Escape

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I've been in a serious mood these past couple days so I figure I may as well write my serious fic while I'm in the mood.

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Hogan waited inside the barracks for Carter to return from blowing the bridge. All he had to do was set a charge. Simple enough. Hogan wasn't worried in the least. Carter was a professional, in his eyes, when it came to explosives. Things had been pretty lulled in the forest too; not too many patrols. Klink had popped in that night for a nightly inspection. But Carter was present then and the German's didn't expect a thing. Once the Germans had left Carter dressed into his dark clothing and headed out with the explosives. He had been proving himself more and more lately that he could handle missions on his own. Especially one like this. It was after all just to blow a bridge, that the German's didn't seem to overly care about. It served as simple transportation. All other security was guarding another bridge clear on the other side of Hammelburg.

It was eleven at night. Carter left barely a half hour ago. He wasn't due back for another hour or two. However there came a tapping on the bunk entrance to the tunnel.

Newkirk and Lebeau looked at one another. Newkirk opened the bunk and up climbed Carter.

Kinch ran to get the colonel who was in his office.

"Andrew, what are you doing? You're supposed to-"

"Guys! We're in trouble." Carter had terror in his eyes.

Hogan came out a worried look on his face. "What happened? Patrols?"

Carter shook his head panting. "No… Gestapo… they're coming here for us!"

"What?" It was a whisper and only that. Everyone looked from one person to another as Carter explained.

"The underground agents, Tiger and Danzig, came and found me. You had told Danzig that we were handling the bridge tonight." Carter said it as a fact not a question. He had heard the colonel telling the underground that they would be at the bridge that night. They both had got the news and waited for Carter to arrive to tell him. Luckily he didn't arrive too late or not at all.

Hogan nodded.

"They said, that an underground agent defected and spilled everything about us." Carter was still panting. "The Gestapo will be here by morning if not sooner. That gives us barely enough time to get out of here. Hopefully." Carter was still panting from telling what was going on. He prayed they had any time to get out.

No one moved.

Carter looked around at them like they were crazy when in fact they were stunned.

Kinch was the first to move. He booked past Carter pushing his friend aside slightly to get down into the tunnel to contact London for an emergency sub to pick them up.

Hogan moved next. "Burn everything. Carter get some of your explosives when we leave we need to blow the tunnel to leave no trace. Olsen get to the other barracks and get everyone out now. We move NOW." Hogan ran into his office to grab the last bits of things they might need. Newkirk and Lebeau ran to grab maps and papers of all kinds and to burn them. Carter jumped into the tunnel and began grabbing every bit of explosives he had. He still had the explosives he was supposed to use for the bridge. He didn't blow it up he figured getting the news back to everyone was more important than some stupid bridge. He gathered everything and set the timers for three hours. They would be gone by then. He knew that.

An hour passed slowly and terrifyingly. The other barracks were out first on their way to the coast to meet the sub that was well on it's way at high speed. There was no way London was going to let anything happen to their best team of underground agents. The woods were being scouted by other underground agents as well to keep the men safe in case the Germans happened across them as they made their escape.

Hogan and his top men made their way to the exit. The timers on the bombs still having a bit to go before they went off. They were armed and ready. Olsen and Wilson had led the other men of the camp off in small groups to the coast. The maps and papers and other things had been burned wherever they would and as quickly as they could. The stove was still burning with papers, maps, and books that the men had stuffed in as tight as they could go. The stove would probably be burning for a while. If it burnt down the barracks they wouldn't care. They wouldn't be in it.

Hogan looked through the periscope and saw a car coming up the road. Just one car. No doubt being followed at a distance by other trucks that held guards ready to arrest the men. Hogan pushed the scope up and then turned. "Let's go." He was followed by Kinch, Lebeau, Newkirk then Carter. As Kinch made his assent after Hogan. Carter tapped Newkirk on the shoulder.

