Captivity – Day 6: Tuesday, May 9th

11:47 GMT+7 (04:47 GMT May 9th)

The Camp, Cambodia

Chloe

"You just going to give up? Honestly, I thought you were better than that! You going to just throw everything away, just like that? Everything that you have worked so hard for – all gone?"

Chloe could hear the words, but her mind was refusing to process them.

"I just can't go on..."

"Bullshit, Chloe Bennett!" the voice exclaimed. "No damn daughter of mine will quit for no damn good reason!"

"Mom!"

Chloe opened her eyes to find herself standing on the mat in the centre of Safehouse F. She was back wearing the linen top and trousers she had worn during the faux escape into the jungle. There, just a few feet away, stood her mother . . . and Cathy Bennett looked very angry.

"Is it really you?"

"Yes, honey, it's me."

"But..."

"Yes, I am still dead . . . and, yes, you are still hanging in a cesspit somewhere in Cambodia. I have come to talk some sense into you. I can understand you wanting to give up – you've endured a lot over the past few days and I can see that it's getting to you," Cathy said slowly and calmly before she waved her hand and a pile of equipment landed at Chloe's feet.

Chloe instantly recognised her combat suit along with the weapons which allowed her to become Shadow.

"Where is that girl, Chloe? You have forgotten who you are. You've endured a lot over the past three years, but overall, I am so damn proud of what you and Joshua have accomplished. As for Becky; you're a wonderful mother, Chloe. She's a lovely little girl and she needs her mother back."

"She's a little menace," Chloe chuckled.

"Like mother like daughter," Cathy reminded her daughter.

Chloe blushed slightly.

"You will get through this, and you will survive," Cathy went on. "But you need to sort yourself out. You are brave, Chloe – and you have everything you need inside here."

"Ow!" Chloe exclaimed as her mother poked her in the centre of her chest.

"Use your strengths, Chloe – you are naturally strong-willed. I should know; trying to tame you as you grew up was never easy. Stop worrying about Becky and people back at home; they are perfectly safe . . . look."

With a wave of her mother's hand, Chloe found herself standing in Stephanie's bedroom, back in Chicago. Chloe looked at the giant bed and she could see Stephanie on one side of the bed and Megan on the other. In between the two lay Becky, her right hand gripping Stephanie's left. All three girls were fast asleep. Chloe could see that her daughter was perfectly safe and being looked after.

"Focus on the here and now," her mother directed. "Mindy needs you, as do Dave and Joshua. Mindy is using Hit Girl as a shield to protect herself from the deprivations you are going through. She is very worried about her best friend and if you will still be the same Chloe when you all emerge from this jungle hell. Use Shadow as your shield, Chloe. The boys are doing fine – they are using you two girls as a means to keep themselves going. They will protect you both and die trying, but you and Mindy need to protect them too."

Chloe spent a few minutes thinking everything through before she responded.

"Thank you, Mom. I was being stupid..."

"No – you were just being human. But you are more than that – you are a superhero who selflessly protects those who cannot protect themselves. Just for once, think about yourself and protect who you are inside. Fight!"

Chloe felt something inside of her changing and she looked up at her mother.

"We're getting out of the damn jungle," Chloe stated with a conviction that surprised her.

"That's my girl," Cathy said. "I have to go – good luck, honey."

"I love you so much, Mom," Chloe said as she hugged her mother tightly.

16:17 GMT+7 (09:17 GMT May 9th)

The Cages

Chloe opened her eyes to find herself back in her cage.

"Welcome back," Dave said with a smile.

"I'm glad to be back," Chloe replied as she looked beyond Dave to find Mindy grinning back at her.

Chloe immediately turned back to find Joshua watching her.

"You stink!" Mindy stated. "Pit?"

"Yeah," Chloe responded, trying to ignore the little bits of shit still residing in her bodily nooks and crannies, despite the hose down.

As Chloe was looking at Mindy, she noticed that there was someone beyond Mindy in the far cage.

"Is that Freya?" Chloe asked.

"You know her?" Mindy responded.

"Yeah – we met the other day."

Freya smiled weakly as she waved a hand in Chloe's direction.

..._...

Their meals - if you could even call their meagre daily rations something as grandiose as a 'meal' – arrived and all five of them dug in with unconcealed gusto, so desperate where they all for sustenance of any kind.

