RED Engineer: The Purrer's Cry

They say… they say that you must fight to protect those that deeply cared about. Whether be a childhood memory, family, friends, and loved ones. But what about the lil’ guys that we hold into our cradling arms? Like cats, dogs, birds, or rats? And I mean we see that ol’ Australian with his freakin’ owl perched on top of his shoulder during occasional matches, or the Doc and his bird, Archimedes.

Luckily for them that they can fly whenever there’s danger near them. But not my lil’ Buddy. He can’t fly at all, and is really scared to come out of my pocket when those dang BLUs would fire their guns at me. But that’s where I come in. As an ol’ Texan of the RED team, I would do anythin’ to protect the lil’ fella.

Even if it costs my life, I would surely protect him. Bonded at heart, and such a bond like that can never be broken forcibly. Even death cannot break this bond.





I coughed violently as I tried to get some oxygen into my sagging lungs, but with very little success. The arrow, shot by the other team’s Sniper, was lodged into my heaving chest and the pain was becoming unbearable as it shifted lightly against my important organs in my chest cavity.  I grimaced, my face contorted into an never-ending pain cycle as I knew what’s going to happen to me.

I knew, in my mind, that I’m going to die.

I was hoping, like last time, that I would Respawn back into the safety clutches of our team’s base. But unfortunately, thanks to that no good Spook who sabotaged the system with his trusted Sapper and his careful handling of keeping it sabotaged for good, that’s no longer the case anymore. If I die here, then I die for good. And I mean permanently.

I forced yet another violent cough as a thin line of my blood flowed from the right corner of my mouth. I know this is going to be the end of good ol’ Engineer of the RED team, but where’s the Doc? Shouldn’t he be here right now, tending to my wounded chest and getting me back onto my feet with his medi-gun? Or did he die by the hands of those dang BLUs? I guess that answers that particular question, which I’m assuming that he’s dead because I can hear the screams and cries of my other teammates calling out to him.

Sorry, fellas. Doc’s not coming to save us this time. We’re all alone out here; wounded, dyin’ and at mercy of those damn BLUs, I bitterly thought to myself. I coughed violently again and another wave of fresh blood seeped from my mouth. We’re all done for.

With the strength of my right arm, I carefully – without disturbing the arrow - removed the welding goggles from my hazel-colored eyes as I looked around the scenery around me. It has been days since I’ve seen the clear color of my surroundings without the heavy hue of darkness of those goggles that obscured my vision. The sun was shining brightly today, almost enough that I nearly shielded my eyes with my right forearm, but I decided not to. I’m more concerned that if I make any sudden movement, the arrowhead would puncture or graze a blood vein, and possibly the muscle of my heart. I don’t intend of dying here quickly, but that would be nice instead of suffering like this.

But the reason why I don’t want to die now is my little Buddy. You see, that little fella is the reason I don’t want to die in general because if I go now, then who’s going to take care of him? Even though he’s just a little kitten, but we have a special bond towards one another. I would take him to matches such as this – but I hide him in a safe location, like inside a box or a stack of tires or anything else that’ll keep him from getting harmed – and keep him safe from the folks of the BLU team.

To be honest, I don’t care whether if they capture our Intelligence or our points. That, I’ll let my Sentry worry about that. I’m far more concerned is my little Buddy. I would be horrified if someone else than me found him. Who God knows what they might do to an innocent kitten like Buddy. Hell, over my dang dead body! And not if I could help that!

I would protect him, even if it costs my life. I made an internal promise to myself that I will, and I’m going to keep it.

I didn’t realize that my head was hanging off to the side as my focus on this world began to fade from me. I guess that my time among the living is nearing its end, huh? With my eyes starting to go blurry for me, which it is the tall-tale sign that life’s going to end soon.

Meeew. Meeeeeew.

When I heard his cute little cries, I immediately snapped back into focus and gazed at the stacked boxes that I stashed the little fella in. Buddy’s tiny head – and his most adorable green puppy-like eyes – would pop up and greet me. I watched with careful eyes as he jumped out of the box and landed onto the woodwork with graceful paws. He quickly strutted over to me and licked the naked skin of my left forearm, mewing at me for attention.

I gave a weak chuckle and gently pick him up by scooping my hand around his tender, soft stomach and let him down onto my torso, ever so carefully of not moving the arrow embedded within the flesh of my chest.

