Dead Again by George Magnum

be sticking around.”
    “You have no God damn choice. What the hell are you going to do? You barely made it in here alive. Your men are hurt, and you have no fucking place to go.” Sheriff Jones was on the verge of yelling.
    “As I said, we’re on a mission. And I intend to fulfill that mission. I’m sorry, but our orders don’t allow for distractions. We have to move on.”
    Jones laughed. “And how you gonna do that? Your bird is down. You think you can just walk out of here? Have you looked out there? There are hundreds of those things. There’s eight of you. And where do you go after that?”
    “I told you, it’s classified.”
    Jones’ stare turned cold. “So is that it? Is this just about you? You just gonna let these people die?”
    Peterson suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve, and looked down to see a small boy, about ten years old, standing there. Peterson was struck, as if seeing a ghost. The boy looked exactly like Charlie, his deceased little brother. His eyes were exactly the same. The breath left Peterson’s lungs.
    “I’m scared. Please, save me?”
    Peterson’s heart was in his throat. He was looking at the spit image of his little brother. “What is your name, son?” he asked.
    “Doug,” his little voice answered.
    The voice of Peterson’s little brother rung in his ears. . . save me.
    Peterson surveyed the crowd again. Most of the civilians were standing now, looking at him. He saw all the desperate and hopeful faces. A priest stepped forward.
    “We’ve overheard you, Commander. You didn’t come here for us. We understand and we won’t cast stones if you choose to go on your way. But, maybe, sir, you send us help when you can?”
    A voice rang out from the crowd, “please sir, please. We’re going to all die here.”
    “We won’t survive without you.” the Mayor pleaded.
    Then the rest of the crowd joined in, begging Peterson to help.
    “We need your help, Commander,” Sheriff Jones said. “I’ve only got a few officers here. If we bust out without you, a lot of good people are gonna get hurt and killed. With your help, we can make it somewhere. You guys are better trained, and better armed.” His voice softened. “Please. I’m asking you for a favor.”
    Peterson surveyed the crowd again. Then, he looked back at the ghost of his brother, at little Doug.
    Something moved deep inside of him.
    “Yes, Doug,” he said, finally. “I’m going to do my best.”
    Peterson then turned to Sheriff Jones, “you got us. But we’re just going to get you out of here and get you to your next spot. Then we’re done.”
    “Commander,” Armstrong interjected, “that’s a bad idea. Those are not our orders. We have to stay on track with our mission.”
    “This is absolutely unacceptable,” Dr. Washington complained. “I’m on direct orders from our government. You have no authority to take this side trip anywhere. I outrank you, Captain. You have to submit to my rank.”
    Peterson turned and gave Washington a steely glance.
    “You can go off on any mission you want, Washington,” Peterson said. “I’m not stopping you.”
    Washington gulped, realizing that without Peterson and his men, he would be helpless.
    Peterson turned back to Sheriff Jones.
    “I assume this town has a hospital?”
    Jones looked back at him, then slowly nodded.
    “Mercy Hospital. It’s about a mile down the road. The last I heard, it was overrun.”
    “Well, that’s where we’re taking you,” Peterson said.
    “That’s a bad idea,” Jones said. “It’s a huge facility. We can’t possibly secure all of it.”
    “We’d get killed in that place!” interjected another cop.
    “How are you gonna secure a building like that?”
    “We don’t have to,” came a voice. She was an attractive woman with short hair in her late twenties. She turned to Peterson.
    “My name is Nurse Dee. I work at Mercy Hospital.” Her voice was tough, and Peterson liked that. “The basement was once an old World