Title: Past, Present, and Future 1/?
Authors Jenn and Susie
Rated PG-13
Summary: An old enemy of Winston from 'Nam goes after Ray
Warning: There is violence in this story.
Disclaimers: We do not own the RBG. They are the property of D.I.C.
Archive: Yes
Notes: This was betaed by a very good friend of mine - Sandy Fiebranz - who has done a wonderful job for me.
Winston was fast asleep on a bus ride back to Ghostbusters headquarters. He was exhausted from his trip. He was coming back from visiting his parents. He arrived home shortly. When he walked inside, he noticed the guys were gone. He smiled over at Janine, who was filing her nails.
"Hi Janine," Winston said.
"Hi Winston. How was your weekend with your parents?" she asked.
Winston smiled. "It was fine. My nieces and nephews kept me busy throughout the weekend. I'm exhausted."
"You look like it," Janine replied, smiling. "Well, the guys went on a call, so you can take a nap if you want. They won't be back for a while."
Winston looked a little concerned. "Do you know if it was a bad one? Maybe I should meet them," Winston said.
"No, Egon said that by the man's description, it just a class 3. It was haunting that old theater near Central Park," Janine said, still smiling.
Winston nodded and headed upstairs. A few moments later the phone rang.
He giggled to himself as he heard Janine answer it. "Yeah? Ghostbusters. If you've got the ghost, we've got the place to keep them."
***
Etco-1 pulled up in front of the old theater that had seen better days. The group quickly jumped out and put on their gear. Ray looked around. "Shouldn't there be someone to meet us?" he asked.
Peter turned his ion gun on. "I guess we just go in and bust that ghost."
"Strange," replied Egon. "One would think someone would be here."
Peter shook his head. "Well, we get paid either way, so let's go bag us a ghost."
"Yeah," Ray spoke up. "No ghost haunts this theater while I'm here. I used to come here when I was a kid. This place brings back good memories."
Peter smiled at Ray's enthusiasm, "Got that right, Tex." They entered the theater but unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them from inside the old theater.
Once they were inside, Peter turned to Egon. "Spengs, should we split up?"
Egon nodded. "I feel we will have more of a chance to capture him quicker that way, since we are dealing with only a class three."
Ray started to eagerly go off on his own. "Okay spook, come out with your hands up!" Ray smiled at his joke. He was getting nothing on the PKE meter so far, except he believed that he saw something moving behind the curtain.
"Okay pal, you're mine!" Ray aimed his PKE meter towards the curtain.
"No, YOU'RE mine!" someone said, jumping out from behind the curtain holding a gun and pointing it at Ray.
Ray gasped but quickly recovered, aiming his proton gun at the stranger. The man laughed as he carefully shot it from Ray's hand. Ray grabbed his hand, wincing at the pain he felt shooting through it.
The man smiled evilly at Ray. "It's just a scratch, but next time I'll shoot that hand off." He moved behind Ray, still holding his gun on him. "Move, Chubby, or die!"
"W-What do you want with me?" Ray asked, shaking a little.
"You'll find out soon enough," the man said, still smiling evilly at Ray.
Ray gulped, trying not to lose it. The man blindfolded him and put him in the trunk of a car. He had taken Ray's proton pack and left it behind with a note.
About an hour later, Peter and Egon met back at Ecto. Peter noticed the engineer had not yet returned." Say, where's Ray?" He then added, "Did you find that ghost?"
"I do not know Peter. He should be back by now," Egon said. "And no, not a sign of that ghost. Hmm, that's very strange. Perhaps, Raymond is still looking for it."
"Yeah, maybe. Let's search for him. He went that way," Peter said, pointing towards the stage and Egon nodded.
They took off in that direction. "Raymond!" Egon called.
"Ray!" Peter cried. There was no answer. "Egon, where could he be?" Peter asked.
"I do not know, Peter," Egon said. "Let's split up. We'll cover more ground that way. Keep in touch with your walkie-talkie."
Peter nodded as he headed towards where the bathroom used to be. Suddenly he heard a gunshot and ran towards the sound. "Egon! Egon! Did you hear that?" he shouted into his walkie-talkie.
"Yes, Peter. I heard it," Egon's voice crackled over the speaker.
"Good. It sounded like it was coming from the ladies' room. Egon, I'm going to check it out."
"Be careful, Peter. I'm not that far from you. I'm on my way."
Peter ran as fast as he could, hoping that Ray was all right. He ran into where the bathrooms used to be, only to find Ray's proton pack and a note on the floor. "What the heck?" he muttered as he picked up the pack and the note. He quickly called Egon on the walkie-talkie. "Egon!"
"Yes Peter?" Egon asked.
"How far are you?"
"I'm just turning the corner," replied the older man.
"Then hurry! I found something," Venkman said.
