Chapter 23
An hour had passed, and Michael and Bruce tagged along with Squad 2 with Squad 4 close-by in the jungle.
Michael and Bruce's tee-shirt and boxer shorts were wet from sweat.
"How the hell do you guys handle being in the jungle?" Michael asked Eddie while he walked along his side.
"After a while, you get used to it," Eddie replied then removed his canteen off his belt. "Take a few sips," he said while he handed Michael his canteen.
Michael took a few sips of water from the canteen then handed it back to Eddie.
"Okay guys, share a little water with our guests and try to conserve," Eddie told his crew.
Ralph removed his canteen off his belt and handed it to Bruce who walked nearby.
Bruce took a few sips of water from the canteen. "Thanks," he said while he handed the canteen back to Ralph.
Eddie signaled for his squad to stop. "Let's take a breather," he told his crew.
Everybody sat down in the dirt.
Michael walked over and sat down next to Eddie.
"I not sure I know how to fire this thing," Michael told Eddie while he held up his AK-47.
"Me neither," Bruce said while he walked over and sat down next to Michael.
Eddie grabbed Michael's AK-47 and held it. "This is the fire selector," he said while he pointed to the large lever located on the right side of the rifle. "You have the safe position all the way up. The fully automatic position in the center. The semi-automatic position at the bottom," Eddie instructed. "And then here are the rear and front sights," he added while he pointed at them. "Aim and squeeze the trigger and the VC is dead," he said then handed the rifle back to Michael.
"Seems easy enough," Bruce said while he looked over his AK-47.
"Let's move out. Willie has point," Eddie said while he stood up.
Michael and Bruce stood up with the rest of the Cong Crushers.
Willie started walking away.
Eddie and the other Cong Crushers followed with Michael and Bruce in the middle of the pack.
It started raining, and it was a downpour.
The Cong Crushers were soaked to their bones in a matter of minutes.
An hour later and the rain still drenched the jungle.
Michael and Bruce were huffing and puffing since they were used to sitting in a helicopter during his war.
Eddie noticed Michael and Bruce were about to drop with exhaustion. "Let's take ten," he told his squad.
All the Cong Crushers stopped and found a place to sit their butts down. In the mud. But that did not matter, as needed rest was rest.
Eddie handed Michael his canteen.
Michael took a few sips and handed it back.
Ralph handed Bruce his canteen.
Bruce took a few sips then handed it back.
The Cong Crushers sat in the mud and rain and did their best to relax.
Ten minutes had passed.
Eddie stood up. "Let's move out. Kirk has point," he told his squad.
Kirk stood up and did not appear happy to be on point.
Michael and Bruce stood up with the rest of the Cong Crushers.
They followed Kirk while he walked away through the wet and muddy jungle.
An hour had passed, and the rain slowed down to a drizzle.
Eddie stopped the squad. As soon as they stopped, he made radio contact with Glenn, and they were a half-a-mile to the northeast of Squad 2.
"Let's eat," Eddie told his troops while he shoved the handset back into the radio on Mark back.
The Cong Crushers removed their Rucksacks off their backs, opened them up and removed their MCI's.
"Mmmm, I got beefsteak tonight," Willie called out and did not look enthused with his meal.
"I got chopped ham and eggs," Ralph called out.
Eddie opened up his MCI, and it was beef in spiced sauce.
"I got spaghetti and meatballs," Mark called out the second he opened up his MCI.
Michael and Bruce sat down, and their stomachs growled.
Eddie noticed. "Listen up guys, I want everybody to give our pilots here a little of your fine Army cuisine," he told his troops.
Willie got up and walked over to Michael.
Craig got up and walked over to Bruce.
"Hold out your hand," Willie told Michael.
Michael held out his right hand, and Willie dumped some of his beefsteak in Michael's palm.
Bruce followed suit and Craig dumped some boned chicken in Bruce's palm.
The other Cong Crushers shared their delicious Army cuisine with Michael and Bruce.
Ten minutes had passed, and everybody ate their evening MCI.
"Let's clean up and make sure we don't leave any signs we were here," Eddie while he stood up. He shoved his empty MCI can into his Rucksack.
The rest of his squad shoved their empty MCI cans into their Rucksacks and policed the area.
Michael and Bruce used the rainwater off of nearby leaves to wash their hands.
The squad stood by Eddie ready to move out.
"I'll take point," Eddie told his troops.
The Cong Crushers walked away through the jungle with Michael and Bruce in the middle of the pack.
Michael thought of his parents in Glendale. He missed them.
Back in Glendale, California, it was 4:00 a.m. and Elaine and Harry were sound asleep.
Elaine started another dream.
Elaine walked through some woods. There were all kinds of sounds from different types of critters. It was spooky.
The woods turned into a jungle with dark green vegetation while she walked. The sounds of the critters in the jungle got louder and stranger and scared Elaine.
"Michael!" she called out.
Michael did not reply.
"Michael!" she called out again but louder.
She continued to walk through the jungle.
"Michael!" she called out.
"I'm over here playing with Kevin," Michael called out from the jungle.
Elaine pushed her way through some bushes and headed in the direction of Michael's voice.
