Chapter 8: Lost patrol
“That…hurt…” Petunia regained consciousness, rubbing her head.
Checking herself, she had suffered some cuts from the crash, but was otherwise fine.
“Uhh…” Hoang, Dan, Ethan and Jesper also woke up, being unharmed.
“Petunia, are you hurt?” Dan asked.
“I’m fine.”
Ethan checked the pilot, somehow, one of the rotor blades had broken of the chopper and had pierced him, blood everywhere on the blade and his chest, he was dead on the spot, there was nothing they could do for him. “He’s dead.” He got the pilot’s dog tag, while the others checked the wreck for ammo and supplies. They scavenged some rations, a M60 with two magazines of ammo and a M21 with three magazines, along with a few grenades.
“Radio’s gone and we’re somewhere in a remote area of the Central Highlands. Guess we have to walk to the nearest US outpost.” Dan took the MG, Jesper the sniper rifle, as they had lost their rifles in the crash, Hoang and King still had their M16s.
“How long it is going to be?” Petunia asked King.
“Well, it’s gonna be a long way, Petunia, it could take us a couple of days.” It wasn’t easy for him to tell her.
The filly’s eyes went wide. “Days?! Is it really that far away?” She exclaimed with fear.
“Unfortunately, yes, but we will keep you safe, promise.” His promise caused her to smile weakly.
“Okay.”
Jesper took the lead, walking through harsh terrain towards the nearest outpost, knowing that the terrain was full of traps and enemies.
After about half an hour, they rested for ten minutes before moving on.
While Petunia felt safe with them, the fear of dying refused to get out of her head, trembling slightly, the AVRN soldier noticed it, patting her to calm her down.
She gave him a smile in response, as they walked past a ruined farmhouse, making the foal wonder if the house was ruined due the war or was ruined even before it.
“Hostiles!” Someone yelled, tearing her out of her thought, a bullet flew past her, Hoang pushed her behind a wall for cover.
They were caught unaware by a VC patrol. The four soldiers returned fire, Petunia covered her ears from the loud guns. Hoang feared one of the VC fighters could be his brother, but deep in his heart, he knew that Dang would hesitate to shoot, seeing his brother and especially Petunia, those guerrillas were fighting without hesitation to kill their enemies, not caring for the scared foal. He managed to take out an enemy with a headshot, blood and brain matter spurting from the wound, the soldier struggling to stand before eventually collapsing.
“Grenade!” the foal yelled as a grenade landed next to her, Hoang threw it back, into a window, the explosion blasted the Viet Cong fighter out, another one got buried under the debris.
The three US soldiers, along with their South Vietnamese ally, managed to defeat the enemy force, searching the bodies, taking some ammo and food from them.
Hoang was relieved to see that none of the bodies was his brother, before they moved on towards east.
After an hour of walking, they made another rest of ten minutes, Ethan looked on his watch, it was 5PM.
“Already that late? Time goes fast.” He mumbled.
After they were on the move again, the group walked past a rice field as suddenly, Petunia heard fast hiss sounds ringing in her ears, followed by several more, causing her instinctively to dive to the ground next to a wall, the soldiers did too.
They were pinned down by machinegun fire. Hoang peeked out of his cover, seeing a flash of enemy fire in the rice field, an entrenched machine gun nest.
Bullets flew past them as Jesper shouted, “Hasn’t anybody got a grenade?!”
Knowing he had to act fast to avoid that the others get hurt or killed, he quickly grabbed one of his grenades, aimed for the flash, using all his strength in the throw.
A small explosion and screams of pain followed, showing that he successfully had taken the enemy machinegun nest out. They went to check the remains for anything useful.
It was an NVA MG nest, they could see it from the uniforms, the explosion had made the bodies unrecognizable, making Hoang pray his brother wasn’t along them, savaging some ammo from the smoking MG nest.
After walking for some time and taking rest for a few minutes, the group came to a village, Vietnamese, both young and old, came to watch them. Hoang decided to ask the villagers for help, one old villager spoke for the others, he was happy to talk to the soldiers.
