As the two doctors fled to find a hiding place they couldn't help but think of the irony that was their lives. They had decided to become doctors in order to help people and somehow they had found themselves entangled in a war that seemed to be doing the very opposite of what they had set out to do in life.
"Look! A hiding place!" Hawkeye lead the way to a hole that was camouflaged, making it look like a small down-slope and not someplace that could in fact hide two men. The two doctors ran towards the hiding place and all but fell in.
"What is this," panted an out of breath BJ.
"I think they were digging a new latrine before they had to bug out." Hawkeye couldn't help but laugh a little. "Figures this is where we would end up."
The two doctors waited, listening for any sounds that might indicate a North Korean Soldier. Could it be that they would be passed by? They could hear the gunshots getting closer. It sounded as if the guns were being shot right over their heads. Hawkeye and BJ huddled together and tried to sink even further into the ground. All of a sudden the shooting stopped and there was silence. The two doctors peeked over the edge of their shelter to find the place deserted. There was no one in sight and all was quiet.
"What happened? Are we safe?"
Hawkeye didn't know what to say. Could it have been that simple?
"I don't know, but let's get out of here."
The two doctors broke cover and ran for the jump. Hawkeye jumped behind the wheel, checked to see if BJ was next to him, and started the engine. Before he even had a chance to turn the key, however, the bushes next to him started to shake. Hawkeye watched, terrified as a North Korean walked out, gun pointed straight at the doctor.
"Stay right where you are or I will shoot," the soldier said in amazingly good English.
Hawkeye and BJ stared at him, openmouthed in amazement. They had never really considered the option of them being captured. Not really. It always happened to someone else, didn't it?
"We are doctors. We mean no harm," Hawkeye tried to reason as more Korean soldiers came out of the brush with guns pointing. They were outnumbered by ten enemy soldiers now.
"I don't care what you are. All that matters is that you are Americans and our enemies. Get out of the jeep. Now." With sinking hearts, the two doctors climbed out of the jeep.
"You are now under the command of the North Korean Army. You will do what you are told. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," the two scared men spoke unanimously. Yes they did indeed understand. They either did what they were told or else they died. Simple, right?
"Good." And with that single response they started to walk. Jabbing their guns in the directions that the two doctors were expected to go, making sure that the doctors stayed in front of them and their guns throughout the forced march.
Hawkeye and BJ walked ahead a little, making sure to follow the path and not to make any sudden movements that would provoke gunshots.
"It will be alright BJ," Hawkeye encouraged as soon as he figured that they were far enough not to be heard. "Don't worry."
BJ just looked at Hawkeye. He looked terrified, as white as a ghost. The blood from the bullet that had scraped him earlier stood out even more against the new pallor of his skin. BJ then looked into his best friend's eyes. There was a barely concealed panic in his eyes and BJ could tell that it took all of his strength not to let the panic take over. It was amazing, truly remarkable in fact, that he could still sound positive and comforting. BJ admired Hawkeye's courage and wished that he was as strong.
"Do you think they'll shoot us?" It took all of BJ's strength to not let his voice shake.
"No. Wouldn't they have shot us already? They must have some purpose for keeping us alive." Hawkeye was trying to comfort himself as well as BJ. At that moment he was admiring BJ's aplomb just as BJ had admired his.
The two friends walked in silence, each in their separate thoughts. Behind them the Korean soldiers marched happily. They had captured two Americans! They would be held in high required and would be well honored. They did not know what would be in store for the Americans but it didn't matter. Not to them. It was a war after all. It was not their business to worry about the fates of two doctors that they had never met before.