Two
Face sat up in bed gasping when he heard Murdock scream. He grabbed a sweater that hung over the headboard and pulled it over his head, then ran to the door. He flicked the light switch. The light didn't come on. Oh great. He went back to his bed, banging his shins on it in the dark and cursing. Feeling around he found the flashlight he kept on the night stand and turned it on as he ran back to the door.
He opened the door and gasped, stumbled back. Murdock was right there, bare-chested and wild eyed.
"Murdock! What's wrong?"
"The dog!" Murdock cried, looking terrified. "The dog!"
More flashlight beams danced crazily along the hall between the bedrooms. Voices sounded, but Face paid little attention to them.
"What's wrong?"
"Who was that screaming?"
"The damn electricity is out again."
"The dog!" Murdock turned away from Face and ran along the hall, to the bathrooms.
"Look out!" Decker's voice. He must have headed over from his room, which was separated from the team's rooms by a small common area. His flashlight hit the ground and from the cursing that erupted it sounded as if he had done the same. Face ran past him, ran after Murdock, and caught up to him in the central corridor.
He grabbed Murdock's arm, shook it, tried to make Murdock focus.
"Murdock, look at me. It was just a bad dream. You're okay."
"The dog, Face, it's here. It's here!"
"What's he saying?" BA's voice came from behind Face. The others had followed them out.
"Something about a dog," Hannibal said. "Face, you know what he's talking about?"
"He just had a bad dream," Face snapped. "Stop pointing those damn flashlights in his eyes."
"He can't have... I mean, the wolf couldn't have got back inside somehow?" Decker said, sounding alarmed.
"He just had a bad dream!" Face insisted. Dammit all this chaos couldn't do Murdock any good, he needed to be back in bed, back in his room where it was peaceful and he could calm down. Murdock grabbed Face's arms and held on tight as if afraid something was going to sweep him away.
"Okay," Hannibal's voice snapped out decisively. "BA, Decker, we need to get that generator back on. Face," he made his voice quieter as he went on. "Take care of Murdock."
"Right, Colonel," Face said. He waited for a moment until the other three had moved away, and then turned to Murdock. Murdock's face was deeply shadowed as Face carefully kept from shining his flashlight beam into it. "You wanna go back to your room, Murdock?"
"I... I guess." Murdock said, letting go of Face's arms. He seemed a little calmer. He wrapped his arms around himself. "It's cold."
"Yeah, the generator went out again, but BA will fix it." Face suppressed his worry about the generator. That could wait. "Come on."
He took Murdock's arm and led him back to his bedroom. Murdock found a sweater and jumped into bed wearing it. He pulled the blankets up around himself.
"Sorry, Face, I guess I made a big ol' fool of myself." He gave a sheepish smile.
"We all get nightmares, Murdock." Face put the flashlight down on the night stand and sat on the bed.
"Even Decker?"
"After all we've done to him? If he doesn't have bad dreams about us I'd be insulted." He smiled.
Murdock smiled back for a moment, and then hung his head. He shivered.
"You're cold? You want another blanket?"
Murdock looked up and shook his head. "Don't think that's what's gonna help." He hugged himself again. Face sighed and got under the covers too. He sat with his back against the headboard so they were very close. Murdock pressed against his side, seeking more from the contact than body heat.
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Can you turn off the flashlight, Face?" Murdock asked after a while.
"Okay." Face said, sliding back the switch and plunging them into darkness.
In the dark Murdock slid one arm around Face and rested his head on Face's shoulder. Face sighed again, and put an arm around Murdock, patted his shoulder.
"It's okay, Murdock. Just try to sleep, I'm not going anyplace."
Just hang onto me, Murdock, Face thought. Just hang on. There's a long way to go yet. Just hang on
For a few minutes Murdock was silent and Face thought he'd fallen asleep.
"Face."
"Go to sleep."
"I want to tell you why I wanted the light off."
"Um, okay." Face said, mildly nervous. Murdock laughed, his body shaking against Face's.
"Don't worry, Face, I'm not that desperate yet." He went silent again, and then spoke in a more serious voice. "I don't want to be able to see the dog."
Face got more nervous. "The dog? Um - Billy?"
"You like Billy, Face?"
"Er, sure, Murdock."
"Billy's great, I really like Billy. But there's something I never told you. I don't always see Billy. Sometimes there's another dog."
Face felt Murdock shiver and then shivered himself as if the tremor passed from one man to the other. He didn't answer. He waited for Murdock to go on.
"He's not like Billy. I see Billy when I'm feeling okay. But the other dog, well, he's there when I'm not so okay."