“Hey there, lil’ Buddy. How’s my lil’ fella doin’? I asked weakly to the kitten.  I smiled and began scratching him behind the ears, which he purred loudly in response. I scratched at the same spot for a few good minutes before I stop completely and looked at him, my smile disappeared from my face. “Listen, bud. Papa Dell here ain’t gonna make it, and you and I both know which fate its gonna be.”

Meeeeeeeeew.

I watched intently as the little black and white kitten swivelled his small ears to and fro and cock his tiny head to the side, indicating that he is confused on what his best friend is trying to tell him. I placed a hand on his furry back and kept it there for assurance, “I know that it is hard for you to understand what I’m sayin’ here, but I am not gonna make it through this. The Respawn’s been sabotaged by that good-fer-nothin’ snake in the grass! This time… I’m actually dyin’ and I won’t be around to protect you anymore.”

Meeeeeeeew. Meeeeeeeeeew.

I could feel his little paws pawing through the thick material of my coveralls, coming awfully close to the wound that the arrow resided. I wanted to scold him for nearly clawing at the raw flesh, but I didn’t have the strength to do it. Nor I have the heart to do it anyways, not in my state. I returned to pet him again, but I went from the top of his head to the base of his tail instead of going for behind the ears.

But not even for one full minute that I coughed violently, hacking and spitting dribbles of fresh blood in front of me – including onto Buddy. I couldn’t tell whether if he’s afraid or not because I had my eyes squeezed shut, choking back another cough and winced in pain as the violent movement of my coughing fit rustled the wooden shaft of the arrow.

Meeeeeeeeew. Meeeeeeeew.

It felt like an eternity has passed as my coughing fits died down, but I was in another dilemma; I could barely breathe at all. It must have been that last one that might have grazed or even punctured my lung, perhaps filling the failing organ with my life fluid. And now, I am choking with my very own blood. When I finally opened my eyes, I was greeted with the puppy-eyed look from Buddy, which he had bits of my blood splattered onto his. I frowned and tried the best I could, with my weakening eyes, as I wiped as much blood off of him, but only to be dismayed that the stains of crimson remained on his furry face.

I placed my hand on his back one more time, hoping in my mind that I was not crushing him with the dead weight as I felt severely weak, a tear forming in the corner of my right eye, “I-I… I’m sor- sorr… sorry, B-B-Bud…  I-I-I n-need to be… q-quick!”

It was very hard, with my hand shaking so violently that I could barely control the limb anymore, but I somehow managed as I pulled the one of the rolls of blueprints of my machinery that I used to create numerous of Sentries, Dispensers, and Teleporters during my career as a mercenary and unrolled the blue and white paper. When I tried desperately to find a writing utensil to write with, but only to be disappointed that I couldn’t find one on my person.

N-Not like… I-I’ve got a-a cho-choice… here, I hesitantly thought. It might cost me, but I have no other choice. I need to do this now before it is too late!

With my shaking gloved hand, I grabbed the wooden shaft and made a small prayer, G-God… if y-y-you’re there… p-p-please… l-let m-me live… t-t-throu-through this… j-just a bit l-longer. Just f-for lil’ B-Buddy here. With that, I weakly twisted the arrow. I wanted to scream and cry out as the pain was unbearable, like I was getting crushed and sliced by the weight of a freight train with its screeching metal wheels, but I couldn’t. I was mute and couldn’t do a damn thing but scream in utter silence.

I grimaced with pain as I kept on twisting the arrow, in sheer hope that my plan would work. My plan was simple, actually. I need to reopen the wound in hopes that fresh blood would flow from and use it as ink to write a little message onto the back of one of my blueprints if there’s going to be someone out there who’ll read it and, in high hopes, would take good care of him. Buddy here deserved at least that much before I go. From what it felt like I’ve been tortured into oblivion, I could feel something warm seeping through my shirt and down onto my stomach.

Meeeeeeeew. Meeeeeeeeew.

I quickly let go of the shaft and my hand dropped limply over the lower part of my torso, losing feeling in the nearly useless limb and nearly crushing the poor kitten along the way. And when I thought that I couldn’t use the limb anymore, but I was wrong when I saw my numbed fingers twitch slightly in response to my silent commands. That’s when I immediately went to work. Using my shaking left hand, I grabbed the forearm of my right and held it near my face, pulling the rubber glove off with my clattering teeth and plunged it into the fresh blood that came from the newly reopened wound in my chest.

