Here we go with chapter six. This is more of a down time for the characters as well as some time for some character interaction than anything. It will explain a few more things about some characters since we don't actually know that much about all of them. Then our favorite Mercs will talk about changing their tactics (even though the games just started).

I don't plan on having this be an extremely long chapter, but you know how that goes. As always, this chapter will be full of Jack's inner thoughts and other things that'll be going on. I hope you guys enjoy.

Chapter Six: Those We Left Behind

Jack lost track of how many times he nearly dozed off, only to be quickly awoken by the sound of Ludwig periodically exclaiming something in German. Though he had no idea what the Medic was saying, he almost always sounding angry. He was probably worried, but somehow the guttural language didn't ever come across as anything other than pissed off.

Maybe the man was doing it because he knew Jack had lost a lot of blood and didn't want him to go to sleep? Jack wasn't sure how this machine of the man's work, but it had definitely kept him alive a lot longer than he should have been. Under normal circumstances he would have bled to death by now with this wound. Deil's wounds of course were a lot more pressing than his at the moment, but in a normal situation they might have both been dead already.

Jack knew that was something that was eating at his family now. Even if they hadn't shown on television when he had gotten attacked, they were sure to have shown that wound and how terrible it really was. Even under Ludwig's strange machine it still hurt him badly! He was sure to stay still though as he had been instructed. Though, it wasn't like he could go anywhere by himself with his leg like this.

His family was probably scared he might die already. They had probably seen just what Ludwig's strange machine could really do, but even so, they didn't know he had enough to cover eight beds in their sick bay, or that he was such a good surgeon. And with two of them hurt so badly, they were expecting he'd have to make a choice. One or both of them probably would have died under normal circumstances. But Ludwig wasn't a normal doctor, and he wasn't going to let his friends die so easily. As strange as he was, Jack was glad he was on their team.

Jack shifted his weight on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, refusing to look down at his injured leg. He didn't want to see what it looked like while it was healing. He wasn't so sure that he could hold what little food he'd eaten today down if he saw it.

Speaking of which, he had no idea how long he'd been in here. It could have been a few minutes or hours for all he knew. Ludwig was intent on his task and didn't have a clock anywhere in the room. Jack didn't know if the others were injured at all, or if they'd be able to eat. He knew he'd be extremely worried for anyone in here if he had been on that side of the door.

They'd hardly known each other, though they got along well enough. At the same time though, these people were their lifelines, and the only contact from the outside they were going to get that wasn't trying to kill them. Losing even one of them would be far too much for them to bear. How could you explain the loss of someone you could trust completely? Because if there was any doubt that they could trust one another, that last battle had erased the last of it.

They had all proved that they weren't all talk, that they had abilities and strengths that they could use to help the team out. More than that though, they'd all proven that they were willing to do anything if it meant protecting the others. And that kind of teamwork was the kind they were going to have to keep using if they were going to survive the games.

Jack's train of thought was cut off as he heard Diel moan from the other side of the curtain, no doubt coming to. He couldn't help but wince for the main. What a terrible time to wake up. Ludwig had apparently decided to not use any anesthetic, and Jack couldn't have guessed why that was if he tried. Unless maybe it would have killed them like this? Either way, it wasn't exactly a comforting thought. Ludwig though seemed good at keeping the man calm. Jack couldn't blame Diel for almost freaking out about it though.

"Guten tag, Herr Engineer," the German greeted, no doubt with a smile. "You've been asleep for quite some time. Velcome back."

"What happened?" the man managed.

"Vell," the Medic said in a casual tone as he continued to operate. "You vere attacked. You remember, ja? After zhe mission vas completed you vere brought you here." There was silent for a few seconds.

"What happened to Jack?" Deil asked, sounding worried. Jack couldn't help but roll his eyes a little. He had Ludwig operating on him and a hole in his torso, but he was worried about him?

"I'm here," Jack replied. "I'm fine...well...sorta..."

"Sort of?" the man asked.

"Jack," came Ludwig's voice, much more severe than normal. "Lay down and be still."

"I didn't move," Jack chuckled. "I can't really go anywhere now and you know it."

It still surprised him a little at how utterly different Ludwig was when he was in his element. He could be a stern parent and a smiling friend all at the same time when you were on his operating table. And he could switch between the two in an instant. Then again, they all became just a little bit different of a person when they were focused, Jack included.

"Hm," the Medic said, seeming to relent the point. "Fine. But if I see any evidence zhat you have moved I vill not be happy."

"Yeah yeah," Jack said with a smile. "I gotcha doc."

"What happened to him?" Deil asked, still sounding worried.

