CHAPTER 35

Yes, a EARLY update. You can all thank totenkinder manchen for the early update. You can also all thank Karama9 for all her hard work in beta work and listening to long dialogues of plot points and ideas. And thank yourselves for all the awesome feedback too. This Authors Note is starting to sound like it's the end chapter, which this is NOT, so I'll shut up and let you find out who/what/why... right NOW!

Benny gasped out a couple breaths, struggling to spit out a mouthful of blood. "Awww hell. I got shot by the Army gal. Knew Ditch chose a good one." He lay his head back on the grass and clenched bloody fingers over the chest wound that was soaking the front of his fatigues with bright red blood. "Damn... at least I got old Ditch."

Unable to stop herself, Courtney stepped up and put a hand over the wound. "Benny? Benny.. why?" Her free hand patted him down for weapons. "You shot Wayne... you killed him.. he's... he was your teammate."

Sarge burst through the cover to the side only to stop and stare. "What the hell?" He dropped to his knees beside his trooper and began to tug open the shirt. "Oh fuck... Benny what did you do? What did you do?"

Benny gave a weak grin at his old sergeant, holding up a knife to him. "Here... Army gal is a good..." He coughed bubbles of blood again. "… good shot, piss poor at searching for weapons." The small Ranger's leg pushed against the grass a few times. "I did get the hit, right Sarge? I hit Ditch. Got him... good headshot... right?"

Courtney leaned back, letting the Ranger sergeant take over holding the wound. "Why Benny? Why would you hurt Wayne? He was your friend!"

Benny raised his eyebrows at her as if he was puzzled at her confusion. "But.. but he left. Sneeden left, didn't stick by Sarge. They all left. Went on with their careers and advanced and left crippled-up Sarge behind like he was nothing. Wasn't right. Wasn't right at all. I tried." He struggled to sit up some and pointed at her. "I tried to tell him to come back! You heard me try! It's not my fault! None of them would come back!"

Sarge pressed him down again. "Benny... who else? Who's 'they'?" He sounded defeated, knowing what the answer was yet hoping for something different.

Benny gave a shallow cough, his voice beginning to fade. "All of 'em, Sarge. Only me sticking by you... only Benny was loyal. All the rest... got 'em all for you. Cut the brake lines, gave old Hurklit poison in his coffee... pushed Leo offa cliff in Oregon... all of 'em that didn't die in line duty..." He struggled to breathe for a moment. "Ditch... poor old Ditch.. he hid. He hid a long time. Long time but I got 'em too. Got 'em... he was tough though." Benny's fanatical eyes opened wide to stare at nothing. "Was hard... tried so many times... couldn't make it no accident finally... had to... to... shoot." His gaze moved towards Sarge even though it was evident he wasn't seeing anything more. "I got 'em though... right?"

Sarge coughed, struggling to speak. "Yeah... hell. Fuck you Benny. You did." He watched the ragged breaths finally stop and turned loose of Benny's hand. "Sonabitch..." He turned suddenly to Courtney. "Fuck. I didn't know. I swear to god.. if I'd known I could have stopped the bastard." One sob escaped before he swallowed hard. "I didn't know."

Courtney stood, her handgun still held in a loose grip as she stared. "He... Benny killed all your old team. Be-because they didn't stay assigned to the same unit? But... but the Army reassigned people, it wasn't their fault..."

Sarge sat back, wiping at his face tiredly. "Hell... he had to be screwed up in his head... it's been years... god dammit. The first guy... he was killed in Kansas when his car crashed. Jesus.. Benny's been killing them all this time. I never knew." He staggered to his feet and stared at his long time friend. "Jesus, if I had only figured it out... if he'd just said something TO me..."

Courtney was still staring at poor Benny's body as Sarge kept the MPs away, got certain officials notified to come up so they could decide what to do and say. She supposed that telling the general public that a highly trained veteran Army Ranger had been insane for years and murdering other Rangers wouldn't exactly be the thing they wanted to do. She barely noticed when Sarge gently took her sidearm away from her and wiped her hands with a damp rag.

Sarge got her attention by taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to focus on him. "Krieger. Go back down and stay with him.. go stay with Sneeden, okay?" She nodded and turned to numbly begin to walk back down through the brush, pushing past the MPs and onlookers that crowded up as close as they were allowed to by Sarge's cordon of Rangers. No one seemed to quite know what was going on, but they ignored the small Army corporal edging her way through them.

