Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Author's note: Charchlady63 recently requested another part for my stories "Another Opinion" which was posted on 12/11/2020. Thanks for the suggestion. (Sorry it took so long to get this done.)

Series stories in order: "Another Opinion" 12/11/2020 – "Letters" 12/13/2020 – "Only Temporary" 12/19/2020 – "First Mission" 12/30/2020.

Let creative license begin.

Aftereffect

By Suzie2b

It had been months since the Rat Patrol had gotten back together. Tully's injured arm had healed and any lingering stiffness wasn't holding him back. Hitch still had a slight limp, but you wouldn't notice it if you didn't know it was there.

However, Troy had started to have dreams … nightmares really … about the incident. He didn't mention any of it to his men and felt the dreams would stop in time.

##################

Troy sat down on his blanket with a sigh. He had spent a good portion of the night going over the reports and maps. Now it was time to get some sleep. Everything seemed back to normal for the Rat Patrol. First Tully came back, then Hitch finally came back. Troy didn't like working with anyone other than his own men … though he wouldn't admit it to them. He looked at them sleeping on their bedrolls, snoring quietly, then laid back and rolled himself into his blanket. They were the men he trusted with his life and he was sure the feeling was mutual.

Troy had fallen asleep almost immediately, however an hour and a half later he awoke with a start. His heart pounded as he sat up and it took a minute for the pictures in the back of his mind to diminish. He slowly looked around. Moffitt was now in his bedroll, sleeping as soundly as anyone could during a war in the desert. He spotted Tully on watch and Hitch hadn't moved since Troy had seen him earlier.

Eventually Troy lay back down and pushed the heels of his hands into his tired eyes. As glad as he was to have his unit whole again, the entire incident still haunted him. He hadn't slept a full night since it happened.

##################

Troy sat in the jeep next to Hitch as they skimmed the desert on their way to their coordinates. His mind was wandering – back to that day Hitch and Tully nearly died. It wasn't until a bullet ricocheted off the side of the jeep that he heard Hitch yelling at him, trying to get his attention.

"SARGE!"

Troy cursed under his breath as he realized that Moffitt had already opened fire with his 50 as he quickly climbed into the back to man his own gun.

They managed to find cover and it wasn't long before the small German patrol went silent.

The four Allies carefully left the cover of the rocks.

Troy said, "Hitch, you and Tully check for survivors."

The two privates walked away as Tully said, "Right, sarge."

When Hitch and Tully were out of earshot, Moffitt asked, "What happened, Troy?"

The sergeant shrugged as he lied, "I don't know."

Moffitt decided to leave the subject for another time.

Troy watched his men closely, but wouldn't look at Moffitt. He had never let his mind wander like that during a mission and it worried him. Something was wrong and he had an idea what it was.

As soon as his men returned with the all clear, Troy gave the order to head out. They still had things to accomplish and there wasn't a lot of time to get it done.

They reached the coordinates and found the German camp they were looking for. They scanned the desert around as far as they could see.

Troy said, "We'll do our recon tonight." He looked at Hitch and Tully. "I want you two to stay here."

Hitch frowned. "Stay here? Why?"

"I need you as backup. Just in case something goes wrong."

Tully said, "It's just recon, sarge. What could go wrong?"

Troy growled, "A lot of things can go wrong! Just … just do what I tell you."

Hitch slowly nodded. "Sure, sarge. No problem."

Troy stormed off, lighting a cigarette as he went.

Tully watched Troy and asked, "What's wrong with him, Moffitt?"

Hitch added, "He's not sleeping. He hardly eats. He's distracted…"

Moffitt nodded. "And he doesn't realize we've all noticed. I have an idea about it, but I'd rather give Troy a chance to handle it on his own. We'll keep an eye on him. If things get worse, we'll take him to the closest base so he can be checked out."

##################

The recon went off without a problem. In the back of his mind Troy was grateful that he didn't have to call in Hitch and Tully.

Once again Troy slept for an hour or so before the nightmare woke him. His heart pounded and sweat soaked his face and back. He sat up and looked around. Tully and Moffitt were asleep, but when he looked at Hitch's bedroll the private wasn't there.

For a moment he panicked, then spotted Hitch's dark shadow moving around the perimeter of the camp. Troy let himself fall back on his blanket, relieved it had once again been a dream. However, he was beginning to wonder how much longer he could endure them. He kept telling himself they wouldn't last forever and things would get back to normal … whatever normal was during a war.

The next morning Troy barely touched his coffee, and skipped breakfast altogether, before he went to sit in the jeep with maps and a cigarette. His three friends watched him walk away from the fire, then looked at each other, but didn't say anything.

