Margaret moaned loudly as she woke up. She looked around her in puzzlement; how did she get in the swamp? Margaret tried to sit up but was pushed back forcefully onto the cot.
"Margaret, are you awake?" Hawkeye's voice was tense and quiet.
"What are they going to do to us?" Margaret asked, trying her hardest not to begin to cry.
"I don't know; maybe they will…" He was cut off as one of the men guarding him, delivered a heavy blow to his abdomen with the end of his rifle.
Margaret sat up again, squinting in the darkness. She realized she was sitting on Hawkeye's bunk and she reached up to turn on the light. The man guarding her shouted something at her and quickly turned the light off again. In the few moments that the light was on, Margaret saw the blood and dirt that covered Hawkeye's body.
Another man stepped into the tent and walked to Hawkeye. He picked him up and began to drag him out of the room.
"Stop it!" Margaret screamed. She did not know what she would do if she was left alone with these men.
"Leave him alone," she was hysterical now, she did not care what happened to her, just so long as she wasn't alone. The guard hit her face with the back of his hand and she slapped him back. He angrily grabbed her shoulders and began to shake her violently.
Margaret sobbed and screamed, each noise she uttered bringing another blow from the soldier. Suddenly he dropped her back onto the cot as a gun went off. Margaret tentatively opened her eyes and through the moonlight, she saw Hawkeye in a crumpled form on top of the man who had previously been abusing her.
The three soldiers that were now in the tent descended upon Hawkeye and began to beat him in whatever manner they chose. Hawk's shoulder was bleeding profusely, and small trails of blood seeped from his mouth.
In one last desperate attempt to make them stop, Margaret crawled over to one of the men. As he was distracted, she turned his head and kissed him fiercely.
He looked at her in shock and then smiled, before saying something to the other men, who promptly left the tent. The soldier led her over to a cot and harshly began to tug at her clothing as Margaret did her best to remove them; she had stripped down to her undergarments when she heard a small noise from the corner of the room.
"Margaret," she pulled herself out of the man's arms and knelt down beside Hawkeye.
"You're gonna be okay Hawk," she sobbed. He smiled and reached for her face, wincing in pain as he did.
"Don't do this Margaret." He pleaded. The soldier jerked Margaret to her feet in annoyance and led her back to the cot.
"I have to," she whispered in response as Hawkeye closed his eyes. As the soldier began to roughly caress her breasts, Margaret moaned. She wanted to spit in this man's face. However, she knew that so long as he was with her, Hawkeye would be left alone. She did not know how she would be able to live with herself if something happened to him.