They each took their time with the water, sipping it slowly to make it last. For the first time in days, they all felt a little happier and their morale rose accordingly. Being together meant so much to them all – even Freya felt happier having some form of human company. As they laid back to rest in the waning daylight, Chloe thought back to the vivid dream which had come to her while she was passed out in the cesspit from hell. She considered all that she had been told by her mother. Despite her reactions in her dream, she was unsure if she could rise out of her self-imposed funk. Could she live up to what her mother expected? It was not really a case of 'could she', it was more a case of 'she had to', Chloe reasoned.

"You have got to be kidding!" Mindy growled as she looked either side of her.

"What?" Dave asked nonchalantly as he continued to dig out the crap from between each of his toes.

"Huh?" Freya asked as she sat doing the same.

"That is just so disgusting – I expected more from you, Freya; as for Dave, he's just a man," Mindy complained bitterly.

"I am what I am," Freya commented as she continued with her work.

"Ewww!" Chloe exclaimed as she turned to see Joshua doing the exact same thing.

Chloe and Mindy exchanged a glance, grimacing.

..._...

Chloe actually slept reasonably well that night, considering she was no longer alone.

Despite not having touched Joshua in a week, just having him close by was enough to soothe her troubled mind enough that she could properly think about turning the tide for the girl known as Chloe Bennett. It would be difficult, but she knew that she was strong enough to resist the soul-sapping torture and humiliation.

She would beat the Russians, one way or another, she thought as she fell asleep.

Captivity – Day 7: Wednesday, May 10th

09:05 GMT+7 (02:05 GMT May 10th)

The Cages

Joshua and Dave were concerned to find Chloe and Mindy being taken from their cages.

Both had noticed the Russians upping the humiliation and the interrogation; what was going to be next? Joshua was struggling a bit with getting back to a normal routine. He had slept for many hours, instead of for barely twenty minutes which had helped him no end. He actually felt relatively refreshed as he lay in the sun, hoping for a day of peace.

After almost an hour, two soldiers appeared, and they began to unlock the cages belonging to Dave and Joshua, ignoring Freya, who had no problem whatsoever with being ignored.

10:05 GMT+7 (03:05 GMT May 10th)

Joshua and Dave were brought into the hut and they stopped dead, shocked by what they saw.

Suspended from hooks in the ceiling, several feet apart, Mindy and Chloe could barely touch the floor with their toes. Joshua and Dave both hated seeing Mindy and Chloe suffering, not to mention, naked in such a public setting. The major and the senior sergeant were both grinning; that single fact could not be good for any of them. As Mindy and Chloe forced smiles for their men, the major stepped forward and the senior sergeant turned the girls away so that their backs were to Dave and Joshua.

"I have something nice for you boys, today," the major said with a huge smile. "You, Joshua, will take this lovely item to your women. You, Dave, you will watch."

Dave and Joshua were horrified at the mere suggestion that they might hurt their own. However, any thoughts that the major might be joking rapidly evaporated as Joshua was handed a leather tawse.

"Not a fucking chance!" Joshua exclaimed as he threw the implement down.

"Pick – it – up," the major growled.

"Fuck you!" Joshua retorted.

"You will strike each girl twenty times. Should you not, the senior sergeant, here, will strike each girl fifty times."

Joshua blanched. It was a shit choice. Torture Mindy and Chloe himself, or allow them each to receive more than double the strikes from the grinning bastard leaning against the wall.

"Just do it," Mindy ordered through gritted teeth.

Joshua knew that he had no choice, but he knew that he would also regret his actions for the rest of his life. The sixteen-year-old youth picked up the tawse as he moved towards Mindy. He raised the tawse and, reluctantly, he brought it down on Mindy's backside. Mindy grimaced with the weak strike, knowing what was coming to Joshua. Joshua yelled out as he received a rattan across his bare back.

"Harder, or it does not count," the senior sergeant directed.

Again, Joshua struck Mindy, much harder than before, and Mindy forced down the scream that tried to escape her lips. Her buttocks were burning, but Mindy knew that there was so much more to come. Again, the tawse struck her bare behind and she struggled to control her reactions. After strike number six, Mindy could no longer block out the pain, and she screamed with each strike. Mindy's bottom was turning red with the leather-induced welts and Joshua was instructed to move downwards onto Mindy's thighs.

