"We got word that some Vietcong are blending in with the civilians, up ahead. I want you guys to play it cool and not waste anyone unless you absolutely have to, other than that stay cool, stick to the sidestreets", calls out a man wearing a green marine uniform to the rest of the men that are following him. The man's name tag reads Merlo, across his helmet he has scribbled, "I got lost on my way to college." Besides that, a dent on his helmet with an arrow that reads September 15, 1963. The man was considerably older than the rest of the marines behind him, deep lines went across his forehead and the wrinkles from the lack of sleep, darkened his eyes until they just appeared like black spots on his face. Sweat poured down his face from either the heat or from the terror that him and the lost soldiers had came across earlier that day.
On hike across the Vietnam jungle, they stumbled across a gruesome sight, "I want you to keep on walking and not look at him", shouts out Merlo to a couple of other soldiers, "Unless you want to end up like that, don't lag behind. Nothing will be good for you if you get caught by the Vietcong, you'll wish that you got shot instead."
"Sir! He's still moving", says a soldier behind Merlo. This catches the attention of Merlo and the rest of the soldiers as they look up to see the struggle. Above them was a fellow marine that was strung upside down high above the trees, moaning and groaning softly, saying incomprehensible words. "There's nothing we can do for him. The Vietcong probably set up a trap around him and those trees, just plug a hole in him and he will stop moving", says Merlo coldly. A couple of the marines stop marching in protest and demand to help out the soldier. "Alright listen, there's nothing we can do for the kid, can't you see what they've done to him?", says Merlo as he is pointing at them, "They cut his belly open, even if we brought him down from there, he's still going to die. There's nothing in this world that can save you from a wound like that."
"You're not squad leader Gus!", says another man with blue eyes and with the name tag that reads, Haggart, "We have to do what we can! He's one of us."
"You know what, Beans. I bet even if maverick was still kicking around instead of some hole, he'd tell you the exact same thing. Anyways! Beyond that I am the highest rank here besides the rest you jackasses!", angrily shouts Merlo at the marine. The two have a stare off , "Just listen to me will you, nothing good will come of this. If you try doing this, there will only be pieces left of you", calmly says Merlo as he glares directly at the soldier.
"Fuck you, you aren't even part of our platoon, what you say doesn't mean jack to us. You're nothing but one of em college kids.", says the marine, "Everyone help me rescue this marine."
"Are you sure it's the right thing to do, beans?", says another man with a couple of other marines agreeing with him. Beans says to the soldiers who don't look to keen on the idea, "If you don't want to get him, stay down here like the cowards you are, along with Gus. The rest of you, help me get this poor bastard down." Three soldiers rush to beans aids and open up their backpacks to reach for rope and a hook of sorts to grapple their way to the hanging marine.
"Watch you hands, Beans! It will be totally suck if you fell down on your ass!", sarcastically calls out Merlo. Beans looks down to see Merlo with a smug grin at him looking back at him, Beans throw the middle finger at him as tries to climb with one hand. "I can't believe this idiot, he is going to get us all killed", thinks Merlo to himself. As beans gets close enough to help out the soldier, jokingly Merlo shouts out again, "Oh it's great that you got up there beans how are you going to get down with him now?"
Beans reaches his hand trying to reach for the groaning man and then suddenly, with a bright white flash, the man hanging upside down is blown to bits along with most of Bean's face and arm. The men that were hanging below beans panic and fell down to the jungle below them. One came crashing down and directly lands on his neck, instantly killing him. The other one falls flat on his back but then is crushed as a large piece of wood came hurling down from the explosion. His torso caves in at the sheer weight of the log, causing his mouth, nose and eyes to spill out blood and whatever no longer fit in his destroyed body.
"Great", says Merlo as he looks down at the pile of broken bodies, "I told the Beans that something like this would happen." Merlo turns around to address what was left of the platoon, "I hope that this was a valuable lesson for the rest of you, don't end up like Beans and these two jokers. The Vietcong aren't playing around with us, remember we are invading their land and they are going to do cruel things to make us leave. Now...let's get a move on."
On the threshold of the city limits, he stops the platoon he has assumed control of. "Ok remember like what I said, everyone stay cool", says Merlo while a loud airplane flies overhead, spraying some kind of chemical. "What the hell is that plane doing?", asks one of the soldiers. "Don't know but I'm pretty sure it's something that we can ask our contact."
"Who's our contact?", asks the same soldier.
"A man named Dr. Geering, he is of our top priority, we are to pick grab him and escort him to a nearby base. Alright, didn't you guys get debriefings before taking this hike?, asks Merlo. The soldiers look at each other in confusion.
"Augustine!"
"Augustine!, wake up!", shouts out a voice.
"Fausto!"
Fausto awakens from his dream in a cold sweat, not knowing why he was having such a troubling dream about war. He begins to think,"It felt so real." He can still feel the heat from the jungle sun and the aroma of rotting corpses in humid air filled his apartment. For a second, he freaks out looking for a can of aerosol or something to cover the smell but almost immediately the smell fades away. He thinks to himself, "Oh man?", he lifts his arm to smell his armpit, "Did I vomit again while I was sleeping?"
As his heart rate begins to slow down, he begins to realize that it was just a nightmare.