A Story of Kalathanon
Chapter One: Meet the Crew
Celantra had just finished explaining the relationship between matter and energy and was now allowing for her students to jot down the points she had wrote on the marker board. Celantra was a tall woman, about six-eight, who appeared to be in her late thirties early forties. She had peculiar silver hair that hung down the middle of her back, her eyes also had a hint of the silver in them but for the most part they were blue and seemed to shine with an inner glow. She was well muscled and carried herself with an air of authority her long arms and legs giving anyone that just casually looked at her the feeling that she was always in control. She was wearing a formal white top with black slacks and she wore a tanned leather belt and shoes.
"Mrs. C.," One of her students a young man named Steve asked from behind one of the thirty white topped desks in the middle sized room, "If energy and matter are related so fundamentally then is light both energy and matter?"
"Steve there you go again getting ahead of everyone else," Celantra replied her voice strong and clear with a hint of music in it. Before she could answer the question however, the intercom system crackled to life and Kalathanon, her husband, spoke in his low but commanding voice.
"Would the owner of the black truck parked on deck seven of the parking garage please come to the security desk, thank you."
She sighed to herself K had once again got a hunch that something about this car, which was just one in a long line of suspected cars, was a threat to the security of the campus. The school, aptly named the Dragons of Learning College, was a university for the extremely intelligent or extremely rich and was owned and run by a friend of theirs, James. James had hired on K and C from the start due to their past history along with some of their old war buddies. A stocky built man called Blitz and a slender but deceptively powerful woman called Storm. They like K and C were husband and wife. Xavier was also a friend from their war days he was the head of the health department. He is short only five-five, but he is the best doctor they could hope for and he is wiry instead of bulky.
Putting her thoughts aside Celantra replied to Steve's question. "Light is matter that has become mostly energy. Think of it like a super diluted solution the particles in it are matter and the liquid would be energy. Light, supersaturated in energy acts like both energy and matter. That is why light casts shadows but UV and infrared can go through objects."
Steve was about to reply when the com crackled to life again.
"Students and teachers I must ask you all to go to the safe rooms," James spoke this time his voice deep and clear with a hint of grating on the 's,' "Celantra, your husband requests your presence at the parking garage. That is all."
"Another stupid drill," one of the rich kids, a guy named Thomas, said.
"Not this time," C replied, "Something has got K spooked and that means you all need to get to the safe rooms."
Thomas stared at her with a look of shocked disbelief then nodded as a Young woman named Angle tapped him on the shoulder and got him moving. Steve was already heading up the first batch of students to leave the classroom and the others soon followed, C staying with them until they were safely inside one of the twenty guarded, safe rooms, then she headed for the parking deck.
The safe rooms were a remarkable piece of construction. Designed to survive everything from an asteroid strike and nuclear weapons, to a surgical strike from elite forces, nothing was going to get to the students, teachers, and guards that were in the safe rooms. The parking garage on the other hand was the weakest link in the campus security. At twelve stories tall and covering more than two thousand feet in each direction it was the most vulnerable structure on the five mile campus. Out front of the main entrance waited K.
He was shorter than C only about six foot, but his muscles were more pronounced. He had the same silver hair as C his stopping at his shoulders and his eyes were green with a sliver light that one could sometimes catch sparkling in his eyes. He was in his usual security uniform, all black with his badge on the left pocket just over the heart, black belt with his 9mm and its extra clips, black pants and black, polished shoes. He gave her a smile and a nod as she walked up beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"What has got you spooked now dear," C asked.
"That car is actually a massive plastic explosive set on a timer," K replied, "I had a team check it out but once we discovered what it was I figured we needed to take care of this one ourselves."
"K, C, glad I was able to join you," James said as he ran up to the pair. The eccentric owner was clad in a black motorcycle helmet with red flames on the front, a black reinforced leather jacket and trousers, gloves and a pair of army boots. He was five-nine and when his face was not covered, which it usually was, he appeared to be young maybe only nineteen or twenty. He had a red and a blue eye, and short cropped hair that stood up from his head with red at its peaks. C knew that despite the outward looks James was one heck of a fighter and commander when it came down to it.
"Got the bomb squad on the way," K asked.
"They will be here but I don't know if it will be in time," James replied.