As the tawse struck the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, Mindy yelped and screamed with each strike. After another six strikes, Mindy was trembling and struggling to stand, her legs beginning to buckle. Mindy was openly sobbing and to hell with Hit Girl. The punishment was stopped there, and the ashen-faced Joshua was told to strike Chloe who was visibly shaking at the sight of Mindy's suffering.

"Please . . . please!" Chloe was begging and sobbing.

Joshua knew that Chloe was all but broken, but he had not realised that she was at the begging stage. As the rattan struck his back, Joshua continued to hesitate, receiving two more strikes, the second of which drew blood from his back. With a grimace, Joshua struck Chloe's left buttock, eliciting a scream, then another as he struck the other buttock. Chloe was not too bad with pain, Joshua knew, but she only lasted five strikes before she was struggling to break free from her bonds and screaming with the pain. After the sixth strike, Joshua was directed to move lower and Chloe shrieked with pain as her thighs were assaulted six times in rapid succession. Joshua felt horrible inside at what he was forced to do. It went against everything he knew was right, and he had never laid a hand on a female, except in battle. He could not believe that he was taking a tawse to the tender skin of the girl he wanted to marry. Joshua just hoped that Chloe might one day forgive him.

Joshua was directed back to Mindy and he was ordered to lash her lower back. Mindy was just barely recovered from the first twelve strikes – the next six were devastating to the girl, not to mention the final pair on her already distressed buttocks. Mindy was left shaking with the pain, but she did everything she could to control it and not pass out. Chloe received the same six strikes which reduced the young woman to a sobbing mess, her entire body shaking from head to toe. Joshua dropped the tawse and he looked up at Dave who was ashen-faced.

They both thought that it was over, but then came their turn and they were beaten to the ground by the major and the senior sergeant armed with rattans.

13:25 GMT+7 (06:25 GMT May 10th)

The Cages

It was time, Chloe realised.

The beatings were getting decidedly worse and if they became too bad, then escape would become impossible. She had risked a lot as they had been taken down and as she and Mindy had struggled to stand on their own feet, they and the boys on the ground were doused with buckets of saltwater. The pain as the salt had entered their wounds was enough to have all four of them yelling out with the agony. On the plus side, the salt would aid the healing of their wounds and hopefully help to prevent infection setting in. All four of them had been dragged back to their zero-star accommodation on Cage Plaza. Freya had gasped in shock as she had seen the four of them shoved into their respective cages. The punishments had been severe, she realised. That afternoon, Chloe had watched as the Russian colonel had made a rare appearance during daylight and he had made for the parade ground where his personal helicopter had landed – it was the same Mi-35 Hind-E which had caused their rescue helicopter to abort its landing a week before, Chloe noticed. The departure of the Russian colonel was a turning point, and Chloe was determined to take full advantage of it.

Later, Freya had looked down the line of cages, and she had seen Chloe smiling – strange indeed after what had obviously been a nasty beating.

23:00 GMT+7 (16:00 GMT May 10th)

The Cages

The guard had been on duty for two hours, and he was bored.

There were still four more hours of his watch. He gazed along the eight bamboo cages and saw that all five of the occupants were fast asleep, just as they always were. The soldier was very new to the army; hence he was given the worst and most undesirable watch. As the rain began to pelt down, he sought cover in the small hut a few yards from the cages. The prisoners were very safe in their cages, he thought.

Well, four of them were, at any rate.

23:05 GMT+7 (16:05 GMT May 10th)

The B-52

Craig, Jennifer, and Ariana

It was time to leave.

Craig had spent most of that evening trying to get Jennifer's survival radio working – it seemed to have been damaged at some stage during their escape a few days previously. They knew that HMS ALBION was still out there somewhere – they had heard her calling over the survival radio, very briefly, before it had crapped out permanently. Their intention was to hike about three kilometres to the northwest and try to find a radio or steal a boat. Only then could they get some help for their friends at the camp. At first, Ariana had been worried.

"Am I coming with you?" she had asked, somewhat timidly.

"I'm not leaving a child in the jungle," Jennifer had responded.

"I am not a child," Ariana shot back.

"Of course not," Craig chuckled.