Egon ran into the bathrooms where Peter was and stopped in his tracks when he saw the stricken look on Peter's face. "Peter?" he asked
"I-I found this," Peter said with tears in his eyes as he gave Egon the note. He carefully opened it up and began to read it:
I've got your chubby friend here, Zee. I told you I would make you pay for sending me to prison and interfering with my fun. You do remember what I did to that pretty Vietnamese girl? She wasn't too pretty by the time I got done with her. Maybe I'll do the same thing to Chubby.
Egon gasped and stared at Peter. What did this note mean? Peter quickly recovered from reading the note. He knew he had to stay calm for Ray. "Spengs... You okay?"
Egon didn't answer but just kept staring at Peter.
"Come on, Spengs. We better head for home - and Winston better have answers for me or else," Peter said grimly.
Egon, coming out of his daze, nodded as he quickly placed the empty trap back in Ecto. The ghost, if there ever was one here, would have to wait. This was more important
****
Meanwhile, back at Headquarters, Winston tossed and turned in his sleep, having flashbacks from 'Nam. "Don't do it, Dwayne!" he cried. "I won't let you!" He was sweating as he tossed around in his bed. In his dream he saw the girl being beaten by the men he once called brothers.
"If you ever rat on us, you're next," Dwayne had said to him.
"Winston!" he heard someone else calling in his dream. In his dream Winston turned around.
"Winston!" the voice said again. This time, it was more forceful.
Winston woke up with a gasp. "Pete?" he whispered, still sweating from his nightmare.
***
Peter suddenly grabbed Winston by his collar. "Someone took Ray. Someone who KNOWS you." Peter shoved the note in front of Winston's face. "I want some answers, Winston and I want then now!" he shouted, his voice strong with venom.
Winston gulped, still not completely awake yet. He stared at Peter and read the note, his dark skin suddenly looking pale. Egon pulled Peter away from him. "Peter-please, calm yourself," he said. Winston was still looking pale. "Come gentlemen, let's go into the kitchen," Egon said. "I'll make some cocoa."
"Yeah, like cocoa solves everything! Someone took Ray! Someone Winston knows!"
"Peter, I said: calm down."
Winston and Peter nodded and they walked downstairs.
"Winston?" Egon asked as they entered the kitchen.
Winston looked down at the floor. "I was hoping it was only a nightmare," he admitted with a sigh.
Peter sat down waiting for Winston to say more. Egon made some hot cocoa. "So what's all this about, Winston? Why does this guy have Ray?" Peter asked.
"It started back in 'Nam," Winston muttered.
Egon put a hand on his shoulder, knowing Winston didn't bring up 'Nam much. Winston smiled at him a little. "Like I said, it started back in 'Nam," he said, closing his eyes, remembering.
****
1972
Winston had just arrived at the camp. Soon after, he reported to the CO: Lieutenant Thomas Huller. The lieutenant was going over some paper work and looked up when he heard someone enter. Winston stood at attention. "Corporal Winston Zeddemore, reporting for duty, sir."
"At ease solider. My name is Lieutenant Huller. First off, let me explain the rules around here to you. From now on, no more saluting. It's a risk factor, and if the gooks saw you do that, your arm would be shot off, not to mention my head. I know this order may not make sense and doesn't go by the book. But Corporal, we are just outside enemy territory and we have to make our owns rules to survive."
"Yes sir," Winston said.
"And one more thing - don't call me sir. I don't want the gooks around here knowing my rank," Huller said.
"But sir, aren't they on our side?" Winston questioned.
"I don't trust any of them."
Winston nodded. "Yes, sir. Then what do you want me to call you?"
"You can call me Tom. Okay, now that that's taken care of, let me introduce you to the rest of the squad."
Winston nodded as he followed the Lieutenant out. The CO took him over to the hooch, where four men sat around playing cards. "Zeddemore, this is the squad. That one with the full house is Private John Taylor. The one next to him on his right is Private Mike Scott. On his right is First Sergeant Kenneth Rogers, and standing is Second Sergeant Dwayne Hicks." Winston nodded and he shook each man's hand.
****
Winston got to know them in the next couple of days. They were given a short leave before they were to go out on a mission and it was always a heavy battle because they were so close to the enemy.
"Yo. Zee, whatcha doing?" John asked, walking up to him
Winston looked up at him. "Writing my parents. He paused for a moment. "You know, in case it gets bad over here."
"In case it gets bad over here?" John answered, smiling. "It's hotter than the blazes of Hell over here, and the rain never stops. You'd think with all this rain it would be cool. You've got Gooks shooting at ya left and right. Man, you're nuts! Of course it's gonna be bad over here! he teased. "Hell, I plan, if I get out of here alive, on never coming back here. I mean, we'll be lucky if we come back alive at all from this mission."
