Chapter 6. Brown River
Brian, Paul, Joseph, and Vincent were sitting in front of the fireplace. The rain showed no sign of stopping even after the night comes. Kim was out on the riverside. In the distance, the New Mexico plateau was faintly visible. The river was in darkness and could not be seen well, but the sound of the strong flow continued was still be able to heard.
"Sarge Kim."
Kim looked back. Turner walked over and stood next to Kim.
"What is it."
"...I'm sorry, sarge."
"..."
Kim put his arms around Turner's shoulders without saying a word.
"Albert... Berk... Fuck."
Turner lamented, as he called the names of the two lost members. Kim knew that Turner's gun would have killed him if things had gone worse on the bridge. But Turner wasn't entirely responsible, though. It's enough stress to him, already had to bury one platoon member in the morning, but losing two more, even a friend who's from his hometown and join the military together, in front of his eyes. The endurance level that this friend could handle was probably long before the maximum was exceeded. Kim could take this as the attempted murder of his superior, and charge to the court-martial, but he didn't want to go that far, even though. It was not appropriate to take the platoon member to court by himself for not even able to protect them. It was not something that he wants to do. Furthermore, Kim was starts to doubt about himself, as a platoon leader's qualifications. Although he knew that he had not been able to keep that vow since Jordan's death, but to send Albert and Berk away is a different story from his vow.
"It's not your fault, sarge."
"Excuse me?"
"About that action related with Jordan. Yes, you killed him, sarge. But, Jordan has changed at that moment, and if we didn't stop him, maybe we should have buried Paul there, too."
Kim couldn't raise his head.
"And Albert and Berk. None of us could save them, from falling into that river. If it was a possible thing, then maybe we would have done it earlier. Isn't that why we are Sparrow 2 Platoon?"
"..."
"Sarge?"
"Turner."
Kim looked at Turner. Turner could feel the indescribable emotion that existed beyond the deep fatigue carved on Kim's face. Then Kim sighed once.
"There are so many things I want to say to you right now."
"..."
"Maybe we could be able to stopped it. Not just Albert, Berk and Jordan, but about our whole Sparrow 2 coming here. But I didn't. I'm a bad leader."
"Sarge."
"If I die too, well, maybe I deserve that. Anyway, if you come to that, from then on, please, I ask you to take the charge of our Sparrow 2."
"Sarge."
"Don't complain. Unlike Berk, you don't listen straight to my orders. Always look the other way, too. But that's your pros, not a con. The one who keeps questioning the weak points or the oddities of a plan, when everyone only agrees with one side."
"..."
"I'm sorry, Turner. Putting you to take this burden."
"Sarge!"
Turner grabbed Kim by the shoulder and turned him around.
"You are a good platoon leader. Well, I have met Hell latta good people, though. But there is no one who understands and takes good care of our platoon members better than you, Sarge Kim. Our goal is making the impossible to possible, and you have accomplished everything you have to do. I am still bitter about losing some of our members on the way here, but I can say that never be entirely your responsible, sarge."
"Turner, dude."
"Please stop the wiener talk, sarge. Because you're our platoon leader, so that's why we're the Sparrow 2. We're the Sparrow 2, because we're all doing our part. That fact will not gonna change at all. We need the platoon leader like you, sarge."
"..."
Kim lightly grabbed Turner's ear and shook it.
"You big-balled asshole... I didn't know you could say such a fancy words like that. You should take over the position of platoon leader. I'm tired, man."
Kim smiled and said to Turner.
"Thank you, bro."
Kim took out a cigarette and recommended it to Turner. Both of them light the cigarettes. Kim took a sip and exhaled the cigarette in his hand, raising it like a glass toss.
"For Jordan, Albert, and Berk."
"For all of them."
Kim and Turner smoked. The rain was still pouring heavily.