They had begun their walk, carrying whatever they could from the B-52 which might come in handy should things go badly. Jennifer and Craig were armed; however, Ariana was not. Craig was not quite ready to return her weapons, and Ariana had been okay with that – to a point. But a gunfight was not what they wanted to get involved in – they had about seven hours or so of darkness to make for the coast, and they would need every one of those hours, Craig reasoned.

He hated abandoning his friends, but he would come back for them.

23:08 GMT+7 (16:08 GMT May 10th)

The Cages

"Mindy!"

"Mindy!"

"Fucking hell!"

"Piss off, Chloe," Mindy groaned.

"Anybody want to go home?" Chloe asked.

"What?" Mindy groaned as she opened her eyes. "Wha – how the fuck did you get out there?"

"I picked the lock on my cage," Chloe responded evenly.

"How – never mind . . . get me the fuck out of here."

Chloe swiftly picked Mindy's lock before doing Dave's and Joshua's while Mindy kept watch. The rain was cool but refreshing and Mindy savoured the moisture on her tortured back, ass, and thighs. Joshua and Dave were all professional as they emerged – no unnecessary questions, just actions.

"What about the girl?" Dave asked, looking at the sleeping Freya.

"We take her," Mindy said without hesitation.

Chloe fiddled with the padlock, waking Freya who appeared very confused.

"You want to get out of here, Freya?" Chloe asked.

"Stupid fucking question!" Freya growled as she pushed past the older girl.

Chloe simply shrugged.

..._...

The guard never saw anything.

His life, along with his army career, was ended in a microsecond as Dave snapped his neck like it was dried kindling. Joshua took the Type 56-2 assault rifle while Chloe took the man's bayonet. The five moved stealthily through the darkness and the torrential rain which covered the sound of their movements, making for where they knew the camp commandant lived. Suddenly, Freya hissed out a warning and Mindy turned to find a massive Doberman diving at her. Mindy met the dog in mid-air, dragging the animal down and holding it in a bearhug, forcing its gnashing jaws away from her body. Mindy grimaced as the dog's claws dug into her upper back while they struggled in the mud. It ended quickly, though, as Mindy managed to snap the animal's lower jaw before wrenching the head around killing it. Dave pulled his wife to her feet and checked out her back.

"Is it bad?" Mindy hissed.

"No worse than what you do to my back with your nails, honey," Dave replied with a broad grin on his face, leaving Mindy to scowl.

"Time and a place," Joshua reminded the pair and they all ran on through the rain.

About ten metres ahead, the camp commandant's hut sat slightly raised above the others. There was no illumination from inside, indicating that the man was probably asleep. They moved closer, then froze as Dave raised his clenched right fist into the air. A soldier came around the nearest hut on patrol – Freya dived forward and she kicked the unfortunate man to the ground before she punched him in the throat and then grabbed his assault rifle before striking the man in the face three times with the butt, smashing his face in. Mindy grimaced; Freya appeared to have some anger issues. Mindy grabbed up the assault rifle from Freya and she raced up the wooden steps leading to the camp commandant's front door.

The door was not locked, and Mindy shoved it open.

..._...

Once inside, she looked around quickly.

The main room was spartan and contained just a desk and a chair, a table with four chairs, and a small kitchen. While Chloe kept watch from one of the windows, Mindy moved towards the bedroom. She kicked open the bedroom door and she found the commandant in his bed, although the man rapidly sat up and he reached for his pistol which sat beside his bed on a small table.

"Go ahead, make my day!" Mindy growled as she stuck the muzzle of the assault rifle into the man's face.

"You shoot me, every soldier here will kill you all," the commandant reasoned in heavily accented English.

"Maybe – but you'll be fucking dead," Mindy countered.

While Mindy and the guard had been talking, Dave and Joshua had hauled the second dead soldier into the commandant's hut. Joshua began to strip him, and he passed out the man's clothing while Dave began to ransack the hut for other items of clothing. It did not take long for them all to find suitable – if not exactly desirable – clothing and adequate footwear. It was nothing like their combat clothing, but it at least covered them up and allowed each to regain at least some of their modesty.

"What are you going to do with me?" the commandant demanded.

"We're going for a little drive," Joshua said as he prodded the commandant out into the rain the moment the man was dressed.

