Chapter 14

One moment Kett had been on a battlefield, and the next he was in some strange moving vehicle, being held down. But Kett stopped struggling once he heard the kid with red hair mutter his brother's name.

"Cort? Did he just say Cort?" Kett asked.

The man that seemed to be in charge eyed him over,"What's it to you?"

"I have a brother named Cort, and I really don't think that there's many people out there with the same name," Kett replied.

"What's your last name?" A dark skinned man from the side asked.

"Cassell." Kett frowned when they gasped.

"Could this get any stranger?" The sideburned man holding him asked. The leader turned to him and shook his head,

"I think the word you meant was worse, Newkirk."

Newkirk nodded, "And what's you're name?"

"Kett." Kett answered, wincing when he bumped his arm, and trying to avoid looking at his broken ankle. It was hard though, since it was at an especially odd angle.

"Yeah, they've got to be bruva's. No one 'as a name like that." Newkirk nodded, and Kett squirmed a little in his arms.

"Can you let me go?"

"No." The man's answer was short.

"Just wondering." Kett frowned, relaxing his attempts to get away. He agreed with the leader. Could it get any worse? He felt bad for Jasper, wondering how his friend was doing. He hadn't meant to leave.

"What are we going to do with these two?" a shorter man with a strange accent asked. "I don't think London would know what to do with them."

"I agree." The leader nodded, "London would just send another Crittendon."

"Who?" Kett asked.

"Just an idiot," the shorter man said. "I'm LeBeau."

"Oh." He looked around the strange vehicle, frowning, "Uh, what are we in?"

"A car... Did you 'it your 'ead?" Newkirk asked.

"Newkirk, he came out of nowhere, and is losing blood, I think he's allowed to not know what a car is," their leader scolded him.

"Oui Pierre, not everyone is as observant as you." LeBeau's tone turned the compliment sour, and Newkirk's expression followed.

"Shut it, Louis."

"May I inquire where we're going then?" Kett asked, addressing the leader or LeBeau.

"Back to camp!" An enthusiastic looking young man who until then hadn't talked spoke up.

Their leader laughed at Kett's hopeful face. "What Carter here meant was the POW camp. We're kind of, 'Prisoners of War.'"

Kett was slightly confused, "And no one's noticed that you're not at camp?"

"Not yet." The man's smile was almost evil.

"Ok ..." Kett nodded, "I think I get the gist."

"And hopefully they won't ever find you there," LeBeau said.

"Ah, ..." Kett paused, "Who captured you? And why? And what are you doing so far out? And what was Cort doing here?!" He began to pummel them all at once with everything on his mind.

"Woah, slow down kiddo," the leader put up his hands. "I am Colonel Hogan of the U.S. Air Force," he stopped at Kett's blank look.

"U.S Air Force?"

Hogan shook his head, "Maybe we should wait until we get back to camp."

"No, no!" Kett quickly amended, "Please, continue."

"But you don' even know wha' the bloody U.S Air Force is," Newkirk interjected. "'ow do you 'spect you'll understand?"

"I'm good with just rolling with it," Kett replied.

"Okay ..." Hogan didn't look very sure, but went on anyway to explain in detail about WWII and Germans, and, well, ... Everything. "We should be there soon." He finished, "We had to pick your brother and his friend up from Gestapo Headquarters in Berlin. They really worked 'em over."

"I hate war." Kett spoke angrily, and everyone murmured agreement, "So... Who's driving?"

"That would be Olsen. Our outside man."

"Colonel,"Newkirk spoke up, "We should 'ave brought Wilson."

"I know, but I couldn't get him in time, and we left too soon," Hogan looked troubled as he gazed at August, "And who knows how much longer O'Riley and Cassell could have held out ..." From that conversation, Kett gathered that Wilson was a doctor of sorts, but before he could ask, LeBeau announced,

"We're here!"

When Kett got out of the vehicle he found that they were in the woods, and cast an inquisitive glance at the others. They led him a little ways off, but seemed to not really be going anywhere really.

Carter and Newkirk got into a little argument over a tree stump. LeBeau rolled his eyes and lifted the top off a stump revealing an entrance to a tunnel. Kett helped them lift August down, then went down second to last, careful of his bad ankle, "So, you guys have a network of tunnels under the camp you're supposed to be prisoners in?" Kett asked as they led him. "And the... Germans have no idea?"

"Pretty much," Carter chuckled, "We sabotage them every chance we get to!"

