Free THEM (Season 1): Episode 3 by M.D. Massey Page B

opposite of the direction that the doc, Gabby, and Bobby had gone. Atkins promised me that they’d find the doc, but somehow I doubted that. It was a small comfort, at least, to know they hadn’t also been captured.
    When we got back to the camp, they marched me through the gates and straight back to the same quonset hut where I’d first met the colonel a few days back. As I walked through the front door, I reflected on the fact that this was exactly the way I walked in the last time, under guard and disarmed. And to my surprise, the crazy piece of shit was sitting behind his table again, looking at his maps, and still very much alive.
    The colonel glanced up as I was marched in. I saw he had quite a few cuts on his face; also, his right arm was in a sling and he had some crutches leaning against the table nearby. But otherwise, he was in pretty good shape for someone who just had a grenade go off next to him. I guess the surprise registered on my face, because he looked me in the eye and laughed.
    “Surprised to still see me standing. Or, well, I suppose sitting. As it turns out, one of the men saw the grenade you threw and tackled me to the ground, protecting me with his body. A good man, Gordon. I’m putting him in for a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, once we reestablish communications with command.” He nodded, and wiped his eye with his good hand.
    “You’re probably wondering how you got captured. Well, as soon as the men told me you and the captain were missing, and we found that idiot specialist who was on guard duty with you, I put two and two together and realized that you’d helped her escape. So, I sent out squads to wait at likely ambush points, on the odd chance that they’d run across one of you. And here you are.” He tapped the fingers of his uninjured hand on the table. “Now, what to do with you?”
    I stood there, stock still and looking him in the eye the whole time. Nothing I said or did would change his mind, and I was certain he’d already decided my fate, long before I walked in here. I figured firing squad would be his first choice, but I couldn’t be certain.
    He turned to look at Atkins, who’d been standing off to the side at attention with his weapon at port arms. What an asshole. “Atkins, is your squad responsible for bringing this traitor and deserter in?”
    Atkins cleared his throat and spoke up. “Yessir, we caught ’im over yonder past the range.”
    The colonel nodded. “Excellent work. I’ll be putting you all in for a promotion, once we dispose of your prisoner. Take him out to the center of camp, and tie him up to make an example of him for all the troops to see. Then, he’s going to the pit.”
    Atkins somehow managed a half-assed salute without dropping his piece-of-shit Chinese AK, and replied, “Yessir!” Then he and his squad marched me out and tied me up to an old light post in the center of camp, where I baked in the sun and suffered the hateful stares of most of the camp inhabitants.
    - - -
    A bout an hour later, the sergeant major walked up with Jones and Topo. I noticed that Jones was walking with a limp, and I took a small bit of satisfaction in that. The sergeant major looked me over, and then spoke in a low, clear voice. “Corporal Jones, Specialist Topo, I believe the prisoner needs to be checked for weapons on his person. Take him someplace secure and search him.”
    Jones gave me a murderous look. “Will do, Sergeant Major.” Topo was silent, and I could see why. His throat was bruised, and I could hear him wheezing a bit as he stood there.
    As the sergeant major walked off, I could hear him call back quietly over his shoulder, “The commander wants to send him to the pit later. Make sure you leave him in one piece.”
    Jones looked as though he was somewhat disappointed by the sergeant major’s instructions, and he leaned in to whisper in my ear, “I’m about to see how close to killing you we can get. And once they find that hot-ass