As Hitch and Tully got things stowed and put the fire out, there was a radio call. Troy took it and wrote down some notes as he responded. When he was finished, he turned and leaned against the jeep, waving the others over.

When the other joined him, Troy said, "That was Captain Boggs. We have an assignment."

Moffitt asked, "What is it?"

"Allied prisoners are being moved. We're going to go free them."

"Where are they?"

Troy spread the map he held on the hood of the jeep. He pointed out a route, then circled an area. "By the time we get there, they should be down for the night."

As Hitch and Tully drove, Troy's mind wandered again. He gave Hitch a sidelong glance and wondered how he and Tully managed to survive their injuries. Could he have done anything to prevent that situation? He sighed and wiped his hands over his tired face as he thought, "What if it had turned out differently?"

##################

Just before they got to the coordinates Troy had them stop. The four Allies scrambled to the top of the dune they had parked behind in the growing darkness. The German camp was brightly lit below with fires and lanterns. The Allied prisoners had been herded out of the truck and sat on the ground in a tightknit circle with guards placed around them.

Tully said, "This isn't gonna be easy, sarge."

Troy nodded. "We'll wait awhile and see if they tone down the lights some. You're on first watch."

After a couple of hours Tully appeared at the jeeps. "The fires are still burin'. The lanterns are out except for the ones lighting the prisoners."

Troy looked at his watch. "Okay, Moffitt and I will go in…"

Hitch interrupted, "You two can't do this alone, sarge."

"I don't want … I don't see a reason for you and Tully to go in."

Moffitt said, "He's right, Troy. You and I alone won't be able to free the prisoners and get ourselves out in one piece. Someone has to keep those men together while the others keep the Germans busy."

Troy wanted to argue … explain his reasons … but this wasn't the time or place to do it. He took a deep breath, then said, "All right. I guess you're right. Hitch and Tully will go in for the prisoners and get them into the truck. Do your best to keep them quiet and together. Moffitt and I will distract the guards as need be. Tully, you drive. Once the prisoners are in the truck, you take off. The rest of us will get the jeeps. Fair enough?"

Tully gave the sergeant a suspicious look, but nodded. "Okay, sarge."

"All right, let's shake it."

##################

The moonless night was quiet. The four Allies made their way down and into the German camp without being seen. When he felt it was safe enough, Troy signaled Hitch and Tully to head off to get the prisoners moved. He and Moffitt watched their men and the enemy around them, moving just enough to keep an eye on what was going on. Occasionally they came across a German or two that appeared to get curious about the stealthy movements of the shadowed men. A gun butt to the back of the head or knife to the chest stopped them and Troy and Moffitt quickly hid the bodies.

Hitch and Tully got to the prisoners. They each pushed a hand over a mouth and indicated they should remain silent. The two men nodded and followed their rescuers silent directions to wake the others and get the men to the truck.

Unfortunately though, their sudden exuberance at being freed sent the prisoners into a frenzy to get away. There were those that jumped into the truck and encouraged Hitch and Tully to hurry to drive away even before all the prisoners were loaded.

The Germans began to yell and shoot. Hitch yelled at Tully, "Get to the truck. Get as many as you can into the back. I'll try to lead them in the right direction!"

Tully ran to the truck and yanked open the driver's door before he turned and looked for Troy, Moffitt, Hitch. He spotted Moffitt catch up with Hitch to help herd the prisoners toward the truck.

Then Tully saw Troy take aim at Moffitt's back. With a burst of speed Tully tackled Troy to the ground as a bullet went wild, hitting nothing of consequence. Troy struggled with Tully, forcing the private to hit him hard enough to knock him out.

More men found their way into the back of the truck as Moffitt showed up. Tully and a couple of others helped get Troy into the back. Moffitt asked, "What happened, Tully?"

"I'll explain later! Let's just get out of here!"

Moffitt gave a quick nod and dodged bullets to get to Hitch and brought the few stragglers to the truck. Tully looked at one of the prisoners and yelled, "Can you drive?"

"Yeah!"

Tully grabbed the guy and pulled him down out of the back. "You're going to drive! You stay behind me and I mean right on my bumper! Got it?"

"I got it!"

Hitch and Moffitt brought the last of the prisoners and got them into the back of the truck. Moffitt yelled, "Let's go!"

Tully pushed the guy towards the open driver's door. "Don't forget what I told you!" He looked at the men sitting around the unconscious Troy and said, "Keep him back here any way you can!"

They nodded and Tully ran to the second jeep as Hitch and Moffitt laid down cover fire so they could get away.

##################

Tully pulled into a waterhole and stopped. Hitch stopped and Moffitt asked, "Why are we stopping?"

Tully said, "Thought we should check on Troy and the others for injuries and make sure we have plenty of water."

