A few words from the author: Thank you to all who read my story, and a bigger thank you to all who reviewed it.

Contains: Apocalypse Now refrences, lot's of them.

Warning: do not drive or operate heavy machinery while using this product as it could lead to rectal bleeding or serious liver problems.

Enjoy

March 7, 1969; 2204 local time; West of Do Long Bridge

Ichigo and his men had made it to the river and were now on the perilous treck downstream. The banks of the Nung were covered with thick foliage, there were ferns, vines and various palm-like trees. Ichigo walked in front of the line, with Renji, Kiyone, and Ishida following close behind. Ichigo looked downstream, he thought he saw a a string of lights.

"Hey, Ishida, c'mere." Ichigo motioned.

"What is it?" Ishida asked.

"What can you see over there?" he said as he motioned to the lights.

Ishida raised his rifle and looked into the scope. He saw lightbulbs hanging on a string like christmas lights, the lights illuminated a metal structure, occasionally sparks flew down from the metal girders.

"It looks like a bridge of some sort." Ishida said.

"A bridge, out here in the middle of nowhere?" Ichigo asked.

"Looks like something we should check out." Renji said.

"Alright, Renji you're with me, Ishida take Kiyone and follow us at a distance." Ichigo said.

Ichigo and Renji made their way forward through the bushes. Soon they came to a muddy clearing with barbed and razor wire strung all over, occasionally there would be a corpse hanging from the wires. They started crawling under the wires when they heard a voice.

"Shit! We got Charlies on the wire. Get 'em!"

The air was filled with gunfire and orange tracers flew over Ichigo and Renji 's heads.

"You think you bad? You think you bad? Huh? Get some!"

"STOP SHOOTING WE'RE AMERICANS!!" Ichigo shouted with all of his might. The shooting stopped and a voice was heard.

"Show yourself!" a voice shouted.

Ichigo put down his weapon, raised his arms and stood up. A flashlight from a nearby trench shined up and down on Ichigo, revealing Ichigo's dirt caked fatigues and his tired, dirty face.

"Alright, your clear."

"I've got three other guys, I'll call 'em out, don't shoot!" Ichigo said. "Ishida, Kiyone, Renji! C'mon out!"

Slowly Renji stood up, Ishida and Kiyone came out of the jungle. They all walked over to the trench and climbed inside. The inside of the trench was illuminated by christmas lights, sitting behind a .50 caliber machinegun sat a black man with muddy green fatigues. Next to him sat another black man with a grenade launcher, it was painted orange and black, making it look like a tiger's tail.

"Where's the commander?" Ichigo asked.

"What commander, we have no commander." One of the men responded.

"Have you guys had any contact with the outside world?"

"The last contact we had was a PBR (1) going upriver that stopped to get fuel, but that was four days ago."

"Got a radio?"

"Busted"

"Food?"

"None that we can spare"

"Weapons?"

The man pointed to an AK-47 lying in the mud and ten clips sitting on a box.

"Ammo?"

"None that we can spare, other than the AK"

"Smokes?" Renji asked.

The man reached into the box he was sitting on, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and threw them to Renji.

"Thanks man." Renji said.

"Where the hell are we anyways?" Ishida asked.

"You're in da' asshole o' da' world man." The man with the grenade launcher said as he held one of his grenades and examined it. "Do Long bridge."

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March 12, 1969; 0923 local time; Nung River

Ichigo and his men left Do Long after getting what supplies they could, it turned out that Kiyone was able to trade her underwear for twenty C-rations, but other than the AK there was no extra ammo to be found. Ichigo left his M-60 in favor of the AK knowing that it would be a long time before they got anywhere where they could resupply.

They walked along the foliage of the shore when Ishida saw something, he motioned for them to stop before looking into his scope. It was a sampan (2), beached on the shore of the river. The sampan was about thirty feet long with a ten foot shelter made with bamboo and cloth. The cloth was a little frayed and tattered, it also had what appeared to be bullet holes. As they approached the boat they heard flies buzzing around, Ichigo ordered Ishida and Kiyone to stay back. Ichigo an Renji crept up to the boat, rifles at the ready. Ichigo peered into the boat and grimaced at what he saw. There were five bodies, about a week old. It looked like they were gunned down, judging from the bloodstained clothing. Seeing the body of a young girl with the head wound nearly made Ichigo throw up. Ichigo was repulsed by the scene, but he knew that the boat would make the trip down the river much easier.

Ichigo, Renji and Ishida took the bodies out of the boat and piled them up on the shore like chordwood. Ichigo ordered everyone into the sampan. Renji pushed off with an oar and they started floating down the muddy brown waters of the Nung.

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March 19, 1969; 1230 local time; Nung River

The sampan floated very slowly down the river, Ichigo and his men were lounging in the shade of the tattered cloth shelter Ichigo an Renji were sitting on the port side. Ichigo had a large stick, a string was attached at one end, the other end of the string was in the water. Kiyone was laying with her head in Ishida's lap as the marksman leaned back on the wall of the boat.

"You know what I could really go for right now?" Renji asked.

"No, what could you go for right now?" Ishida asked as he gingerly ran his fingers through Kiyone's strawberry blonde hair.

"A huge rack of ribs. Grilled on an open flame and slathered in barbacue sauce." Renji said as his mouth started watering.

"Nah, gimme a big steaming platter of biscuts and gravy." Ishida said as he closed his eyes and smiled.

"I could really go for a nice big chocolate sundae, with chopped nuts and a cherry on top." Kiyone said.

As they were dreaming up meals in their minds, Ichigo felt a tug on the string. Ichigo began pulling in the line, he pulled up a two foot long brown catfish. Ichigo made a fire in one of their helmets and started cooking pieces the fish with sticks.

Ichigo handed one of the sticks to Kiyone.

"What's this?" She asked.

"It's a chocolate sundae." Ichigo responded.

(1) PBR: Patrol Boat, River "A type of plastic patrol boat, pretty common sight on the rivers." -Apocalypse Now

(2) Sampan: A flat-bottomed boat commonly used by Vietnamese, somethimes sampans were used to transport enemy equipment and supplies.