“Can you help us?” The ARVN soldier asked in his language.
“What you need? We help uncle Sam all the time.” The old man replied.
“Have you medicine or food?” Hang asked him.
“Medicines all gone, VC took everything. Steal food, kill animals.”
The young Vietnamese thought for a moment. If the Viet Cong take everything, they must be close. “Are there Viet Cong nearby?”
“Some come at night. Camp 5,6 clicks from here.” The villager replied.
“Thank you.” Realizing that this was all he could ask the villager, Hoang ceased the questioning.
Petunia noticed a villager trying to cover a small hole in the ground behind the huts. Taping Hoang on the shoulder to get his attention, she pointed to it.
Suspicious, the soldiers took a look, pointing a flashlight into it. “Jesper, take a look into it.” King ordered as Jesper was the only one who was small enough to climb down the narrow entrance.
There were muffed shots from below. Seconds later, Jesper appeared, dragging a case of ammunition, a bag of grenades and some claymores.
The old man was quite surprised as Hoang returned to him in a slow pace.
“Hello again. Look what I found...” His voice was humorless, showing the weapons they had found. “Right before that happened.” He pointed to the tunnel. “I'd like to know why.”
The villager was quiet, shuffling nervously. Hoang folded his arms and scowled. “You don't seem to be replying. How about food again?”
“Okay. I show you.” The old man led him to a hidden store of rice and pots of dried fish, the soldiers filled their bags before moving on.
“Was that really necessary?” Petunia asked, not liking what they had done.
Ethan let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, yes. The Viet Cong hide along the Villagers, making them impossible to identify. They raid the villages, eliminating our officers or other government nationals, weakening the villager’s trust in us, also, some of our men raid them too, so they’re very suspicious of us too, but don’t show it, playing nice. Sometimes, you have to break the rules to reach our goal, nobody of us enjoys this.” His voice was one of disgust and regret.
“I still don't like it.” She replied, head lowered.
“Neither do I. No-one should.”
The sun was setting, it was, according to Ethan’s watch, 8 pm. “Let’s dig in here for the night.” He suggested, the others agreeing.
The filly helped them to build a trench for sleeping, snuggling next to Hoang as she fell asleep.
“Once we’ve reached the outpost, we need to get her out ASAP, it’s way too dangerous for her.” Jesper whispered, careful not to wake her.
“Yes, I agree. Until then, we have to keep her safe, no matter what.” Dan replied, having sympathy for her.
“Indeed. I take the first watch.” Ethan looked out for trouble while the others rested for the night.
Later in the night, Hoang and the others awoke by a sound. Slowly opening their eyes, they took notice it came from Paleo.
She was whimpering and sobbing in her sleep, lightly trembling.
“Poor girl, must have a nightmare.” Dan felt sorry for her.
Knowing that it could alert a VC patrol to their presence, Hoang tried to calm her down. “Shh, we’re here for you.” He whispered into her ear, wrapping an arm around the filly.
Petunia screamed and kicked around, trying to break free in her sleep.
Ethan ran over, trying together with Hoang to quiet her down, she still struggled.
Seeing no other option, the Army soldier reached for his sidearm, whipping her with it.
It worked, she got knocked out, but it filled him with regret. “I’m sorry, Petunia.” He whispered in her ear.
The South Vietnamese hugged her to ensure she wouldn’t have another nightmare.
In the morning, the soldiers made a quick breakfast, Petunia had a small bump on her head, still sleeping.
“Ugh…my head…” The filly woke up, rubbing her forehead.
“Good morning, Petunia.” Hoang gave her a ration.
“I’m s-sorry, I had a n-nightmare…” she apologized, being slightly aware what happened in the night.
King waved a hand. “It’s okay, it can happen to any of us. Back in 68’ during the Tet offensive, I saw many young men not able to take it anymore. Battle fatigue. War brings out the worst of us. As such, I’m very sorry that I had to hit you.”