"Michael!" she called out again to make sure she headed in the right direction.
"I'm here playing with Kevin," Michael called out, and his voice was louder and closer.
Elaine pushed her way through some other bushes and walked into a small clearing.
"Michael, my son!" she cried out with joy the second she saw Michael and Kevin sitting in the dirt of the small clearing.
Elaine looked worried when she noticed that Michael and Kevin looked different. They had pale white skin, and their lips were blue. They looked up at Elaine with a lifeless zombie type of stare in their eyes.
"What are you boys doing?" Elaine asked.
"We're dead," replied Michael then he stood up and had a gaping hole in the middle of his chest.
"We're dead," Kevin stood up, and he had a gaping hole in his stomach.
Elaine opened up her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.
Back in reality.
Elaine bolted up in bed with a scream.
Harry bolted up out of bed, thinking an intruder entered their bedroom. He jerked his head around while he searched the room. It was safe. He looked at Elaine, who sat up in bed and looked scared. "What happened?"
"I had a dream. A dream that Michael was killed in Vietnam," she replied while her lips quivered and her eyes welled up.
"I'm sure he's alive," Harry replied while he walked over and sat down next to Elaine. He hugged her.
She prayed in his shoulder that Michael was alive in Vietnam.
Harry prayed that Michael was still alive.
It was 1900 hours back in Vietnam.
Eddie stopped his squad of Cong Crushers. He stopped in a thick area of the jungle that would be perfect for a quick nights sleep.
"Let's sleep here and then we'll head out at oh three hundred. I want two-hour guard shifts," Eddie told his troops.
Michael looked at the young soldiers then looked at Eddie. "I'll help out with one of the guard shifts," he said.
Bruce glanced over at Michael and for a few seconds, though his air commander was nuts. Then it dawned on him that this would be a nice gesture. "Me too," he said while he glanced over at Eddie.
Eddie smiled that these two pilots wanted to pull help with his squad. He walked over to Mark and grabbed the radio headset.
"Dragon, this is Shark," Eddie said into the headset and waited for a response.
"Go ahead Shark, Dragon here," Glenn replied from the headset.
"Shark is out of the water and about three miles from the Big Bad Wolf," Eddie said into the headset.
"Dragon is about two miles from the Big Bad Wolf, and the tub is drained," Glenn replied from the headset.
"Shark will be back in the water at three," Eddie responded into the headset.
"Dragon will fill the tub at three," Glenn replied from the headset then disconnected his end of the call.
Eddie shoved the headset back in the radio backpack.
Eddie looked over his squad while they started to make camp for a quick nights sleep.
Two hours had passed, and everybody ate their MCI and shared some with Michael and Bruce.
Michael and Bruce were paired with some of the Cong Crushers for a two-hour guard shift. Michael was paired up with Ralph for one in the morning.
All the Cong Crushers were sound asleep except for Kirk and Bruce who had the first guard shift.
Hours had passed, and the jungle was quiet except for the sounds of creepy jungle critters.
Michael was sound asleep and started dreaming.
Michael stood on a beach in Hawaii. He was decked out in a tuxedo and gleamed from ear to ear.
A preacher walked up to Michael with a bible in hand.
Kim walked up wearing a beautiful white wedding dress.
Michael glanced over at his beautiful bride while she walked up and stood by his side.
The preacher looked at Michael. "Do you Michael take Kim to be your wife?" the preacher asked Michael.
"I do," Michael replied.
The preacher looked at Kim. "Do you Kim take Michael to be your husband," he asked her.
"I do," Kim replied.
"You may kiss your bride," the preacher told Michael.
The sound of hundreds of creepy jungle critters filled the air.
Michael felt the pressure of a hand on his shoulder. "Time to get up," the voice called out from the sky.
Michael leaned forward to kiss Kim.
"Time to get up, Mister," the voice called out again from the sky and shook Michael away from Kim.
Michael looked at Kim, and she disappeared while Michael was kissing the air.
He looked at the preacher, and he disappeared while Michael was kissing the air.
The invisible hand shook Michael. The beautiful Pacific Ocean and Hawaiian beach disappeared and replaced with jungle.
Ralph's face glared down at Michael from the sky. "Guard duty," his voice echoed down from the sky.
Back to reality.
"Guard duty," Ralph said while he glanced down at Michael while he lay on the ground.
Michael looked a little dazed and confused for a few seconds while he stared up a Ralph. It dawned on Michael that he was still in Vietnam. "Yeah, right. Guard duty," Michael said while he stood up and stretched.
"By the way, why were you kissing the air?" Ralph asked with a smirk.
Michael's face flushed with embarrassment when he remembered. "A dream."
"I've had some of those types before. They can be a bit messy in your shorts," Ralph replied with a chuckle while he picked his M-16 off the ground. "But I prefer the real McCoy," he added with a grin then walked away.
Michael picked up his AK-47 off the ground.
"Okay, all you need to do is scan the jungle for any sights or sounds of VC," Ralph told Michael.
"Okay," Michael replied. He started scanning the jungle, but thoughts ran back to his dream of marrying Kim on the beach.
The sounds of the jungle critters started to spook Michael thinking the VC was nearby. They weren't.