Moffitt nodded and turned to Hitch. "Make sure we aren't being followed. Tully, get some help and check things out."

"Right, sarge." As Moffitt hurried away, Tully turned to find Troy standing in front of him. "Umm … Hi, sarge. You okay?"

"What happened?"

"We freed as many prisoners as we could…"

Troy sighed. "No, Tully. Me … what happened with me?"

Tully swallowed nervously. "I don't know really. It looked like you were gonna to shoot Moffitt so I … I…"

Troy rubbed his jaw. "You hit me."

"I didn't know what else to do, sarge. You didn't seem to be yourself."

Troy said quietly, "I'm sure I wasn't. Go ahead with what you started. I'm going to go talk to Moffitt." Tully was staring at his boots as if he were guilty of something and Troy put a hand on the private's shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong, Tully. You did the only thing you could."

As Troy walked away, Tully said, "I haven't explained what I did to Moffitt. There just wasn't time."

The sergeant again looked at Tully and nodded.

Hitch stayed on watch and Tully looked after the prisoners, getting several to help with water.

Moffitt saw Troy walking toward him and said, "Glad to see you awake. Feeling all right?"

Troy said, "I'm feeling fine. However, I'm not exactly all right."

"There was no time for an explanation from Tully. Did he tell you what happened?"

"More or less. He's a little confused about it himself."

Moffitt asked, "Care to explain it to me?"

Troy leaned back on the jeep and said, "I've started having dreams."

"We've all had dreams. What's different about these?"

"They're about Hitch and Tully … back when they were so badly injured I thought they weren't going to make it."

Moffitt nodded. "I understand."

Troy continued, "Only thing is they don't make it in my dreams. The Germans take us prisoners and killed all the wounded. It always seems so real. I have to find Hitch and Tully just to make sure they're still alive. I'm paranoid. I see things that aren't there. Things happen in my head that don't actually happen."

"If you don't mind me saying so, Troy. I believe you need to speak to a doctor. You've kept all of this bottled up for too long."

"I've finally come to that realization. We'll be in Benghazi tomorrow and I plan to talk to a doctor there."

Moffitt said, "You have our support, Troy."

"Thank you. In the meantime I want you to take over the remainder of this mission."

The sergeants explained the situation as best they could to their men and Troy said, "I'm handing leadership over to Moffitt for the rest of the trip."

Hitch and Tully nodded their unwavering support with looks of concern for their sergeant. Hitch said, "You can always count on us, sarge."

"I know I can."

##################

When they got to Benghazi, the prisoners were dropped at medical. Then Troy and his men reported to Captain O'Connell.

After giving the captain their verbal report, Troy explained his personal situation. O'Connell agreed that speaking to a doctor was the best idea. The captain gave his word that Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully would remain in Benghazi while Troy was evaluated.

His three men walked with Troy to medical. Before they left, the sergeant smiled slightly and asked, "You sure you can take care of that written report without me?"

Moffitt returned the smile. "I'll do my best. But if I need help remembering any details, I have Tully and Hitch to jog my memory."

"Well, don't get used to it. I don't plan to be here long."

A nurse came out and said, "I thought I heard you out here. Let's get you inside and comfortable before your meeting with Doctor Peters."

Tully said, "I thought Troy would be treated by Doctor Terry."

"Doctor Terry has been called to help out at Division Headquarters. Doctor Peters is very good at what he does."

Troy said, "I'm sure he is."

The nurse pulled back the tent flap and asked, "Well, shall we get started?"

"I don't suppose that was an actual question?"

She smiled and shook her head. "I'm afraid not, sergeant."

Hitch said, "We'll see you later, sarge."

Troy said, "You sure will." Then he followed the nurse inside.

##################

Time passed and Captain O'Connell did his best to keep Hitch and Tully busy and out of trouble. He was thankful that he had no problems with Moffitt. And they did stay out of trouble. They wanted to be there for Troy and not have him be concerned about what they were up to.

Poor O'Connell did his best not to let it show, but the fact that the privates didn't cause any problems made him nervous."

Doctor Peters would only allow Moffitt in to visit Troy once a week for a short time. They would talk about the assignments O'Connell sent them on among other things. Troy chuckled when his friend told him about the captain's leeriness as Hitch and Tully behaved themselves.

After about four weeks, Hitch and Tully were allowed to see Troy.

Hitch said, "Doctor Peters says you're doing good, sarge. That's good to hear."

Troy nodded. "I'm sleeping without the nightmares. I understand what was going on now."

Tully asked, "Can you tell us what was going on?"

Troy sighed. "I'm not quite ready for that yet. But Peters assures me I will be soon."

