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Hidden: Chapter 11

Good Day to Die

The room went silent. The various conversations that had been going on between Krauss' stopped at my unexpected question. It was not our place to ask questions, only to do what was ordered. Any other day, I would have been fine with that. Not this day. I was pissed that information was withheld, I was pissed that everything had been such a debacle, I was pissed. I wanted to know why the cost was so high to get to this man.

"Why should I tell you this?" He asked flatly. I could feel my race redden and my palms became sweaty. "All you need to know is that NATO and I have a mutual agreement and that it is your job to keep me alive."

"Fine, keep your secrets." I turned away from him and looked at everyone else. Krauss remained stone-faced, but everyone else was looking at me and Dr. Ruse. They were unsure of our short interchange. I needed justification for what had happened, but I wasn't going to get any. The doctor just threw an excuse, a valid excuse at that, in the way so he wouldn't have to reveal anything. I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't threaten him in any way or my career would be over.

I focused my attention on the dead werewolf that was laid out off to the side. It was a black lab. Its eyes were closed and a bit of blood was coming from its nose and mouth that only made the black fur appear even darker. The naval cap that I had noticed earlier was a light blue that deeply contrasted its fur. Dr. Ruse must have noticed what I was looking at because he walked past me and stood over the dead thing with his back to me and his shoulders slumped.

"Lieutenant Harry Morrison." He spoke in the same flat tone that he used on me. "He was assigned as my escort by the Navy." He kneeled and put a hand on the side of his face, ignoring the blood that got on his hand. "When the gas began to spread, he was exposed to it, but stayed true to his duty and made sure I was safe. When the change started taking place, he handed me his sidearm and told me to shoot him." His hand trembled a bit when he took in a shaky breath. "I did it, but I waited until the last moment. He was loyal and obedient to his cause, a good soldier until the very end." He stood up again, a drop of blood fell of his fingertips and hit the white floor. His head turned towards the covered body of Sergeant Millard. "I heard what happened, how he saved you when he could have saved himself. That's devotion captain, utter devotion." He looked at me. Those cold calculating eyes showing no emotion at all. "I hope you have that same devotion and will retain your sense of duty. We'll all need it in the end if we are to survive."

I looked back at him. I didn't feel like it was enough. He wanted me to believe that everything was justified since it was what I was ordered to do. I wanted more, but it was all I was going to get and if it was what he truly believed then it would have to do for now.

"Don't worry." I said with a gruff in my voice. "You'll get off this ship alive and well, I'll make sure of that." I turned away, ignoring the aches of my body, ending the conversation once and for all. I'll do my duty in the end whether I liked it or not, but not for him. I was doing this for everyone else who was still alive and those who gave their lives, I owed it to them.

I stayed in that chair for a while. We weren't going anywhere in our condition especially now that we were safe and able to breath for a bit. Most of us ended up sleeping, there were enough free gurneys around for each of them to get as good of a rest as possible. I had drifted in and out of sleep while in the chair. It wasn't comfortable, but a tired body didn't care where it was put as long as long as it was safe. We stayed like this for six hours and I decided that was enough. I got up and stretched out my muscles which felt better. There was still a bit of stiffness, but I deemed myself combat ready.

"Captain Krauss." I called out to the man who was going through the various storage spaces looking for decent food. He wasn't satisfied with the 'hospital food', but it was all that was here. We had come onto the ship without any rations since we weren't expected to take too long or remove our suits. When the other captain finally came over, he had a pile of food, freeze dried foods and fruit cups which he offered me. I took them graciously with a thanks and got down to business.

"I think it's time we get a plan together." The captain nodded at that while he emptied the first fruit cup into his mouth. "We can't go into this blind." I had my helmet in my hands upside down so we were looking into it. I had it like this so we could both see the map of the ship I had displayed on my hud and inverted so it appeared right side up. I pointed to the bridge which was near the front of the ship where Captain Wellington made his last stand. "It's another half a mile to the main hangar and it's going to be crawling with hostiles. We need to find a way to clear them out before we open up the main doors." There were no special force fields that kept the air in. In order to open the hangar, the air had to be pumped out, the doors opened, the ships came in and the doors closed allowing the air to be pumped back in. The technique had been perfected over the decades and didn't take as long as it sounded. For just one ship to evac us, it would only take ten minutes max for us to get out once the process started, but that didn't matter if we couldn't get to it.