They all clambered into the commandant's personal vehicle, a Yongshi Warrior SUV – a poor Chinese attempt at a Hummer. It was a tight squeeze for six, but they managed it and with Dave driving, they made for the main gate. As with the guard at the cages, there were just two junior guards on duty, the duty officer back in his hut due to the rain. It was obvious that security was lax when the Russian colonel was away from the camp, not that anybody was complaining. One look at the camp commandant was enough for the gates to be pulled open smartly and Dave moved off just as smartly.

The road was muddy, and the rain torrential, so Dave was forced to keep the speed down for everybody's safety.

Thursday, May 11th, 2017

00:18 GMT+7 (17:18 GMT May 10th)

The Jungle

The first kilometre, or so, did not take long.

Dave fought the muddy road the entire way, twisting and turning the wheel to fight the skidding each time the backend of the SUV tried to overtake the front. For all of them, except maybe for the camp commandant, losing sight of the camp was a major morale boost and Mindy actually found herself grinning, as was Chloe and Joshua. Dave had no time for grinning as he attempted to see what was ahead of them through the driving rain. It was essential that they put as much distance between them and the camp as possible, before they stopped or ran into a problem. At least that was the idea until Dave slammed on the brakes and they slithered to a halt a few yards from a wooden bridge which stretched about seventy metres across a river.

"What do you think, honey?" Dave asked Mindy.

"We're with you – stamp on it!" Mindy responded.

Dave gently put his foot down on the clutch and he engaged first gear, nudging the accelerator as he guided the SUV over the bridge which did not look all that safe. Two minutes later, they were over the bridge, which had moaned and complained the whole way across, and back onto the muddy track which wound through the jungle.

"Whoever laid this damn track," Freya commented, as she was thrown from side to side, "must have been raving drunk after a night on the town."

No part of it was straight and there were apparently random twists and turns, some a full ninety degrees, one way or another.

"You have a point," Joshua agreed as he braced himself for the next right-hand bend.

"For goodness sake!" Mindy blurted out when she could take no more. "You are driving like an old woman, Dave . . . let me drive!"

"Don't you fucking dare!" Chloe growled as she pinned Mindy with her right elbow. "I want to get out of here in one piece, thank you very much!"

Joshua laughed out loud, causing Mindy to scowl into the darkness.

00:20 GMT+7 (17:20 GMT May 10th)

Craig, Jennifer, and Ariana

The going was slow, thanks to the rain, but also because Craig was finding the going a little tough with his injuries.

Ariana was doing her best to support Craig and guide him through the mud, but she was not exactly one hundred percent, either, which just added to the fun. The young girl had spent far too long trudging through the jungle on her own, and the snake bite had cost her a lot, and despite her eagerness to get out of the jungle, she was nowhere near eighty percent, let along anything higher. But if she could just get back to the real world and put her personal hell behind her, she would do anything to get there.

Jennifer was the only one who was perfectly fit, but she was quite laden down with her equipment and weapons. She enjoyed a walk in the rain, just like anybody else, but she would have preferred to be curled up at home with Rodney, watching a movie while the girls played on the floor. She really missed them all; her little family, and she hoped that she would see them again – and soon.

Craig had his mind focused on the task ahead, just like he always did. He had nobody waiting for him at home; his grown-up daughter was estranged, and his wife had long ago remarried. The life of a dedicated naval officer was never all that compatible with married life. However, his lonely existence was much more desirable than his little trip to Asia.

"Come on, Ariana!" Craig called out. "We need to cover some ground; move those feet, young lady!"

Ariana grinned as she increased her pace slightly.

01:05 GMT+7 (18:05 GMT May 10th)

Dave, Mindy, Joshua, Chloe, and Freya
(plus the camp commandant)

Twice they had had to climb out to get the SUV back onto the track.

They were starting to become despondent – they had travelled only about five kilometres from the bridge over the river in a little over half an hour. Then a little over a kilometre later, they were relieved to finally reach something resembling a road – it was gravel, instead of the hoped-for tarmac, but it was decidedly better than the mud track. Dave put his foot down and Mindy finally stopped making snide comments about Dave's driving. Unbeknownst to them, they were driving along the top of a ridge and Dave overcompensated after taking a sharp hairpin turn and the SUV began to slide on the gravel surface, lurching first one way and then the other. Dave finally saw the edge of the ridge and he did everything that he could to avoid what was a very steep drop into the jungle below, and one which they would probably not survive.