Kim unfolded the map in front of the fireplace. Vincent, Turner, Brian, Paul, and Joseph gathered. He leaned his chin and looked at the map silently. It was easy to see where they were now. They surely had a hard time, cross the Victory Bridge. Now the key was, how to get back to the front line across the river. The map will not be going to lie to them, but didn't this place iced the three innocent platoon members while all of them only trust and follow this map? Now they needed to reconsider about how to move.
"What are you going to do now?"
"I really have no idea from now, either."
Kim blurts a word at Turner's question.
"Well, the Map won't lie to us about the terrain, but I don't think we can just look at this and go. We've already lost three people because of the ambush that's not on the map, isn't that right?"
Everyone looked at the map silently. From the start, it was hopeless enough to enter the former North Vietnam territory and be isolated because they couldn't get to the front line by once, which is their goal line. They have no idea what to do here, in the Northside of the River. If they managed to keep going to the front line of south, they would have to go through Ho Chi Minh Bridge, and to do so, they had to follow the long-ass North Vietnam trenches that dug alongside the riverbank. There wouldn't be anything they could find either in the airbase that go a little bit higher North. Even the weapons and equipment of NV were initially different size than they were used, and even if they found out a food or other miscellaneous goods, how likely is it that things abandoned in the jungle would remain in good shape for four years?
Then, in Kim's head, the detailed meaning of the two words "Air Force" suddenly came to mind. Communication with the ground is essential for the proper operation of the Air Force, and the Soviet Union and China now provide not only weapons but also aircraft and communication equipment.
"Joseph, what languages can you speak?"
"Asking it all of a sudden, sarge?"
"I Didn't ask about your opinion about it. Just answer it."
"Uh, French, Russian, Chinese, and,"
"Bingo!"
Kim hit his knee and pointed to the map.
"Can you see this runway, y'all?"
"What good would that be? I mean, there's nobody in us, who can manipulate aircraft in here now. Well, for you sarge, Captain Ox taught you how to fly a helicopter, but please, don't tell us that you're thinking about stealing an aircraft or anything like that."
"Of course not. You've seen too many 007, Vincent. Unfortunately, I'm not that much talented enough for that."
Then, Kim pointed to an air base right next to the runway.
"I don't know if everyone knows this, but there are a few things needs for the Air Force to operate properly. What do you think it is, Turner?"
"Uh, fuel and an airplane, sarge?"
"That's the basics. Anything else?"
"How about communication, sarge?"
"Bravo, Brian. The Air Force can't walk on the ground like the Army, so they cannot afford a human messenger. That's why electric communication in air force, is even more important. That's why they have better communication equipment than us, the basic infantries. And it's also noteworthy that the Soviets and Chinese are giving a lot of air management equipment and other ancillary supplies to the Charlies. If we raid this place with hope, there will be more things which can perform like our PRC, no matter how bad they are."
"Do you know how to operate it?"
"Not everyone here has taken a professional radio training course, but we're trained in basic manipulation and understanding of radios, aren't we? Of course, that's not the problem. The devices they use don't look exactly like ours, and the controls and guidelines are written in Cyrillic, which we've never been dealt with. But we have somebody who can read Cyrillic."
"Do you mean Joseph?"
"How about we ask him directly, then? You… Do know how to interpret it, isn't it, Joseph?"
Kim asked with a face full of conviction. Joseph answered while watching the platoon members' faces.
"Well, I can't say I cannot do it, sarge."
"If we have to start with only pure luck from the beginning, of course it will be a fuck up, but wouldn't it be easier to manipulate at least if we have someone who know how to read the device's letters?"
The platoon members looked at each other. Kim smiled and put his finger down on the map.
"Our goal, in tomorrow, is here!"
Turner rolled his eyes around and opened his mouth.
"But what can we do with a radio? The search party will be sent here if we're out of radio for two days anyway, and it's been only one day left, so won't it come after tomorrow? Is it necessary to walk into a dumpster where you don't know which ones will be worse, sarge?"
"Turner, do you remember where we got off?"
"Of course, it is, sarge."