Winston never took his eyes off John. "Hey Zee, me and the boys are going to have a bit of fun. Want to join us?"
"No thanks."
"It's gonna be fun."
"Well, that's what you think, buddy," Winston replied.
******
"Hey Winston, as much as I am enjoying your story, what's this got to do with Ray being kidnapped?" Peter yelled, jumping up and knocking his cup off the table.
"Easy, Peter. Let Winston finish."
Peter gave Egon a stern look, but sat back down. "He better get to the point. Ray could be dead by the time he's done."
Winston winced at that, knowing all too well what Dwayne Hicks was capable of.
****
John tried again. "Come on, Zee! This could be our last night on earth. You know that the LT is sending us in tomorrow and it's going to be a dangerous assignment. You don't want to die a lonely man, do you?"
"Just what do you mean?" Winston asked, not too sure if he really wanted to know.
John moved closer to him. "Well, you know that village that gave us the wrong directions the other day? Just before we got our leave?"
Winston nodded. "Yeah, I remember. They told us it was to be where the chopper would be waiting but instead it led us right into a swarm of gooks - and Lieutenant Harris was killed."
***
"Winston, why do you refer to them as gooks?" Egon asked.
Winston looked at Egon. "I guess we just did over there. I'm not really sure. Does it bother you, Egon?"
Egon nodded slightly. "It just doesn't sound nice."
"You've got to understand. It was a hard time over there."
Egon nodded and Peter stood up again. " Winston get on with it or else."
Winston swallowed." Right. Sorry, Peter." Peter only glared at him.
****
"Yeah, don't remind me," John said coldly.
"Well, you did ask," Winston replied just as coldly.
"Yeah, well anyway, we saw some nice looking chicks there and me, Mike, and Dwayne are going to get us one," John said with a slight grin on his face.
Winston glanced nervously at him. "You're kidding," he said. "You can't do that! It's against regulations!"
"Nope. Besides, since when do we listen to regulations? We're in the middle of nowhere out here. The big boys don't care what happens to us. So come on, man, live a little!"
Feeling as though he didn't have a much of a choice, Winston went with them. At first it was all fun and jokes but than it got serious. Spike, Dwayne's nickname because of the way his hair went crazy. "Hey, let's take one and make sure she doesn't bring any more gooks into our world." He grabbed a girl as she tried to walk by. "This one," he whispered.
"Whoa guys! You're not seriously going to do this?" Winston demanded.
"Stay down, Zee," John warned.
Winston stared at Dwayne. "Spike, you can't do this!" he snapped.
Dwayne pointed his gun at Winston. "Shut up or you'll get us all killed!" Dwayne said loudly.
Dwayne went inside the hut with the girl. He held a gun to her head. Winston was so horrified that he stood there, not knowing what to do. The woman was screaming and crying, trying her best to get away.
"Let her go, Spike!" Winston pleaded.
"Shut up, Zee! Shut up man!" Dwayne said, dragging her out. He pointed his gun at Zeddemore. Winston nodded, backing off. He stared at her family. They were also crying and begging for Dwayne to stop.
The nineteen year old solider stared at them "I'm sorry," Winston said with tears in his eyes. He was speaking in their language so they would understand him. Her family stared angrily at him. Her mother spit in his face.
The men took the girl into the woods and found a hut that was no longer used. Winston now put it together. "T-This was all a plan from the beginning." It wasn't a question but a statement.
John nodded, smiling. Dwayne threw the crying girl into the hut. During the night, all of them except for Winston had their way with her. She was scared and begged them not to hurt her. Winston stared as he kept watch with tears in his eyes and his stomach turning. He would remember this night for the rest of his life.
"Yo Zee, it's your turn," Mike called out.
"Forget it!" Winston snapped. "I want nothing to do with this."
"What? You can't say no! This is a group effort here!" Mike said angrily. "Yo Dwayne, Zee's backing out."
Dwayne stood up. "You can't do that!"
"I can and I will. I'm not going to touch her," Winston said.
"I'm ordering you to, Corporal," Dwayne said standing right in front of Winston.
"I'm not doing it. That's one order I will not obey."
"Then I'll have you court marshaled!" Dwayne replied angrily. He stopped and looked back at the other two. "Yo man, I think Zee's a little queer. Maybe he has feelings for this gook. What do you think, boys?" Dwayne asked, laughing. "That's it, isn't it, Zee? You got feeling for the gook?"
Winston slowly backed away, angrily ignoring them.
"Oh look! The little queer man is backing off!" Dwayne teased. The other two laughed.
****
Peter suddenly grabbed Winston, and even though Winston was taller and stronger, Peter lifted him off the ground. "You stood there and let them hurt that girl?"
Winston hung his head. "Do you think I wanted to? There was nothing I could do. You weren't there, Peter. You don't know what went on over there and you have no right to judge me, either!"