"Well looks like the party didn't start without us after all," Storm said in her smooth flowing female voice as she and Blitz came up behind the three. Storm was a blond but she preferred to keep her hair in a short manageable cut that gave her the appearance of some exotic bird. She was five-ten and a half with hazel eyes, ebony skin, and was in a white, billowing robe-like garment. They all knew the robe was just a way for her to sneak her favorite weapons into places that would rather they not be there.
Blitz was five eleven, wore a buzz cut, had hazel eyes, and today was clad in a full suit of plate armor. Blitz was the director of P.E. and almost all of his classes involve fighting or weapons training, or fighting styles, thus the plate armor. Without the armor he is just as intimidating. His muscles were rock hard even when relaxed, as he moved his dark skin flowed as those muscles bulged and stretched. He was a good three feet across at the shoulder and built sturdier than a tank. Fortunately he was also the most mild mannered person C and K knew, despite the large ax he constantly carried.
"Ok I'm here you five can now officially go get yourselves hurt," Xavier grumbled as he walk over to stand next to C and looked up at the parking deck and tugged at his foot long, gray beard and scowled. His eyes were a gray-blue, his head was crowned in white hair and he all together looked the part of some out of place alchemist from the middle ages, except for his clothing. He wore a white lab coat over his brown 'Kansas Forever' shirt, his blue jeans were visible from underneath the bottom of the coat, and he was wearing sandals.
"Ever the elegant one," Blitz remarked, "K what's the plan?"
"James can't you just contain the explosion with gravity or something," Blitz asked.
"Not really explosions don't rely on gravity, they create a shock wave with or without it."
"Lets just do this the old fashioned way then," Celantra said, "I'll take point."
They entered the bottom level of the garage Celantra leading K right beside her Blitz and Storm were next and James and Xavier were acting as vanguard. They decided to take the stairs instead of the elevators so were forced to jog up nine flights before reaching the level the car-bomb was on. Once on the level the bomb was easy to locate, without the fuzziness of the cameras it was obviously not a car. With all four tires flat, completely blacked out windows, no door handles or doors, it was most likely mistaken by passersby as a science project or prank. Instead it was enough C4 to destroy the entire building. The strange thing is if whoever put it there wanted to destroy the entire building they would have put it lower down….
"K we need to get out of here," C said.
"Just a minute," K said, "Almost there…"
The next second the bomb went off. C heard a deafening thud and saw a blinding flash of light then woke up lying on her back under K and beside Xavier on the campus green that was over a thousand feet away. From somewhere to her left she heard Blitz.
"Unnh, ow that hurt. Is everyone ok? I mean apart from being blown up by a bomb that just left a crater where the parking garage was," Blitz asked.
"I'm fine dear," Storm said.
"Yeah were good," K said as he rolled off C and X pushed himself up.
"Well that won't be good for business," X said, "Not to mention that our equipment is busted and that garage will cost over six-hundred thousand to replace."
"Always the analytical one," James said, "We should see if anyone was hurt."
"X we may need you to you know, heal someone, or several some ones," C said.
"That's fine with me," Xavier replied, "you all were the promoters of not using our powers while we took up this job."
"I'll head over to the safe-houses see if anything happened there," K said, "C you coming with or…"
"I'm with you," C replied.
"Good. Blitz, Storm see what collateral we suffered from the blast, James get in touch with Carter I want to know who planned this, that level of destruction could only have been planned by one of our rivals," K ordered.
James ran off to his office, Blitz and Storm headed for the nearest structures, C fell in behind K as they ran to the safe rooms.
"K, C, I'm glad to see you here," a guard named Armando said as she and K came into view of the first safe room.
"We can say the same," K replied, "anything wrong, anyone missing or hurt?"
"No all who are supposed to be here are here," Armando replied, "but there was a commotion at safe room three."
"We'll head there immediately," C said, "Come on K lets go." Safe room three was where her classes were supposed to go, if there was anything wrong she would make it right.
"K, C," The man, Trent, guarding the safe room acknowledged. Trent was a retired sergeant over the years he had let his hair grow out and he now wore a police uniform but he was still a hard mass of mussel. "We are missing one student, his name is Steve, I think he is one of yours Madam."
"He is," C replied, "What happened?"