He sounded so very happy and optimistic that Kett found himself smiling slightly. They arrived to a bigger part of the tunnel with a few bunks. They carefully laid August on one, and Carter was sent to go fetch Wilson.

Kett listened in to a bit of a discussion between Newkirk and Hogan. "Wha' are we gonna do abou' tha' sorry excuse for an Englishman, Crittenden?"

"For obvious reasons we need to get him on his way to London as soon as possible. The problem is he brought a nice size group and is insistent that he leaves after they've all made it safely out of the country."

"Then maybe we could send them all a' once. I' migh' work."

"Yes, but it might be suicide, especially with Crittenden leading them."

"'Ow'd that ruddy officer ever make Colonel?"

"I don't know, it's your country!"

"Well then, you can understand why previously I 'ad such a distrust and... disliking for officers," Newkirk said. Apparently whoever this fellow countryman of his was made it hard for him to defend their country.

Carter returned with a tall thin man with dark hair and eyes, along with a medical kit. "Glad you could make it, Joe." Hogan seemed relieved.

"What happened to him?!" Wilson asked in horror, immediately starting to treat his wounds.

"The Gestapo," Hogan answered. Wilson nodded and continued working.

They all stood around in silence. Finally Wilson announced that he'd done all he could. They all nodded, and then Wilson scanned each one of them until his focus came to Kett.

Kett didn't interject when Wilson started cleaning and dressing his arm. While he was, Kett heard, 'The major is in the camp!' enter forcefully into his thoughts. Everyone glanced at August, but he appeared to have no change. In a second, Hogan was in action,

"Everyone get changed and up in the barracks. Even you Wilson, they may do roll call. Kett, you stay with August. Don't wander off. Hopefully we should be back soon."

They left quickly. Kett sat down on a bed across from August and started studying him. Now that the doctor had cleaned him up Kett could tell that his hair really was red and not just matted with blood. He looked pretty badly beaten, the Gestapo seemed good at what they did. Pretty soon Kett got bored, so he just started talking.

"So Cort was with you? Is he as badly hurt as you? I hope he's all right, knowing Cort he probably is. I really hope Jasper is all right. We didn't really know each other long, but being in an unfamiliar situation with someone can help make friends easier, I guess. I just really hate that I... left, whatever, on the battle field. Seriously... I wonder what would happen if I did wander just a little, I don't think I'd get lost. What's going on above ground?" Kett rambled on. He really did want to go explore, but he didn't want to leave August alone. After what seemed like ages, but was probably only ten minutes, August's eyelids began to move slightly. "And now you're fighting to wake up?" Kett asked him. "If I were you I think I'd sleep a little longer. You must hurt a lot."

'But you were with Jasper,' he heard in his head.

Kett no longer knew what to say. He finally settled on the most apt expression of his thoughts that he could muster, "Whaa'?!"

August's eyes finally opened, and he blinked rapidly. "I feel like dirt," Kett barely heard him mutter.

"I bet," Kett chuckled trying to regain his composure, "You look awful, really terrible."

"I really wish... well I really wish that I were at a hospital or something, I think that I could really use some anesthetics, morphine probably." As August spoke, Kett had an image of a bright, clean building full of weird instruments. "Sorry, I figured you probably didn't know what I was talking about."

"Yeah... so how are you doing that? And you know Jasper?" Kett asked, straight to the point.

"I'm a telepath, I'm really not going into more detail. I have a feeling you'll get used to it super quickly. And yeah, Jasper and I are friends."

"Okay ..." Kett nodded, "And you met Cort?"

"Yeah... so he's your... brother?" August asked shaking his head. Kett silently wondered if August had heard them say that, or if it was the telepathy thing.

"Something is going on here, I'm not sure if I like it," August murmured.

"Amen to that," Kett agreed. "So, how long have you been here?"

"A day or so. And I take it you haven't been at home for the last while?"

Kett laughed, "Not in the least."

"Where have you been?"

"Can't you just read my mind to find out?" Kett cocked his head.

"Yes, but that's not morally right in my opinion." August cracked a painful smile.

"Oh, well ..." Kett was a little surprised at August's integrity, "Maybe it's better that you have that ability, I think I would misuse it."

"It is a temptation." August started to nod, but stopped with a grimace, "So where were you?"

"Jasper kept on saying stuff about Star Wars. But I'm a little irked, I had planned on becoming a Jedi, but I can't use the force here." Kett frowned, "I had just figured it out too! Guess I'm stuck as a Padawan." His face suddenly brightened, "at least I still have this!" He triumphantly held up his light-saber, pressing a button to let it expand into it's full green glory. August looked surprised, which made Kett ridiculously pleased.