Peter slowly took a deep breath and then let Winston go. "Just tell me this much: what happened to the girl?"
Winston swallowed. "After they... You know... They were afraid she'd tell someone, so Dwayne had her shot."
****
Ray tried to open his eyes, but when he did, he saw that it was dark and he could feel the movement of a car underneath his body. He tried to remember what had happened and it was coming back to him slowly. They had been on a call at the old theater to catch a class three ghost, but there had been no ghost - only a trap. Now as he lay inside the trunk of the car, he wondered what was going to happen to him.
Ray listened as the car finally came to a stop. He heard footsteps as someone approached the trunk. Finally, the trunk was opened and Ray was roughly pulled out. Once someone yanked off his blindfold, he saw three men staring at him. Ray gulped as he was pulled inside an abandoned warehouse.
"Move it, Chubby," one of the man said in a raspy voice as he shoved Ray inside.
Ray sighed at his new nickname. They forced him to sit in a chair and then one of the men tied him up. He gulped, sweating. "W-What do you want with me?" he stuttered, still shaking.
Without warning, Dwayne punched him in the eye. He punched Ray so hard that it felt like his neck would snap. "Did I tell you that you could speak?" Dwayne growled dangerously.
Ray didn't say anything. His eye was already starting to swell shut.
"Did you leave the note like I asked?" Dwayne asked the other man.
The other man nodded, knowing what would happen to him if he had failed in the assigned task. Ray was shaking. Dwayne noticed this and grabbed Ray off the chair and held him by his shirt. "Your friend Zeddemore is going to pay for what he did to us," Dwayne said. Then, he threw Ray back down on the chair.
Ray gulped. "W-why?" was all Ray could ask. He lowered his head.
Dwayne laughed and raised Ray's head so he could look him in the eyes. "Why not?" he smiled. "When you're at war, Chubby, you have to understand a few things. One is the first rule of war: always watch your back. The second is: always watch your partner's back. Winston didn't do that with us, and for that, he's gonna pay."
"What?" Ray cried out, not understanding. "That doesn't sound like Winston! He always watches our backs!"
"Well, he didn't watch ours!" Dwayne said. "He ratted on all of us, and nearly got us killed!"
"No! I won't believe it! You must've been doing something pretty bad for him to do that," Ray protested. Dwayne punched Ray again - this time in his stomach. Ray couldn't double over since he was tied up. He wheezed and sucked in his breath, tears of pain forming in his eyes.
"What do you know about it? You weren't even in 'Nam! You were probably still in your diapers," Dwayne snapped.
Ray shook his head. "No, I wasn't in diapers. I was in high school."
Dwayne again punched Ray, this time knocking the chair over. "You listen to me, boy! So you were in high school?"
Ray nodded.
"Well lookie here, boys. We've got us a wuss here. No wonder Zeddedmore joined those Ghostbusters. Wusses stay together," Dwayne sneered.
"Just because I went high school doesn't make me a wuss!" Ray yelled, only to receive another blow - this time to the side his head from Dwayne. Then Dwayne pulled the chair back up and stared into Ray's brown fear-filled eyes.
Ray swallowed, shaking. He didn't know what went on over there, but he knew what war was like, but he knew Winston. He also knew his friend would never do anything to desert his teammates unless they did something horrible. "Winston would never do that!" he protested again.
"Yeah? Well let me tell you my point of view over what happened," Dwayne snapped. "Winston's testimony sent us to prison for life with no chance of parole," he said angrily. "Me and the boys here escaped three months ago."
Ray swallowed deeply as Dwayne began to tell him his side of the story, making it sound like it was all Winston's idea. "You're lying!" Ray snapped when he was done. "Winston would never do that!"
"You don't know him very well, do you?" Dwayne asked.
"I know him better than you do!" Ray retorted. "And I know he wouldn't do anything like that," he said, looking away. Dwayne punched him again, this time drawing blood. Ray felt in run down in his mouth. Fine, he thought. He busted my lip.
"Fine! Well, it doesn't matter," Dwayne said with a smile. "Because you'll be our bait and we'll get even with him one way or another."
Ray stared in horror as Dwayne held a gun to his head. Please hurry guys, he thought.
***
Peter ran his hand across his face. "Winston, you said they killed the girl." He paused for a moment. "Will they kill Ray?"
Winston nodded.
"Well then, we have to stop them. Egon, get that PKE meter ready to find Ray," Peter ordered.
"No."
Egon and Peter turned around and stared at Winston. "What do you mean by NO?" Peter demanded.
"This is between me and them. I'll find and save Ray."
"Winston, that's not a very good idea. Peter and I should help," Egon said worriedly.
"No. I've got to do this on my own. Thirteen years ago, I stood around and let a girl die - but not this time. I swear - not this time."