"We got to the room but that didn't help us much they were waiting for us," Trent said, "Solders by their bearing and no more than ten of them. They had no identifying colors so I assume it was a mercenary team. When we opened the doors they rushed out grabbed Steve and ran out the back of the building, I'm sorry but they just ran over us all. I started to pursue but when I heard the explosion I headed back here. The others had gotten into the room, apparently at the direction of an Angle and a Thomas, both from Steve's class, and no one else was hurt."
"Thank you Trent," K said, "get the kids and teachers out of here tell them the campus is closed until further notice, and when you're done take this and give the guards a blarging good meal, they deserve it." He handed Trent five hundred dollars and clapped him on the shoulder as he and C turned to go find James.
"I'll do that I will," Trent shouted at them as they left, then he pocketed the money and started sending the civilians home.
Character Blitz/Storm
"Blarg, I guess the campus didn't survive as well as I thought," Blitz remarked as he and Storm surveyed a building that most of the top level of the garage had landed on and almost completely demolished. The building was the student center where those who live on campus went to eat and play and just generally relax. It was three stories tall, counting the basement, and was of a circular design. If there was anyone left in it they would have very little hope of getting out from the basement as it only had two exits, both leading to the second floor and the main door to that was crushed under a ton of cement and steel.
"I hope they all made it to the safe rooms in time," Storm said.
"Well if they didn't couldn't you just rewrite history," Blitz asked.
"My talents don't seem to work like that," Storm replied, "Not on such a large scale anyways. Maybe for one person but even then,… to rewrite time it might kill me to do that. Stopping it is easy compared to rewriting even the tiniest portion of it."
"And the last time you stopped time you were in bed for two days," Blitz said, "I know."
"Yeah but I also stopped time for three days then," Storm replied, "So I am becoming strong enough to manipulate time with a lesser effect on me."
They entered the structure and were plunged into the dark, the lights were off.
"Hello," Blitz yelled, "Is anyone in here?"
"Dr. B is that you," A voice replied, "We need help the building collapsed before we could get out we're stuck behind a bunch of rubble that covered the exit from the game room."
"Is that Judy," Storm asked.
"I think so," Blitz replied, "she is in my class this semester."
"Figures she would be here," Storm said, "She never could stay out of trouble."
"We're coming to get you out is anyone with you," Blitz asked.
"Mike and John," Judy replied. Mike was her brother and John was their best friend.
"Ok we are on the other side of the rubble that you are trapped behind," Storm said, it will only be a moment."
Blitz charged up the rubble with some of his power then lifted it and cast it aside revealing the three, dust covered, terrified, students.
"Dr. B, Mrs. Storm, oh thank you I thought we would die in here," Judy exclaimed, "How did you…"
"Magic," Blitz said, "Were you the only ones in here?"
"No we were the first to head out from the food court," John replied, "the others were not as lucky the roof came down behind us trapping them in from this way I hope they tried to get out the back fire escape, but there was all this screaming then nothing."
"Maybe they got out," Blitz said.
"If they did then not all of them I swear I heard someone moving around on the other side trying to find a way into here. We called out but no response," Mike said.
"Get behind us," Storm said, "Dear?"
Blitz lifted and moved the rubble blocking off the hall that the three kids came from. The first thing that hit him was the smell of blood. "That is not good."
"Oh they can't be all dead," Mike said then he gagged as the stench hit him.
Blitz and Storm recognized the new smell immediately, they had worked closely with several who reeked of the dead or undead, in fact they actually were undead for several of them. But most undead were not nearly as friendly. Storm closed her eyes and bowed her head, Blitz shook his to clear it.
"Ugh what is that smell," Judy asked, "Wait what's that noise?"
Storm looked up, Blitz drew his ax, and from the hall shambled a figure. It was most definitely dead, its chest partly crushed and one arm missing, but it still headed for them. Judy screamed and the undead turned towards her its maw gaping open in the anticipation of warm, fresh meat. Then it collapsed as Blitz's ax severed its head from its body.
"Judy, Mike, John. Get out of here Inform K and C that we are facing undead in the student center," Blitz ordered, "I'll block off the entrance behind you so these creatures can't get out."
The three ran out as fast as they could and Blitz piled the rubble in front of the doors behind them.
"Undead, Oh those poor kids," Storm said then with a sigh, "Lets go see if there are any survivors."
They entered the hallway Blitz in front and Storm behind him. Due to the lack of light Storm resorted to her electrical power to generate a sphere that lit up the hall for thirty feet in all directions. The hall appeared empty except for the rubble, but looking closer they could make out abandoned body parts littering the edges of the rubble, the only signs that the undead roamed the now deadly building.
