It had been almost a full day after Doc's death. After briefly covering Sarge's bullet wound from the incident, the Blues, Tex, and Sarge had barricaded themselves in Blue base, and even then Church and Tex took turns to watch for surveillance. Church probably could have made Tucker or Caboose do it, but they were as reliable as hyperactive 6-year-olds with a rocket launcher. With O'Malley as baby sitter.

At the end of the next day though, Chruch had about enough having to wake up every three hours for watch, while being paranoid for his life. So, in spite of everybody's dissuasion, he came up with a plan.

"What in the hell?" protested Sarge. "You want me to go bait?"

Church, followed by Tucker, Tex and Caboose, cocked their guns at the Red. "Better you than us. If we manage to get him before you die, we win. If he kills you first, we win anyway. You're injured anyway. So if we lose you, it's like losing half a man. Or… a quarter of a man."

"God damn y'all good-for-nothing-"

"Move!"

Sarge growled with animosity, before snapping around and marching out the Blue base, his trusty shotgun at the ready. Church took his usual place on the roof, looking out the sniper's scope as the Red tucked out of view into a fold of the cliffs.

"What the fuck is he doing?" hissed Church, as he took down his rifle. "He's not supposed to go where we can't see him! We can't shoot the bad guy if he does!"

Tucker shook his head and shrugged. "I don't think it'll matter, you'll miss them anyway."

Church ignored him, instead choosing to examine once more into the scope of his sniper rifle.

"Hm… There's no sound… Why is there no sound? Caboose, go check on him."

"Okay!"

"Are you sure it's okay to send him out on his own?" asked Tex, as she watched the blue soldier bounce away.

"Nah, he won't die, did you see how lucky he was?" sneered Church, watching Caboose run off towards the cliffs.

"Yeah, man," replied Tucker, "I shot him once for fun and the bullet hit Church!"

"That was you?"

Tex clucked her tongue. "Cowards."

"Or, if you're not happy with it, you can go with him," snapped Church.

"I think I will-"

Gunshots suddenly rang out, cutting her answer short. Caboose, who was still a good mile away from the cliffs, collapsed into a pile of rocks.

Surprisingly, Church was the first to jump off the roof and run towards him.

"Shit!"

"Church! Stop!" Tex followed.

"Guys! Wait!" Tucker, grabbing onto his gun, ran after them.

Church ran cursing towards the cliffs, having the sense to hide himself as he ran in zig zag, all the while checking for threat through his sniper rifle. This caused him to fall over quite a bit.

"That damn Sarge! It was all a trap! I should have known! Fuck!" He arrived where he saw Caboose fall, and saw the Blue leaning onto a boulder, chest and helmet muddled in red and bullet marks.

Church holstered his gun at his back and moved to the rookie, taking off Caboose's helmet. "Caboose! Caboose you alright?"

Blonde hair was stained with black-red blood as they dribbled down to the chin. Boyish face slowly tilted up, and unfocused blue eyes stared into the visor of his comrade.

"Church…"

Church sprung up as Tex and Tucker arrived. "Holy shit! He's still alive! Tex! Tex, can you fix him up?"

Tex moved to Caboose and placed one hand to the man's face. "… No."

"What? Why not?"

Tex let the body fall limp, and stood up. "He's dead, Church."

Church laughed. "What? No! He just spoke to me, see?" He kneeled down, reached out and slapped lightly on Caboose's cheek. "Hey, Caboose?" The other man didn't answer. Church tilted his head up. The eyes were closed. "Hey, Caboose? Caboose! Talk to me!"

"Dude, he's dead," said Tucker.

Church was now trying to shake the corpse awake. "Fuck! Caboose! No! Answer me!"

Tucker, not able to watch much longer, pulled Church away from the body, letting it collapse to the ground on its side.

"Church, stop!"

"Caboose!"

Caboose didn't reply.

Mrawgirl09