Chapter 4:

Death:

The first thing Hogan saw when his vision came in clearly was a tile ceiling with a dim light coming from behind him. A window with halfway closed blinds was to his right along with a nightstand and lamp. Realizing he was in a bed and hearing a machine beeping, he turned his head slowly to the left. He saw himself connected to an EKG machine and an IV in his hand, which rested gently on his swollen belly. His stomach felt tight and softly rubbed his middle as he tried to recall any recent events. He was definitely in a hospital room, but how did he get there was what he could not remember. The last thing in his mind was him taking a simple stroll around camp. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a short walk through Stalag 13 to see what his men were up to. The next thing he remembered was seeing the new guard in camp, Corporal Rothmann, struggling to learn how to fire his new rifle. Schultz was desperately trying to instruct the man to fire upward if he wanted to practice shooting, but the young corporal was confident in his skills that he would be able to practice without actually firing the gun. Then it all came back to him. He could not see any of it, but he remembered hearing all of the chaos around him.

Rothmann had accidentally slipped his finger on the trigger when he had not been ready and pressed down on it to make the weapon actually fire. The bullet had come directly at Hogan, and he collapsed to the ground unconscious with a severe burning sensation inside his belly. He could hear Schultz and Klink hollering commands in German, his men yelling at him to wake up, Kalina crying and begging for him to open his eyes. Everything after that was completely black.

His eyes felt heavy. His body was worn and tired. He closed his eyes and began to drift off back to sleep, when he heard the door to his room open. He opened one eye to find it was his good friend and fellow ally, Dr. Richard Klaussner checking on him. The old man looked delighted to see him awake. (1)

"Robert, you're awake. Danke, mein Gott, I thought we lost you," he said, with relief.

Hogan swallowed a knot in his dry throat and answered in a soft, raspy tone.

"What happened?...How did I get here?"

"There was a horrible accident back at Stalag 13. The new guard there was practicing firing his new rifle, but his finger slipped and shot the gun when he wasn't ready. The bullet hit you directly in your diaphragm and caused a heavy amount of bleeding. You needed three blood transfusions during surgery and almost crashed twice on us. You're a lucky son of a gun to be alive right now. Had that bullet gone any higher, it would have fatally wounded one of your lungs or heart. Robert, you could have died on that operating table by how bad you were wounded."

"That explains why my stomach feels so tight," Hogan answered, rubbing his belly again.

"I know you're probably exhausted, but would you be up for a couple visitors? Poor little Kalina's been crying since you were brought in, and I think Newkirk's ready to strangle the entire hospital staff if he doesn't find out if you're alright."

The colonel lightly smirked. That sounded like his English corporal alright. Never ceasing to get the information he desired from someone. The skill made him exceptionally well with espionage assignments.

"Send them in, Richard. I'd like to see them, too."

Klaussner nodded while wearing a warm grin, then opened the door to his room to allow Kinch, Newkirk, and Kalina entrance inside. Both Kinch and Newkirk sighed with relief as Kalina went charging for him.

"Colonel," the sergeant gasped. "Oh, thank God, you made it out of surgery."

Klink's daughter slowed when she came to Hogan's side and wrapped her arms around his neck as she began to sob.

"Colonel Hogan…" she wept. "I thought I'd never see you again."

Hogan smiled weakly and wrapped his arms gently around her.

"I'm alright. I'm gonna be alright," he said sincerely.

"Blimey, Gov'nor, don't do that to us again. Yah nearly scared me to death!" Newkirk exclaimed quietly.

"I'm scared I almost saw death," the colonel replied. "It made me realize just how unprepared I am to die yet."

"I don't want you to die. I want you to live forever." Kalina whimpered.

Hogan gave another smirk.

"I can't promise you that, but I promise to stay around for as long as I can...gonna take a whole lot more to kill me off than one little bullet," he said.

"How long's it gonna be until he's back on his feet, Richard?" Kinch asked, turning his eyes to the medic.

"With a diaphragm injury as bad as his? Could be months before he's feeling like himself again. It depends on the person and their immune system. Colonel Hogan's medical history is fairly good, so I hope that has some influence on his recovery. I must keep him here for observation for a week before I can clear him to go home, however." Klaussner explained.

"But he'll be okay?" Kalina asked, wiping her wet eyes.

"Don't worry, hon," Hogan answered. "I'm gonna be okay."

"By how miraculous he's been doing so far, I have no doubt that he'll make a full recovery," Klaussner said, with a smile and nod.

The colonel returned the same smile, then made his eyes towards the small teenager sitting by his legs. He gently patted her hand. He could not do much at the moment to make up for scaring her so bad, but it was a start. He was at least glad to see her muscles had loosened up a bit and seemed to be more at ease. He never liked seeing her so frightened by something, including himself nearly dying right before hers and everyone else's eyes. Thankfully, he had been able to pull through and would keep his promise not only to Kalina, but to the rest of his men. They needed him still, and he was not leaving them just yet. He had to make their lives miserable for a little while longer before doing so.

"You think you can keep these guys out of trouble while I'm off my feet?" Hogan asked Kalina.

The teenager's response was a little giggle and eager nod.

"You got it, Colonel Hogan. I'll make sure they know how to stay in line," she said.

Hogan gave a light chuckle.

"Good. 'Cause they're certainly a handful."

(1) Dr. Richard Klaussner is a character I created myself. He first appears in my story "Hogan's Heroes: Finding the Silver Lining"