Chapter 16:
Carter sat by Hogan's legs, watching his commanding officer lay there. Hogan seemed at complete peace and totally relaxed. His skin was white as a sheet, his eyelids were blackish purple, and his black hair made him look almost immortal.
Newkirk sat on a stool on Hogan's right doing the same thing as Carter was. The Englishman was so shocked seeing the condition his commanding officer was currently in. The Colonel Hogan he knew had been lively, always on the go, social, and loud. He was now silent, motionless, and vegetated. He needed Hogan to wake up and come back to them. They needed his help in getting rid of Walters, but how did you wake up somebody in a coma? He would have to further investigate on that matter. For now, he just sat and socialized as much as possible with Hogan.
"Hi, Colonel...it's just me, here...Carter," the young sergeant said softly. "Boy, are you sure missing out on a lot, sir. Walters framed Private Schneider for shooting you, and Baker's contacting London as we speak about what to do."
"Andrew, don't you think the man has more important things to worry about? Like waking up?" Newkirk asked, annoyed. The last thing he wanted was Hogan to have a heart attack from stress.
"Sorry, Newkirk...just thought he would want to know."
He shook his head then looked back at Hogan.
"Hey, Gov'nor. Just Ol' Newkirk here. You just worry about getting better. We got things under control while you're recovering. You just keep fighting, sir. We need yah to come back to us."
Hogan did not answer in any way. He remained still.
"I'm sorry, Colonel...this is all my fault. Had it not been for me, you'd still be awake and healthy right now." Carter whimpered.
"Now, don't go down that road again, Andrew. Walters wants you to think that. Don't let him win, mate. You can beat him," Newkirk encouraged.
"He was my commanding officer, Newkirk. He's my responsibility."
"When did you become responsible for your commanding officer, Andrew? You are not responsible for what that bloody bastard did. To you, to Captain Fischer, to Corporal Mueller, to the Gov'nor, to Private Schneider, to anybody. It ain't your fault, mate."
"But...but Colonel,"
"The Gov'nor's gonna be just fine. He's strong, and you know that. He's gotten through stuff like this before, he can do it again."
Carter sighed sadly.
"I guess you're right, buddy," he said softly.
"Darn right I am," Newkirk remarked.
Carter was about to smile small, when both of them heard harsh gasping. They turned to look at Hogan, and saw him struggling to breathe. His skin was turning a slight bluish gray.
The sergeant shot up from his spot, and Newkirk leaned in and grabbed Hogan's shoulders. The Englishman snapped his head to his best friend.
"Get Wilson! Hurry!" Newkirk cried.
Carter nodded and ran to the back screaming for Wilson. Once gone, Newkirk started gently shaking Hogan.
"Come on, Gov'nor. You gotta breathe, sir. Everything's alright. Don't quit on us now. You gotta breathe, Gov'nor! Breathe!" He begged.
Wilson hurried out to Hogan and Newkirk with Carter behind him. The camp medic sat down where Carter had once sat and got his stethoscope out and listened to Hogan's heart and lungs.
"I need to be alone. I think Colonel Hogan's got a pulmonary embolism," Wilson ordered.
"What's that?! Is he gonna be alright?!" Carter cried.
"I'll tell you once I get him stabilized. I need to be alone now, though!"
Despite wanting to stand there by their commanding officer's side, Newkirk and Carter made their way to the front of the infirmary to leave Wilson alone with his patient.
Two hours went by, and neither Kinch, Carter, Newkirk, or LeBeau heard anything from Wilson. The curtains had to be pulled together again, separating Hogan's men from where Wilson and the colonel himself were.
Kinch was pacing back and forth, Newkirk was rubbing Carter's back, and LeBeau was tapping his foot, trying not to go crazy from not hearing anything for so long.
"Oh, Colonel," Carter meekly said. "I'm so sorry. Please don't die, Colonel...I don't think I can move on without you here."