I watched weakly as a drop of blood dripped off from the bony end of my finger and went right on writing the message that I wanted to write to anyone that had survived the BLU’s onslaught, or perhaps someone from the other team would be so kind of watching over the small kitten. I don’t care who’ll watch over him, but just as long as they won’t treat him like an abused animal, that is all I want. I want this kitten to live a full life with someone caring enough to live with them.

After what it felt like hours has passed, but it was actually about five minutes that it took for me to complete my small message. And with my greatly weakened eyesight, I read the bloodstained message:

“Please take care of him. His name is Buddy and all I want is for him to live with a caring family that’s willing to take the lil’ fella home. To anyone who finds this bloodied message and complies this dying man’s wish, I would like to thank you greatly in doing so. Please take him home with you.

Dell Conagher, Engineer of the RED team.”

I smiled weakly at my success and went into another violent coughing fit, but only this time I didn’t relent it. I simply allow it to wreck my shrilled frame and after what seemed like forever, I collapsed and darkness shrouded me like a warm blanket as I exhaled my final breath of life.

For my last, final moment, all I heard was the echo sounds of Buddy, mewing at me to wake up.

Meeeew. Meeeeeew. Meeeeeeeew.





With my trusted Hunstman in hand and arrow at the ready in case of a surprise attack from those damn REDs, I cautiously took cover to cover as I advanced my way towards the RED base. The last arrow I fired at was their Engineer, which I hit him in the chest, but it didn’t kill him. Not instantly though. With eyes of a hawk through a pair of shades of mine, I watched closely as the RED Engineer would go into series of violent coughing fits. But what had surprised me the most that the Engineer took the arrow in his shaky hands and twisted it, while it was still embedded in his torso!

What is that bloody man tryin’ to do? Get ‘imself killed over tenfold? I thought bitterly, imagines of the Engineer’s actions still plagued my mind. No matter though, that bloody piker should be dead now.

But I couldn’t afford to be caught off-guard by this man’s dreaded actions, although it raises the curiosity in me. I want to see for myself on what this Engineer had done before his timely death. This, I must know for certain! Still carefully being on constant alert of any RED presence, I dashed towards the corridor of the enemy base. I quickly moved to and fro, with my Huntsman drawn and arrow knocked into the bow string, but I was awarded with only the dead body of a RED. Judging by body shape, it had to be their youngest member; their Scout.

I grimaced as small, black dots of flies hovered the decayed sag of flesh as they started to eat the juicy parts that flies would munch on first. Feeling sick to my stomach at the scene, I fled the area and retreated back outside for fresh air. Once I was there, I looked up at the wooden ledge that, which I’m assuming that’s where the RED Engineer resided, in hopes that there is something that I could use to climb up. I refuse to go back in there where the dead and decayed Scout was at, with the smell of dead flesh and all.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose in disgust, “Perfect. Just bloody perfect!” I mumbled to myself. “How the bloody Hell am I goin’ to get up there now? There’s no way in bloody Hell I’m goin’ back in there!”

I sighed again and check at my surroundings, hoping that there is something that I can use. And I mean anything, just to get to that Engineer! Why has it been my most concern? This, I do not know why I’m going into full lengths just to see a deceased body of their Engineer, but something tells me that I should check it out. I wished that the Engineer would of fall over the ledge, but I might have pinned him to the wooden structure of his base, thus making it much harder for both myself and him. After what it felt like I’ve wasted hours upon hours of nothing, but just in time that I skimmed over to the rusty barrels that lay strewn in front of the base. They appear to be in good shape, with bullet holes here and there, but it seems alright with a bit of extra weight.

Careful of not losing my favorite hat and not breaking the bow string, I strapped the Huntsman over my head and rested the wooded piece onto my vested back and went over to the barrels. When looked at from afar, they look like they still have their cargo inside, but to my delight that these barrels are currently empty and can be rolled with ease. Watching out for the pointed edges of rusted metal that embedded the barrel, I rolled one of them close to where I saw the RED Engineer was last located on the deck above me. I grunted as the heavy metal was heavier than I once thought it would be, but that didn’t matter as I once got it into place. I gripped the rim of the opening and heaved that opening to the dusty ground, with its bottom at the top. I swiped my brow with the back of my forearm, careful of not clipping myself with my very own watch that was wounded onto my wrist, and pressed the palm of my hand into the metal. I seemed to be holding as I pressed harder, testing its strength and whether if it could be used to carry some extra weight for s short time.