"Could we attempt to retake the bridge? The pack that was chasing us wasn't too large and if we went slowly and methodically while ensuring that the never got close, it would be possible." The captain was very focused, the spoon in his mouth wobbled with each word as he ignored his hunger to make the statement. "We could open the hangar from there and suffocate them."

"Not possible." Ivan walked over and stood behind me. "The ship is set up so the hangar can only be opened from the hangar. It's like that so people can still get off the ship if the bridge is taken over." So we would have to deal with the werewolves some other way. Captain Wellington said there were thousands up at the front of the ship, there was no way seven Spec Enforcers and some PHD were going to forcibly take the hangar. There had to be a way to get to the hangar.

"How about the air locks that we used to come in." It was Sergeant Crane this time. Everyone including the doctor had gathered around to listen. "There are a lot of airlocks scattered all over the ship. If I remember right, this infirmary is close to one." The Sergeant was right, there were a lot of airlocks all around the ship, but that did us no good.

"We can't without the coms equipment which is gone." I regretted shooting the coms equipment now. We would have been able to retake the bridge like what Krauss suggested and then sent out a message to the colonel to pick us up at the nearest airlock.

"Then how are we supposed to message for evac in the hangar?" It was one of Krauss' men. A short man with blonde hair and blue eyes. I didn't mind all of the questions, it was good to have everyone involved. Each individual Spec Enforcer was expected to be able to formulate and execute plans in case their officers were incapacitated.

I shook my head at him a bit. "The colonel will have a ship posted right outside the hangar ready. As soon as the main doors open, it will fly in and we get out. No need for radios." The man wanted to argue, I could see it in how he looked at me. He didn't though, he knew that an argument right now wouldn't get us off the ship.

No one spoke as we all tried to think of ways to get to the hangar. Some of the others had gotten their helmets to look at their own maps. Crane was talking to the blonde soldier while pointing at various spots in his helmet. The blonde man shook his head and pointed at several spots as well. Though everyone was trying, no one could think of a way. Then I knew why, we were all trying to think of a way for all of us to get out, when there was no way.

"I know what needs to be done." Everyone stopped and looked at me hopefully. I set the helmet down and looked up the group of soldiers who were waiting patiently for me. "The werewolves travel in packs of varying sizes just like dogs. When one goes, chances are the others will follow as well."

Dr. Ruse stepped in. "A diversion." It wasn't a question, he knew exactly what I was planning. "That would be suicide." It took a moment for the others to catch on. No matter how smart and bright you were, there was always something about seeing an idea click in a person's head, how their faces lit up, or in this case drop in horror.

"You can't captain." Sergeant Crane walked up to me with Ivan but I didn't see a worried face. In fact he grinned and added. "Without us that is." How did I know that he would do that?

"This is a one man job sergeant." I stated matter of factly. "No need to sacrifice more than is necessary."

"No this is a one squad job." Ivan stood next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Squad one to be exact. Plus you'd never be able to keep them distracted long enough alone for everyone else to get out." A feeling of pride and sadness took me. The pride from serving with such great men who were willing to go to their deaths with me without a single complaint about it. The sadness that there would be no chance of them ever getting off of the ship. The two feelings tore at each other inside me and I was left speechless.

"Is there no other way?" Krauss for once had a bit of emotion on his face. The hint of a frown could be seen at the very edge of his mouth. "We've lost two squads already and this seems like a rushed solution."

I was a bit touched that he finally showed something after being so resolute the entire mission, minus the argument he had with Captain Luther hours ago. Hours, it was still the same day, it seemed like an eternity ago since it had all begun and now it was coming to a close. "There isn't any other way. You can't get to the hangar unless it's cleared. There just isn't any other way to do it." I walked over to my armor which stunk of my sweat. I would have to use the infirmary's showers to get the smell off before leaving. "I've made my decision, squad one will create a distraction and draw the enemy away." My mind was made up.

