Chapter 1: The Sky Is Falling

Shultz enters barrack two with his hands behind his back. "Hi fellas."

"Hi Shultzie." Every one answered.

"Mail Call!" Shultz yelled as he threw the mail up in the air and ran out the door. Everyone piled on top of each other grabbing letters.

"Hold it everyone. Lets act some what civilized." Everyone started to untangle themselves as Colonel Hogan started collecting letters. Once he had collected all the letters, he started passing them out. Hmmm Maria got a letter. Hogan went to Maria's door and knocked.

"Come in."

"How are you feeling?"

"Been better. Been worse."

"This might cheer you up. You received a letter."

"A letter?" There is no one here except Misty to send me a letter.

Hogan handed her the letter "I'll go and let you read it in peace."

Maria opened the letter and read it.

Dear Maria

I am writing to let you know all is fine. You don't have to worry about your problem anymore. It has been taken care of permanently. Remember 'Vas Du Das Krieg Est Nicht Uber'

From A Friend

Who would write me and tell me 'For you the war is not over'? Since I have nothing else to do, to keep my mind busy, I am going to go crazy trying to figure this out. Maria looked at the envelope and noticed that it was not sent through the mail. I bet what I have heard is true. It is the only thing that makes since. When I feel up to it, I might have to confront him.

That night while everyone was sleeping, five SS men barged into barrack two. Two of the guards grabbed Carter and two more grabbed Maria and threw both of them on the ground outside of the barracks.

" OUCH! Hey! Be careful of my leg!" Maria yelled.

"What is going on here?" Colonel Hogan demanded. "Kommandant don't just stand there, answer me."

"They are being taken in for questioned concerning Major Hochstetter's strange disappearance. I am going with them. Sergeant Shultz will be in charge until I get back."

"I'm going also. I am responsible for the protection of all prisoners here."

"You are not going Hogan. I promise you that they are taken care of."

"Your doing a great job so far." Hogan said sarcastically as he looked at Maria lying on the ground holding her hip and knee. Carter is protecting her better than you Kommandant.

The SS threw both of them in the back of the truck and shackled them to the seat. Klink climbed in the back with them. It was a long ride to Abwehr Headquarters. They were lead down a long hall to a room with a table and four chairs. Carter and Maria were forced into the chairs and chained to them. Klink with a disgusted look on his face at the whole situation sat in a chair next to Maria. Two of the guards staid in the room with their rifles trained on Carter and Maria.

An SS colonel and major entered the room. "Colonel, if you don't mind, I would like to interrogate the female prisoner." The major asked with an evil smile. It took all of Maria's willpower to remain calm and not let on she understood German.

Upon not getting the reaction he was looking for, the major stood behind Maria and put his hands on her shoulders. He could feel her muscles tighten as he bent down close to her ear "I wonder if you taste good?" Maria wanted to punch him so bad, but she never said a word or moved. Only kept staring at Klink. The major was satisfied that she didn't understand German and stood up.

"No, She is mine. You take the Sergeant." The SS Colonel responded

Klink stood up "I will accompany you when you interrogate Maria Remember that she is a civilian working for the US Government and Is protected by the Geneva Convention.."

The SS colonel glared at Klink and nodded. Carter let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. Maria and Carter were taken to separate rooms. "I said watch the leg. Are you deaf or something?" The guard shoved Maria into the wall, causing her right side to hit first. "OUCH!" Tears started to come to her eyes with the pain.

"Now fräulein, tell me what happened the day Major Hochstetter took you and the sergeant out of camp"

"I can't tell you much, I was unconscious before we left camp. I didn't come to until I was in the hospital.

"You lie." The SS colonel slapped Maria and threw her toward a chair that was sitting in the center of the room. Maria fell over the chair and hit the ground hard. There was a crack coming from her injured leg. The force of her hitting the ground had cracked her cast, and re-injured her hip. Maria bit her lip to keep from screaming.

"She is telling you the truth Colonel. I witnessed the entire event until she left camp."

Carter and Maria were questioned intensely for the next three hours; before the SS were satisfied that the two Americans didn't know anything and sent them back to camp. When they reached Stalag 13, Carter got out of the truck first and helped Maria down. Klink gave Carter a look that said 'Are you suppose to be touching her?' By now all the men in barrack two came out. "I don't give a crap about your rules right now Kommandant. I am going to help her with or without your permission!" Everyone was stunned at Carter. They had never heard him talk like that before.