Satisfied or not, it is now or never. Checking for the one final time for my Huntsman and my trusted kukri, making sure that my blade was strapped in its sheath neatly and secured, I climbed onto the top on the barrel. Since I had no one to help me out with this “task”, I had to rely heavily on the wall to support the full extent of my weight on this aged piece of piss metal as it wobbled heavily. Wasting no at all, I reached my hand over the wooden framework to find an anchor point for me to grab onto and climb over. Once I found a secured anchor point that was deemed worthy through my mental judgement, I grabbed onto the ledge and pulled myself upward, pushing with my legs as much they would go.

Although to my disappointment, after I kicked off with my legs, the barrel that was underneath me gave way and was pushed away from me. I looked over my left shoulder as the rusted metal rolled towards the stream and plunged into the murky waters below, which I grunted and grimaced for my stupidity. Well, no time for pondering now. I’m very close now! Using the strength of my arms as leverage, I pulled myself up and over onto the second deck of the RED base, but little did I know that I didn’t realize that there was an exposed nail that was pointed outward and stabbed my left hand into the nail. I bit back an outcry as I handled much worse situations than this, like getting backstabbed by that good-for-nothing Snake while sniping. Now that was bad enough, especially when you’re so focused on your task that you didn’t hear them at all until it is too late!

Once I was fully on top of the second floor of their base, I reverted my eyes down onto my hand to see the damage. Blood was seeping from the wound from the palm of my now tendered flesh, and my fingerless gloves is now absorbing it, turning them from a brownish color to a hue of deep crimson. Now with my good hand, I reached into the pocket of my sleeveless vest and pulled out a long piece of cloth, the cloth I used mainly for cleaning blood, grime, and dirt off of my favored blade.

I guess this will do for now, I thought.

At first that I hated the idea of using a cleaning cloth to use as a binding, but looks like I have little choice now. I carefully wrapped my impaled hand, using my teeth as a set of extra hands for this type of job. Once I was finished, I watched as a small red dot was starting to form bigger and bigger in the middle of the binding as my thought of the damage was more serious than I anticipated. I might need the Medic to have a look at it once I’m finished here. Ignoring the lancing pain that was shooting form my hand into my arm, I unsheathed my blade and advanced in my defensive posture as I made my way over to the dead body of the Engineer.

From far away, it didn’t look at gruesome as it was, but now this was a different story. As I got closer with each step, this was far more worse than any horror movie that I watched when I was a wee little kid! The man’s blood was pooling underneath his body, like he’s literally drowning in his very own blood! His face was frozen with contorted signs of pain as he had one last coughing fit before falling dead, and his eyes were glazed and half open, as if his dead body would be an invitation to the flies for the juice just for those eyes.

I sighed with sadness, actually feeling real sorry for the poor Texan in this sorry state of his. Feeling content that I don’t need a weapon anymore, I sheathed my kukri back in its hilt and went over to the dead man, closing his eyes and putting his welding goggles over them with my good hand, just what he preferred it. To die an honorable death with dignity intact. And for that, he’s a true mercenary. I pulled my cowboy hat off and set it over my chest, where my heart is and saluted him. I sighed of relief, put my hat back on top of my head and was about to return back to my own base when I heard a little mewing sound.

Meeeeeew.

I stopped immediately and turned back to the body, my eyes narrowing in suspicion as if I was hearing things that I should not be. But I heard it again,

Meeeeeew.

I placed my good hand over the handle of my kukri, readying it in case if this was some sort of trick by the REDs as I inched myself closer back to the dead Engineer. I took careful steps as I approached more closely, expecting if the dead body would come back to life and attack me. But that didn’t happen. No, that was an exaggeration! Those were only horror stories being told to little children on Halloween night to scare them! That cannot happen, right? Right?  Once I got closer to the Engineer, I noticed there was a dark bundle underneath the man’s arm, and curiosity killed the cat, I moved the limp arm and was shocked to see what was under there.