TBC
Authors Jenn and Susie
Rated PG-13
Summary: An old enemy of Winston from 'Nam goes after Ray
Warning: There is violence in this story.
Disclaimers: We do not own the RBG. They are the property of D.I.C.
Archive: Yes
Notes: This was betaed by a very good friend of mine - Sandy Fiebranz - who has done a wonderful job for me.
Winston was fast asleep on a bus ride back to Ghostbusters headquarters. He was exhausted from his trip. He was coming back from visiting his parents. He arrived home shortly. When he walked inside, he noticed the guys were gone. He smiled over at Janine, who was filing her nails.
"Hi Janine," Winston said.
"Hi Winston. How was your weekend with your parents?" she asked.
Winston smiled. "It was fine. My nieces and nephews kept me busy throughout the weekend. I'm exhausted."
"You look like it," Janine replied, smiling. "Well, the guys went on a call, so you can take a nap if you want. They won't be back for a while."
Winston looked a little concerned. "Do you know if it was a bad one? Maybe I should meet them," Winston said.
"No, Egon said that by the man's description, it just a class 3. It was haunting that old theater near Central Park," Janine said, still smiling.
Winston nodded and headed upstairs. A few moments later the phone rang.
He giggled to himself as he heard Janine answer it. "Yeah? Ghostbusters. If you've got the ghost, we've got the place to keep them."
***
Etco-1 pulled up in front of the old theater that had seen better days. The group quickly jumped out and put on their gear. Ray looked around. "Shouldn't there be someone to meet us?" he asked.
Peter turned his ion gun on. "I guess we just go in and bust that ghost."
"Strange," replied Egon. "One would think someone would be here."
Peter shook his head. "Well, we get paid either way, so let's go bag us a ghost."
"Yeah," Ray spoke up. "No ghost haunts this theater while I'm here. I used to come here when I was a kid. This place brings back good memories."
Peter smiled at Ray's enthusiasm, "Got that right, Tex." They entered the theater but unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them from inside the old theater.
Once they were inside, Peter turned to Egon. "Spengs, should we split up?"
Egon nodded. "I feel we will have more of a chance to capture him quicker that way, since we are dealing with only a class three."
Ray started to eagerly go off on his own. "Okay spook, come out with your hands up!" Ray smiled at his joke. He was getting nothing on the PKE meter so far, except he believed that he saw something moving behind the curtain.
"Okay pal, you're mine!" Ray aimed his PKE meter towards the curtain.
"No, YOU'RE mine!" someone said, jumping out from behind the curtain holding a gun and pointing it at Ray.
Ray gasped but quickly recovered, aiming his proton gun at the stranger. The man laughed as he carefully shot it from Ray's hand. Ray grabbed his hand, wincing at the pain he felt shooting through it.
The man smiled evilly at Ray. "It's just a scratch, but next time I'll shoot that hand off." He moved behind Ray, still holding his gun on him. "Move, Chubby, or die!"
"W-What do you want with me?" Ray asked, shaking a little.
"You'll find out soon enough," the man said, still smiling evilly at Ray.
Ray gulped, trying not to lose it. The man blindfolded him and put him in the trunk of a car. He had taken Ray's proton pack and left it behind with a note.
About an hour later, Peter and Egon met back at Ecto. Peter noticed the engineer had not yet returned." Say, where's Ray?" He then added, "Did you find that ghost?"
"I do not know Peter. He should be back by now," Egon said. "And no, not a sign of that ghost. Hmm, that's very strange. Perhaps, Raymond is still looking for it."
"Yeah, maybe. Let's search for him. He went that way," Peter said, pointing towards the stage and Egon nodded.
They took off in that direction. "Raymond!" Egon called.
"Ray!" Peter cried. There was no answer. "Egon, where could he be?" Peter asked.
"I do not know, Peter," Egon said. "Let's split up. We'll cover more ground that way. Keep in touch with your walkie-talkie."
Peter nodded as he headed towards where the bathroom used to be. Suddenly he heard a gunshot and ran towards the sound. "Egon! Egon! Did you hear that?" he shouted into his walkie-talkie.
"Yes, Peter. I heard it," Egon's voice crackled over the speaker.
"Good. It sounded like it was coming from the ladies' room. Egon, I'm going to check it out."
"Be careful, Peter. I'm not that far from you. I'm on my way."
Peter ran as fast as he could, hoping that Ray was all right. He ran into where the bathrooms used to be, only to find Ray's proton pack and a note on the floor. "What the heck?" he muttered as he picked up the pack and the note. He quickly called Egon on the walkie-talkie. "Egon!"
"Yes Peter?" Egon asked.
"How far are you?"
"I'm just turning the corner," replied the older man.
"Then hurry! I found something," Venkman said.