Her response surprised him. “It’s okay, it heals anyway.”
Then they continued their march.
The group walked for some time, taking rest every now and then. Petunia saw a cluster of huts in the distance, seeing a glint from them.
It turned into a flash, accompanied by a loud sound, a bullet hit the ground near the filly, causing her to yelp. “Sniper!” Ethan yelled, pushing her behind a wall as cover, more bullets hit the wall.
They were pinned down by Sniper fire. Jesper aimed down the scope of the M21, knowing he had to act fast or the others could get hurt or killed. Scanning the area, he couldn’t see any sniper, they were well camouflaged. A flash came out of one of the huts, the SOG operative aimed for it and fired. He could see through the magnified view that an enemy sniper fell out of the window.
“Good shot, Jesper!” Dan complimented him.
A second flash came out of another hut, the US soldier had seen it, taking aim, exhaled, then pulled the trigger. The enemy fell out of a window.
They waited in cover for a few minutes, they enemy fire was no more, meaning that Jesper had taken out all snipers. They checked the surrounding area after that, taking some ammo from the bodies. Dan noticed that the right eye of one VC sniper was completely gone and covered in blood, the scope of his rifle was broken.
“You shot him right through the scope, how come you aren’t a sniper with such a marksmanship?” He asked, impressed
A little bit blushing, Jesper replied, “I was in a gun club before joining the Military, but never had the patience snipers have.”
They moved on once again, walking through the jungle for hours, making rest for a few minutes if needed.
After a while, Petunia spotted what seemed to be a bunker in the distance, not watching her step, tripping over a root, tumbling down a small hill. “Petunia!” Hoang yelled as she tried to stop her fall, to no avail, until she hit a sign with her head.
“Ow!” She exclaimed in pain before staring at the sign in shock.
Mines!
She had landed at a minefield.
“Whatever you do, stay where you are!” Jesper yelled, coming to her aid.
A narrow passage was between the soldiers and her, so only the SOG operative could get to her. “We must clear it, so the others can cross it.” He explained, seeing the fear in her eyes.
“W-what?” She asked scared.
“I hate to say this, but you have to crawl through the minefield, stabbing at the ground along the way to check for the mines.” He really hated it, but there was no other way.
“O-okay…” She whimpered, grabbing a stone and crawled through, Jesper followed her to disarm any mine she would find.
The filly trembled heavily while she did this, fearing that the slightest wrong move would set a mine off, killing her in a very painful way.
“You’re doing a great job!” Hoang called out, trying to encourage her.
It didn’t really help, but she appreciated it.
Petunia found around thirteen mines before Jesper said, “That seem to be all of them. You can cross it now.” Hearing it, Petunia let out a big breath of relief, never wanting to do this again.
Her eyes hadn’t lied to her, she had really seen a bunker, its entrance was protected by the minefield they had crossed.
The soldiers checked for booby traps, luckily finding none, before taking supplies from the bunker, moving on. “You did a great job, Petunia.” Jesper patted her, she gave him a weak smile in return.
The group reached another village, entering it slowly, a crowd of grim faced peasants gathered around them, making Paleo feel uncomfortable.
As with last time, Hoang spoke for the group. “We need help. Do you have you food or medicine?” He asked, the villager stayed grim faced, not replying at all.
“Are Viet Cong nearby?” Again, the villager gave no reply.
The ARVN soldier ceased the questioning, realizing it was no good. But then, he realized how he couldpersuade the villagers. “Petunia, would you please step forward?” The filly was a bit confused and nervous at this but did as told.
“Yes, Hoang?” She asked, the villagers dropped their grim expressions, surprised by the talking filly, exactly the reaction Hoang hoped they would have.
“I know what you’re thinking, but she’s real and we need to get her to safety. We need any help we can get to do this and we don’t want to harm anyone. So, can you help us?” Hoang asked again, the villager lowered his head.
