Hey guys and girls. Before we begin, I have some cookies to give out. In the last chapter, I said, "Have you figured out what Toothy dared Splendid to do yet? If you guess right, I'll give you a cookie". You didn't all guess right, but you all were close. Gunslingers-White-Rose, you were very, very close. I'll give you a chocolate chip cookie. *throws cookie*. SANDMAN78308 and crazypunkchick208, you guys didn't actually guess, but you included enough innuendo for me to get what you meant. I'll give you guys sugar cookies. *throws cookies*. And finally, xXForgottenSoldierXx, you were right on the money. Toothy dared Splendid to fuck him in the ass. I'm going to give you a chocolate chunk cookie. *throws cookie*. Now, before we get to today's story, I just wanted to tell you guys alittle about Prickly. He is a former Marine. His full name is Sargent Prickly. [I'm not gonna make up a last name] He served in some foreign country that had jungles, not Vietnam. No, he did not get PTSD. Anyway, I included that because this chapter is going to start with a dream/flashback of the war from Prickly's point of view. Warning: There will be blood and graphic death. If these images disturb you, first of all, why are you reading HTF stories? But if you really don't want to read about combat, don't read what's in italics. Without further adue, on with the story!
'I'm gettin' too old for this shit", Prickly thought to himself as the chopper set down in the drop zone. "GO! GO! GO!" he yelled to his men, and they all hopped off the chopper. "LET'S MOVE OUT!", he yelled over the roar of the engine and the noise of the blades as the chopper took off again.
He and his men ran to the edge of the clearing.
A short while later.
SGT. Prickly and his men moved silently throught the jungle. Prickly thought about who he was with on this misson. Corporal, Blade, a brown bear with a tuft of red fur ontop of his head. Specialist, Bernie, a red squirrel. He was the radio operator. Private First Class, Clyde, a green chipmunk. He was their weapons/explosives expert . And Private First Class, Skunk, a black skunk with a white stripe. He was the machine gunner.
Their mission was simple. Search and destroy. Look for the enemy, and if you find them, kill them.
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and Clyde was gone.
"CLYDE!", Prickly screamed as he ran to where Clyde had been. All that he found was a shredded, smoldering boot sitting at the bottom of a crater.
Clyde had stepped on a land mine.
Prickly crossed himself and saluted. He then turned to his remaining men and said, "Skunk, get that machine gun set up, now. Bernie, get on the horn to base and tell them, 'Team Alpha has a man down'. Blade, help me look for Clyde's dog tags".
"Yes, sir!", they all said in unison.
Skunk began hooking the ammo belt into the feeder of his M-60 machine gun.
Bernie grabbed the radio transceiver and said, "Team Alpha to Base. Team Alpha to Base. Do you read me? Over".
Prickly and Blade began looking through the high grass and other vegetation in search of Clyde's dog tags.
"Found 'um!", said Blade as he held up the chain with the two steel ovals hanging from it.
Prickly looked the tags and said, "I really thought there'd be more blood on them".
Blade brushed away a tear and said, "I'm really gonna miss him".
"Blade, we all are", said Prickly, as he put a hand on Blade's shoulder, "You guys ready?".
"Yes sir!", said Bernie, "The message got through".
"Yes sir!", said Skunk, "I'm locked and loaded".
Prickly nodded and said, "Let's move out".
A short while later.
Gunshots suddenly rang out through the valley.
Bernie screamed in pain as he was ripped apart by machine gun fire.
"OW! I'M HIT!", screamed Blade as he clamped a hand to his chest.
"GET DOWN!", screamed Prickly.
Skunk did not need to be told twice. He dove to the ground and began firing his machine gun at the enemies.
Prickly looked over at Bernie and almost puked at what he saw.
Bernie had been shot in the chest and through the head. His helmet had been shot off and his skull had split wide open. His brain and his guts were lying on the ground. It was obvious, he was dead.
Seeing this, Skunk screamed in rage, jumped up, and began to machine gun the advancing enemy forces. They dropped one by one.
Prickly couldn't watch. He knew all too well what was going to happen to Skunk. A sniper was going to put a bullet in his head. He also knew that there was nothing he could do to keep that from happening.
A rifle shot rang out over the machine gun fire.
Skunk's head exploded as a fifty caliber round crashed through his skull. He was dead before he even knew what hit him.
Prickly was passed pissed now. Three of his men were dead and a Blade was probably on his way out. That was four men too many. He had seen the muzzle flash when the sniper had fired his weapon. Prickly aimed his M-16 at where he believed the sniper was and whispered, "This is for my men. You basterd". He pulled the trigger.
The sniper screamed as he fell out of the tree he was perched in, dying on impact.
Prickly stayed low, praying that there weren't anymore enemies left. He knew that if there were, he was royally fucked. After waiting for what felt like ages, he slowly lifted his head and whispered, "Blade, you still alive?".