Dave struggled to contain the lurching vehicles momentum, but then they hit a section of road where water had washed away some of the gravel, and the resulting mud caused the tyres to lose all grip and the laws of physics took over. With a loud bang, the three-quarter ton SUV struck a large rock before flipping over onto its side and sliding along the gravel road for a short distance before rolling completely onto its roof with a resounding crash and slamming into a mangrove tree, shattering what was left of the glazing and violently shaking everybody as the upside-down vehicle came to a swift, and very sudden, halt.

For several moments, nobody moved as the shock of the crash sank in. Mindy was the first to speak as she rubbed her forehead.

"Yell out if you're dead!" she yelled.

"She's a right bloody comedian, isn't she?" Freya commented dryly as she disentangled herself from Chloe who had landed on top of her. "God, you're heavy, Chloe."

Freya screamed out as Chloe poked the younger girl in her left boob. Chloe ignored the complaining youngster as she examined the slumped form of the camp commandant.

"The commandant's had it," Chloe reported. "His neck's broken."

"No big loss," Mindy responded coldly as she clambered out of the wreckage, pulling a slightly stunned Freya with her.

Dave emerged with his assault rifle and he promptly began to check out the area to ensure that nobody was too close.

..._...

"So," Chloe enquired of nobody in particular. "What do we do now?"

"Walk," Joshua suggested as he nudged his annoyed girlfriend forward.

"How far are we from the coast?" Freya asked.

"Maybe a little under four kay, at a guess," Dave replied.

"A nice stroll," Joshua persisted.

"In this fucking rain?" Chloe retorted.

"You needed a shower," Mindy grinned.

"Okay, Freya, help me see what crap is in the trunk of this piece of shit," Chloe said as she stepped around the SUV and she pulled open the tailgate to rummage inside.

"Big drop down there, Chloe – be careful," Joshua called out.

"I'm fine!" Chloe retorted coldly.

The weather over the previous few weeks had been very wet, and the soil had absorbed a lot of the water. That water had seeped through the ground, saturating it. For the most part, the ground was able to cope, thanks to the roots of the mangroves which served to support the saturated soil as it gradually dried out. However, at the edge of the ridge, there were very few trees, and entire sections of the ridge had already dropped into the ravine below. The section where the two girls were standing, had been undermined earlier that week, and was just a foot or so deep, and the weight of the SUV was not helping, not to mention that the crash had dislodged several rocks which had been supporting the top of the ridge. Gravity began to exert itself, and the ground trembled slightly, before giving way completely and with a double scream, the two girls found themselves falling as the ground beneath them gave way. They did not fall far as they landed atop the landslide which was careering down the side of the ravine. Both girls were then swept along, mud and water frothing up around them as they surged downwards into the darkness below.

Dave, Joshua, and Mindy simply looked on in horror as the two girls vanished – there was simply nothing that any of them could do.

01:05 GMT+7 (18:12 GMT May 10th)

Dave, Mindy, and Joshua

The mood was sombre, to say the very least.

For several minutes, nobody said anything; they had been shocked to their cores by what they had just witnessed.

"We've got to go after them!" Mindy shouted.

"There's no way down," Joshua said. "It would take us all night to get down there, and we could walk right past them without even seeing them."

"Joshua has a point," Dave admitted.

"But...," Mindy began.

"No, Mindy, we need to press on and get the hell out of here – only then can we get help for Chloe and Freya," Dave explained.

"You're just going to leave Chloe!?" Mindy demanded incredulously.

"We have no choice, Mindy," Joshua reluctantly admitted, even though his heart was telling him something very different.

"We are so damn close, and...," Mindy stated.

Joshua hugged Mindy and they both took solace in each other's company. But only for a moment as Mindy shrugged Joshua off.

"Let's get moving before those bastards come after us," Mindy directed as she gathered up what gear there was, and an assault rifle.

They had found two rifles and several loaded magazines in the back of the SUV which they had removed very carefully as the SUV sat on the very edge of the ridge. The three of them had no choice but to abandon the wrecked SUV and continue on, hoping that Chloe and Freya were still alive. The rain refused to abate, and they were already at the stage where they could get no wetter. They began to trudge along the gravel road, heading towards the coast and, hopefully, a boat of some description. The road twisted and turned, ensuring that they had to stop at each bend and curve to check the road ahead, which was a nightmare as they could barely see a dozen feet ahead of them.