"We didn't communicate that much to H.Q. yet, and the search party who'll arrive tomorrow will probably get off the same point as we did. Because this whole area, is still prohibited to aircraft, further here north because of the possible presence of anti-aircraft guns used by NV. But in our own experiences, there are no active North Vietnam troops in this area except those "zombies." Then there won't be any fully operate-able anti-aircraft guns. That means if the radio communication just successes once, just once, and second, with assumption that the space is safe enough, we can ask them to fly a helicopter all the way here to pick us up, without have to go back through that dreary jungle and wait for it."
"Then what we're going to do..."
"First of all, we'll go into the air base and see if it's a place where a helicopter can come. We'll try radio if possible. If all goes well, we'll just have to cross the Ho Chi Minh Bridge, get on the front line for a moment, do our mission, and get out from there, and comes back here, before the helicopter arrives."
Turner's face got brightened. Other platoon members' faces began to agitate with anticipation and excitement. Kim began to speak, pointing to the map.
"Turner, Brian. You're both NCOs, but your shooting skills are the most reliable between all of us, aren't you?"
"Isn't everyone good at shooting, sarge…?"
"Anyway, if you two stick together, I think no one, no matter it's the North Vietnam regular army or the Viet Cong guerillas, they'll probably just go down, just like a candle in front of winds. As soon as it's dawn tomorrow, you two are going through the trenches, cross the Ho Chi Minh Bridge, and enter the front line."
"Do you mean to our goal point, sarge?"
"It's a goal area reconnaissance, if I correct your words. All the obstacles you encounter along the way to where our trenches were, like, zombies, landmines, explosives, Viet Cong, and if they exist, remember them that where they are. If you can get rid of them, then you can do your actions."
Kim continued down the road to the south through Ho Chi Minh Bridge with his fingers.
"While you two sorts out the bottom, Paul, Joseph and Vincent enter the North Vietnam air base with me. Then, as I just said, we'll check for the radio comm attempts and aircraft landing capability. When it's all done, whatever the outcome is, then we'll follow you both across the bridge to the front line. Whether we're going to carry out our operational objectives there and get back on the helicopter ride back to the base, or go back to the original descent point, to make it easier for us to meet with the search party. Any question?"
No one said anything. But all of their faces were bright.
"Okay, let's push it like this!"
Vincent, Joseph, Paul, and Brian fell asleep. Kim began to talk to Turner, as the first turn of the Night Watch.
"By the way, why are you only sending Brian and me down, sarge? I'm definitely not saying that Brian is a terrible shooter, but we don't know what's going to happen up there either, so why don't you take one more marksman?"
"Then who are you going to with?"
"Well, maybe Paul or..."
"It's obvious. Isn't it? Well, I don't know which one will be harder, but I think going in where was our territory originally will be easier than go through the enemy base, even though it's been abandoned. Besides, I didn't tell you to clean up the bottom completely. I told you to just move as quietly as possible, identify any obstacles and get rid of them only when you need them. Wouldn't that power need to be more powerful than a rifle bullet? Well, yes. Paul and Joseph both have rifles, but Joseph is originally a grenade launcher shooter. His firepower is not a joke. Vincent's gun, well, it's not reliable though, but it's still an M60. It's a God damn machine gun. So, I thought the M16 of yours and Brian's M14 must be the right weapons for a spying into quietly."
Turner pondered over it.
"And, honestly, do you want to keep going to the north?"
"What do you mean, sarge?"
Kim said, looking at Turner with his chin on his hand.
"I've already felt it as I've brought everyone along so far. In this mission, you have so many opposing points with me."
"But, sarge."
"Of course, that's not to say you're having a darn personality, or you don't fit the military system, uh, no, wait a second. Nah, both of them are just fits perfectly to you, from the first place."
Kim laughed. Turner looked at him with a puzzled look.
"Anyway, if you always do that, I wouldn't put you as our platoon member. Besides, it's not your problem that you're in opposition to me right now. We've seen so many rough things along the way, and lost three platoon members. One of them was especially special to you."
Turner dropped his head.