"Yes", Blade said, "but I'm not sure how much longer I have. I think my lung is FUBAR". [for those of you who didn't pay attention in history class. FUBAR means Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition]
"Blade", Prickly said as he slowly crawled over to Blade's side, "Stay with me. Don't you die on me", as tears came to his eyes.
Blade looked up at Prickly and said, "If I... don't make it... tell my mother... I love her", and he suddenly went limp.
Prickly couldn't take it any longer. He broke down and cried.
Prickly woke up in his sleeping bag. He was covered with sweat and he had tears running down his face. He'd had that flashback/nightmare again. He hated that old flashback. He hated having to watch his men die again, and again, and again. It was always the same. Clyde, the youngest, stepping on a land mine and getting blown to bits. Bernie getting machine gunned. Blade getting shot. Skunk wiping out the enemy then getting shot in the head. Then, finally having Blade die in his arms.
He wondered the same thing he always wondered after he had that flashback, 'Why did Clyde have to die? Why did he have to go like that? Why couldn't it have been me? Why was I spared?'.
"Prickly", Midnight called from outside, "Are you alright?".
"Yeah, I'm fine", replyed Prickly.
"Can I come in?", asked Midnight.
"Sure, come on inside", said Prickly.
Midnight unzipped the door and came into the tent. "Nightmare, huh?", she asked Prickly.
Prickly shrugged and said, "Kinda".
"Whadaya mean, 'Kinda',", said Midnight.
Prickly said, "Have you ever had a nightmare of a flashback?".
"All the time", said Midnight, "What was your flashback?".
"The worst day of my life", said Prickly, "It was the day I had to watch all of my men die. I don't know if I ever told you, but I'm a former Marine. I served in", he raddled off the name of the country, "Did two tours of duty. I'll die before I go back".
"I hear that", said Midnight, "Tell me about your flashback. Maybe it'll help".
"Ok", said Prickly, and he began to tell her everything with all the gory, disgusting details.
30 mintues later.
"Wow", said Midnight, "How did you not get PTSD?".
Prickly shrugged and said, "I don't know. I really don't".
Midnight patted Prickly's shoulder and said, "Feel better?"
Prickly nodded and said, "Much better. Thank you for listening".
Midnight smiled and said, "It was no trouble at all. Now, why don't you get some rest while it's still dark?".
"Ok, good night, Midnight", said Prickly.
"Good night, Prickly", said Midnight as she re-zipped the door.
Prickly fell asleep almost immedately.
Several hours later.
Prickly walked out of his tent, wearing only his jeans, his boots and his ballcap. He had his t-shirt and a towel draped over his arm. He also had a small mirror in his hand and his K-Bar commando knife on his belt.
He walked down to the riverside, placed his mirror in the crotch of a tree, took out his knife and started to shave his face. [yes, you can shave with a K-Bar. How do you think they shaved on the frontlines in World War 2? No, I don't know why critters would shave. If they have fur allover their bodies, they shouldn't need to, but I once saw an episode where Lumpy was shaving as he was driving. Plus, I needed a reason for Prickly to have a mirror set up so he could act like a fool]
Midnight walked down to the river, splashed some water on her face, and stared down into the water at her reflection. She thought about the things Prickly had told her last night. She then sighed and looked up. That was when she noticed, not twenty feet from where she was crouched was Prickly. He was shaving with his commando knife and saying, "Feeling sexy? Oh yeah, I'm feeling sexy".
Midnight was barely able to stifle a laugh as she watched him give himself a little pep talk in the mirror. She quickly ducked behind a bush, so as not to be noticed.
Prickly ran a hand down his face and said, like Adam Sandler in You don't mess with the Zohan, "Silky smooth", then splashed on some aftershave.
Midnight could smell Prickly's aftershave from where she was hiding. She loved the aroma of Oldspice, but she never knew why. Now, she had a reason to, her crush used it.
Yes, Midnight had a crush on Prickly. She had liked him from the time she met him, but her feelings for him were getting stronger. Only one thing stopped her from telling Prickly how she felt. She didn't think girls were supposed to tell boys their true feelings. At least not before he told her that he had feelings for her.
Prickly put his knife back into the sheath, wiped his face on the towel and put on his t-shirt. He then put one hand onto his hip and pointed at the sky with the other hand. Taking on a mock Disco Bear pose. "Oh yeah", he said in a mock Disco Bear growl.
It was all Midnight could do to not laugh. She had one paw stuffed in her mouth and the other one was holding her nose. She was praying that he wouldn't do anything stupider.
Prickly looked over at the bushes and said, "Hmm, I guess there's nobody there", and walked back up to the camp.
Midnight put her head down and laughed so hard she thought she wasn't going to stop.
Sorry that this chapter wasn't as funny as my other ones, but I said what needed to be said. Once again, sorry if the images of combat scared you at all, but if it did, you shouldn't be reading Happy Tree Friends stories. Anyway, will these two ever be able to reveal their feelings to each other? Stay tuned and find out. I'm McQueenfan95. Bye.