And literally, curiosity did kill the cat as I saw a tiny bundle of black and white fur as a kitten, which it looked like it is only a couple months old at most, was under there! I was totally confused when I watched the small thing mew and would paw at the Engineer’s now discolored face, but now it all made sense. The Engineer’s actions before he died became a lot more clear to me. Now I understand why he did it. He did it all for this little guy here! I could feel a wave of guilt and regret washing over me as the small kitten would continue to paw and mew at his now dead friend, like I have to blink several times because I can feel the stinging of tears that were threatening to form from my now watered eyes. But it is too late now, the old Texan ain’t coming back for him as I realized that our Spy had sabotaged their Respawn system into oblivion.

I growled in disgust at the thought of our Spook would do, but their Spook would probably done the same thing to us though if he had gotten the chance. But I don’t think that's going to happen because he could be, permanently, one among the dead here now. Who bloody knows where he could be. But right now, I have to tend to something that could be more important than finding a man in a wild goose chase. I got down to one knee and knelt, being extra gentle of scooping the poor fella up and away from the horrific scene.

Meeeeew. Meeeeeeeeew.

I could feel the little guy pawing at my chest as I brought him close to me, keeping my injured hand away from everything as if I was expecting the kitten to playfully claw at the binding and cause further damage to it. Which I don’t want to scold it, not after everything that it has been through. With the kitten in hand, I was about to retreat back to my base when something caught the corner of my eye. Clutched in his ungloved right hand, I can make out that it was one of his blueprints for his machinery that he used during our matches, but what surprised me the most is that one side was heavily clotted with his own blood. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity and grabbed the bloodied blueprint with my injured hand from the dead man’s unearthly grasp. Careful of not disturbing the kitten that was in one hand and watchful of my bad hand, I unrolled the blue parchment and turned it around to where the dried blood was at the most, using my boot as an extra weight on one side.

And that’s where I became horrified the most. This was a dead’s man’s writing, using his very own blood as ink, in high hopes that someone from his own team could encounter and read it. But no one was coming for him, not even their Medic as I watched keenly through my scope of spyglass on my perch that our Soldier blew the poor German into smithereens. Earlier that I could hear the screams and cries of their teammates, calling out to their already dead Medic, but it was all in vain. Now before I even came across this dead Engineer and his kitten, everything was quiet. Make that too quiet. All I hear was nothing but the birds, the shrill wind in the desert, and the rustle of water of the stream. I excluded that from my mind and read the man’s bloodied message:

Please take care of ‘im. ‘is name is Buddy and all I want is for ‘im to live with a caring family that’s willing to take the little fella home. To anyone that reads this bloody message and complies this dyin’ man’s wish, I would like to thank you greatly in doin’ so. Please take ‘im home with you.

Dell Conagher, Engineer of the RED team.

Meeeeeeeeew.

I looked down at the little bundle of black that was curled up within the crook of my arm, which he looked up intently and giving me that green puppy-eyed look, mewing at me. I gave him a nice rub behind the left ear, which he rewarded me with a rather loud purr as Buddy would turn his small head, wanting me to scratch at the spot he needed it the most. After a few good minutes of scratching behind the ears, I stopped and looked at the kitten in the eyes.

“Alright, little mate. Let’s get outta ‘ere. I’ll take ya back at my place and we’ll bother figure out what to do with ya,” I murmured to him, even though that he might not be able to comprehend on what I just said to him. But honestly, I don’t care about it. All I want is for him to be away from his dead master and not starve in the base when no one is technically going to be alive anymore to feed it and such things like that.

Meeeeeeeew.

Wasting no time, I took the long way out of the RED base. I was expecting this base be more different than our own, but it is exactly the same as ours. Though we BLUs are more into the “higher technology” than our RED counterparts, but that doesn’t change at all for the base layout of the two. Then again, I rarely leave my sniping perch long enough to actually see the interior of the other structure. Once I was near the exit, where the decaying Scout was at, I booked my way through it, taking off my hat to cover the small kitten and hide his eyes from the horrid scene. Bloody Hell, the smell of death was reeking far a lot worse than when I first came here! I grimaced at the scent, bile was threatening to rise from my stomach to my throat.