"As I said before, your existence is valuable to our platoon, more than anything else, because it always provides different perspectives to us. If everyone is looking only at the same place, then it could lead to the trap or dooms because of some hidden obstacles in the middle that all of us missed. I have the both goal of success of the operation, and everyone's safe return to home, but you may be trying to turn away, because you think it's too much to achieve both of 'em. However, if we continue to unite our entire platoon and trying to get two goals at once, we'll have the same efficiency just like before, but what if we divide the goals and proceed with each hit, even it's a few people, we'll never know what will goona happen? Also, there will be less pressure to suffocates us than if two goals exist at the same time."
Kim threw his cigarette into the fire.
"And, since you've been working so hard against those 'zombies' from the day before, I don't want you to confront them any more than you can handle. Also, you must have been tired of listening to my orders, so you two go down quietly and wait. I'll bring Paul, Vincent, and Joseph safely after finish it well and come back."
Turner nodded silently. Kim grabbed Turner by the shoulder and shook him lightly. The rain was still falling hard.
Paul, who was sleeping quietly, got up with his face crumpled.
"Paul, it's not your turn yet. Why did you wake up?"
Albert, who was on the watch, rubbed his sleepy eyes and said. Paul was clutching his lower stomach.
"I think it's because of the damn MRE."
"Hey, take the shovel. Don't go too far. Be careful."
Paul disappeared into the grass with a rifle and a field shovel. Albert looked at the fire again and began spacing out. This Night watch, though he knows well it's necessity, but still, it was really hard work. The only thing that was similar to the duty in the unit was the endless drowsiness, but he couldn't doze off in the jungle here, because of the responsibility of the platoon members, and the fear of Viet Cong.
Paul came out from the bushes. But rather went back to his place, and lying down again, he goes to Kim directly.
"Hey, why the Sarge...?"
Paul shook Kim's shoulder. Kim got up and looked at Paul. The two exchanged some words in a deafening tone.
"Wake up, everyone. Now!"
The rest of the platoon members, who were asleep, jumped up in surprise as if they had been electrocuted. Kim began to wear a web gear that he had taken off on one side.
"Everyone, wear your equipment and follow me."
Paul led the way, followed by Kim and the rest of the platoon. Soon, they saw an old tree that looked quite thick. The leaves were so dense that it was well protected the ground from the rain. Perhaps that's why the grass was not very thick around the tree, stopping the sunlight to the ground. Right next to the roots protruding to the ground, they could see a small pit that dug by Paul, for the toilet purpose. And right next to it, there were human skeletons rolling around, with in allied force's uniforms. A memory passed by in Kim's head, about the remains of the Medusa 2 Platoon of 22nd Special Task Force, which they saw the day before yesterday.
"A dead body again?"
Brian speak it as he feels tiresome now. How many more bodies should we have to see, Kim thought. Kim looked at the chest of one of the bodies. When he removed the gear belts, the name tag hidden under the rusty grenade was revealed. His name was Smith. The captain's rank badge on the lapel was still gold colored. Kim didn't stop there and took out the skull's identification tag.
[W.J. Smith, officer, Canadian Army]
Captain Winston J. Smith. The platoon commander of the Ottawa 3 Platoon, one of the reconnoitering parties, in 1985.
Captain Smith was dead in an oblique position, against a tree trunk. When Kim turned on the lantern, he could see Smith's combat uniform shirt was tainted with brown stain, starts from below his chest. There was a hole in the exact center of the top. Looking at the hole in his clothes, it seemed that a bullet had penetrated through the solar plexus. It seemed unreasonable to say that he had been shot while leaning against a tree's trunk base, and seemed to have crawled all the way here, after got shot in somewhere else. Christ, Kim thoughts that Smith guy must have had great patience, move even after got shot at critical point.
The L1A1 rifle was placed right next to him. It was exactly the same model that Sergeant Chase and Lieutenant Stone of the Australian Army were carrying. Christ, the U.S. military command already said that they would provide M16A1/A2 rifles and other usable guns without any restrictions, but fellas of the British Commonwealth, except for the Original British military, did well-use of this uncomfortable and heavy semi-automatic only rifle. Kim pulled out the magazine of the rifle. The magazine was empty. The large shells rolling around, it looks like they've shattered it until the verge of death. Did they get ambushed?
