It had been a day since we showed up here. We took turns in teams to keep a look out and to get some sleep. It was so hot and the smell of decay had filled the air. I had mainly grown up in the desert regions of the United States but this was hell. The humidity made it so much worse.
On an up side we hadn't seen anymore infected, rabid dogs.
"We have a situation." Destroyers deep voice came through the radios. It was 'my teams' turn to rest. Sarge had us stay in the same groups as yesterday He would be up as much as he could observing, only taking breaks when 'my team' would be up since we had the top ranks. Duke, Reaper and I got to our feet and ran the couple of yards where Destroyer, Goat, Mac, and Sarge were at. By the time we had arrived whatever was going on was over. There was a man sitting on the ground with a bleeding head and another man on the other side of the street yelling at Goat.
"Whats going on?" Duke said.
"This man claimed that, that man had stolen his share of today's food." Mac said shaking his head.
"Sorry, you shouldn't have been called. We thought it was going to break into a riot since all of their families were out here." Destroyer said. We all let out a sigh and stood there. The adrenaline rush of thinking something was up was still pumping through everyone's veins. Sarge was a foot or two down from us talking on a satellite phone to his superior.
I felt a small tug on my pants and looked down to see a little girl standing there.
"Well, hello there." I said and kneeled down to her level. She was a cute little girl.
"Whats your name?" I asked her.
"Isra." she said in a small voice.
"What can I do for you Isra?" I asked.
"Can you help me find my mommy and daddy?" she asked once again in her small voice. She couldn't have been older than five. I stood up and held my hand out to her.
"Sure thing, cutie. Where do you live?" I asked her. The men were all looking at me, wondering what I was doing.
"Hey, guys since you have this 'situation' under control I'm going to help this little girl find her parents. Radio's on." I said to the guys. They all nodded and watched me walk down the street with the little girl.
My heart started to get heavier and my chest started to tighten as we walked closer and closer to the sea shore. Thankfully she stopped and pointed to a house on the left.
"Is it this one sweetie?" I asked as we walked up to a door. She nodded, and I knocked on the door. A big burly man answered the door. I peered in in the crack he was giving me to look in.
"Isra, get your ass in here now!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He opened the door a little more and she scurried like a scared mouse running from its prey. Then the man slammed the door in my face. From what I saw there was about 3 or 4 other men in there. I backed up off of the porch and stood there facing the house.
"Hey Sarge?" I asked through the radio.
"He's still talking to the supervisor whats up?" It was Duke.
"Somethings not right over here at this little girls house." I said.
"What do you mean?" Reaper asked.
"A big Thai guy opened the door made her go in and there was like 3 other guys in there. Something is not right." I said.
"Don't do anything we will be there in a minute." Goat said. I stood there and only had to wait a couple of minutes until I saw two guys running down to where I was in all black.
"Hey guys." I said.
"This house?" Reaper asked pointing at the house. I nodded. Goat and Reaper walked up to the house and knocked at the door.
"Sir, please open up." Reaper said. There was no answer.
"Sir, if you don't open up, we will break the door down." Goat said. All three of us stood there for a moment. With no luck in getting them to open the door. We moved around so that Reaper could kick down the door. When the door was down we ran to the entry way. Guns pointed and cocked. The people had evacuated the premises. They were gone, leaving a shit load of opium on the kitchen table.
"Holy Shit!" Reaper said, Goat and I just stood there in amazement.
"Opium." I said under my breath surprised I was right that something was wrong. "Where's the girl?" I said a little louder. We heard a bang and turned around. The little girl was in the corner curled in a ball. She was bleeding from her head. One of them probably hit her.
"Isra?" I asked as she looked up to me. She got up and ran to me. I looked up at Reaper and Goat as if to ask what to do.
"Sarge we have a situation here." Reaper said into the radio. Goat walked over to me and Isra.
"Hey sweetie, what happened here?" Goat asked. She buried her head into my leg. I looked up at Goat.
"I don't know what to do." I mouthed to him. I was never good with kids. He shrugged.
"Isra, what happened sweetie?" I asked pulling her off of me and looking her in the eye.
"My daddy and his brothers left. They sell opium so we can eat." she said in her small voice in between sobs. I looked at her head, someone had smacked her hard enough to make her head split open. I nodded to her to prove I was paying attention. I reached around to my medical supplies and began to clean the wound.
"This is going to hurt a little bit honey." I said as I put the alcohol to her head. She winced.
"Where is your mom?" Goat asked. Reaper was still talking with Sarge.
"I don't know." she said in her small voice. I breathed a sigh of relief at least she had a a mother still.
"OK, honey." I said, I looked at her now cleaned wound. It wasn't deep enough for stitches but it did need the stitching tape.
Reaper came over to where Goat and I were.
"So, Sarge is on his way over here. He's not to happy." Reaper said.
"Why?" I asked.
"You'll see." he said. I rolled my eyes and bandaged the girls head up. Sarge walked into the house and saw the Opium.
"I see we have found the countries main dealers for Opium." Sarge said. "Who's she?" He asked referring to the girl I was finishing bandaging up.
"She is the daughter of the drug cartel." I said.
"Maddie, come talk to me outside." Sarge said. I looked at Reaper and then to Goat. I left Isra and them in the house and walked out with Sarge.
"What the hell are you doing solider?" he said sternly.
"My job, sir. Isn't this why we are here, sir?" I asked.
"No, Maddie. We are here to make sure things don't get out of hand. Do you want to be in the RRTS? Because the last couple of months make it seems your just here to stir shit up." he said, Sarge was pissed.
"Sarge, what the fuck is this about?" I asked.
"You have a problem with authority and you don't follow orders." he said.
"I don't follow orders? When the hell have I not followed orders?" I asked.
"Today with this girl-" he started then I interrupted.
"It's our job, sir, to help the ones who need help. She came to me, sir. She needed help to find her parents..."
"And they were found end of story. You think America gives two shits about a little bit of Opium. Leave it be." he said and walked of with me standing there in shock.
Reaper and Goat soon came out. Goat was holding Isra. They had heard everything. Our radios were on the whole time.
"I guess, I'm in the shit hole." I said. "In the words of Sarge drop the kid off with someone who looks like they are stable enough to take care of a kid. Even if they are the drug lords of this town."
"Madison, you need to get a hold of yourself, before you get into deeper shit." Reaper said. I shook my head and walked in the direction Sarge had earlier.
…...
We left Thailand that night.