“VC took all food. Nothing left but rice.” He gave them a few half empty rice pots. Then he showed the group a hut where a cache of arms was hidden, in it were some ammo, grenades and remains of captured US rations. “VC, some come at night, maybe ten to twenty. Used to be camp 5 or 6 clicks south.”
“Thank you.” Hoang thanked the villager and the group travelled again.
The sun was setting once again, signaling the survivors that it was time to dig in for the night. The filly was sleeping peacefully this night.
Petunia was got awaken by a strange sound, like footsteps. Still sleepy, she looked around, noticing that all her friends were asleep.
Suspicious and seeing no other option, Paleo decided to take a look around but stayed near the trench. It was dark, her eyes slowly adjusted to it, allowing her to see a little bit.
The filly came to a swamp, only crickets filled the air with sound. Must been my imagination.
In the moment she turned around, the filly got caught in a root, tripping and barely keeping herself from crying out in pain to avoid alerting possible nearby enemies.
In the moment she got up, the filly froze in shock.
Bodies were scattered everywhere, torn open, some had missing limbs, it looked like a mass grave, the filly managed to keep herself from vomiting, not wanting to alert anybody nearby.
As first, she thought a wild animal was the cause for this. But then, she noticed something.
Some of the bodies had knives in them, hinting that was work of a human, not an animal.
The little filly gave a tiny whimper as the swamp suddenly felt wider and more dangerous all alone. Trying hard to keep quiet, she backed herself up against a tree, vivid with bright green moss and fungus.
Something was out there. Something that had cut through a team of soldiers like scissors through paper.
And now she was alone with a wild, murderous beast.
But where was it hiding?
Where could it hide.
There was a creak behind her. Breathing in quickly, she noticed the shadow of the branches had changed drastically. Like a pair of griffon talons they were rising, ready to snatch.
With a scream, she wriggled frantically as the tree clutched her tight, wrapping around her belly, threatening to squeeze the breath out of her.
“No! Get off! Get away from me!”
With a grunt of confusion, the tree dropped her. Scrambling in the dirt, Petunia made a run for it.
She felt her back hoof catch on something.
With an almighty snap, a set of wooden claws, lashed together from branches and vines, shot out of the undergrowth and flipped over, pinning the filly to the ground.
Staring up the canopy, Petunia watched, terrified, as...things...crawled out of the forest. Golems made of moss, bark, pondweed or clumps of soil. Filthy, haggard but smiling. Smiling down at her.
“Please...” she squealed “Please let me go! Who are you?! What are you?! What do you want with me?!”
One of them bent down, a pair of manic, twitching eyes visible through a mask of forest litter. He breathed into her face, stinking of tobacco and rotten flesh and then sniffed deeply.
Then he spoke, his accent clearly American, but his tone very much unlike that of Ethan, King or Lincoln. It was slow, quiet and utterly unhinged. The words terrified her to the core.
“Fresh...Meat...”
The filly gulped, it was her end. Please, remember me. Petunia made one final prayer for her parents.
“Identify yourself!” Ethan’s voice rang in her ears, pointing a flashlight into her direction, causing the man to let her go, fleeing along with the others.
“Are you okay? I heard your screams.” He sounded concerned for her, helping the filly up.
“I’m fine. I heard a noise and since you were asleep, I wanted to check it to keep you safe.” She explained.
“I understand, but next time, wake one of us to check it out. For your own safety.” Ethan replied, taking a quick look at the bodies.
I guess these are the men from whom the villagers got the supplies. Poor guys. This is way too brutal for the Viet Cong…Could it be…them?
He thought as he and Petunia got back, falling asleep.
In the early morning, the filly was awoken by a loud piercing sound, covering her ears.
Noticing that it came from the same direction where she had found the bodies, Petunia shook Ethan’s shoulder to wake him.
Sleepy, he was about to ask what’s wrong but then also heard the loud noise. “Stay here.” He said, grabbing his M16 and taking a look.
Not able to bear the noise, the filly followed him.