"There's no sign of Viet Congs."
"Isn't this a 7.62mm bullet? You know, Charlie's AK bullet."
"Congs also use 7.62mm, but they are shorter than ours. Given how long it is, it's our shell."
Talk, between Paul and Vincent, could be heard. And Turner said right behind Kim.
"I can't believe they're all dead after all of this shooting. I can't reason well about the situation now, but it's certainly not a common Viet Cong raid."
Kim chuckled. It seemed Turner finally starts to have some eye for argumentation.
"Now you know how to see the scene, Turner. You're right."
"Then, did they shoot themselves, sarge?"
"Hard to believe, but yes. From the arrangement of the bodies, the surrounding environment, and the traces of these bullets, it was definitely a friendly fire."
Kim answered Joseph's question. It wasn't a normal battle that killed them. The biggest proof was the absence of Viet Cong or NV army bodies. Could suspect a battle, think as if they carried their fellow's corpses, but the surroundings, were too clean to say that. Furthermore, looking at the direction in which all of these guys fell down, they did not die while performing fire lines in a certain direction or position. Rather, it was a closer look that they died while shooting each other. Brian looked into one of the dead bodies.
"I can only interpret that it was a shooting in their own. But the problem is, I can't figure out why, sarge."
"We'll have to find out about it gradually."
Kim said as he searched Captain Smith's uniform pocket.
"Is there anything you're looking for, sarge?"
"Bingo."
Leaving Turner's question behind, Kim pulled out a notebook and a bunch of military ID tags from the pocket of Captain Smith's fatigue. Captain Smith's operational journal would have been the notebook, and the military tags would have belonged to the Medusa 2 platoon members who died on the Rushmore cliff.
"Turner, collect the ID tags from the rest of the skeletons."
"Yes, sarge."
Kim saw a familiar bag that Captain Smith was carrying. It looked exactly like the bag he received from Carlson just before he left Camp Geronimo. It was obvious what the contents were. Kim also collects the bag, too. It may contain the same content, but it's not gonna be bad to check it out one more time.
The platoon members showed no signs of falling asleep, even after everyone returned to the camp, where the bonfire was. At least there seemed to be no need to suffer from the Night Watch turn, but Kim worried that they could be dozed off in the middle of tomorrow. Paul, Joseph, and Vincent were looking anxiously at the campfire. Brian was sitting with his back against the fire, watching the darkness where there was nothing in sight. Turner was writing something into his notebook. Kim looked into his watch. 0318, A.M. Damn. Everyone's not gonna able to sleep more in under this mood. Even if they were to get used to at discovering the dead, but it seemed the fact is provoking everyone, that they found them unexpectedly in the middle of the night, and they were here with the same goal as they did.
Kim opened Captain Smith's bag. The same map and files as he received. It was exactly the same map, except that the paths had been marked differently. There was no need to look closely. Unique points or place names were already drawn on his map similarly anyway. The documents have not changed much from a year ago.
Now it's time to look into something more important. Kim opened the Captain Smith's notebook. He skimmed the previous section, but only a few records from other lines of the past, and nothing seems important that much. However, while he was continuously turning the page, a photograph fluttered out of the notebook. It appeared that it has been taken in the British Commonwealth Command. The Union Jack, the Canadian flag, and the Australian flag were hanging in the background together, and three men were smiling broadly and arms around each other. It was not an ordinary photograph, though. Because there was Lieutenant Stone and Sgt. Chase's face.