"Don't worry, Carter. Colonel Hogan wouldn't want you to cry over him." Kinch soothed.
"Colonel Hogan could die, Kinch! That's something for me to worry over!" The young man shouted.
"What's taking so long?!" LeBeau exclaimed.
"I don't know, but it's driving me bloody bonkers," Newkirk grumbled. "Speaking of not knowing, what did London say about Walters?" Newkirk asked.
Kinch grabbed a piece of paper out of his jacket and handed it to him.
The Englishman grabbed it and unfolded the piece of paper to read what it said.
"We'll get back to ya?!" Newkirk cried.
"Same reaction I had, mon ami," LeBeau said, disgusted. He crossed his arms.
"Are they bleeding kidding me?!"
Kinch sighed.
"I'm sorry, Newkirk. I'm afraid they're serious." The radioman answered.
"Those bloody…" Newkirk stopped himself from going any further. It was not the time to start blowing his top over orders from London. His commanding officer was fighting for his life momentarily, and that was his only concern.
"Kinch, what are we gonna do? We gotta get rid of Walters!" Carter exclaimed.
"I know...we're gonna have to do this with or without London's help. I got an idea, but I don't have all the details planned out yet," Kinch said calmly.
Newkirk was about to say something, when Wilson came out from behind the curtains and approached the four of them silently. His face was grim and the camp medic looked drained of all energy. He sighed heavily then looked at his friends with his tired eyes. Wilson was in a white lab coat with his stethoscope wrapped around his neck and worn hands.
No one said a word for the longest time. After so long, LeBeau could not take the silence anymore.
"Well?!" He cried.
"Is the Colonel alright, Joe?" Kinch asked, worried.
Wilson let out another sad sigh.
"I wish I had better news to tell you than the news I have to tell you now. I have reasons to believe that Colonel Hogan has a blood clot somewhere in his lungs. I'm worried it might travel to his heart and cause a fatal case of cardiac arrest." The medic answered sadly.
"Can you help him, Joe?" Newkirk asked, hopeful.
"I'm currently giving him injections of urokinase. It's a blood clot dissolver, but it could cause severe bleeding as a side effect. I'm giving him a small dose as of now, and depending on how he responds to the medicine, I'll keep it as it is or increase the dosage. I'm afraid the rest is up to him and his body. I've done all I can for him at this point," Wilson said.
"What happens if the medicine doesn't work, mon ami?" LeBeau asked.
Wilson was silent for a long while before answering.
"Then I'm afraid that Colonel Hogan will not regain consciousness again. The blood clot will make its way to either his heart or brain. He'll then suffer from cardiac arrest or a fatal stroke."
Carter dropped to the ground on his knees with a look of horror on his face. For a moment, he forgot to breathe.
"Carter, are you okay?" Kinch asked, worried.
The young man's head snapped in the direction of Hogan's bed.
"Colonel! Come back! Don't leave me! Colonel! Wake up, Colonel!" He screeched.
Newkirk rushed to Carter and got him to his feet, then wrapped an arm around him.
"Andrew. Andrew. Andrew, answer me!" Newkirk begged.
"What's wrong with him?!" LeBeau demanded.
Wilson shook his head sadly and let out a heavy breath.
"I think Carter might be suffering from a severe form of psychosis. It's caused by a traumatic event happening in a person's life. Do you know what it was Walters did to Carter that made him so terrified of the man?" He asked.
"Yeah; he was beaten a few times and was forced to watch his head commanding officer be murdered by Walters." Newkirk answered calmly. He had his arm wrapped protectively around Carter, as if he were his little brother.
"I think Colonel Hogan and his current situation has pushed Carter a bit over the edge," the camp medic said.
"Come on, Andrew. Snap out of it! The Gov'nor wouldn't want this, Andrew! Ya gotta snap out of it, mate!" Newkirk pleaded.
Carter blinked a few times and shook his head for a little bit. His body shivered a little, then ran off to Hogan's bedside to be with him.
