Thanks for the feedback so far guys! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. This chapter delves into some of the action as well as explaining exactly what her position as a soldier is. Enjoy and feel free to review~
Some months later…
Khe Sanh, South Vietnam
Vietnam.
Miles away from her home which was settled back in the states, and to say she was homesick was an understatement. Margaret applied with the United States Army in order to busy herself for fear that doing nothing would make her age faster. It was probably a very fortunate thing that she just so happened to be a registered nurse and what was probably more fortunate was the fact that they needed more medics out on the field. This would probably explain why they accepted her form.
And so they had shipped her out to Vietnam in order to treat the wounded Marines on the field. That was the hilarious part actually. They shipped Margaret and her fellow Army medics to assist the Marines on the battlefield, since the tough bastards didn't have any in their battalion.
They neglected to inform her, however, that she would be taking orders from a tough as nails sergeant with more experience on the field than she would have in a lifetime. They also neglected to include that a play-by-the-books agent named Jason Hudson would be there oversee the activities.
The only thing Margaret had found that benefited her was the fact that Mason was the only guy she could actually have a decent conversation with. Not to say that Woods, that tough as nails bastard, wasn't pleasant to talk with. In fact, he was quite the character to talk to. Frank had this kind of facade going when around the guys; sure he still acted like a bastard, but at least he gave her the respect she deserved considering the fact that it was Margaret who had tended to his wounds numerous times. Frank was still a great guy, and it was a damn shame that he probably already had a girl waiting at home for him.
A damn shame.
That infamous song, that Margaret had come to love, began playing loudly on the radio that one of the other medics had turned on. It was catchy, and she soon found herself tapping along to the appealing bongos before the singer began dropping the memorable lyrics.
A sudden groan of pain had suddenly pulled her back to the current assignment.
Margaret continued to apply pressure to Private Rosebyrne's leg wound while currently waiting for the other medic to bring the anesthetics. The young private was groaning in agony, and he had good reason too considering the fact that he had taken a bullet from the Viet Cong.
"This fucking hurts so goddamn much," he expressed as his teal eyes watched her switch out the dirty gauze for a cleaner one. "I guess it was worth it though considering we need you here on the field, corporal."
Caffrey had laughed despite it being an inappropriate moment. "Come on now, Byrne. There are far more important soldiers besides me." The medic finally returned with the anesthetics and had then handed it over to her. "Take it easy now. This will sting."
"Just give it to me so I won't have to feel the fucking pain anymore." Byrne rasped out and Margaret followed up with a curt nod before filling the hypodermic needle with the fluid. In less than three seconds it was filled to the correct amount before she stuck the needle in his thigh. Byrne flinched, but relaxed as he felt the medicine begin to take effect.
"Corporal!" she had suddenly turned her head and caught sight of Frank Woods entering the tent followed closely by Agent Hudson.
"I'm a bit busy here Sergeant Woods," she called back while removing the needle. "Can this wait?"
"I'm afraid not." Woods responded while coming to a stop at her side and peering down at Byrne. "What happened to you, buddy?"
Byrne removed his arm from shielding his eyes as he gazed up at Woods. "Bit a bullet for the medics. Some crazy shithead was aiming at them, and before he could kill the corporal, I pushed her out of the way and took the hit."
"One of the other privates took him out before the 'Nam soldier could kill us all." Margaret finished while leaning forward in order to inspect the quarter-sized wound.
"Fine job," Woods congratulated before he turned back to looking at her. "How are you doing today?"
There was something said about Woods that made Caffrey cringe whenever one of the soldiers brought it up. The fact that she was one of the few women on the battlefield, it went without saying that he paid more attention to her. Whenever one of the soldiers would say an inappropriate comment, he was always the first one to quickly make them apologize for it, even if it was for something minor, it didn't matter. Woods was all about respect. It was what made her and the other soldiers respect him as their superior.
Frustration creased her brow as she continued to try and remove the slug from the Private's leg. "Busy, but mostly nervous as shit if the Viet Cong decide to bomb this base."
"You sure are a pessimist," Hudson muttered at her comment.
"I can't really be an optimist in war. It would be like lying to myself."
Woods smirked at her response before smacking Byrne on his chest. "You have her taking care of you." The young soldier grimaced at the sergeant's observation.
"Caffrey," Woods began, using her surname, "you're gonna have to come with us to Hue City."
Silence befell upon everyone in the tent.
No one made a sound save for Margaret since she was busy trying to remove the bullet. There were times where Rosebyrne would inhale deeply, considering the fact that he could feel her using the medical tools to remove the slug, but those deep inhales were followed swiftly by calm exhales. She was putting her training to good use as she was literally racing against time before more wounded men would be brought in.