"Kinch bring out a blanket," Hogan ordered. When Kinch returned with the blanket, Hogan ordered "Spread it out on the ground. Carter lay her down on it." After Maria was securely on the blanket, "Kinch grab the front corners" Hogan bent down and grabbed the back ones. They carried her to the infirmary on their make shift stretcher. By Carter's actions and Maria lack of protesting, Hogan could tell that she was in a lot of pain. Hogan glared at Klink. Good job at protecting her.

In the infirmary, Wilson was finishing up on bandaging Corporal Lawrence who was injured in a volleyball game. When Wilson saw the group enter through the door, he motioned for them to lay her on the bed in the corner. "I want everyone… out of here." Maria said through gritted teeth.

Hogan, Kinch and Lawrence started to leave. When Hogan realized that Carter was still standing beside Maria. Hogan walked back and grabbed Carter by the arm "You better leave before you suffer her wrath for not obeying"

"She wouldn't…"

"Don't test her Carter. She is in a lot of pain right not and not in a good mood" The two men walked outside to wait with the others.

When Wilson started to leave, Maria reached up and grabbed him by the collar and yanked him down. "Get…this…cast…off…now!"

"You have to let go first. I will get you some morphine for the pain."

"No drugs…Just get…it off…now!"

Wilson went to the infirmary door and went up to Colonel Hogan. "Get Klink's permission for me to use a hacksaw."

"Why?"

"I need to remove the cast. They broke it and it is causing her a lot of pain"

A short time later, Shultz walks into the infirmary with a hacksaw. "Here you go Wilson. I will be outside if you need any help."

"Are you sure you don't want any drugs? "

"I said no."

It took Wilson a while to get the cast off. He was trying to be as careful as possible. How much more pain can she take. He couldn't help but notice that Maria was turning pail and her breathing was becoming very rapped. Here is the tricky part. Carefully Wilson started to slip off the cast when Maria yelled and punched the side of the wall.

Carter and Hogan tried to go in when they hear Maria yell. Kinch and Shultz stopped them. "Step aside Sergeant or else."

"Sorry Colonel, respectfully I must disobey your order. It is for your own good"

"Do you want drugs now?" Wilson asked hopping she had changed her mind.

Maria just glared at him, but didn't really see him. Then her eyes closed and her body went limp. Wilson felt of her neck to make sure there was still a pulse. Good she is just resting now.

Wilson stepped outside and was greeted by the confrontation of Hogan, Carter, Kinch and Shultz. "She is fine. She is sleeping now. Nothing you can do for now. I will let you know if there are any changes." Carter snuck around Wilson and sat beside Maria. "Carter come back here!"

"I'm not leaving her side." Carter said with out ever taking his eyes off of her.

No one felt like arguing with him so they left the two of them alone.

In a few days, Maria hobbled back to barrack two and stayed in her room. Since it was a nice day, the men decided to play a game of volleyball. Klink was over at the guards barrack doing his annual inspection when the air raid siren went off. Everyone came out into the compound to see what was going on. In the sky overhead were two fighters having a dogfight. A couple of stray bullets hit the ground in the compound, which caused everyone to find shelter inside. They next thing people knew that the Luftwaffe plain was plummeting toward the ground in pieces. There were a couple of loud crashes and the ground shook as the main part of the fighter landed in camp.

When the noise and rumbling settled down, everyone came out of the buildings. The sight was devastating. One of the guard towers had been knocked down on the fence and the plane had crashed into the guard barracks.

"Anyone with any kind of medical training report to the infirmary. The rest of you men help with the injured." Hogan ordered as he took command of the situation. "Maria where do you think you are going?"

"You said any one with medical training report to the infirmary."

"You are in no shape to help."

Maria hobbled over to Hogan and looked him in the eye "Do you really want to try and stop me?" Hogan knew it was useless trying to argue.

Outside of the infirmary, a triage was set up. Maria and Wilson scrubbed up to handle the worse cases while the others tended to more minor ones. There was a steady stream of people going in and out of the infirmary getting their injuries taken care of. Maria had just finished suturing a bad cut on a corporal's abdomen, when Kinch came in caring the limp body of a man. "Bring him over here. How bad…"

"He's bad, pulse is very weak." Kinch responded

When Kinch laid the man on the table, Maria saw a piece of wood sticking out of his stomach. Then she noticed the uniform. She looked at the face of the man "Oh no!"