Hitch asked cautiously, "You are going to come back, right?"

Troy smiled. "Peters is sure I'll be back with you all when I'm done with my treatment. And I hope it's soon. I'm getting bored."

##################

After another three weeks, Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully got back from a patrol and were told they were to report to Captain O'Connell.

When they were let into the office they saw Troy sitting in front of the captain's desk. Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully smiled, knowing what this meant.

Troy grinned as Captain O'Connell said, "He's been pacing around like a caged animal just waiting for you three to get back. Doctor Peters released him this afternoon."

Moffitt grinned and said, "We'll take care of him, sir."

O'Connell nodded, then asked as he looked at Troy. "Are you ready to get back to work, sergeant?"

Troy stood up. "More than ready, captain."

"Well, then you and your squad can head back to Ras Tanura." The captain handed a folder to Troy and said, "On your way, Captain Boggs would like you to check this out. You can leave tomorrow."

"We'll get going first thing in the morning, sir."

O'Connell said, "See that you do. The sooner you get Hitchcock and Pettigrew off my base, the better I'll feel."

##################

Early the next morning Hitch and Tully made one last check on the jeeps before Troy and Moffitt showed up. They quickly went over the map to be sure they were all on the same page with where they were going.

As Moffitt folded the map, Troy said, "It's a recon mission. Basically in and out, then we head for home."

Hitch slid in behind the wheel. "Sounds good to me, sarge."

Tully grinned. "Nice to have ya back. Didn't feel right without you."

Moffitt gave Troy a smile and said, "I assume you'd like your command back, Sergeant Troy."

Troy gave his friend a wink as he turned to get into the jeep. "You assume right, Sergeant Moffitt. Let's shake it."

##################

The day was quiet. They didn't see the enemy or the Allies the entire day. The sun was dipping low on the horizon as the Rat Patrol pulled into a waterhole that was surrounded by a broken wall.

Hitch put together one of Troy's favorite meals in the field – lima beans, this time with canned corned beef.

When he finished his meal, Troy smiled and said, "You're going to spoil me if you keep this up."

Hitch smiled almost shyly. "It's worth it, sarge."

Troy watched Hitch and Tully clean and stow their gear. It felt good to hear their banter and jokes again. When they were done he called them over.

Hitch said, "I'll go relieve Moffitt of watch."

Troy shook his head. "He'll be okay for little longer. Besides he and I have already had this conversation. Sit."

As Tully sat down, he asked, "Everything all right, sarge?"

"Everything's fine … now. I just think you both deserve an explanation about what was going on with me."

Hitch said, "We know you were having some bad dreams."

Troy sighed. "They were more than just 'bad dreams'. They were nightmares."

Tully said quietly, "We've all had nightmares at one time or another."

"But I've never had ones like this."

Hitch asked, "What were they about, sarge?"

Troy hesitated. "They were about you two. I was having recurring dreams about when you were both injured so bad I thought I was going to lose you."

"But that was a long time ago. Why would you have dreams about it now?"

"Doctor Peters didn't have a definitive explanation for it. He said that it just happens … usually with those in command."

Tully asked, "What were the dreams about, sarge?"

Without going into much detail, Troy said, "It was the same every time. You and Hitch didn't survive that attack. In my dream I blamed myself … to a point where I was contemplating suicide."

Hitch was concerned as he said, "What happened wasn't your fault, sarge."

Troy nodded. "Even though I knew that, for some reason my brain had other ideas. There was always a 'what if', in the back of my mind."

Tully asked, "Why did you wait until now to tell us?"

"I hadn't discussed it with anyone. Doctor Peters thought it would help if it got it out of my system. I didn't want to bother you guys with my problems, but the doctor insisted. I decided to talk to Moffitt first to get his reaction."

"What about when you nearly shot Moffitt when we were getting those prisoners?"

Troy explained, "I didn't see Moffitt, I saw a German soldier sneaking up on Hitch. That's when I decided I really needed help. I honestly thought Moffitt was about to shoot Hitch in the back." He looked at Tully. "It's just a good thing you were there to stop me."

They talked a little longer, until Troy was sure Hitch and Tully understood what had happened.

Then Troy went out to talk to Moffitt. "Well, I'm glad that's over."

Moffitt leaned on the wall next to his friend and asked, "How'd they take it?"

"They seemed to get what I was saying. I think they were glad to know what had been going on."

"That shouldn't be a surprise. We've all been through it in one way or another. We support each other through thick and thin."

Troy sighed. "I just hope they still trust me."

Moffitt pushed away from the wall and said, "Don't worry, Troy. They have your back. Just as I do."

The sergeant walked away to finish his time on watch, leaving Troy there to think. They always had each other's backs.