Egon ran into the bathrooms where Peter was and stopped in his tracks when he saw the stricken look on Peter's face. "Peter?" he asked
"I-I found this," Peter said with tears in his eyes as he gave Egon the note. He carefully opened it up and began to read it:
I've got your chubby friend here, Zee. I told you I would make you pay for sending me to prison and interfering with my fun. You do remember what I did to that pretty Vietnamese girl? She wasn't too pretty by the time I got done with her. Maybe I'll do the same thing to Chubby.
Egon gasped and stared at Peter. What did this note mean? Peter quickly recovered from reading the note. He knew he had to stay calm for Ray. "Spengs... You okay?"
Egon didn't answer but just kept staring at Peter.
"Come on, Spengs. We better head for home - and Winston better have answers for me or else," Peter said grimly.
Egon, coming out of his daze, nodded as he quickly placed the empty trap back in Ecto. The ghost, if there ever was one here, would have to wait. This was more important
****
Meanwhile, back at Headquarters, Winston tossed and turned in his sleep, having flashbacks from 'Nam. "Don't do it, Dwayne!" he cried. "I won't let you!" He was sweating as he tossed around in his bed. In his dream he saw the girl being beaten by the men he once called brothers.
"If you ever rat on us, you're next," Dwayne had said to him.
"Winston!" he heard someone else calling in his dream. In his dream Winston turned around.
"Winston!" the voice said again. This time, it was more forceful.
Winston woke up with a gasp. "Pete?" he whispered, still sweating from his nightmare.
***
Peter suddenly grabbed Winston by his collar. "Someone took Ray. Someone who KNOWS you." Peter shoved the note in front of Winston's face. "I want some answers, Winston and I want then now!" he shouted, his voice strong with venom.
Winston gulped, still not completely awake yet. He stared at Peter and read the note, his dark skin suddenly looking pale. Egon pulled Peter away from him. "Peter-please, calm yourself," he said. Winston was still looking pale. "Come gentlemen, let's go into the kitchen," Egon said. "I'll make some cocoa."
"Yeah, like cocoa solves everything! Someone took Ray! Someone Winston knows!"
"Peter, I said: calm down."
Winston and Peter nodded and they walked downstairs.
"Winston?" Egon asked as they entered the kitchen.
Winston looked down at the floor. "I was hoping it was only a nightmare," he admitted with a sigh.
Peter sat down waiting for Winston to say more. Egon made some hot cocoa. "So what's all this about, Winston? Why does this guy have Ray?" Peter asked.
"It started back in 'Nam," Winston muttered.
Egon put a hand on his shoulder, knowing Winston didn't bring up 'Nam much. Winston smiled at him a little. "Like I said, it started back in 'Nam," he said, closing his eyes, remembering.
****
1972
Winston had just arrived at the camp. Soon after, he reported to the CO: Lieutenant Thomas Huller. The lieutenant was going over some paper work and looked up when he heard someone enter. Winston stood at attention. "Corporal Winston Zeddemore, reporting for duty, sir."
"At ease solider. My name is Lieutenant Huller. First off, let me explain the rules around here to you. From now on, no more saluting. It's a risk factor, and if the gooks saw you do that, your arm would be shot off, not to mention my head. I know this order may not make sense and doesn't go by the book. But Corporal, we are just outside enemy territory and we have to make our owns rules to survive."
"Yes sir," Winston said.
"And one more thing - don't call me sir. I don't want the gooks around here knowing my rank," Huller said.
"But sir, aren't they on our side?" Winston questioned.
"I don't trust any of them."
Winston nodded. "Yes, sir. Then what do you want me to call you?"
"You can call me Tom. Okay, now that that's taken care of, let me introduce you to the rest of the squad."
Winston nodded as he followed the Lieutenant out. The CO took him over to the hooch, where four men sat around playing cards. "Zeddemore, this is the squad. That one with the full house is Private John Taylor. The one next to him on his right is Private Mike Scott. On his right is First Sergeant Kenneth Rogers, and standing is Second Sergeant Dwayne Hicks." Winston nodded and he shook each man's hand.
****
Winston got to know them in the next couple of days. They were given a short leave before they were to go out on a mission and it was always a heavy battle because they were so close to the enemy.
"Yo. Zee, whatcha doing?" John asked, walking up to him
Winston looked up at him. "Writing my parents. He paused for a moment. "You know, in case it gets bad over here."
"In case it gets bad over here?" John answered, smiling. "It's hotter than the blazes of Hell over here, and the rain never stops. You'd think with all this rain it would be cool. You've got Gooks shooting at ya left and right. Man, you're nuts! Of course it's gonna be bad over here! he teased. "Hell, I plan, if I get out of here alive, on never coming back here. I mean, we'll be lucky if we come back alive at all from this mission."