"I'm not sure how sound this building is," Blitz said, "Let's move quickly."
"Right behind you," Storm replied as they wound their way through the halls. They started heading for the upper levels first, what was left of them, and from there worked their way down. They had cleared the first and second floors, the second floor being the one they entered through, without further encounter with the undead. As they approached the west stairwell that allowed access to the basement, and the food court, they once again picked up the smell of the undead, only this time it was accompanied by the smell of a poison that only came from the corpses of the undead. To humans it rendered them either unconscious or sapped their strength so they could no longer fight the ghouls, to Blitz and Storm it just smelled worse than the undead usually did. With a wave of his hand Blitz dispersed the poison, rendering it harmless to anyone who might still be in the vicinity. Then they heard someone screaming from down the stairs, followed by gunshots and the roar of the undead. They wasted no time in getting down the stairs and emerged into the third floor just as five undead finished tearing away the last pieces of a barricade behind which were four retreating figures, three more students and a security guard. There were corpses lying around the barricade from where the guard's pistol had taken its toll on the creatures.
"You'll not take us you hell-spawn," The guard yelled as he fired four more shots into the undead. One dropped but the other four continued. The guard was apparently out of ammo as he discarded his gun and pulled out his baton and prepared for the end. Then lightning ripped through two or the undead as Blitz brought his ax through another and crushed the last with a fist of rock he launched from the haft. He briefly wondered what he must have looked like to these four desperate people. Clad in gory plate armor, hefting a massive ax, and bathed in the sporadic light from the two electrified corpses as they sparked off the extra voltage from Storm's attack, he must have looked like death itself come to claim them.
"Blitz, Storm, is that you?" the guard asked, "I thought we were done for."
"Gary," Storm asked, "What are you doing here I thought you patrolled the west wing of the library?"
"I do but I figured I'd grab some dinner with my kids before I went on duty," Gary replied indicating the three other people in the room. "Tom, Brent, Suzan, this is Blitz and Storm, they are friends of mine."
"And have been my teachers before," Tom replied, "Mrs. Storm, Dr. B, What did you just do and how did you even get in here, we tried to leave but all the exits were blocked. Did you bring a crew to clear the building?"
"Ah yes Tom," Storm said, "never mind that you were just attacked by undead, just go ahead and start asking questions, such a curious mind. No we did not bring a crew its just us, as for what we did to the undead, well we're magical like that. Gary you're other two they are younger correct not in college yet?"
"Aye, I thought they would like to go eat with their brother but had I know about these things I would never have brought them. Do you think they will be alright?" Gary asked as he coaxed his daughter out from a table she had taken refuge under.
Blitz shook his head, "I don't know, kids are resilient but she is what only thirteen, fourteen, and Brent how old are you?"
"Si-sixteen sir," Brent said.
"Hum well he's still talking that is a good sign," Storm said encouragingly. "Suzan how about it going to tell us your age?"
Suzan stared at them for a moment then muttered, "eleven."
"It will be alright sweetie," Gary said as he drew her into a hug. Just a little more and we'll be out of this."
"I'm not so sure about that," Tom said, "listen I hear movement on the other side of the kitchen doors."
Blitz and Storm listened for the sound and caught a grinding grating sound that was getting closer. "Get behind us," Blitz said as he and Storm moved closer to the door. The grating sound resounded again and sparks shown through the round glass windows in the doors. A cry echoed from within the kitchen that seared their ears and a creature burst through the doors. The golem was comprised of bones and bone fragments, which is probably why it took so long to assemble itself, the grating came from kitchen cleavers that it had grown into the tips of its two feeler like arms and its twitching tail. It stood on four legs but had two arms as well and it had a head with one blood red orb shining from the center of seven skulls, the same red energy held the entire beast together. It released another cry them charged at Storm.
Blitz lunged into its path but too late it knocked Storm into a table with a swipe of its feelers and causing two reddening cuts to appear on her white robe. Blitz slammed into the golem before it could push its attack. Smashing it with the flat of his ax he sent a shower of bone fragments flying away from the creature only to have them relocate back into its body. A bolt of lightning hit in from the side as Storm got to her feet on top of the table. It swished at her with its tail, missing by a few scant millimeters but giving her time to charge up a larger blast. This one knocked the golem to its knees. Blitz took full advantage of the opening and struck at its multi-faced head, knocking away one skull then another. As he sent each skull flying Storm would explode it with a lightning bolt. As the last skull was dispersed as dust on the ground the undead construct collapsed the bones spilling out from its body as the magic holding it together vanished.