Woods continued to stare at her while Hudson was left to await her response. It was hard to judge if he was impatient or not, but the corporal could bet big money that he was irked with her lack of a quick response. She continued to work on Rosebyrne, well aware that the atmosphere in the medic tent had acquired heavy tension.
"My leg feels funny."
Margaret snorted. "That's the medicine kicking in."
"Corporal Caffrey," Hudson intervened. "Woods just gave you an order."
"I heard Agent Hudson," she quickly responded. "I just have nothing to say."
"Really?" Woods prompted. "You're not gonna fight me on this?"
"Since when has arguing with you ever resulted in me getting my way?" She had countered while finding the bullet with the medical tweezers. "Besides, who's the superior here?"
The music on the radio drowned out the rest of the noise in the tent. Caffrey was trying to concentrate on removing the bullet even though she could feel Wood's eyes on her the entire time. Hudson made a small noise of annoyance, while Byrne on the other hand, had propped himself up on his elbows and watched her with fascination.
Woods switched his attention onto what she was doing. He leaned over and found that the combat medic was slowly pulling out the slug. "That's fucking disgusting."
"So is shooting some poor sap in his skull and letting his brains and skull fragments land on you." Margaret had replied tight-lipped while placing the bullet on the metallic tray beside Byrne.
"It's 'Nam baby," he remarked while gazing back up at her. "There's no room for being clean around here."
"Sergeant Woods! Mason's up, let's roll out." Hudson announced, and it was then that she had noticed him re-enter the tent. That was peculiar. She didn't know that he had left. It looked like that Hudson guy was one sneaky bastard.
Not less than a minute later Mason casually walked in with a look of fatigue evident on his expression. Margaret glanced up to give him a half-smile in which he returned just as quickly. She then diverted her attention back to Rosebyrne's leg as she proceeded to begin stitching the nasty wound.
"Once you're done with Fred's leg you need to pack up and head out with us, Caffrey." Woods stated just as Mason came to a stop beside the young private and leaned over to peer at his leg as well.
"Got it," she mumbled, not quite too happy about leaving her post in order to follow Woods and his team.
It was dangerous as hell and the thing that was worrying her the most was the fact that she would undoubtedly be the enemy's number one target. It was common sense to both sides that taking out the medics was the key to weakening the enemy. The medics were the support, and without them, the team couldn't do much else. Then again, Caffrey wasn't sporting any attire that would give her position away, save for the extra medical equipment she would be carrying. Oh well, this is what the army had trained her for, even though she had barely managed to pass the grueling tests to become a combat medic.
"What the hell did you do, Byrne?" Mason asked. "Did you trip over barbwire?"
"Screw you Mason," Byrne replied while deciding to lie back down in order to alleviate his lower back from the pressure. "I'm a goddamn hero."
Margaret smirked at the two of them. "Gentlemen-"
A nearby explosion had suddenly shaken the entire compound and had caused her to unwillingly stick the needle deeper than necessary. The young private felt the sudden prick and flinched while withholding a scream. Caffrey remained where she was despite her gut instincts screaming for her to run out of the heat zone.
"THEY'RE ATTACKING!"
Woods, along with Hudson and Mason, immediately switched their guns into their hands. Margaret on the other hand had instantly removed the needle and had begun to pack the necessary medical equipment into her medical pack.
"Move it, Caffrey!" Woods shouted just before grabbing her arm and dragging her along with him.
A short cry caught her attention and so she turned around and caught sight of Mason and Hudson helping the injured solider to his feet.
Margaret was rushed out as they all scurried to get to the trenches and out of the way of the heat zone. It was during this time that she had suddenly realized that her standard gun was left in the tent along with her helmet. Looking back over now, she was just in time to see the tent go up in flames as another grenade had dropped on the compound.
"Woods!" She narrowly avoided tripping over a fallen solider while remaining cautious of her surroundings. "I left my pistol back at the tent!"
The sergeant looked back at her in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?!" Woods had then pushed Caffrey to the side before taking out his pistol. He aimed it at one of the adversaries before pulling the trigger.
Another bomb dropped dangerously close to where they both were running. Byrne had cried out in pain due to the reverberation and fell down to his knees because of it. Mason and Hudson almost lost their footing, but they had managed to pull the injured man back up. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep up with the run. It had physically placed a demand on his body that he hadn't expected at all. Byrne fell down on the rough dirt pathway once again and regretted that Mason had to drag him the entire time due to the anesthetics still coursing through his leg.
"I can't go anymore Mason," Rosebyrne said with remorse. "You'll get killed if you drag me along."
"Come on, Byrne, just stay with me." Mason argued while keeping an eye out for anymore of the enemy soldiers.
"Rosebyrne! On your feet soldier! Let's move!" Woods encouraged while moving to assist him.