Newkirk turned and saw an almost pleading look on the young man's face. He looked to the gloved hand. Newkirk smiled. Typical of Carter. "Sure mate." Newkirk took the mouse out of Carter's hand and put it in his own pocket. Carter had holes in his pockets after all and there was no way he'd lose his dear friend Felix. Newkirk didn't mind. He'd grown somewhat fond of the little mouse. They all had. He was one of them after all. It was Newkirk's turn to climb. As soon as he was half way up the ladder he felt Carter accidentally knocked against his boot beneath him. Carter must have been eager to get the heck out of there.

Once the two were out of the tunnel they scurried as quickly and carefully as they could to where Hogan, Kinch, and Lebeau waited. "We ready?" Hogan asked everyone and got nods and affirmatives in response. They moved off deeper into the woods. It was so dark without a shining moon and nothing but cloud cover. Which wasn't that bad. It was good cover in the dark for them. The snow on the ground created loud crunching sounds as they moved through it. Kinch was at the back covering their footprints. Hogan told him to cover the tracks in the snow as well as he could. The snow was packed and not as soft and easy to sweep over the tracks as it had been on the last mission after the snow had freshly fallen.

A wind was picking up slightly. Hogan stopped abruptly along their path. Everyone's hearts began to beat faster than they had moments before, although they were racing to begin with. Hogan dropped to the ground Newkirk and Carter on either side of him Kinch and Lebeau behind them. Newkirk couldn't hear his ranking officer breathing. No doubt too afraid to breath. The Englander looked ahead. There behind a bush was a guard from camp looking at them. Newkirk glanced at Carter who was staring right back not moving. Hogan was doing the same. Newkirk could see fear in the men's eyes although it was so dark. He wasn't sure if they'd been caught or not. The guard continued to look right at them. Newkirk wasn't sure how much more he could take. He saw Hogan lower his head closer to the ground where they were lying. Eyes open, watching. Like a dog who thinks he's seen something and thinks it might be dangerous and must be cautious.

Then the guard took a step. Hogan's eyes shot wider. Newkirk could see the worry in them even more now. It was without a doubt pure terror. Carter had the same look and was visibly shaking. Hogan was stiff as a board.

Newkirk looked back to the guard.

The guard looked over and around the bush from where he stood, shook his head, turned and went in the opposite direction.

Hogan let out a shaky breath he'd been holding. The vapor in the breath could be seen in the air just above the snow level. They waited until they were sure the guard was gone. Hogan stood first, crouched slightly. Then Newkirk and Kinch. Carter was the last to get up. Newkirk pulled him to his feet. Carter was still shaking. "Mate, e's gone." Newkirk said trying to comfort the young man.

Carter looked at him then enveloped himself in his arms. "Yeah…" it was a relieved word.

Newkirk noticed the gesture by Carter. He was cold. Blimey, all he had on was his dark clothes. He wasn't even wearing any boots just some worn shoes and very thin socks.

"Come on." Hogan breathed the words as quietly as possible so he wouldn't be heard by anyone else.

Newkirk looked at his commanding officer then at Carter who moved into line behind Hogan.

They jumped when they heard an alarm go off behind them. Dogs began barking like crazy and shouts in German could be heard. Hogan grabbed his men and pulled them along behind him. It wouldn't be long before the Germans began combing and running through the woods. He had to get his men to safety. The group began running as fast as they could and as carefully as they could through the woods, avoiding any patrols they might come across.

Carter saw a guard up ahead. Why were they still running? He grabbed Hogan's coat and yanked him back knocking into everyone else and causing them to fall to the ground. The wind was now gusting and was too loud for the guard to hear them fall into the crunching snow. Hogan looked at Carter with an angry glare but Newkirk had seen the guard as well and pointed ahead of them to a tree where only the point of a gun could be seen in the darkness. It may have looked like a branch to anyone but Newkirk and Carter noticed it was too perfectly shaped to be a branch. The wind gusted and yanked Hogan's hat off of his head and blew it off of into the forest somewhere to his left. He had more important things to worry about.

They heard shouts behind them and turned to see off in the distance a group of German soldiers. Ahead of them the guard behind the tree had emerged and was looking in their direction for the group of soldiers. He was going to wait for them to come to him. He took a step forward.