"Now its over," Blitz said turning back to Gary. Sometime during the fighting Suzan must have fainted because Gary and Tom were laying her out on a table, Brent just stood in the center of the dinning hall and stared through the corpse of the golem.
"That makes twenty," Storm said.
"What," Blitz asked.
"Thirteen walking corpses and seven skeletons to make the golem twenty dead," Storm clarified.
"And one missing," K added as he and C walked down the stairs, "Gary I'm sorry that your kids had to witness this."
"One missing," Storm asked, "Who?"
"Steve," Celantra replied, "Taken by someone we believe it was they who set up the bomb and more than likely the necromancy that caused these undead."
"So we are done hiding then," Blitz asked, "Time to call Carter?"
"Already done," Xavier said as he walked into the room, "James wants to see you and I need to look at that girl."
Character Carter
"Sir got a message for you from a James, uh no last name given."
"Thank you Ron, I'll take in here."
"As you wish."
Carter sat behind his desk at Leviathan Enterprises, his personal mercenary group and to the rest or the world a home security firm. He was a powerful person in a powerful position and with some very powerful friends, he also looked the part. Dressed in his tan suit with his red tie and brown fedora, the six foot eight, by two and a half foot man, with the brown eyes, brown hair combed to the side, a hawk-beak nose and a disarming smile that he could summon at will caused a stir in any room. Not to mention hid his real identity from just about everyone. There were a few heads of state that knew him for what he was and a few special forces men who now worked for him, and his friends at the Dragons of Learning College one of which now awaited his response on the phone line. He pick it up, "Leviathan Enterprises, this is Carter."
"Carter its James, we got a problem. Some mercenary group was hired to bomb our College and we are dealing with undead and a missing student, the time for secrecy has passed K wants you and your men to track down whoever is behind this however you can. He has already granted you full access to the cameras and security devices do what you need to, I got to go."
James hung up and Carter replaced the phone on its receptacle. Bombs, mercenaries, undead, and a kidnapping from the most secure facility in the world, that required a good bit of magic. "Ron pull up the security info from the Dragons of Learning College," Carter said into the intercom, "also I want the fourth squad prepped for deployment, I'll be accompanying them."
"Yes sir," Ron replied, "Sending you the info now, Squad Four will be ready to depart in thirty."
"Thank you Ron, oh and its time for that promotion you've been waiting for, I'm retiring, you're the new CEO, and that is on the record."
"It's been an honor sir," Ron replied, "Don't get killed."
The com went off as the information from K's security devices were displayed on the computer screen. "Display on projector two," Carter said to the voice activated command menu. The shutters closed plunging the room into twilight as the projector fired up displaying the video recordings of the past hour at the College. He first viewed the footage from the bomb site, thinking "the garage clever." Nothing too special there, just a bunch of C4 and a relatively weak structure, scattering debris across a large area. Next he viewed the footage from the site of the undead, the Student center made perfect sense it would have the most people in at any given time. What he could see was just people evacuating the building then nothing once the power blacked out. As he figured those wouldn't give him much to go on as to who might be behind the attacks, which is why he left the video of the hallway outside the safe room for last. The main camera had been disabled by the intruders but a secondary camera had activated when the main was cut off. It too was quickly deactivated but not before it caught a glimpse of the leading mercenary. He was clad in a blue and white vest, the distinctive mark of a group that calls themselves The Vengeance. While effective as a mercenary group they had no magical association, he could go and ask his 'friends' in The Vengeance who hired them however, but that could wait until after he went to see the College for himself.
He arrived only two hours later as he and Four exited the privatized, customized, Boeing 747. Carter had it armored up, added four extra engines, sixteen anti-missile flare tubes, two torpedo tubes, six .50 cal. machine guns, four ATA/ATG rockets, and a kick blarg radio that was currently playing "Sweet Home Alabama." He also had it painted blue on the bottom and white on the top. He was especially proud of the radio's crystal clear sound even over the engines, and the way the paint scheme prevented it from being picked up by cameras or pilots. The men from the squad remained beside the Boeing, which he liked to call Bertha, while he walked out to meet James and friends.
