'Nam roleplay

[serpington]

max slowly turned around and looked at Dix. he started walking closer to the crashed Helli, looking for survivors. he looked inside and no one was there, they had all ether been thrown out in the crash or been captured. he, meat puppet and gunny searched the area but didn't find anything so they called down the chopper and climbed back on board. "nothing there, their gone." "looks like your in charge now gunny."

[wolfman11243]

 "Oh and i hoped you'd find some charlie to strafe!" said hornster whilst leaning on his M60 "The only shot i fired was back in that rice paddy!"

Suddenly the chopper was hit by a sudden gust of wind. Three F4-II Phantoms flew low. The treeline to their left exploded in a huge ball of fire. People started to run out of the burning jungle. The were on fire. Some of them were throwing themselves to the ground in pain while the others just slowly walked out into the field where they died. It was all happening in slow motion. The smell of burning flesh and napalm. The sight of Hornster strafing the remaining survivors. The sound of the Huey slowly rocking over the Jungle. It was too much.

"WHY??!" Screamed Jaime "WHY ARE YOU KILLING THEM!?!? WHAT THE F*** HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU HORNSTER???!"

"Whoa, easy there man!" Said hornster and slapped Jaime "Calm down!"

Jaime fell back to his seat. Everyone was looking at him. "The f*** you looking at? I'm fine!" he said. Slowly he checked the ammo in the M16.

"You guys ready?" asked the chopper pilot "This is your drop location. Hornster, get your M60 and pile out!"

They landed in the field just ahead of the napalmed jungle. Slowly Jaime clambered out and the team followed. Hornster slung the ammo belt over his shoulder.

"Let's go. We've got a lot of ground to sweep and clear." said Max

Slowly he looked into the sky. His gray fur was covered in the slowly falling ash. No birds were heard. No voices. Just his footsteps and the slow crackling of the still burning jungle. Bodies were everywhere. The smell was indescribable: a mixture of burning fur and flesh with a pinch of napalm and Huey exhaust fumes. He wasn't worried. He knew that he had seen everything. The rest if the team was walking equally slow and unworried. There wasn't anything alive here but them. Any booby traps were destroyed, any tunnels were collapsed and had tuned into mass graves and any guerrilla encampments were effectively unrecognizable. They passed something that looked like a pile of corpses. It wasn't possible to count them since they turned into a river of brown-red liquid. Bones were the only things that had survived.

Bones were the only thing left...

[serpington]

Dix walked past the pile of remains, unable to look away, he just kept walking. "you guys realise that if we hadn't stopped for sarge....we would have been in here about ten minutes ago....they napped this place three ago." he said over the sound of ticker vomiting from the smell. "sarge saved us, now lets find him and the others so we can repay the favour." doug said sounding the most serious the others had heard him since nam started.

[wolfman11243]

Jaime pulled out his map. After a short time of fumbling with it he pointed into the sun witch was setting behind the burned treeline.

"West."

"West what?" asked Hornster "You got lost again?"

"No no, you idiot, we are heading west. Apparently the largest encampment of the Cong is down the river. It's the only place of that size around here. Areal photos have been taken but the bombing had little success. They hear the bombers, run inside, we blow the base up but since everything is made mostly from bamboo and wood, they have the whole place up and running within hours."

"Why don't we nape 'em?" said the mildly aggravated Hornster "It worked here!"

"Because they are holding POW's out there as insurance"

"How does that help us find the Sarge?" asked Dix

" 'Cause it's the only place they could have taken him to." answered Jaime "And that's why we have to find some place to stay the night."

"Yep, night falls quickly in the Jungle" said Hornster "And we can't stay here, Cong would be swarming all over us within minutes. I suggest..."

"You suggest nothing, cause I'm in charge!" yelled Gunny

"All right mister "high and mighty" " said Hornster in a slightly mocking tone "Lead the f***ing way!"

((as you might have already noted, Hornster is an a******. But still, he's one of the finest deers when under fire.))

[serpington]

"if we head into the long grass we should be able to make hidden shelters. none of you snore right?" gunny asked looking over at max knowing the answer. "let me guess, guard duty?" "you and who ever sleeps loudly will attract attention. so I'm going to set you up a few meters away from the others so that we stand a greater chance. and max, since you offered your on first watch."

[wolfman11243]

The team was making their way into the tall grass. Ticker was going first. Suddenly he stopped and raised his arm in a clenched fist. Silently he pointed downwards. A thin wire was glistening in the setting sun.

"What is it? Is it a trap?" asked Dix

"Yep, it is. It's a punji basket." answered Ticker. He pointed upwards to something that resembled a pineapple. it was suspended in a branch and covered in leaves. Jaime wouldn't have seen it unless he knew it was there. Ticker gestured over to Gunny. He gave Ticker a pair of wire-cutters.

"On the count of three. One, two... THREE!" whispered Ticker as he was cutting the wire. Ticker threw himself backwards just as the punji basket was hitting the ground.

"Whew, glad that's over!" said Hornster "Let's keep moving"

[serpington]

"good work ticker, keep that up and we might make it out of here. well so much for no traps left... this just keeps getting better and better." he sighed patting ticker on the back then kicking the disarmed trap. "remember. don't touch anything you don't have to and for the love of got watch your step." gunny half ordered half sighed to the rest of the squad. "so what happen's if we fall into one of these things?" "this." called ticker squatting next to a hole just off the path. in the hole were three burns Vietnamese soldiers. "poor saps, so eager to get out of the fire they fell for their own trap."