Oh hell, Face thought.
"And you're seeing this other dog now?"
"Not now you've turned off the light. Well I can see his eyes. They kind of glow. He's over there in the corner, beside the dresser."
Face swallowed hard, involuntarily glancing in that direction. He couldn't see any glowing eyes of course.
"This, um, other dog, does he have a name?"
"Black Shuck."
"Right. Erm, Murdock, are you sure this isn't just the whole thing with the wolf preying on your mind?"
Murdock laughed again and Face felt him shake his head.
"Oh, Face, the wolf's a cute furry puppy in comparison to Shuck."
~~~~
The longest continual line of sight inside the station was from the south end of the west corridor directly though to the workshop. There were doors in the way but with them propped open the distance was enough to make a decent firing range.
The morning after Murdock told him about the other dog Face spent a long session shooting at the target set up in the far end of the workshop. Hannibal wanted them all to practice hard, get back up to spec. Because God forbid Decker beat any of them at the shooting contest. Face's feelings about the contest were that he couldn't give one hoot about it never mind two. But he practised anyway because right now it felt good to shoot things.
The exterior door behind him opened and he shivered at the blast of cold air, which was quickly followed in by Decker. Decker stamped snow off his boots and took off his coat, shook the snow off that.
"Snowing is it?" Face asked, hoping to annoy.
"No," Decker growled. "This is confetti, there's a wedding out there."
Despite his bad mood, Face couldn't help but grin, especially as Decker didn't crack a smile as he said it. Face had to admit the man could deadpan very nicely.
"You wanna get past?" Face asked.
"Maybe I'll wait a while."
"Check out the competition huh?" Face turned back and brought the rifle to nestle into his shoulder. He didn't let Decker's presence or scrutiny distract him as he lined up the shot. Slowly, never rush. He caressed the trigger and pulled it back gently. He was damn good at this and he knew it.
The shot was perfect. The rifle kicked back against his shoulder. Never be afraid of the kick he'd been taught.
He did three more before he decided to go and check out the results close up. Decker came with him. Face frowned at him. What was he up to now? Had to be more than just about the shooting. Decker couldn't be that bored.
"How's Murdock?" Decker asked as they walked. Face gave him a searching look. Was that anything but genuine concern? Deadpan again. No way to tell.
"He's fine." Face said. "Got some sleep after all that." Face had stayed in Murdock's room all night; to make sure that dog didn't sneak up on him again. They woke up in the morning back to back in the narrow bed. The electricity was on, but even so BA appeared tense as he studied the generator's technical manual over breakfast.
"Good," Decker said. "That's good."
They went into the workshop and checked the target. All of Face's shots were either inside or very close to the bull's eye. Decker nodded, looking genuinely impressed.
"You are good."
"My instructors said I was a natural. Said I could have gone on to be trained as a sniper if I'd wanted to."
"Why didn't you?"
Face shrugged, pinning up a fresh target on the wooden backing that was tied onto some spare mattresses from the unoccupied bedrooms.
"Lying in one place for days, dressed as a bush, waiting to blow some guy's head off didn't sound like my cup of tea. And some of the snipers I've met were a little... odd."
Decker nodded. "I suppose if you had gone that route you might never have ended up on Smith's team."
"Yeah and right this minute I'd be sitting in a hot tub in LA with a cute blonde." He shrugged again. "No sense on thinking about it. I mean there's a million ways life could be different if you'd done X instead of Y. I mean -" he smirked. "I could have ended up in your unit instead of Hannibal's."
Decker laughed, just a short bark of a sound. "Now that could have been interesting." Then he looked serious for a moment, studying Face. "Might have worked out."
"Yeah, right!" Now it was Face's turn to laugh.
Decker shook his head. "I mean it. I was always on the lookout for men with initiative who weren't too hung up on regulations. I was no bigger on rules than Smith."
"Yeah, Colonel, but it's a question of which rules each of you broke."
Decker at once went back to his usual frowning expression.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know, Decker." Face said. "There were some rules that even Hannibal didn't break. Rules involving the enemy's field hospitals for example."
Now Decker flushed. "I only ever hit positions I believed were harbouring Vietcong who could present an immediate threat to American forces." He rattled the words off fast.
Face cocked an eyebrow at him. "Wow, that sounds well rehearsed. Got it all ready for an inquiry board, huh?"
Decker narrowed his eyes right down to slits and then turned and marched out of the room. Face smiled to himself.
"Touchy."
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© Elizabeth Charles 2006