While technically K was the leader, Carter connected better with James and it was James who greeted him as he disembarked from Bertha.
"Carter its been to long," James said, "I just wish that circumstances didn't have to be so catastrophic to get you down here."
"Just following the plan," Carter replied, "So what is this about undead and kidnapping?"
"Pretty much exactly what it sounds like," James replied, "Some one hired or organized a group that was specialized enough to break down our defenses, has necromancy magic available to them, and kidnapped a student named Steve, C is not taking that to well he was in her class. I sent you everything we knew what are you doing down here exactly?"
"I figured I would take a look at the undead bodies personally seeing as without our 'friends' here my power is the closest thing we have to true necromancy," Carter replied, "Personally I just don't get down here enough anymore, so I am here in part to see you all considering you were just exploded by a literal car bomb."
"Well thanks for your concern but I would prefer we actually get doing something instead of just investigating and exchanging pleasantries," James replied.
Carter chuckled, "Good to see some things never change, see that is why I went into the Information gathering business instead of you."
"Good thing to I would have bashed every head in Washington by now," James replied, "Not to mention several other countries' capitals. In here the Student Center was the heart of the undead outbreak."
The reek of the undead rolled over Carter and rolled off him just as quickly, he had dealt with many undead before. The corpses were basically what he expected from a low to mid-grade necromancer. Shambling frames unable to recover their lost body parts, a distinctive hollowness about their gaping jaws and eyes that even in their return to death portrayed their hunger for living flesh, and rapid decay of the bodies after undeath.
"Not to bad for an acolyte," Carter remarked.
"He also summoned a bone golem this way," James replied.
As they continued through the halls Carter picked up more signs of necromancy, bone dust, blood, and magic that was left over from the spell. It was a faint tingling that he could feel in the air that alerted him to the fact that the spell was not over.
"James, there is something else going on here, I can still feel the spell working."
"Then we need to find out what it is doing," James replied as he led the way into the dinning hall. "Oh that."
In front of them stood a monstrosity of bone and dead bodies. The flesh golem was ten feet tall and composed of any parts that it could find amongst the rubble melded with any metal it could find. Without a noise it rushed them in a blur of metal edges, bone spikes and fleshy hammers. James held up a hand and stopped the creature in its tracks, having increased the gravity affecting it to over a thousand percent.
"You want to inspect this thing before I crush it," he asked.
"If you could keep it still, yes I would like to look at it," Carter replied, "This is not what I expected from a necromancer only capable of summoning second class undead. I mean this is truly a masterpiece of necromancy. The melding of the metal, bone, and flesh in perfect symmetry this is almost on the level of… well no 'She' is much more masterful but still this is very good. Ok you can crush it now."
James did so by closing his hand causing the gravity field to collapse around the monster reducing it to a tiny size. "That felt good," James said, "So who do you think is responsible?"
"Well unless a rouge necromancer of almost master rank has clawed his way out of insanity or under a rock which is entirely possible there are only three with such power. Helda, Tyler and Joe, I'll see about arranging an audience with them to see if they had enchanted any weapons or were hired for any spell casting recently. If they had known any of their work would be directed against here they would have quickly turned the creator of the idea into a zombie slave or worse."
"Why do you believe that," James asked as they wound their way out of the ruined building.
"Because if they were even suspected in attacking this place they know I would wipe them from the planet," Carter replied without hesitation, "Later James say hi to the others for me sorry to play and run but I have necromancers to scare."
"But you only just got here," James protested, "K will have my head if you just leave without him being able to speak with you."
"Yeah well have fun with that," Carter replied as he got into Bertha, the sound of "Carry on my Wayward Son" playing in the background, "Tell him I'll give him a ring." With a salute to James he vanished back into the plane and started her up. "Four we're moving out I need to go see some old friends of sorts were heading to Orlando. We might be there a few days so enjoy yourselves this may be the last time you get to for a long time."
"Urah," Vince, their captain, replied. "Boys we are going to the beach."
With almost perfect timing "Soak up the Sun" came on the radio, and the entire group started singing along even Carter joined in. He had to admit that even though they could lose their lives at any point these men knew how to live in the moment and enjoy life while they had it, he had trained them well.