[wolfman11243]

It was almost nightfall. Jaime had been nervous the whole day. The team was slowly walking trough the high grass. Thunders were heard in the distance. The grass was glistening and bending in the wind.

"If this wasn't 'Nam it would be almost beautiful. But then again this IS 'Nam. And knowing this place there might be traps in that beautiful grass." said Jaime

"From one s***-storm to another." Hornster said "If it weren't for sarge we'd be dead..."

"Can it!" said Gunny "Hear that?"

Someone was crying. It was coming form a few meters ahead.

"So, do we check it out?" Jaime asked Gunny

[serpington]

"Dix take point, set up camp over there. joker your with me." he said quietly shouldering his M16 and leading Jamie towards the noise slowly while Dix took the others over to a section of long grass between thick trees. there was just enough room for them to lay down comfortably between the trees while hidden. "welcome to camp."

[wolfman11243]

Joker's and Gunny's boots were treading the grass. The crying was getting louder. Jaime raised his fist. Gunny stopped. Slowly Jaime pushed away the high grass. Behind it was a clearing the size of an average room. in the middle of the clearing there was a woman. A Vietnamese. She was just lying there, holding her guts in with an old basked lid. Half of her face and most of her left arm was burned. Maybe a foot from here there was something else... Something small and bloody...

"Oh...god..." said Jaime.

He dropped his gun and ran towards the woman. Tears were starting to run down his cheeks. He turned and his eyes followed the trail of blood. Jaime started to scream. He was short of breath. In a small puddle of blood there was a baby. A dead baby, it's head pierced by a piece of wood. Jaime crawled on his knees towards it. He picked it up and hugged it. Whilst he was rocking back and forth he looked up. "ARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WHHHHYYYY?!?!?!?!" he screamed in agony. Jaime jumped up and ran to Gunny. He held him by his uniform collar.

"MED-EVAC!!!!" he yelled "We need a goddamn MED-EVAC!"

Blood trails...

[serpington]

a single gun shot rang out behind Jamie, Doug stood with his eyes closed and Jamie's hands around his collar. "it's the most humane thing to do. her injuries might have healed but the pain will never go away. it was eather let her sleep now or curse her to relive this night every time she closed her eyes as i shall every see every atrocity i have and will commit in this god forsaken land......let's bury them and get back to the others..." he said shrugging off Jamie's grip, obviously hating what he had been forced to do to be kind. "don't be surprised if the suicide rate goes up as this meat grinder of a war gets longer."

[wolfman11243]

Jaime and Gunny were slowly walking back to camp. Jaime was trying to lite a cigarette with his shaking hand. It was almost completely dark. A hand appeared form the dark with a lighter. It was Hornster. He was on patrol. Hornster looked almost the same as always with his M60 slung around his neck together with some ammo belts. Jaime looked up to him and lit his cigarette. In the faint light form the flame he could see scratch-marks on Hornster's M60 and the writing on his helmet. It said "I have become death..." together with a bunch of rounds attached to his helmet belt. Jaime's sight dropped as he took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Got...any shovels?" asked Jaime "We...need to bury...someone."

Hornster's tiny deer eyes shone in the moonlight. He turned without a word and walked away. He came back a few seconds later holding two dirty field shovels.

"Here ya go, man. The boys just finished digging up camp and Max is on the far side next to the loud sleeper area pushing guard duty. Are you a loud sleeper?"

Jaime took the shovels and said "I snore." He then turned away and went to the clearing...

[serpington]

gunny silently went to work digging the grave next to the woman, using her body to measure how big to make the hole. he didn't say a word until he and Jamie finished digging and even then all he said was "let's bury them quickly, so no charlie find her and the kid." he spoke coldly, as if the very act was eating away at him. he looked down at one of his now dirt covered hands, he pulled a small ring off his finger and looked at it carefully. rather than putting it back on his finger he put the ring into one of his pockets, obviously not feeling like he deserved to wear his own wedding ring.

[wolfman11243]

Jaime finished the burial. He put the shovel onto his shoulder and silently looked down onto the graves. His sight rolled over to Gunny. He didn't seem shaken. Even if he was Gunny was hiding it well. Jaime put his arm onto Gunny's shoulder.

"C'mon man. You had to do it. She...she would have died anyway, right?" asked Jaime "It was the only thing humane..."

"Whatever helps you get to sleep at night." said Gunny and walked to camp

[serpington]

max layed between two branches in a tree when he saw the others sliding into their makeshift beds ((the idea for which i got out of the movie kokoda)) and gunny and joker walking over. "every things set here 'boss man' i'll wake you up for your shift later. go get some sleep, you need it. and i hope you don't mind but the boys and i renamed you till we find sarge, sweet dreems boss man. "i'll get you all later." looking forward to it." he joked as boss man walked over to the other camp and sliped into his bed after giving max the finger. max just made an imiteted cat sound "meow. your spot's just over there, i'll be in the spot next to you. but first your on guard duty with me and dix, so find some where nice to sit cos there's not much else to do." spyper said moving a branch to reveil a free spot in the tree. "you coming up or you got somewhere better?"