Seeing the same swamp from a safe distance, the two took notice of two men in US uniforms dragging a weeping bearded man to a small metal bunker from which the piercing sound of screeching machinery was echoing across the site, like a power drill or buzz saw.
One of them slammed on the door with the butt of his rifle and stood back.
It opened and Petunia's ears shot to the sides of her head in alarm.
The screeching wasn't from machinery at all. It was unmistakably the sound of a woman screaming. On and on and on.
A towering hulk of a man strode out, taller than the others by at least two heads, so much so that he had to stoop slightly as he walked through the doorway. His enormous muscles showed clearly through the skin on his arms and his open shirt showed off bulging biceps above a six-pack. This man clearly did a lot of exercise.
His head was broad with a chin like a cinder-block. His dull blonde hair was cropped short like most marines but he was growing stubble. His mouth was set in an arrogant smirk while his small, deep-set eyes were a pale turquoise and seemed to contrast with it, looking almost constantly on edge, ready to dart into action at the first sign of trouble.
He appeared wet and, as he walked outside, standing to his full-height, it dawned on her that he was covered in a dark red liquid, spattered over his face and chest and entirely covering his hands.
“What is it?” he said flatly. Strangely his voice was quiet and seemed pretty calm.
"This guy wanted to talk, Sarge.” one of the man answered, gesturing to the weeping prisoner.
The man's smile grew wider and he stepped closer to look the kneeling man in the eye, his massive boots thudding heavily on the soil.
Then he turned his head, so swiftly that Petunia could swear he heard a 'click' as he barked loudly.
“Polly!”
“I am coming, Sergeant” An ancient-looking old Asian man with wispy white hair and a prominent limp hobbled over on a stick, nearly tripping on the debris littered around the base, and fell to his knees between them. He and the man spoke for a moment in Vietnamese before the man the sergeant had called 'Polly' spoke to his leader in English.
“This is Thuy Si Thon, Sergeant.”
There was a pause.
“And?” There was a distinct disparaging tone to his voice.
“He...he asks...pleads, even, that you release his fiancé, who he saw go with you into the bunker three days ago. He says he's told your men all they need to know and that if you let them go home safely, he will give you all the wealth he and his family own.”
“Ah...I see...Yeah, I remember now.” The sergeant nodded and squatted down to look the kneeling, crying man in the eye, the smirk wide on his face.
“Well, allow me to start by saying congratulations, my good man. Your fiancé is...a real looker. Really. No kidding. Most beautiful girl I've seen in years, the kind of fiancé any man would be proud of.”
His tone was so frank, one would imagine him saying this at a pleasant dinner in suits than in a warzone.
Between them, the man named 'Polly' translated to the terrified Thuy Si Thon.
“And she's sweet too. You see, three days ago, she came to me and said you meant the world to her. Seriously. And she said she would do anything to keep you safe. So...we reached a compromise. If I let you go...she agreed to do whatever...I...asked.”
His pale eyes gleamed as Thuy's mouth opened wide with horror. As if on cue, the men gathered and held him in place as the sergeant continued.
“Oh, she was fun. I dunno', I guess she must have been thinking of you because she really gave it her all. But then...things got a bit out-of-hand. Ask any girl back home, I can sometimes get a bit too passionate.”
Petunia had no real clue what the man was talking about but there was something extremely unsettling about his tone and manner, something completely off.
She'd known bullies back home, bullies who thought she was weird, scary, dirty, even stupid. But she remembered the looks of pleasure on their faces as she cried.
This look was greater than any she'd seen. Somehow, the words the sergeant was saying were hurting the man at his mercy, who knelt sobbing as Polly translated, the old man's voice cracking as he, himself, fought back tears.
And the sergeant was enjoying it.
It’s…it’s them! Ethan recognized those men, wishing he could save the Vietnamese but he couldn’t risk endangering Petunia, giving away his position, forced to listen to the rest of this conversation.
“But...” he continued “She said she'd do anything. And I took her up on that offer. But by the end, and this is where it gets really sad" she sighed, shaking his head mockingly "By the time things were nearly done, she didn't care. She'd forgotten all about you, she couldn't care less what happened to her fiancé...as long as I put her out of her misery.”