Winston never took his eyes off John. "Hey Zee, me and the boys are going to have a bit of fun. Want to join us?"
"No thanks."
"It's gonna be fun."
"Well, that's what you think, buddy," Winston replied.
******
"Hey Winston, as much as I am enjoying your story, what's this got to do with Ray being kidnapped?" Peter yelled, jumping up and knocking his cup off the table.
"Easy, Peter. Let Winston finish."
Peter gave Egon a stern look, but sat back down. "He better get to the point. Ray could be dead by the time he's done."
Winston winced at that, knowing all too well what Dwayne Hicks was capable of.
****
John tried again. "Come on, Zee! This could be our last night on earth. You know that the LT is sending us in tomorrow and it's going to be a dangerous assignment. You don't want to die a lonely man, do you?"
"Just what do you mean?" Winston asked, not too sure if he really wanted to know.
John moved closer to him. "Well, you know that village that gave us the wrong directions the other day? Just before we got our leave?"
Winston nodded. "Yeah, I remember. They told us it was to be where the chopper would be waiting but instead it led us right into a swarm of gooks - and Lieutenant Harris was killed."
***
"Winston, why do you refer to them as gooks?" Egon asked.
Winston looked at Egon. "I guess we just did over there. I'm not really sure. Does it bother you, Egon?"
Egon nodded slightly. "It just doesn't sound nice."
"You've got to understand. It was a hard time over there."
Egon nodded and Peter stood up again. " Winston get on with it or else."
Winston swallowed." Right. Sorry, Peter." Peter only glared at him.
****
"Yeah, don't remind me," John said coldly.
"Well, you did ask," Winston replied just as coldly.
"Yeah, well anyway, we saw some nice looking chicks there and me, Mike, and Dwayne are going to get us one," John said with a slight grin on his face.
Winston glanced nervously at him. "You're kidding," he said. "You can't do that! It's against regulations!"
"Nope. Besides, since when do we listen to regulations? We're in the middle of nowhere out here. The big boys don't care what happens to us. So come on, man, live a little!"
Feeling as though he didn't have a much of a choice, Winston went with them. At first it was all fun and jokes but than it got serious. Spike, Dwayne's nickname because of the way his hair went crazy. "Hey, let's take one and make sure she doesn't bring any more gooks into our world." He grabbed a girl as she tried to walk by. "This one," he whispered.
"Whoa guys! You're not seriously going to do this?" Winston demanded.
"Stay down, Zee," John warned.
Winston stared at Dwayne. "Spike, you can't do this!" he snapped.
Dwayne pointed his gun at Winston. "Shut up or you'll get us all killed!" Dwayne said loudly.
Dwayne went inside the hut with the girl. He held a gun to her head. Winston was so horrified that he stood there, not knowing what to do. The woman was screaming and crying, trying her best to get away.
"Let her go, Spike!" Winston pleaded.
"Shut up, Zee! Shut up man!" Dwayne said, dragging her out. He pointed his gun at Zeddemore. Winston nodded, backing off. He stared at her family. They were also crying and begging for Dwayne to stop.
The nineteen year old solider stared at them "I'm sorry," Winston said with tears in his eyes. He was speaking in their language so they would understand him. Her family stared angrily at him. Her mother spit in his face.
The men took the girl into the woods and found a hut that was no longer used. Winston now put it together. "T-This was all a plan from the beginning." It wasn't a question but a statement.
John nodded, smiling. Dwayne threw the crying girl into the hut. During the night, all of them except for Winston had their way with her. She was scared and begged them not to hurt her. Winston stared as he kept watch with tears in his eyes and his stomach turning. He would remember this night for the rest of his life.
"Yo Zee, it's your turn," Mike called out.
"Forget it!" Winston snapped. "I want nothing to do with this."
"What? You can't say no! This is a group effort here!" Mike said angrily. "Yo Dwayne, Zee's backing out."
Dwayne stood up. "You can't do that!"
"I can and I will. I'm not going to touch her," Winston said.
"I'm ordering you to, Corporal," Dwayne said standing right in front of Winston.
"I'm not doing it. That's one order I will not obey."
"Then I'll have you court marshaled!" Dwayne replied angrily. He stopped and looked back at the other two. "Yo man, I think Zee's a little queer. Maybe he has feelings for this gook. What do you think, boys?" Dwayne asked, laughing. "That's it, isn't it, Zee? You got feeling for the gook?"
Winston slowly backed away, angrily ignoring them.
"Oh look! The little queer man is backing off!" Dwayne teased. The other two laughed.
****
Peter suddenly grabbed Winston, and even though Winston was taller and stronger, Peter lifted him off the ground. "You stood there and let them hurt that girl?"
Winston hung his head. "Do you think I wanted to? There was nothing I could do. You weren't there, Peter. You don't know what went on over there and you have no right to judge me, either!"