-Half an hour later-

Krauss had relented in trying to convince me to reconsider after that. I had taken the time to prepare myself. I washed off the inside of the suit with water and some disinfectant that was in storage. The suit was entirely waterproof and dried fast since the entire inside was just carbon fiber that didn't hold onto water well. I then took a shower myself and the others followed suit, cleaning off any smells that were left on us as to not give us away before we had a chance to make our move. I put on some clean medical smocks since my old fatigues were sweaty and donned my suit and stepped under the shower once more to get any external odors off of me. Dr. Ruse found a fully sealable bio suit complete with an oxygen supply and wore that. It was bulky and unarmored, but it was the only thing that would keep him from being exposed to the contaminated atmosphere outside the infirmary.

A camera out in the hall which was connected to a small terminal in the infirmary confirmed that the hall was clear. My squad went into the air lock after checking our equipment one more time. We stood there in the air lock as the clean air was replaced with the air from the ship.

I turned on my radio and connected to my squad. "Thanks, for doing this with me." I choked up a bit, but just faced the door.

"Don't worry about it cap."

"No problem." They spoke over each other and we laughed a bit at that. I quickly solemned.

Squeezing the rifle in my hand a bit I continued. "I never asked either of you to do this. You didn't have to do th..."

"Yes we do." The both said it in unison. There was no laughing this time.

"We're a squad, a team." Crane spoke. "We stick together. Nothing more to it." I didn't reply.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I didn't dare speak for the fear of them hearing me sob. All that piss and vinegar that was in me was gone, just filled with gratitude. I didn't think that this was going to be all that bad. I didn't think about being torn apart by hordes of werewolves, I just thought about who I was with and what they were doing.

The door opened and I raised my gun and stepped out. Sergeant Crane and Ivan followed me out with their guns up.

I switched to the frequency that communicated with Krauss's squad. "Clear, come on through." The door closed and a red light above it that signified it as being in use came on. My squad and I stood there in silence as we waited for Krauss's squad to come through with Dr. Ruse. We stayed silent, entirely focused on the empty halls that ran in either direction of us.

The door opened and Krauss came out with his gun up and followed by his men. After a few moments he waved at Dr. Ruse who was left standing in the airlock. He didn't have a radio and since we wanted to avoid making too much noise, he would have to rely entirely on us to get him to safety without too many words. It was going to be interesting, but I didn't doubt the doctor's competency though I had some doubts about his motives.

"The hall is clear, let's move." I spoke into the radio and we all moved as one. We were walking down the hall at a quick pace in a circle. Dr. Ruse was in the middle and the man behind him had a hand on his shoulder and in turn, the doctor had his hand on my own shoulder. It kept all of us at arm's length, close enough that a defensive formation could easily be set up, but not close enough that we would run into each other if we had to maneuver quickly.

We had planned to go about half way to the hangar before my squad and I would split off and make our way to the side of the hangar, keeping out distance to avoid running into large amounts of werewolves. From there, we would wait until Krauss and his men got as close as possible to the hangar. He would message us when he was in position and then we would create some sort of distraction to draw the werewolves away. I just planned on shooting into them, it was crude and extremely dangerous, but it would get their attention quickly. We would fall back as far as we could and hold out for as long as possible. When the hangar was as cleared as possible, Krauss would move in and clear out any stragglers before taking control of the hangar control room which sat on scaffolding in the middle of the room. They would be safe once they were in because all doors into the hangar were sealed once the process of opening the main doors began. They wouldn't even have to wait through the entire process, all of their suits were airtight and would allow them to safely get to evac as soon as the ship touched down.

We got to the intersection where we would separate while only running into a few individual werewolves which were dispatched easily from a distance. We stopped there for a moment, it would be the last time we would see each other even in our tinted helmets blocked our faces.

"Captain Anderson." Krauss walked over to me and stuck out his hand. I took his and mine and almost regretted it. It felt like my hand was going beak in half in his iron hand shake. "It's been a long and tough one and I hate to think this is the last time I'll get the chance to work with you. It's been an honor." The tough guy routine he spent 24/7 keeping up faded and his shoulders slumped and he pulled me into a quick hug and released me.

