theory. "But I think I was wrong Doc. I think those guys were using the bigger tumbleweeds as cover while they snuck up on us. They snuck up on me Doc; Hitch just took over before they had a chance to strike."

"Tully, they could have just as easily moved in after Hitch took over."

"No Doc." Tully shook his head stubbornly. "They snuck up while I was on watch. After Hitch took over I went straight to my blankets. I had just crawled into bed and was trying to get comfortable when I heard a noise, a thud. I should have checked on Hitch but all I did was look over that way. I saw someone walking along the ridge and just assumed that it was Hitch. Maybe it wasn't Doc, maybe Hitch was already down."

"Perhaps Tully, but it doesn't really matter does it? They did manage to sneak up on us and Hitch is gone; that's the part we need to concentrate on right now, not who is to blame."

"It matters to me Doc. If I let them sneak up on us then I am to blame for whatever happens to Hitch."

"The luck of the draw as it is Tully. You didn't know, you couldn't know, so how are you to blame?"

"I should have watched those tumbleweeds closer."

"Tumbleweeds on the desert….I'm not sure I would have given them any more thought than you did."

"But you weren't on guard, I was."

The sergeant sighed and continued toward the camp. "We'll check the wadi; maybe we can discover something more."

Troy was waiting for them when they returned. He had policed the camp and had everything ready to go. He turned quickly when he saw them approaching. "Well, what did you find? Any sign of Hitch?"

"I think we should check that wadi we passed just before we found this one." The Brit suggested. "I want to take the jeeps, just in case."

"In case we find something or in case we run into trouble?"

"It could be either..or it could be both. It could also be a waste of time." Moffitt shrugged.

"What are we looking for Moffitt?"

"Clues." The Brit answered quietly. "I think we're looking for Arabs but I can't be sure. I'm hoping we'll find more evidence in the wadi."

Troy nodded with a worried frown. As he dropped his head his eyes fell on the bright red cap that Moffitt still held. Noticing his expression, Moffitt held up the cap with a shrug. "We didn't find any blood."

"Keep your eyes open." Troy ordered as he turned toward his jeep. "They may still be around."

The others nodded as they turned toward their own jeep. Moffitt climbed into the back and cleared the chamber of 50 caliber machine gun. Tully reached forward and pulled a machine gun from the holder on the front fender and dropped it on the seat next to him. Troy did the same. At a nod from Moffitt the two jeeps spun their tires and left the camp behind.