"Jasper with a light-saber?" He sounded, amused and ... Worried?

"Yes, his is red though," Kett replied.

"Well, Jasper's stones are usually red. That is seriously why it's his favorite color," August rolled his eyes. "But aren't the bad guy's sabers red?"

Kett smiled, "You should see him in black robes."

August actually laughed, then winced, immediately regretting it. "Jasper dressed like a bad guy? I'm sure he was repulsed... I know he can't stand dark auras."

Kett paused, "He said nothing about it," he noted. He was still waving his light-saber around a little.

August shrugged. "You might not want to let anyone see that," he warned.

"You can tell me when they're coming, right?" Kett grinned wickedly.

"Yeah," August admitted. "Sadly they'll be occupied for a while. We have a lot of time to kill."

"Occupied?" Kett's green saber disappeared with a shhhhhhk!

"Yep," August grimaced. "The people who had Cort and I, and well... you know, they discovered that we were missing, so they are inspecting the camp."

"Do you think that they will find that it was them who did it?" Kett asked.

"Doubt it, Hogan is very clever, and they are good at covering things up," August winced again.

"You should probably rest." Kett didn't really know August, but he already found himself worrying about him. He had been Cort's friend, after all.

"I know, I know. I don't like being out of it though. When I'm unconscious my mind kind of wanders sometimes. I think I would rather be awake... Maybe," August argued.

Kett felt that maybe he should be a little more insistent but shrugged. "All right... Maybe you should, well, stop talking at least."

'Fine,' August consented.

"So, how would your mind wander?" Kett couldn't help but ask.

'Have you ever just laid there and listened into someone's conversation, too tired to add anything, or even let them know you were awake?' August asked. Kett nodded. 'Well, it's kind of like that, but I find myself wrapped into people's thoughts a bit... But often they aren't even close to me, so it's not too distinct, like listening into a conversation when you're partially asleep. I just don't like it, it only started to happen a while ago though, Jasper thinks it has a bit to do with PTSD or something, it doesn't happen when I fall asleep on my own though.'

"Then fall asleep now, on your own," Kett replied. That sounded interesting, but August really needed rest.

'But I don't really want to.' August complained, before cracking an obviously painful yawn.

"It's okay, I don't mind being alone. And you won't be missing much, they're all up top." Kett assured him, only to realize that the telepath was asleep. He shrugged, hoping that Cort's friend would be okay for a while alone, 'cause he was going exploring.

There were a lot of tunnels! Every single turn had another just up ahead! He found a room that was obviously a fitting room, one filled with strange technology, and another with shelves and boxes filled with supplies. There was a lab, tons of ladders, and several signs put up advertising different things and labeling tunnels with letters. Even on his broken ankle, he'd managed to traverse the tunnels a couple more times before finally getting brave enough to go down the obvious restricted one. He wished Kale hadn't caught his ankle with his heel like that, but figured he'd just walk it off eventually.

The restricted tunnel had no lamps, and so was completely dark, which was all right with him, as he had excellent night eyesight. He limped cautiously down the tunnel, wondering where it led to, and almost tumbled down into a hole. A deep hole. More like a shaft, actually ... He looked at the older beams of wood holding this section up, and surmised that they had run into an old mine when they were tunneling. It sure smelled a lot like the Ghekan Mines, after all.

He knelt down, mindful of his ankle and felt around the shaft edge a bit. Great handholds, and they probably went on for ages too ... There was something terrible about the shaft, yet at the same time, tantalizing.

He turned around, gripping the edge for a moment as he began to lower himself down, then he began to descend.If there was one thing that Kett had been good at his whole life, it was climbing, and so with relative ease and speed (despite his ankle, which slowed him down a little) he clambered down the shaft.

Upon reaching the bottom, he let himself drop to the ground not too far away, landing lightly on his good ankle and keeping his other one well away from the ground. It was pitch black down there, and he could still sense that foreboding. He knew he ought to go back, but this place felt so out of place, that he felt like he'd removed himself from the world. In a sense, it was peaceful.

He was ready to leave, but something about this place seemed extremely important, And he felt like he should remember it. But he finally managed to shrug off the feeling as he leapt up, grabbing a couple of handholds and hoisting himself into and up the shaft.

Author's Note

Not so long. Maybe the next one will be medium, I'm sensing a trend if it is.