"André...André, wait!" LeBeau begged.
"Alright. This has gone far enough! I want Walters dead, and I want 'im dead now!" Newkirk snarled.
"We're not killing Walters no matter how much we want to. The Colonel would be ashamed if we went behind his back and broke one of his rules. That's not the way we work, Newkirk, and we all know that," Kinch said.
"But Walters isn't mortal, Kinch. Major Hochstetter is more humane than he is!" LeBeau turned his head and was shocked at what he had just said. "Did I just say that?"
"I never thought I'd see the day where Hochstetter would turn out to be better than someone else." Newkirk spoke, crossing his arms. He was just as shocked as LeBeau was at the thought.
"We have to do something, and we have to do it now, mes amis. For mon Colonel!"
"But how do we convince Klink that Walters is mentally unstable?"
"It's a good question, Newkirk. We have to find a way to provoke an episode from Walters without it causing danger to the rest of the prisoners or Klink himself," Kinch said, crossing his arms.
"What if we got him locked in the cooler for some reason? Trying to escape perhaps?" LeBeau suggested.
"I like where you're going, Louis, but it's too vague still. What we need is a solid, full proofed plan," Newkirk said.
"We need something that Walters will never see coming. Something that he won't grow suspicious of." Kinch continued.
"May I make a suggestion?" Wilson interjected.
"Sure, mate. Go ahead," Newkirk said.
"Whatever you four decide to do, do it with caution and be extremely careful. I'm no psychologist, but I know enough about sociopathy. If it's severe enough, the patient can be tremendously dangerous to confront." Wilson replied.
Newkirk turned to look where Hogan's bed was located and frowned.
"I think we've already learned that the hard way, Joe." The Englishman murmured.
Kinch, LeBeau, and Newkirk walked past the curtains and stopped, when they spotted Carter sitting next to Hogan's bedside on a stool. He held Hogan's hand gently in his.
The colonel's skin was clammy, and his hands were fragile. Carter could feel nothing but skin and bones. He was terrified to grab his hand any tighter for the possibility of breaking one of his weak and brittle bones.
Newkirk, LeBeau, and Kinch walked closer to Hogan's side. The closer they got, the more sick their commanding officer looked. Reaching his bedside, Hogan's body looked like a corpse.
LeBeau sat down besides the colonel on the left, and Newkirk and Kinch stood and looked down at their ailing commanding officer. How they wished there was something they could do to make him wake up and come back to them. The four of them needed Hogan more than ever at the moment. They needed their commanding officer's mind, wisdom, and intellect in order for them to figure out how to get rid of Walters. Without him, they were stuck in a dark empty area and had no idea how to escape from it.
"Hey, Colonel. It's LeBeau, here," the little Frenchman said softly. "We're all here with you, mon Colonel. Don't be scared now. You're the toughest man I know alive. You can do this; you've done harder things before."
"Louis's right, Gov'nor. You've beaten the odds against yah before, you can do it again, sir. We have faith in you." Newkirk added.
Hogan did not respond. He remained still and lifeless.
"Don't worry, Colonel. We're gonna get rid of this bastard if it's the last thing we do, sir," Kinch said softly.
"Yah gotta open your eyes now, sir...we need one of your brilliant ideas more than anything right now," Newkirk said.
"Where's mon Colonel when you need him?" LeBeau wondered.
"Please wake up, Colonel...I swear I'll never say another stupid thing again. Honest." Carter tried bargaining with his comatose commanding officer, hoping it would work. Nothing.
Kinch sighed.
"Open your eyes, Colonel. You can do it. I know you can," he softly said.
Hogan did nothing.
"Come on, Gov'nor...do something," Newkirk urged in a whisper.
Again, the colonel did not respond.
Carter grabbed Hogan's hand a bit tighter and squeezed it gently.
"I know you can do it, Colonel." The young sergeant croaked.
All of Hogan's men sat there in silence and prayed with all their hearts that their colonel would wake up and get better again.