I gave a hand shake and a few words to Krauss' other men as well who I didn't even know the names of. I didn't let them know though since that would have made the situation awkward.

I eventually got to Dr. Ruse who stood there in his plastic bio-suit and offered a hand shake. He looked up at me with his old eyes and then down at my hands. It took a moment, but he eventually took it.

"You are valiant man and truly a great soldier. NATO is losing a valuable asset." It was the nicest thing he said to me and it was best to give up while I was ahead.

I released his hand and gave him a thanks. I returned and without any more words we separated from the rest of them, going left while they continued straight ahead. It would take an hour for us to get into position since we were giving the hangar a wide berth at first. It was such a strange thing to know how much time I had left. At the time I assumed I was going to die and since I thought that I was at complete peace. There was no reason to panic or to become nervous, it was going to happen, nothing to it.

"Soooo, cap?" The all to familiar voice of Sergeant Crane came over the radio.

"What is it?" I said.

"Have you thought about your final words? I want mine to be something whimsical or tough and sexy." I rolled my eyes and let him keep talking. "It's so hard to think of something to say." There was a pause. "Hasta la vista, baby."

"Where did that come from? I've never heard that."

"I saw it in some old film from the 20th century. About some guy who went back in time to save the future... oh and there were robots as well."

"That's cheesy." I laughed.

"Shut up." He pouted. "It's not final. How about you Ivan? You haven't talked that much."

"Well how I see it, final words should be spontaneous so they are true and from the heart." Ivan took one hand off his hand and put it on his chest.

Sergeant Crane gave a quick laugh. "Ha, way to make me feel bad. I don't care, even if only you guys or no one hears it, I want to die in style so my final words need to be awesome."

We kept up the conversation the entire way, never losing out focus on what was around though. Normally I would have ended it and kept radio silence, but I simply didn't want to. I enjoyed speaking to them, even if it was about our final words.

"We're here." I said and raised my hand. We all came to a stop right before a corner. The map on my hud showed that the hangar was 100 yards away, It was here that my heart rate picked up, not in fear, but because I was anxious. I never like suspense at all and this was the most suspenseful moment of my life. I had got a bit more planned out, since the power was reset, the doors were still open and the corner in front of us led into a long corridor that went straight and true, right to the hangar. We would be able to start firing into it from a distance and fall back. There was a large storage room where we would be able to fall back to, it was perfect since it only had one small door.

"We're in position." The deep German voice filled all of our helmets. I looked over to the others and nodded. We took up positions, Ivan was to my right and Crane was to my left. We stood in the middle of the corridor and looked straight down it and saw the thousands of bodies in the hangar and the hall. I didn't hesitate and opened fire.

Red streaks flew down the hall and hit the group of werewolves. I had kicked the ants nest and it was time to run. "You may make your move captain." I yelled before I turned and ran.

I ran hard, followed closely by Ivan and Crane. We were definitely being chased. That barking that I had learned to hate had started again, only it was worse now. Instead of a dozen werewolves, I felt as if every single one on the ship was after us now.

'You've done it now. You've really pissed them off." Crane yelled when we got to the storage room and got a moment to give a peak behind us.

"Shut it and help me move these boxes in front of the door." If we closed the door, they wouldn't be able to get in at all and would lose interest. As crazy as it sounded, we needed them to be to stay focused on us for as long as possible. Simply stacking crates was only temporary and would keep them on us. The room was large, the map said it was 150 feet long and wide and about 20 feet tall. It was relatively empty with crates scattered about and a large tank in the corner.

It was a sloppy job, the damn dogs moved fast and that only let us block half the door with one large crate. I moved back and crouched behind some other boxes that were deeper in the room.

"Sir." It was Ivan. "This is one of the fuel storage rooms for small ships." He was looking at a large tank that was across the room and I noticed that the lettering on it read: Caution. Fuel. Explosive. Radioactive. "Radioactive, that means that it's lead lined and the hangar is in that direction. All signals will be blocked by it."