By the time she found her way back to the blood-covered piece of sidewalk, she could feel the state of shock dissipating. Her hands shook and she felt sick. But her vision suddenly cleared when she found Beach's body missing. She turned a circle, the crowd and MPs holding the area suddenly coming into being around her as if forming out of the mist in her head. "Where... where's Wayne?"

A burly MP took her arm absently, motioning to several curious onlookers to move back. "Stay back, this is a crime scene, there's nothing for you to see." He tugged her back behind an invisible barrier. "Ma'am, please stay back..."

She reached up and took him by an ear and twisted, snarling angrily into his face. "Where the fuck is Wayne?"

To his credit, the MP only made a soft noise of pain and instead disengaged her grip and twisted her wrist painfully to move her another step back. "Assaulting a MP will get you..."

She kicked him in the knee, causing him to turn loose of her wrist in surprise. "TELL ME WHERE HE IS! GOD DAMN YOU!"

Her actions brought two more MPs instantly and they kept her contained while she railed at them hysterically. Eventually they realized what she was asking.

One nodded at her, spreading his hands in a non-threatening manner. "Ma'am, I mean Corporal... I'm sorry, the bod... ahhh, the victim was transported to our ER..." He gestured in the correct direction. "It's not far... someone can accompany you if you give us a few minutes to arrange some transport."

She shoved him aside and took off running. The half-hearted shouts faded behind her and the dispersing crowds were little hindrance as she pelted for the base hospital. She wiped at her face to push the blurring tears aside. She'd taken down Wayne's killer, she had to get to him now. Somehow that would make things okay. Inside her head, she knew how ridiculously stupid that was, she could almost hear the gruff voice telling her not to be a danged idiot. She didn't care.

Pushing past people in the emergency waiting area, she leaned on the desk, panting and desperate. "Wayne... Wayne is here... they said he was brought here, I have to see him.."

The nurse behind the desk stood to come around to her, holding out her hands gently. "Here now, you're very upset, perhaps you should take a seat a moment, who are you looking for?"

Courtney slung the hands off her and shouted loudly. "WAYNE SNEEDEN. I want to see him. He's here, they said so. They said they brought him here and I have to see him RIGHT NOW!" She looked at the nurse's kind face with it's expression of pity and burst into tears again, swallowing repeatedly and struggling to compose herself. "Please. I just have to see him..."

By now there were orderlies and a doctor surrounding her as well. One of the orderlies whispered something to the doctor who's expression went a bit resigned. "Okay... calm down miss..."

She sniffed deeply and straightened up. "It's not 'miss', it's Corporal. Corporal Krieger. I want to see Sergeant major Sneeden right now." She glared at the doctor who gave a little sigh and shrugged.

"We've barely been able to clean him up... but for just a few moments it won't hurt anything..." She tuned out anything else he said as long as he gestured towards the doors that would take her back to where Wayne was. She tried to walk slowly, but felt as if they were shuffling at a snail's pace. Finally they came to the end of the treatment ward where it was silent and empty of people. The lighting was all turned low and a heavy curtain had been drawn around it's single gurney. "Here... if you need anything, call one of the nurses..."

She nodded and stepped inside as the doctor wandered back up to the busy front. The body laying there made the gurney look small. His face was covered by a previously white cloth, now somewhat stained on the side with blood. She sat on his left side, away from the silent machines and away from where the damage to his head would be too apparent to ignore.

She sat there for a few seconds staring before reaching up to draw the cloth off his face. She looked aside immediately. He could have been sleeping, the angle obscuring where the bullet had hit. Feeling the sob welling up inside her, she let go and bent her head down. "Oh god.. Wayne.. I'm so sorry..." Wracked with sobs, she reached to clutch his hand tightly, squeezing it in hers, surprised it was still slightly warm to her touch. "WHY? Why did he have to do that to you? Why didn't we believe you? You were right and we just... just... I'm soo sorry!"

The gruff voice made her cough and choke as he groaned lowly. "Barbiedoll, if'n ya don't stop that damned caterwaulin' Ah'm gonna puke on yer hair.." She blinked as the battered head turned towards her and the eyes opened in a familiar cranky squint. If the right eye was completely shot with blood, she ignored it. They were open and looking at her with that same old brown-irised gaze. "The fuck is wrong with ya anyway?"

End Chapter

Well OF COURSE he's not dead. Would I kill my Favorite Character? Wait, if you've read Ghost Soldier, don't answer that.

I hope you enjoyed the early update. Thank you all for the massive amount of feedback, every bit of it is appreciated. More updates are coming soon. (on schedule anyway)