"Oh," Ludwig said in a still rather casual tone. "He was attacked by zhe cat zhat was attacking you when he got it off of you. Nozing too bad, zhough it did get his leg pretty good. He can't walk on it, but it's nozing zhat I can't fix. Now, you just lay back and relax a vhile as I finish."

It was obvious that Deil still had a lot of questions, and Jack couldn't really blame him. But he was much calmer now and quiet as he just laid there and let Ludwig finish whatever it was that he was really doing over there. The silence continued to stretch on.

Jack saw the arm that was holding his Medi Gun up over the table as the man reached up and grabbed it, lowering it so that it was closer over the man's chest. The odd noise that Jack was beginning to associate with the healing gun could be heard for a few minutes as it did its work. Then the arm was raised again. The gun appeared to be left on for a while though.

"Zhere," Ludwig said, sounding happier. "zhat should do it. You rest here for a vhile Deil vhile I go take a look at our Scout. Don't move."

"Sure thing doc," the man replied.

Jack looked up as the curtains opened just enough to let Ludwig through. Then the doctor went and washed his hands quickly and grabbed yet more of his tools as he came over. Jack couldn't help but find the sight of it just a little creepy.

He'd never really liked surgeons that much, considering most of them he'd ever met hadn't well been...very kind or gentle with their patients. Ludwig seemed to realize that he was nervous however and just smiled as he pulled the curtains closed.

"Vell now," he said. "Let's look at this, shall ve?"

Jack just kind of nodded as the Medic leaned down to get a better look at his ankle. He seemed to frown in thought to himself as he looked at it closely. He reached out and turned the ankle as gently as he could, but it still made Jack wince. He forced himself to remain still and remind himself that this surgeon was different from the ones who just didn't care back home. Ludwig was definitely a different kind of doctor.

Jack's mother had refused to take her boys to a doctor or surgeon unless they were going to die otherwise. That was because there wasn't really any doctors around where they were. The doctors where they lived only wanted money and didn't exactly care if their patients died on the table. They seemed to refuse to care, which had made Jack wary of doctors at a young age. If you wanted to find a doctor that actually would heal you instead of make you worse for more money, you'd have to quite a long ways away from their home.

Ludwig however was definitely the kind of doctor that was actually looking to heal someone instead of hurting them. Besides that, he was his friend, and Jack knew he could trust him. It was the only thing that kept him from wincing away from Ludwig's knife as he cut the wound open to look inside of it. It hurt though, making Jack grit his teeth together.

"Its not so bad," Ludwig assured him. "I can tell you are nervous. I can understand vhy. Not many surgeons are vhat ve vould call very good now, are zhey?"

"Y-Yeah," Jack mumbled.

"Vell," Ludwig said, still smiling as he did something to Jack's ankle that made it hurt but the boy refused to look down at. "you are safe here. It von't take long for me to have this fixed up. You can vait for that long, ja?"

Jack nodded as the man continued to mess with his ankle. He couldn't make himself look down towards it. Part of it was because he didn't really want to see what he was doing, he could feel it well enough to get a good guess. He was also pretty sure he might freak out and try and pull away, which would only make matters worse. Jack had never been very good with doctors. He forced himself to look straight up at the ceiling, past the bright lights above his head, instead.

Ludwig started humming as he was working, which Jack was unsure if that should make him feel more nervous or more calm. Either way it kept him still so he didn't freak out too much. He winced again, but he also knew that if he tried to move to get away, he'd not only make his wound much worse, it would also hurt worse. That Medi Gun, whatever it was really doing, had numbed the pain enough that it was bearable, if only just.

"Zhere," the Medic said calmly. "I just needed to get zhe stream into zhe bone. Just lie zhere for me."

"Sure," Jack said, sounding highly unnerved even to himself. "no prob."

Ludwig continued to smile as he repositioned his ankle so that it sat correctly where the Medic wanted it to under the stream of red light from Medi Gun. The pain began to lessen as he sat there, though it was still really uncomfortable. Ludwig seemed satisfied with the progress that was being made and stepped back out of the curtain, leaving with his tools and closing the curtain behind him.

"Now," he said to both of them. "Just sit here in zhe quiet. I need to tell everyone else vhat is going on."

"You got it doc," Deil replied.

"I'm not goin' anywhere fast," Jack pointed out.

This seemed to make Ludwig laugh a little to know they were both acting much more like normal as they were getting to feeling better. Jack heard the sound of the door opening and closing as he just laid there listening to the sounds of the quiet room and the whirring and beeping of machines. Everything was quiet here, and unlike other doctor's offices he'd ever been in, it was peaceful. It just felt like the kind of place where you knew you'd be all right.