Lieutenant Stone. Although he was not an early member of ANZAC, he was an Australian military officer who entered the battlefield in the late 1970s and belonged to the 1st Battle Brigade of the Australian Army, which used the same barracks as the RAF 83rd Squadron at Plei Doch, and also, where the 17th combat Battalion is located. Captain Oxton, the friendly master, also introduced Kim to him. They could be a close friend, because he was from the same Commonwealth union as similar as Captain Oxton, and as a soldier dispatched to another country as similar as Kim. Although they couldn't fight together because they had different areas in charge of each other, but his dashing physique and sluggish muscles showed that he was also a man who should not be considered as easy man.
Anyway, the person who cannot be able to Kim to recognize the face in the picture, must be Captain Smith, the owner of the notebook, based from the location of the photo. By the way, Christ. He was close to Lieutenant Stone. It seemed like there is one more bad news added, to tell the poor Lieutenant Stone and Chase about this. Kim tied Captain Smith's identification tag and photo together and put them deep into his field bag. In fact, he thought about if there will be anything to investigate since this man is acquainted with Lieutenant Stone, but since it was impossible to talk with the dead corpses, and Stone could not able to knew anything else useful, and even more, there is no way to contact him now, without a radio. He continued to turn over the next page of the notes. Year, 1985. This could be helpful from now on.
What they experienced was not much different from what Sparrow 2 Platoon experienced. The strangely silent jungle, finding out while they were walking along the Song-Tak Ro Creek, the remains of a Medusa 2 platoon that died while wandering in that Dizziness Forest in 1984, and that cursed minefield at a Junction in Route 14, with that numerous 'zombies'.
[July 18th, 1985.]
"It was chaos in and of itself. Things have somehow settled down now, but if we were not able to stop the earlier attack by that walking corpses, our bodies must have been shattered and scattered among these cursed bushes. I still don't understand how on earth those mummy-like creatures can move alive. Does it just move? Well, they don't show some sort of collective structure, but it does show each one of them as a combatant. How do we gonna explain about their arbitrary and precise usage of rifles and grenades, even if that things were left unattended for a long time, in a jungle? It's a not a threat anymore that we've finished them all now, but our spine is still chilling. And yet again, this shock hasn't gone away, we have another pain in the neck. Cpl. Colin Douglas is ill. He confessed that he ate a wild life mango from the tree, while nobody was seeing him. We already told everyone not to pick anything up and eat it in here. By the way, I don't think Colin's symptoms are food poisoning. Well, fever and chills are among the symptoms of food poisoning, but by any measure, the overall symptom is a just a cold. Could a man able to get a cold, just because of eating a wild fruit randomly?"
[July 19th, 1985.]
"It's a terrible day. Corporal Colin got killed in action. No, exactly, we had to kill him. I don't know what made him crazy, or changed?... Anyway, we couldn't handle the possible-craziness that could be happened after he shot and kill Private Logan. Sgt First Class Bain still seems got shocked by the terror. Although Colin was sick after eating wild fruits the day before, how can a simple cold change a person just in a single night?"
Poor Captain Smith. This fella clearly saw the terrible process we went through. Kim thought. But that wasn't the only problem.
Cold? This guy, Colin, he also got changed after catching a cold? Kim rethinks about the Jordan's case. Apparently, Jordan has a cold symptom since he falls into that muddy puddle, and Kim instructed him to take aspirin. And the next day, as soon as he woke up, he tried to take apart the Paul's head. Kim thought he'd start to understand something. He opened his note and found the page that he had written on. The information from Captain Smith's journal. Cold symptoms before turning into a, um, 'zombie'? It exactly matched Jordan's situation. So, does the cold virus promote… 'Zombification'? Kim kept reading Captain Smith's note.
"Colin's last symptom was more like a cold rather than food poisoning. But he had changed just like them. That red eyes with tears of blood. Jesus. I still can't tell if it's an infection or what it is, but once it changes, it seems like he's unleashing an infinite amount of anger on everything around him. After killing Logan, all the platoon members had to their best to stop him. He cannot recognize any of us, no, it was completely impossible to communicate with him properly before that. Furthermore, he didn't even have a particular negative feeling on Logan in the first place. They were always close together, but he killed him. If that does mean, will the victim lose its own reason and memory? I've only seen one or two zombie movies until now, but now I can believe that I'm at in the movie itself."
