-CHAPTER 2-
Sam helped carry a litter into post op. They were almost finished. It had been another 17 hour shift. They were all tired. They were thankful they were finished.
"Sleep! I need sleep!" Hawkeye hollered out.
"I just need to think about Peg and I'll be fine for a few more hours." Hunnicutt mumbled, half asleep and not realizing what he was saying. The sun was coming up on the horizon, signaling a too long work period. It sparkled on the frost covering what was left of the trees and bushes.
They had completely forgotten about the Sam situation. 17 hours of meatball surgery could do that to one. Sam stumbled out of post op and stumbled into Hawkeye, bounced off, and smacked into Hunnicutt who planted his feet not to stumble to the side himself.
"I think I could sleep a week before I'm awake enough to sleep a week!" Sam said, yawning deeply.
The three of them walked silently back to the Swamp. But of course, nothing for them was ever easy.
"I'm looking for a doctor Pierce?" a rugged voice said behind them. BJ turned to the voice, fully prepared to tell him that Doctor Pierce was dead, (it wasn't a lie. Hawk looked dead on his feet period), when he saw the rising sun glint off of something.
"He's got a gun." he said forcefully for Hawkeye and Sam to hear.
Everyone paused. Both Hawkeye and Sam turned around. The still freezing air went right through their veins.
The man was tall and built. He had more scars on his face than they had ever seen. He was frightening. Sam unconsciously gripped BJ's arm.
"C'mon man. Just put the gun down. This is a MASH unit. We've had enough bloodshed." Hawkeye said, putting a hand out carefully.
"Enough! You, me, and your little friends are going into your operating room and you'll help 'my' little friend to get better.' the man yelled.
"What's going on out here?" ordered Colonel Potter, coming around the corner with Father Mulcahy and Klinger on his heels.
"Now Pierce!" the man yelled, ignoring the colonel's question.
"Where is this buddy of yours?" Sam asked, his voice clearer than he felt.
"He's at the back of your operating room. Now let's move!" the man yelled once more, reaching forward and grabbing Sam by the arm, shoving him forward. BJ and Hawkeye made a move to remove the man's tightening grip on Sam but the sudden gun to their faces made them back off.
They silently made their way into the building through the office and into the OR where the man let go of Sam. They waited while the man, still training the gun on them, went to the back fo the operating room and grabbed a man lying limply against the closed door.
"Let's talk about this Wallings." the wounded man complained.
"Shut up Bennett. They're gonna fix you up really quick and then you're mine." Wallings sneered. He looked back to the doctors.
"Bennett here tried to make a run for it. I got him; got him good. Superiors want him whole for interrogation. One of the men of my unit wouldn't shut up about how Pierce saved his leg and I figured you're the perfect one to patch him up." Wallings said.
"You want me to patch him up to put him in front of a firing squad?!" Hawkeye yelled, outraged by the idea.
Wallings sneered and laughed.
"Just remember who's holding the gun." he said.
-4077-
"I heard the man say Wallings." Klinger said, coming back around the corner of the building. The MPs had ordered everyone who could walk out of the office and post op.
Colonel Potter was standing with Father Mulcahy. Houlihan had come to assess the situation before Potter had requested her to watch over the patients in post op. Beds had been pushed out of the line of fire and near the door to the office. The staff had wanted everyone as far from the OR as possible.
"Radar get on the horn and-"
"I'll get on the horn to see what I can find out about Wallings." Radar said at the same time as Colonel Potter. Potter just rolled his eyes. He was used to Radar's senses. Radar ran off to make the call. He had to crawl through the office to get to Potter's office for the phone. Potter didn't like it but they were cut off from the world without it.
"Did you see the wounded?" Potter asked Klinger.
"Yeah. Chest wound. Looks bad." Klinger said grimly.
-4077-
BJ and Hawkeye gazed over the wound, their hearts pounding more than usual. They had to help the soldier. Not just because it was their sworn duty but also because a man was pointing a rather nasty looking gun at them. They hadn't been able to scrub, forced to just roll their sleeves up to avoid soiling them with blood.
"That bullet's in their pretty deep." BJ mumbled over the unconscious wounded man.
"Mhm. It's gonna take some time to get it out. It's probably lodged right in the right paravertebral. Probably severed some arteries with the amount of blood pumping out. From what I can see, the bullet's done so much damage that I don't think there's much we can do." Hawkeye said.
BJ sighed and looked toward Wallings. He was glancing out one of the doors, into the abandoned office (Radar had abandoned it after his phone call).
"What are we going to do about tall, dark, and gun toting?" he asked.
Hawkeye sighed.
"Look, uh, Wallings. If we try to take that bullet out, we'd just be causing him more pain. There's nothing we can do." he said hesitatingly. The decision pulled at his conscience. He couldn't just let a man die but Bennett was so far gone. He would be causing harm, which went against everything he believed.
Wallings was quiet. Sam gripped the edge of the table where he was sitting, out of the way. A quiet hostage taker was like ice in the pit of his stomach.
"You're sure?" Wallings asked, oddly calm.
"I'm sorry." was all BJ said.
Wallings moved away from the doors and came over to the table, glancing down at Bennett. He showed no remorse to the dying man. Even with the news given, Wallings' face was stone cold.
"Well then, I guess someone will have to take his place." he said, cocking his gun and looking up to the doctors.
In the corner, Sam gasped, grabbing his side and bent over, nearly falling off the table.
Wallings looked at him and smiled.
-TBC-
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