Neither Deil or Jack tried to start a conversation for a while, both just laying behind the curtains quietly. Jack wasn't entirely sure if he should try and say anything or not. They couldn't hear anything from beyond the door, and Jack wasn't sure what everyone else was thinking or doing at the moment. To his surprise though, Deil broke the silence.

"Hey," the older man said quietly. "Jack...thanks. For risking your life to save me."

"No prob," Jack said with a chuckle. "Ya helped me too. So I guess we're even."

"We might be," the man chuckled. "But that's not exactly what I meant. I just...didn't want my little girl to have to watch me die." Jack paused a moment.

"You have a kid?" he asked. "You neva mentioned her."

"Well," Deil said with a slight sigh. "I don't doubt I'm the only one who didn't say a lot when we first met. I mean, I never expected this to work. But I do have a daughter. She'll be seven this year. She and my wife weren't at home at the time...well...you know. So, what about your father? I've never heard you talk about him."

"I," Jack said quietly. "I don't rememba him. He left when I was just a little kid. So it was just ma, my older brothas and me. They had a different dad, and he left too. So I neva really had a dad."

"Oh," came the awkward reply. "Do you hate him?"

Jack paused a moment again, looking down at the dog tags he was wearing on his chest. Was his dad watching him fighting for his life somewhere? Did he care? His mom had told him it was to protect the family that he had left, that his work was dangerous. If he did care, wouldn't he be worried? Jack wanted to believe that he did care.

"Nah," he replied. "Not really. I mean, he neva did anything to me, right? Afta everything that's happened...I don't think I can hate anyone. I neva met him, so I can't hate him."

There was silence in the room, a silence that surprised Jack. What was Deil thinking about over there? His own family? Maybe he thought his daughter hated him for some reason. Then again, Jack doubted any of them had easy lives. There was a chance that they all felt like someone might hate him, or worried that they would. Did anyone else wish, like Jack did, that they could go back and redo that final day? That they could at least say goodbye, just in case?

"Yer a good kid, Jack," Deil suddenly said. "And you've got a big heart. Don't let them change that in here, ya hear?"

"Yeah," Jack said, letting a small smile touch his face. "I don't plan on lettin' them in my head."

They were quiet again for a while, just quietly listening to the sounds of the room again. It wasn't much more, but they were beginning to know more about each other. Neither of them complained about not knowing much more. After all, how could they just ask something like that in a place like this? Where they could die at any moment? No one wanted to bring up any subject that could be touchy or effect the peace they had managed to create between everyone here. If someone wanted to bring up their past, well that was fine. If they didn't... well actions spoke louder than words, and they already knew they could trust each other with anything. They could trust each other with their lives. What could ever break a bond like that?

Jack raised his head to look up on instinct when he heard the door open. He could hear the heavy tread of boots on the floor as someone walked into the room. Jack was fairly certain they were too heavy to belong to Ludwig, but other than that he couldn't really have pointed out who they belonged to. The person stopped between the two beds with the curtains drawn and stood there a few moments in silence.

"You awake boys?" came Zane's familiar voice.

"Yeah," Jack replied.

"We're awake," Deil added.

"You did good out there today," he said, strange hearing praise from him. He still sounded worried though. "You took some risks, and well you were reckless. But in a place like this anything we do could be considered reckless. I want you to know that I'm proud of both of you."

"Thanks?" Jack asked, unsure.

"Why are you telling us this now?" Deil asked, pressing the subject just a little more.

"Because this...it isn't working," he said with some difficulty. "We tried to prepare, and it seems they don't want us to be prepared. Every strategy we came up with...being so careful...well you see what happened. I know none of you boys are soldiers, but I don't want to lead you all into your deaths either."

Jack and Deil were silent for a long moment. Jack blinked a little, looking towards the sound of Zane's voice. So everyone was really worried. If everything went according to plan then they'd be up and ready for battle again tomorrow...and Zane was right. That kind of strategy wasn't exactly what they needed. The game makers would have already guessed it, and they'd make the games more and more aggressive to counteract those groups. There wasn't going to be anything they could do against that, except keep them guessing.

"Well," Jack said suddenly. "dey want good television? Den lets give it to 'em. Keep 'em guessing. Dat way dey can't just kill us off. Not without a good fight."

"The boy's gotta point," Deil said thoughtfully. "We can't keep hidin' like this. We need to be more aggressive, mix it up. This hidin' and playin' it safe we pulled, it won't keep us all alive again. So we need to take the fight to them."

"You boys want to break the teams?" the Soldier asked, sounding surprised. "To abandon that strategy?"