Peter slowly took a deep breath and then let Winston go. "Just tell me this much: what happened to the girl?"
Winston swallowed. "After they... You know... They were afraid she'd tell someone, so Dwayne had her shot."
****
Ray tried to open his eyes, but when he did, he saw that it was dark and he could feel the movement of a car underneath his body. He tried to remember what had happened and it was coming back to him slowly. They had been on a call at the old theater to catch a class three ghost, but there had been no ghost - only a trap. Now as he lay inside the trunk of the car, he wondered what was going to happen to him.
Ray listened as the car finally came to a stop. He heard footsteps as someone approached the trunk. Finally, the trunk was opened and Ray was roughly pulled out. Once someone yanked off his blindfold, he saw three men staring at him. Ray gulped as he was pulled inside an abandoned warehouse.
"Move it, Chubby," one of the man said in a raspy voice as he shoved Ray inside.
Ray sighed at his new nickname. They forced him to sit in a chair and then one of the men tied him up. He gulped, sweating. "W-What do you want with me?" he stuttered, still shaking.
Without warning, Dwayne punched him in the eye. He punched Ray so hard that it felt like his neck would snap. "Did I tell you that you could speak?" Dwayne growled dangerously.
Ray didn't say anything. His eye was already starting to swell shut.
"Did you leave the note like I asked?" Dwayne asked the other man.
The other man nodded, knowing what would happen to him if he had failed in the assigned task. Ray was shaking. Dwayne noticed this and grabbed Ray off the chair and held him by his shirt. "Your friend Zeddemore is going to pay for what he did to us," Dwayne said. Then, he threw Ray back down on the chair.
Ray gulped. "W-why?" was all Ray could ask. He lowered his head.
Dwayne laughed and raised Ray's head so he could look him in the eyes. "Why not?" he smiled. "When you're at war, Chubby, you have to understand a few things. One is the first rule of war: always watch your back. The second is: always watch your partner's back. Winston didn't do that with us, and for that, he's gonna pay."
"What?" Ray cried out, not understanding. "That doesn't sound like Winston! He always watches our backs!"
"Well, he didn't watch ours!" Dwayne said. "He ratted on all of us, and nearly got us killed!"
"No! I won't believe it! You must've been doing something pretty bad for him to do that," Ray protested. Dwayne punched Ray again - this time in his stomach. Ray couldn't double over since he was tied up. He wheezed and sucked in his breath, tears of pain forming in his eyes.
"What do you know about it? You weren't even in 'Nam! You were probably still in your diapers," Dwayne snapped.
Ray shook his head. "No, I wasn't in diapers. I was in high school."
Dwayne again punched Ray, this time knocking the chair over. "You listen to me, boy! So you were in high school?"
Ray nodded.
"Well lookie here, boys. We've got us a wuss here. No wonder Zeddedmore joined those Ghostbusters. Wusses stay together," Dwayne sneered.
"Just because I went high school doesn't make me a wuss!" Ray yelled, only to receive another blow - this time to the side his head from Dwayne. Then Dwayne pulled the chair back up and stared into Ray's brown fear-filled eyes.
Ray swallowed, shaking. He didn't know what went on over there, but he knew what war was like, but he knew Winston. He also knew his friend would never do anything to desert his teammates unless they did something horrible. "Winston would never do that!" he protested again.
"Yeah? Well let me tell you my point of view over what happened," Dwayne snapped. "Winston's testimony sent us to prison for life with no chance of parole," he said angrily. "Me and the boys here escaped three months ago."
Ray swallowed deeply as Dwayne began to tell him his side of the story, making it sound like it was all Winston's idea. "You're lying!" Ray snapped when he was done. "Winston would never do that!"
"You don't know him very well, do you?" Dwayne asked.
"I know him better than you do!" Ray retorted. "And I know he wouldn't do anything like that," he said, looking away. Dwayne punched him again, this time drawing blood. Ray felt in run down in his mouth. Fine, he thought. He busted my lip.
"Fine! Well, it doesn't matter," Dwayne said with a smile. "Because you'll be our bait and we'll get even with him one way or another."
Ray stared in horror as Dwayne held a gun to his head. Please hurry guys, he thought.
***
Peter ran his hand across his face. "Winston, you said they killed the girl." He paused for a moment. "Will they kill Ray?"
Winston nodded.
"Well then, we have to stop them. Egon, get that PKE meter ready to find Ray," Peter ordered.
"No."
Egon and Peter turned around and stared at Winston. "What do you mean by NO?" Peter demanded.
"This is between me and them. I'll find and save Ray."
"Winston, that's not a very good idea. Peter and I should help," Egon said worriedly.
"No. I've got to do this on my own. Thirteen years ago, I stood around and let a girl die - but not this time. I swear - not this time."
TBC