I quickly sucked in a breath and kept it until I was away, and I mean far away, from the stench of rotted death. Though luckily that didn’t take long as I was already across the wooden bridge in a short matter of time, and exhaled in the fresh air of the desert. I placed my hat back on top of my head, with Buddy curled up within my arms, and waltzed into the BLU base.





I tapped my boot onto the cool metal floorboards as I sat at the end of the bed of my assigned room, my patience was running thin. Of course, I was the most patient one here among the team, but after the recent events that occurred today, I just couldn’t this time. We might have killed off the other team today, but I was left heartbroken when I was at the RED Engineer’s body with his prized kitten there. And with the kitten mewing and pawing at a dead body like that, that’s like taking away a mother and her child permanently. Mate, a child’s mind will never forget such events that occurred to them, and that includes the death of their mother.

Though I’m not too sure about a situation such as this, specifically a kitten so young and it’s master. We’re all alike, I guess. Both humans and animals are so alike when it comes to emotions, especially when it comes to death surrounding them.

I looked back at Buddy, playing with one of crumpled ball of paper that I tossed it down for him, and rummaged my good hand through my short hair. Once I was in the base, I didn’t bother of going to the Medic for him to fix my bad one and made a beeline straight into my room. Though before I locked myself, I called one of my teammates – which I forgotten who it was – and told him to bring the Engineer to my room. I could’ve went down there to see him myself, but I was more concerned about the little mate if anyone saw him in my arms. I’m not sure how the other team reacted when Dell, their Engineer, brought a kitten to their base. I bet that their Soldier wasn’t pleased at all and wanted to get rid of it. But was just an assumption. He might have not told his team about it and took care of it himself, for crying out loud!

My train of thought was interrupted when I heard the sounds of knocking at the other side of my door. Arching an eyebrow, I retrieved my hat that I once discarded onto the bed when I entered the room and quickly went to the door. When I opened the door, I was expecting it would be someone else to antagonize me when I was not in the mood for it, but I was lucky enough to be greeted by the Texan, whom he tipped his yellow hard hat in greeting.

“Howdy, partner! I caught wind from the lil’ Boston boy that you need me for a few. Now, is it alright with ya to enter?” he asked.

Now normally I would be hesitant to allow someone else than me to enter, but now that the Truckie’s here. I couldn’t refuse the man now, not after that I asked someone else to do a bit of the dirty work for me. “Yeah, come on in. There’s somethin’ that I need to talk to you about. Oh, and it better be between you and me, alright? I don’t want the others catchin’ word of our discussion.”

At first, I thought that he looked insulted when I wanted this conversation to be just the two if us, but I was relieved that he simply nodded and said, “Oh, don’t you worry about that, partner. Ol’ Dell here ain’t gonna say a word.”

I nodded and allowed him to enter, moving myself away from the doorframe and returned back at the one side of my bed that I was previously sitting on earlier. With the Engineer following close by, he came around and sat next to me. What made me jump the next minute is when I heard him gasping and swiftly grasp the wrist of my bad hand and inspected it closely.

“Dang it, Lawrence! You should’ve went to the medical bay first before callin’ me here! If you lose that hand before it becomes any worse than it is now, you damn well deserved that, son.”

I pulled it away from his surprisingly tightened grasp, “I will. I will! But first things first, mate. There’s something that I need to tell you about, back at the RED base-”

He held a gloved hand and quickly silenced me, “Hang on a dang minute, boy. You’re tellin’ me that you casually waltzed your way over to the enemy base? And attacked ya? Is this part of the discussion here, son? ‘Cause I ain’t followin’.”

I slapped my face with the palm of my good hand, clearly irritated that even the smartest member of my team wasn’t even getting this clear at all. When I pulled my hand away, I sighed and went as slow as I could to explain, “No. None of that at all, mate. First, I went to the RED base to inspect their Engineer that I shot down with me Huntsman. I dunno why, but I was somehow interested in this guy because I witnessed ‘im twistin’, and I mean twistin’ that arrow that I gave ‘im while it was still in his flesh! In his flesh, mate!”

I bet that Dell could feel the anxiety in me when I spoke about his counterpart and his horrifying actions that he did to himself and placed a hand on my shoulder, comforting me, “Easy there, buddy. No need to get spooked here. Now, tell me what happened next.”