Margaret had immediately devoted her attention back to Rosebyrne and began jogging towards him. Mason and Hudson had pushed her and Woods out of the way just as another bomb dropped, the fiery result ended up swallowing Fred Rosebyrne whole and killing him instantly.
"No!" She screeched but Mason had her on her feet and forced her to follow both Woods and Hudson as the two neared the trenches. He shoved his pistol into the palm of Margaret's hand as he brought out his standard issue rifle.
Mason's eyes locked with hers before he pushed Margaret in Wood's direction. "Stay focused Doc. We have to defend Khe Sanh."
Repressing the retort that was waiting to be heard she instead turned and moved forward while making sure to stay behind the three men as they made their way out of the area. Margaret had seen many soldiers bite the bullet, and each time it was still traumatizing. Nevertheless, seeing Rosebyrne get blown up just feet away was going to render her to become an emotional wreck.
She fired at an oncoming squad of troops only barely being able to dispatch two of the five NVAs.
"Caffrey, stay behind me. Don't go any further unless I'm in front of you." Woods reloaded his gun before crouching under to enter the bunker with her right behind him.
"GRENADE!"
This time it was Hudson who had pulled Margaret to the far left of the bunker as soon as the grenade went off. It took three marines with it despite the early warning.
Wars have reason.
Caffrey gave a small smile to Hudson before looking around the bunker for anything that could be of use. A crate sat against the far west end of the bunker and so she quickly made her way over to it while ducking out of the way to avoid the ricochet of bullets. She holstered the pistol as her hands had then grabbed the M16. She turned and began firing at the enemies that were making their way through the trenches.
The only drawback to the rifle was the recoil that made it slam into her shoulder harder than necessary. It made Margaret flinch during each pull of the trigger, but she kept firing at the enemy soldiers despite knowing she would be acquiring all sorts of bruises.
She shot down three NVAs before following Woods and the other two out of the bunker. "Can you even handle that?"
"I can try!" She had retorted without knowing for sure who it had been that had said it.
It wasn't until she took cover alongside Woods that she noticed the way he had cocked one of his eyebrows. "Mind repeating that?"
She shook her head before readying the rifle. "I can handle the rifle, Sergeant Woods."
Woods's expression turned into one of known secrecy before frowning at the way she had diverted her eyes. "As soon as we're done defending Khe Sanh, we'll see how your aim with that is on the shooting range."
His words weren't harsh. In fact, his tone carried no hint of the one he used with the other soldiers. No, it was pretty much like he was calm as well as jaunty despite the current situation at hand.
Margaret immediately noticed the change in his demeanor despite sporting a fierce scowl as soon as he rounded the corner and opened fire on the bastards. She remained where she was even though Hudson and Mason had followed Woods out of the bunker.
Maybe this had all been one huge mistake.
Margaret thought long and hard on this, but it was probably fate's way of saying that this is where she needed to be. In spite of the fact that she had been hesitant on going anywhere near the battlefield in the first place, she knew full well that the Marines were in desperate need of combat ready medics like herself. They were scarce considering that most of the medics from the Navy and her branch were all out on the front lines with the soldiers. She had been the exception since her superiors wanted her to remain at the medical compound and out of the front lines.
This time, however, she was accompanying Woods and the others on their trek to Hue City. It wasn't the brightest of all moves, especially for her. Hell, she was a woman and here she was following them on the front lines where she was prohibited to be at. It didn't make any sense, but perhaps Woods had a reason in wanting her to accompany them. Then again, he probably had to pull a lot of strings in order to make it happen because as far as she knew the higher ups weren't exactly keen on the idea of allowing the women recruits to fight in battle.
"Caffrey! Get your shit together and get over here!" Woods drew her attention back towards the fight at hand.
Margaret gripped her rifle before lowering her head and running swiftly out of the bunker and towards the other three. When she came to a stop in a crouched position beside Woods, she noticed that his brow was creased with stress just as he continued to shoot at the Vietnamese soldiers coming towards them. The corporal ignored the painful ringing in her ears from the bullets and the explosions happening around her and instead chose to focus on regulating her breathing.
"I'm only gonna tell you this once, Caffrey, so listen up." Hudson and Mason flanked towards his left in order to provide cover. "The next time I see you standing there after I've given you a direct order to stay close, I will make sure you become a paper pusher. Is that understood?"
How was I supposed to follow with bullets flying everywhere?
Blurting out an answer like that was sure to see her suspended. Margaret closed her eyes for several seconds before opening them and looking directly at Mason who was shaking his head.
"Caffrey!"
The medic calmly rose to her feet while raising the gun and assuming the position to cover Woods. "Yes, Sergeant Woods."