"Listen Zane," Deil said with a sigh. "It didn't work, and if we did it again we'd just be endangerin' the lives of everyone on our team. No matter what ideas we come up with, what we do to prepare, they'll keep us guessin'. Maybe we should do the same, and keep changing what happens on the field each time, who's with who. Maybe wingin' it is the best strategy for battle we can have."

Zane was silent, and Jack couldn't help but worry what Zane was really thinking. Was he going to completely shoot down their ideas? They knew that Zane could be rather stubborn. He was used to being large and in charge, and that's how he acted around here. Jack suddenly felt like he had to say something, anything to get him to understand what they were trying to say.

"We're already a team, right?" he managed to force himself to ask. "Dis is okay den, right? I mean, it might be da only way we'll last long."

"I see," Zane said in an odd voice, one Jack couldn't name. "I think you're right boys. I'll bring it up to the others, and we'll take a vote on it."

The sound of his heavy footfalls going back towards the door could be clearly heard as he turned and began to make his way out. They heard the sound of the door opening, then silence. Jack waited, realizing he'd paused at the door. What exactly was going on in his head right now? The odd silence stretched for a long moment.

"Get some rest you two," he said suddenly, quietly. It was probably the gentlest voice Jack had ever heard the man use. "You're both...you're both not bad."

Jack smiled secretly to himself at the almost embarrassed way the man had said it. For Zane, that was a huge compliment. The door was closed and silence seemed to fall across the room. Jack settled back as much as he could to let the Medi-gun do its work, whatever it was really doing to his ankle. He wasn't sure what else he was supposed to be doing other than sitting here and resting.

After a while Jack heard the Engineer on the other side of the room begin to snore lightly. He'd obviously fallen asleep, not that Jack could blame him. He wasn't sure if it was dangerous for him to be awake, or if he should try and wake him back up. But he knew that he was exhausted too. It had only been the first day, and already he couldn't wait until the weekend. That would be the first time they had a ceasefire. On Saturday and Sunday there would be no games.

No team in thirty years had completely survived to the first ceasefire. They all had lost at least one member by that time. This team though was determined that they were going to all make it out of this hell hole alive, no matter what they had to do to make sure that happened. It was time that someone showed the game makers that they didn't own these people.

Jack wasn't sure how long he sat there listening to the sound of Deil snoring on the other side of the room, and he was only vaguely aware that the pain in his ankle had been reduced to a dull throb by now under the light of the Medi-gun above his head. As the pain eased, he began to feel more and more tired, and he began to doze off again when the door opened once again and he jumped awake in surprise at the sound.

The person who entered was silent, and he walked with a tread that spoke of years of working around such exhausted patients as these. It was obviously Ludwig then. The man moved nearly completely silently over to where Deil was sleeping, making the curtains around the bed rustle just slightly as he opened them and peered in at the man. Jack was still blinking a little, his mind still foggy with sleep, when he made his way over and opened the curtains to peer in at him.

"You are still avake?" the Medic asked with a small smile. "Good. You can eat vhile you are. Its better if you sleep now, but zhat can vait until after you have some food, ja?"

He handed Jack a small plate of what looked like someone's attempt at a steak and mashed potatoes. He wasn't sure who had cooked it, because he knew Zane would have never cooked anything like this. Maybe it had been made to celebrate the fact that they were all going to be okay? He wouldn't have cared if it was Zane's worst concoction at this point. He was just hungry. He ate it quickly, and Ludwig just smiled and cleared away the mess.

Now feeling better for having eaten, Jack was beginning to become aware just how tired he really was. As Ludwig started humming again (a habit he must have had while working) and cleaning up the mess he'd made, Jack felt himself dozing off again. Ludwig peered his head inside again to look at the boy and gave him the smile he was so used to seeing.

"Zhere now," he said quietly. "You just rest and sleep. Ve'll all be up and ready by zhe morning. You and Deil vill stay here overnight until I'm ready to let zhe two of you out again into zhe arena."

Jack could only manage a vague nod as he closed his eyes. The Medi-gun's quiet whirring was an almost hypnotic sound, and the familiar German voice from the other side of the curtain as it was closed again lulled Jack to sleep faster than his mother could have singing him a lullaby when he was little. Within minutes Jack had drifted into a much more relaxed sleep.

There's the end of chapter six. It wasn't that long, and there honestly wasn't a lot happening in this chapter. We got to learn a little more about Deil, as well as Ludwig. Mostly this chapter was just so this story won't be nothing but action. There's no room to have real characters if that's the case.

Anyway, if you enjoyed feel free to leave a review down below to tell me how you think I'm doing. This world is really rather OOC, but it's a fun story to write either way. It's just the beginning, and let's be honest, Leander isn't the only one keeping secrets. Sooner or later we'll learn some more about every character.