After I felt, somewhat, calmed enough for me to continue on, “Again, I made my way over to the RED base ‘cause I was very curious why your counterpart did it, and I’ve been curious enough to go ‘ere, mate. Once I reached the corridor that leads towards the interior of the base, I was quickly sickened to me stomach when I saw the dead body of their Scout. Not even an hour has passed, and there’s damn flies encasin’ the poor kid! So I refuse to go that way and instead, I rolled a rusty barrel that was sittin’ around nearby and used it as leverage onto the deck, where their Engineer was located.”

“So, is that how you managed to stab yourself in the hand, boy?” he asked, rubbing his chin with his ungloved hand.

I nodded, “Yeah, mate. Apparently ‘ere was somethin’ exposed on that spot. Anyways, mate, when I reached your dead counterpart, ‘ere was somethin’ on his person. Two to be exact, actually. One was this,” I pulled over the bloody blueprint that was on my desk and placed it between the two of us. “And this one.”

I browsed around the room, looking for the small black bundle of fur, but he was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, I got up again from the bed and scanned my little room for a small little kitten. I can tell that the Engineer was cocking his head in confusion, whether if I was sane or not. And I do remember that my parents used to have a cat back home in Australia when I was much younger, they like to hide themselves underneath things, like beds and furniture. Finally realizing on what my thoughts were telling me, I got down to my hands – being mindful of my injured hand, that is - and knees and looked under my bed.

Meeeeew.

Lo and behold, I could see his eyes “glowing” in the sun’s reflective light bouncing off the metal floor, and the paper ball that I gave to him earlier was lying next to him. He must have rolled it underneath the bed. No wonder that I couldn’t spot him so easily!  Craning my sharp ears, I could hear the sounds of heavy footfalls as the Engineer also knelt onto his hands and knees and stared what was underneath the dusty confinement of the bed. I know that I cannot break the reality of physics here and all, but I swear that I could almost “hear” the Texan’s lower jaw dropping when he first laid eyes on the small kitten. Then again, I could most likely be wrong on that one.

“Well I’ll be damned! Never would I have thought that you would be hidin’ this lil’ fella here in your room, partner. Is this the reason why you wanted me?”

“Yeah, mate.” I replied. “He’s the whole reason why I need you. You see, back at the other base, he was with your counterpart. Even on his dyin’ breath, yet he refused to leave. It’s like those two have a special bond or somethin’, mate.”

Dell rubbed his chin before snapping with his ungloved fingers, “A bond that can never be broken, son. Now I see it! Now, I do recall that you brought that bloodstained blueprint earlier from my RED counterpart. Mind on readin’ it?”

Nodding and careful of not smashing the back of my head against the framework of the bed itself, I pulled myself up from the floor and sat on top of the bed, with Dell following suit after me and sat on my left side. With the Engineer’s help of having an extra hand, I unrolled the large piece of paper and read it out loud to him:

“Please take care of ‘im. ‘is name is Buddy and all I want is for ‘im to live with a caring family that’s willing to take the lil’ fella home,” I choked up, as my second time reading his RED counterpart’s dying wish is becoming more unbearable by each read. But I was not willing to break in front of someone. No, not a single person should see me cry! “To anyone that reads this bloodied message and complies this dyin’ man’s wishes, I would like to thank you greatly for doin’ so. Please take ‘im home with you. Dell Conagher, Engineer of the RED team.”

Now between you and I, this is something that I was least expecting to see from the Engineer. I’ve always see him as a tough guy when it comes to emotions, but that’s just me. But after I finished reading his counterpart’s last request to him, I turned and stared as he began to wipe his eyes from the tears that’s been flowing ever-so freely with the back of his hand. Then again, who could blame the Texan? He was shaken to the core with emotions, just like me when I first read it.

I patted him on the shoulder with the underside of my wrist, trying to avoid contact with the wound in the palm of my hand, trying to comfort the man. I didn’t dare to speak as it may come off the wrong way and I didn’t want him to be furthermore upset with me. So instead, I remained silent and continued patting and rubbing his shoulder, allowing Dell the space and time he need to settle down.