Reason and... memory loss. It makes sense. Yeah, It makes sense enough. Both Jordan and Paul did not have much distance to fight each other. Rather, Jordan adored Paul, saying that he seemed to be the young brother who were in back home. Kim writes down a few more things in his note.
- Zombies can hibernate.
- When it turns into a zombie, it loses its own reason and memory.
- But they know how to fight.
- Expressing indiscriminate and infinite anger around it.
The indiscriminate anger and aggression. This was the only thing that was certain. Kim remembered a fly he saw with Brian on the second day. A fly attacking each other. They are not even certain species that able to fight against each other. Kim couldn't have any opportunities to go to college in the past, but he's not stupid that much, and also had never heard of any fly species that able to fight each other until they killed the other one. He thought about it. How can a fly turn into similar to a zombie? Since flies are decomposers in ecosystem, they consume organisms whose lives have ended, lay eggs, reproduce, and then ancestor flies decompose the things the same way. Then, it must be affected by the changing cause, and only things that provide that cause, is that already-changed zombies or other creatures which already got affected, in this jungle. Come to think of it, it explained why the corpses could remain mummified without decomposed. How could a corpse be decomposed by itself when living things act as decomposers also kill each other, while got affected. Kim eagerly wrote that down.
- a Cold is a sign of it?
Kim put a question mark rather than put an end dot in the last paragraph. What if the cold symptoms of Corporal Colin and Private Jordan are both coincidences? Then how do I explain the rest? There was a lot of data, but Kim was very reluctant to trust them. The question, whether this was the true conclusion, went through his mind.
[July 20th, 1985]
"The only operation we have today is crossing the Kon Tum River, but it is already full of shits. It was outraged enough that Sfc. Bain left his operation log note in the base camp across the river, but now we lost all the water purification pills. Sergeant Jacob slipped while crossing the bridge and lost one of his luggage bags. Most of us still had canteens filled with purified water, but the problem is, those who drank up all the water. Corporal Oliver made an emergency water purifier using charcoal, sand, and gravel, but I am not sure if this can be trusted. We boiled the water that went through the purifier once and give it to the crews. Perhaps because it doesn't smell terrible, the members are praise highly about the water, rather than expressing their dissatisfaction. Even if there is no complaint right now, I am worried about possibilities about more patient. SFC. Bain said not to be too negative, but after seeing the results, I think I will have to make a conclusion about drinking this water. In fact, even if there is no water purifier or water purification pill, I don't know if we can find water to feed all 13 members of the remaining platoon."
Huh, this solves the question of why Sergeant Bain's note was there at the first time. And why it wasn't written until July 18th. But wait, there were 13 platoon members in total?
"Brian, how many bodies were there under the tree?"
"Uh, it was all 10, sarge."
There were 10 people dead underneath the tree, including Captain Smith, the platoon leader. But thinking with, based on the records, there should be four more bodies. But there isn't. Then what?
"But why do you ask that?"
"... Nothing. Do your work."
Four bodies are also a miscalculation. Officially, one person survived, so there should be at least three more. Then where did the rest go? Did they even get swallowed to the ground? The log was last recorded on July 20th. Perhaps they couldn't be written down more because its owner had died. Kim pondered over it. Then he made up with only one conclusion. There was only one official survivor, but there were probably three more survivors after the tragedy under the tree. But the problem is, where did all three of them go.
Kim opened the documents he received once again. There was only one record he needed now. The record of the last survivor of the reconnaissance in 1985.
Corporal Ernie Powers, of the Ottawa 3 Platoon. He got rescued by the MACV-SOG team and ANZAC personnel who were conducting a cooperative operation, while running all the way to the south without even his rifle. Kim didn't know that he was mentally fine or not, but he couldn't have walked out perfectly fine since all the platoon died except for him, and he killed himself at a field hospital shortly after he was rescued. Poor Guy. Attached paper was an interview record sheet, which was a summary of only usable information. There was a small annotation that said, they couldn't just write down the original text as it was because he was so rambling.