His massive hand reached at the back of his belt and removed an item.
From a distance, it looked like fabric, pale beige on one side and dark crimson on the other with three holes cut out of it. The sergeant threw it on the ground as Thuy and Polly both gasped with horror.
A moment later, Petunia did the same, nearly collapsing to her knees, the last meal she'd eaten welling up in her throat, never having felt more sickened and horrified in her life.
The sergeant stood back up and grinned.
“It's okay" he chuckled “I saved you her pretty face...Go ahead...give it a kiss.”
At this point, Petunia couldn’t hold it anymore, having to throw up.
The Army soldier picked her up, getting back to the trench as fast as he could.
“Wake up, we need to go! It’s them!” He yelled, causing the others to wake up in alert, knowing who he meant, gathering their equipment.
“Double March!” King ordered and the group moved out.
“Who…what are those men?” Petunia wasn’t sure if they could still be called men.
“Trust me, its best you don’t know.” Dan said to her, his voice had a hint of fear.
The group travelled for a few hours, taking regular breaks. They didn’t encounter any Viet Cong, which was a nice change.
Around noon, Jesper could see a flagstaff with a US flag in the distance, pulling a smile to his lips. The outpost was insight.
Petunia noticed the big sign, she grinned upon reading it.
Welcome to Du Hoc.
They had made it.
Inside, medics took care of Petunia’s cuts, taking also the pilot’s dog tags from King.
Then they rested on cots in the barracks, enjoying every second, it was much more comfortable than the cold ground they had to sleep on during their travel.
Petunia let out a moan of relief as she leaned back into the pillow, enjoying it to the fullest.
“I can’t tell how nice it is to be in an actual bed again.”
“I believe you that.” Hoang replied as he cleaned his rifle.
Suddenly, a siren sounded, causing everyone to jump up in alert. “What’s going on?” The filly asked, startled.
“We are under attack! Quick, let’s get you to the bunker!” Hoang picked her up, running out of the barracks, seeing NVA soldiers were the attackers, firing at US and ARVN soldiers who stood their ground.
“Incoming!” Dan yelled, firing his M60 at the enemy.
Jesper spotted a RPG trooper along with two other NVA soldiers. The SOG operative took aim at the enemy RPG, firing a shot at the rocket launcher wielding soldier.
The bullet hit the trooper into the chest with enough force to throw him on his back, firing the RPG by accident in the progress.
The explosion threw Hoang and Petunia over, the filly landed with a cry of pain on the ground.
Her ears were ringing, her vision blurry and swimming.
The foal heard muffled screams, bodies hit the ground, blood sprayed everywhere.
As she slowly recovered from it, Petunia witnessed to her horror, that most bodies were ARVN and US soldiers, the NVA was winning, in the heat of the battle, she couldn’t tell if her friends were still alive or dead.
“Don’t move!” A voice yelled, she found herself surrounded by NVA soldiers.
“Don’t shoot!” She pleaded, trembling, staying on the ground, hooves behind her head.
The soldiers led her to a truck, where an officer, a lieutenant if she saw the insignias on his uniform right, was sitting.
“Well, looks like the rumors are true, a talking pony.” His voice was cold, unemotional.
“P-please…don’t hurt me…” The filly whimpered in fear.
“Sir, with all due respect, she’s a child and a civilian! We can’t take her prisoner!” One of the soldiers protested, the filly recognized the voice, it was Dung.
“Be quiet private, I’m in command here. I got special orders from high command to capture her alive.”
Dung’s blood froze, suspecting who had given that order. “Can’t we just…” He struggled to find the right words. “Put her under house arrest? She is a civilian after all.”
“House arrest?” The NVA officer let out a laugh. “Oh no, private. Given that she might know a lot and that she’s unique, it was decided that she is to become an honored guest of our nation’s most secure fortress:
Hoa Lo.”