I sighed after what it felt like hours has passed, but only a few minutes had passed. I opened my mouth to speak to him, “Listen, mate. I’m sorry-”

Dell quickly straightened up, wiping the remaining tears off of his eyes, and waved a hand at me, “Nah, nah! Don’t you be sorry, son. I never thought that my counterpart’s dyin’ wish would take a toll on me like that. Hot damn! That was really sad that he have to depart from this world. Like permanently, partner.”

“I agree. When I first looked at his kitten, I just could see a special bond between the two of ‘em,” I repeated, knowing that I have said this phrase before. But I didn’t care, I just have to say it. “A bond that can never be broken, even in death, mate. But the question now is, what now? What are we gonna do with ‘im?”

“I’ll take care of him.”

Arching an eyebrow, I was going to ask him, but he cut me off wish another wave of his hand. “His message did say that he needed someone to look after his cat. That’s what I’m willing to do, son. I’m goin’ to honor that dyin’ man’s wish!” He paused. When he turned to face me, there was that saddened smile across his features. “And besides, since both him and I are awfully related in looks, it wouldn’t be long for Buddy to become attached to me. Now look, I know that it sounds stupid, but think about it. Since both him and I look alike, wouldn’t it take long at all for him to bond to someone else that’s closely related?”

I rubbed my chin, pondering at the question. He does raise a fine point on that. Though wouldn’t Buddy be more into the scent of the person than into the looks? Who God knows, since I’m no full-time expert when it comes to house pets. Only time will tell on this one. That’s for sure.

“And what about food for ‘im, mate? How are gonna get that without the Administrator catching onto us like a hawk?” I asked. That maybe out of the blue there, but that did raise my curiosity in that.

“If you wouldn’t mind on helpin’, son, if you could drive us into town when we’re on ceasefire this weekend. Since I do see it as our only option as we’ll be fightin’ the other-” but he cut himself off as he just remembered that the other team ain’t coming back. “Well, scratch that thought. But it needs to be done this weekend though, we don’t want our lil’ Buddy here wastin’ away.”

I nodded, agreeing with him. But something else popped up in my mind, and it is this one that I’m far more concerned about than any other, “Say if you don’t mind me of askin’, but what about the others? If they see ‘im-”

“Don’t worry about that, partner. I would kill them personally if anythin’ happens to him, and I mean I will kill them.” Alright, point taken on that part. He doesn’t need to empathize on that one, mate. Just needed to know what the others might think of this, especially under the circumstances like this one here.

While we were both unaware that our furry little friend crawled himself out from the underside of the bed and bounded his way silently into the lap of the Engineer. I watched that he jumped, almost to the point that “he nearly jumped out of his skin”, as the small black and white tuxedo kitten curled up, closed his emerald eyes, and slept. We both watched him while he slept on in Dell’s lap, and he would bring his ungloved hand in and scratched Buddy behind the ear, and he would purr in response of the motion. I turned my head to face Dell and he would smile at me, continuing to rub at the spot behind the kitten’s ear.

“Now that we got all that settled, you should head on over to the medical bay and get the Doc to check that hand of yours, partner,” he said to me. I knew that he was firm about it, but the tone was soft as well. “No need to have an unnecessary amputation for our ‘eye of the sky’ here, buddy.”

I nodded and smiled at him, “Don’t worry ‘bout that, mate. I’m headin’ ‘ere now.” I got up from my bed and walked slowly over to the metal door that leads into the hallway, but I stopped midway and turned to face him again. His eyes and nearly all of his face was hidden underneath of his hard hat that he would always wear as he petted and scratched the kitten’s favored locations on his body, while the kitten himself would purr in response to it.

I smiled, ever so happy that something as small as this kitten here would change something in a person in a short matter of time. Though I am still saddened that I took his master away from him in life, but even he would want his small best friend to live with someone that’s willing to take him home in death. I can see that clearly now. And now I can see why he did it. Their Engineer wouldn’t want his small friend to die along with him as he was so small in size and so young in age. Buddy has a full life ahead of him, now that he’s with Dell – our Engineer of the BLU team.

Thank you, partner.

I swiveled my head around, utterly confused. I could have sworn that I heard someone’s voice whispering within my ears, thanking me! Could it be the Dell that I’ve killed back at the RED base? Or am I just hearing things among the whistling wind raging outside? Besides, we’re in the middle of a desert after all, and anything like could happen.

Pondering at the thought for a moment more, but I shook my head and went out of my room and headed towards the medical bay.