They tried to focus on the route ahead, rather than on who they had left behind; but it was not easy.

..._...

After almost two hours, they came to a T-junction.

"Left?" Dave suggested.

"Takes us in the right direction," Mindy confirmed.

"Left, it is," Joshua said as he started walking.

Dave and Mindy followed suit, eager to find some shelter from the incessant downpour.

03:35 GMT+7 (20:35 GMT May 10th)

Dave, Mindy, and Joshua

The rain was easing slightly, but their morale, bearing, and situational awareness had slackened to the point where they had no real idea what was going on around them.

Their intermediate destination was almost in sight. The jungle had broadened out onto fields which had been cultivated, indicating that a village was close by. Through the lessening rain, they were able to make out some lights, not too far away – small farms which were of no use to them. However, about half a kilometre of so away, they could see a small cluster of lights which had to be the fishing village – they were home free.

"Thank fuck!" Joshua breathed as he saw the lights indicating hope – and a boat to steal. "I hope..."

Joshua was suddenly cut off as men began to appear from nearby buildings – they were all armed and each wore what looked like military fatigues. They had been found. They counted four . . . eight . . . twelve . . . sixteen . . . twenty-four . . . they gave up counting. There was unintended hesitation at the major turn of events. Mindy's mind saw herself back at the camp getting the living daylights punched out of her. For a moment, she simply stood there . . . then gunshots rang out from the left and Mindy's mind told her that they were being flanked, but then, she saw three of the soldiers fall to the roadside, closely followed by three more. The soldiers, as well as Dave, Mindy, and Joshua quickly sorted themselves out and they all dived for cover.

"Who the fuck is to our left?" Dave yelled to Mindy.

"Fucked if I know!" she exclaimed.

There was movement from the left and as Joshua turned to bring his assault rifle to bear, a voice called out from the darkness.

"Don't fucking shoot!"

"Jennifer!" Joshua exclaimed as he saw their fifth team member appear out of the darkness, her SIG Sauer MPX at her shoulder.

"Evening, Joshua," Commander Lawrence called out as he dropped to one knee beside the surprised youth.

Dave peered over, and he was shocked to see three people with Joshua – one appeared to be a young girl and she was firing a Colt M4A1 SOPMOD assault rifle from her shoulder, dropping enemy soldiers with measured shots. Dave immediately recognised the commander who was firing a Type 56-2 assault rifle, not to mention the redoubtable Jennifer with her MPX. Mindy also took a moment to see where their fire support had come from and she was suddenly filled with an overwhelming desire to kill and get to the water.

"Fire in the hole!" the young girl yelled, and she sent a 40-millimetre grenade downrange, killing and maiming several of the Cambodian soldiers.

Dave and Joshua used the grenade's explosion as a distraction and they moved rapidly to outflank the remaining soldiers. It was obvious that the soldiers had expected very little in the way of resistance but the inbound gunfire from another axis had thrown off their carefully laid ambush. As the last of the soldiers fell, the night air was filled with the sounds of approaching trucks. The six of them ran ahead for a moment before Dave saw a Cambodian army truck parked at the side of the road. He jumped up behind the wheel and started the engine. Everyone else piled into the back, except for Mindy who jumped up beside Dave. With a lurch, the six-wheeled truck accelerated – agonisingly slowly – as they ate up the final six hundred metres or so.

Those in the back sent bullets down their wake with the odd grenade to dissuade those following in two similar trucks which slithered to a halt as gunfire shattered their windshields and injured the drivers. Then mortars began to fall all around them as they raced ahead. The water was coming closer and closer – then as they raced through the small village, Dave slammed on the brakes to stop the truck beside the dock. He grinned at Mindy as he saw a fishing boat being prepared for that morning's fishing. The engine was already running, and the crew were preparing their nets before getting underway. Dave and Joshua ran down the dock and they leapt aboard, using their weapons to persuade the crew to disembark. Once everybody was aboard, Joshua and Jennifer unhooked the mooring lines while Dave pushed the single throttle forward and the boat began to chug away from the dock.

With intense relief, everybody took a moment to look back at Cambodia, glad to see the back of the place which represented only misery.