Hogan had lost his pistol in the snow when he fell. He reached over and took Newkirk's pistol. He made a motion from them to stay. He began to quietly crawl off but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Carter with sad eyes. Hogan gestured for the young man to let go but Carter shook his head and reached past the colonel to grab the hand gun. When he had it he handed it back to Newkirk. Then he leaned in and whispered something inaudible to the others and Hogan lied there in shock as Carter crawled away before he could grab his ankle to stop him.

"Sir." Newkirk said sharply and was immediately silenced by a hand over his mouth. Hogan looked over to the guard who was slowly making his way over to them. He was about ten feet from them when they heard an explosion in the distance. Carter's bombs had gone off. Everyone, even the guard, snapped their wide eyes toward the direction of the camp. Smoke and fire was visible in the distance. Screams from the camp could just barely be heard over the roaring wind.

A loud echoing gun shot went off in the opposite direction of the camp and passed them where Carter had crawled.

Was it him who shot? Or was he being shot at? Hogan wasn't sure.

The guard went running off in the direction of the gun shot as did the soldiers behind them. Hogan waited until the soldiers had run passed them before turning to his men.

"Sir, why did you let him go?" Lebeau asked.

Hogan thought back to the minutes before Carter left.

Carter had leaned in and cupped Hogan's ear to talk to him. "I'll lead them off. You get the other's to safety. They need you. I'm expendable, so I'm the one to do it. Not you. You're not expendable. You are our leader and the one who takes care of us. I'm not. They need you." Carter had looked him in the eyes as he repeated this fact. "I'll do my best to get back. I promise. Don't wait up for me." His smile was sad as he moved on. He probably thought he wouldn't make it back.

Newkirk sat in the snow. "'Expendable'?" How could Carter think that. He was their friend. Logically, he supposed, to the current mission he was, but that didn't make a difference. They loved him like a brother. He WAS their little brother. The one that is supposed to be protected. Feeling rotten, they moved on to the coast, hoping that Carter would catch up with them on their way.

They had no such luck. They got to coast without a single patrol coming near them though. They heard gun shots constantly through the roar of the wind the entire time. On the edge of forest, they looked to the water and the surrounding area; no patrols. The sun was breaking just over the distant horizon indicating dawn approaching on their fourth day of fleeing. They moved off to the shore and signaled the sub. The other men must have been on it already. It was probably over crowded too, it was the only sub in the area.

On the way to the sub, Hogan and the others wondered what had become of Carter, had he beaten them to the sub? But then why would there still be gun fire. The underground was said to be in the forest helping them. Would they help Carter? Would they get to him in time? Or would they be caught right along with him? He tried asking the man taking them to the sub but he didn't know names of anyone that was brought aboard. He had a serious rush job and full boat as he took the other men from the Stalag earlier through many trips from the sub and back.

The Commander of the sub had been taking a list of all the men who had come onto the sub. Everyone BUT Carter was on the list. The sub had submerged to hide itself, incase spotted by German patrols, while it waited for the last man to arrive. It was passed dawn and the patrols and Germans were at the coast looking for the escaped prisoners. The commander of the sub came to Hogan who was waiting and watching for any sign of Carter. "Colonel Hogan, we must move on. He wont make it passed those guards that are on the beach. They're sure to be there for a long while searching. There's no way he'd get to us in time. He's probably been caught." The commander placed a supportive hand on Hogan's shoulder.

Hogan sighed and slumped his shoulder's defeated. He was right. He nodded solemnly and the commander left to inform his men to move out and head for England.

Newkirk was standing in the corner. Carter was his friend and they were leaving him behind in Gestapo hands. He felt so rotten. Why hadn't they gone after him? True that if they went in a group they'd have been spotted instantly. Newkirk left to try and find some place he could be alone.

They'd never see the young man again, would they? Everyone grieved among themselves the entire trip to London. None of them cared how free they were if they couldn't share it with Andrew.

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To Be Continued…