"Then we just have to hold out long enough that we know they made it out." The first wolf appeared at the door and we all fired at it. It was followed by more that began to try and claw their way into the room and we fired into them. Soon the door was just filled with bodies trying to get through, both dead and alive. Some got in, but never made it that far, being riddled by holes just a few feet in the room. The bodies piled up and the snarling and whining grew louder as it echoed around the room. Eventually the press of bodies was too great and the crate was merely shoved aside from their shear mass that was pressing against it.

Ivan was the closet to the door. We were staggered back so if they reached us, they would have to kill us one by one.

Ivan shot madly, he took out his side arm, now holding both his rifle and pistol in either hand and was just firing into the wave of fur that was getting close to him.

'Ivan." I yelled into the radio. He was about to be overrun.

"It is a good day to die." He yelled right before a swipe took his head off. His body swayed a bit, Arms still up and shooting for an instant before his body crumpled and disappear amidst the swarm of werewolves. There was nothing to do but keep shooting. My vision was blurred by tears. I noticed they were going after Crane now. I wouldn't let him go alone like Ivan did.

I charged forward, copying Ivan by pulling my side arm out and just fired. Every round hit and yet they kept coming.

"Nice of you to join me. I think we'll be joining Ivan here soon." He looked over at me. There was no point in aiming.

Enough time had passed at this point, Krauss would have escaped by now. I looked at the tank. Explosive.

Crane saw the tank as well. "Always wanted to go out with a bang." We had just a few seconds before we were overrun. The dogs scrambled over each other, their eyes staring at us, focused on us. Their teeth flashing in snarls and howls. I would be glad to be rid of them. Without needing orders, Crane raised his rifle at the tank. Better he did it than me, I would have miss. He fired.

The explosion threw me back against the wall. I fell in a heap to the floor. Alarms were blaring about a breach in my suit and that was it, all other systems were down. I couldn't hear the chatter of the radio nor could I see the vitals of what was left of the Spec Enforcers platoon. I couldn't move, I think my leg was broken as a sharp wracking pain shot up through it when I moved. The room was aflame and the whining of some dogs could be heard, but no barking. It was a relief.

"Sir?" A voice gasped. I looked up to see where the noise came from and I stopped breathing for second when I saw who it was. Sergeant Crane was laying there just a few feet away. His mask had shattered and blood was seeping out of the cuts he had on his face. The rest of his body wasn't in good shape either. I could see several deep wounds covering his body and the sticky red fluid was pooling around him. "Sir?" He repeated, reaching out for me.

"It's all right, Crane." I reached out too, but I could get to him. Neither of us had the energy to move closer so we laid there looking at each other with our arms out. "Things didn't go according to plan, but we'll get through, we always do."

He smiled at my words, but I could see that he didn't believe me. I didn't believe myself. "It's alright sir. The moment we stepped on that bridge, I knew that chances were slim to none for surviving." I could hear gurgling whenever he took a breath in, it made me wince.

Tears were streaming down my face. "It's all my fault Crane. I knew it too and yet I still continued with the mission." I looked into his eyes expecting to see hate for not making the right decision, but all I saw was the eyes of the man who had for years made it his duty to make me smile.

"You did your..." He coughed up blood and a bit flew over and landed on my mask. I didn't flinch at it. "You did your duty and I trusted you. I still do." He coughed up some more blood. He was beginning to become pale.

"Crane, you followed me through thick and thin. There is no other man that I would rather die next to." I tried, in vain, to grab his hand that was a few inches away.

"Same here, sir. Same here." He winced as another fit of coughing wracked his body.

"Stay strong Crane." It tore at me to see him dying and not being able to stop it. "Don't you dare die before I do. What would all of the ladies think?"

Crane smiled, showing his blood red teeth. "Yeah, your right. A billion women will mourn when they hear of this." He tried to laugh, but couldn't, Instead he made a wheezing noise.

I began to feel dizzy and a dark tunnel began to close around vision as I breathed in more of the gas that was in the air. I shook my head a bit and looked at Crane who was having difficulties of his own.

"Sir?" His voice came across weak and labored.

"Yeah?" The darkness had almost consumed my mind. All I could see was a small point of light in the center.

"My last words... Fuck this ship."

"You can do better than that." I wheezed. There was no reply. I laid there for a few more moments before I too fainted.