[Detecting on the New Mexico Plateau, Corporal Ernie Powers, 125th Battalion, 1st Brigade, Canadian Army Airborne]
1. What are the characteristics of them? What is the cause of the change?
→ I don't know. But it's certain that you shouldn't mess around. My colleague, who was fine until yesterday, changed overnight. I don't know what signs they showed, and didn't do anything specific. Even I tried to find commonalities between those who changed, there is no difference because we did all the same with those who were not affected.
2. Have you reached the target area?
→ We can't even reach it. I don't know what it was, but there was a battle. I ran out of ammunition and had to retreat. Not only that, I remember that the platoon leader and some squad leaders couldn't get out. I lost my rifle while running, but I ran recklessly without even thinking to go back and pick it up again.
3. Did any members survive from the same platoon?
→ I was out of breath while running wild and forced to stop, but when I looked back at the sound of someone calling me, three people, including Sergeant Jacob, the 2nd squad leader, were running the same way as me.
4. Why couldn't you contact headquarters? And how did the escape proceed after that?
→ Radio men cannot make it, and no radio was available, so help could not be requested. After a meeting together, everyone decided that it would be too dangerous to return to the operational area with our weapons gone, so we decided to escape the New Mexico Plateau by foot. I remember walking south for two days after cross the Kon Tum River (Cpl. Powers was able to rescued by our scouts while wandering in the jungle). The other three people would probably next to me if there were no problems during the escape.
5. What do you mean, a problem during the escape?
→ Private Robert Maguire died after being got took down by a booby trap. He fell into a pit with bamboo spears and thorns, we pulled him out, but he died shortly after. Private Alex Johnson was got decapitated by a machete, which was horribly done by Sergeant Jacob. During overnight break, he got affected just like everyone else. I still don't know why. He died during chasing me on the run, think about it, he must have stepped on a land mine that I luckily avoided.
Hell, why didn't I read this document properly on the first day? It was good to recognize myself as an experienced person, but did it instill too much confidence? If I had paid a little more attention to this, then we could have at least reduced the journey for a few miles. Kim takes a look at the sky. The rain was slowly weakening.
Finally, the rain stopped, and the clockwork pointed to 0600, A.M. The sky has become somewhat brighter, but the forest is still a little dark because of the clouds. Kim shook off the tent with rainwater. It was time to do as planned.
Kim gave Turner the map and compass that Captain Smith once have.
"Are you ready, Turner?"
"I can't say I can't do it now, can I?"
Turner pulled the charging handle. Both of them laughed.
A short walk from the campsite, they could found out a dug out hole, abandoned in the grass mass. The sandbags and wooden boards on the wall were still intact, but miscellaneous items were being hanging like laundry in the rusted barbed wire everywhere, and got decomposed by the nature. It appeared to be the entrance to the trenches of the North Vietnamese army. Turner and Kim opened the map.
"Here we go. Turner, are you sure you don't get lost?"
"Well, if something goes wrong, I can just ask Brian to do it."
"Fucking Christ, I should have switched both of your ranks before we got here."
"Oh, am I getting promoted now, sarge?"
The platoon members burst into light laughter.
"Well, if we all go back alive, and probably every one of us will get promoted, for sure. So, don't die, pals."
Kim patted Turner and Brian on the shoulders. Then he spoke into Turner's ear.
"Take care, Turner. I'll never leave you guys alone here, so don't give up hope."
"Don't kill yourself first, by touching something weird, sarge."
Kim smirked. Turner and Brian went through obstacles and disappeared into the trench. Although they were both trusted fellas, the feeling of sorry and fear for not being able to protect each other kept made Kim uncomfortable. But even so, the operation had to be accomplished somehow. Kim looked back. Joseph, Vincent, and Paul were looking at him. He pulled a charging handle.
"Everyone Ready?"
The three did not speak any words, but they all nod their head with a strong belief.
"Let's do this."