G.I. Stacy

Part 9 - Strange, desperate, dangerous things.

Part 9 

Silently we creep through the forest as first light breaks.  The camp below starts to emerge from its dark green surroundings and I can see a small cluster of tents.

I follow Scotty’s footsteps closely until he indicates for me to get down.  Through sparse vegetation we leopard crawl until we reach the treeline. 

Scotty points to his eyes and then off to the far right.

Like a cobra I push myself up until I can see what he wants me to see.

I feel the blood drain from my face. 

There against a tree in ripped and dirty clothing Theo is slumped over. His hands are tied behind him and I can see a rope run around the tree a few times.

Slowly I drop down and Scotty starts moving again.  About thirty meters from Theo we crawl behind a fallen tree trunk.

I watch as Scotty pulls a green canister from his pocket.

‘M18, SMOKE, WHITE’ is clearly visible.

He pulls the pin and looks at me, “Ready?” he whispers.

I pull out the knife and grip it tightly then nod.

Scotty throws the grenade as far as he can into the camp and immediately after billows of white smoke starts erupting from it and spreads into a cloud between us and the tents.

A shout rings out and I see three other clouds of smoke erupting from the other side.

“Now!” Shouts Scotty.

We run over to where Theo is bound and I instantly drop to my knees and start sawing through the thick rope. 

A slap draws my attention just in time to see Scotty back-hand Theo in an effort to wake him up.

Shouts ring out behind the clouds of smoke and they are soon followed by gunfire.  The adrenalin coursing through my veins allows me to cut the ropes with one sharp stab each and Theo is free from the tree.

Scotty had gotten him to stand up and I hear him groaning as I cut through the rope on his hands.

As soon as they are free Theo’s legs start to buckle and Scotty struggles to hold him up.  I stow my knife and yank Scotty’s backpack off pulling it onto my chest.

It is really heavy but me supporting Theo is really out of the question.  He is much taller than me.

Scotty bends down and lifts the once again unconscious Theo over his shoulder.

“This way,” Scotty says and we run/walk as fast as we can away from the mayhem behind us.

It takes a resolve of steel not to stop and look back but instead I focus on clearing a path for Scotty and Theo.

In the distance the shots have stopped and I wonder if it’s over. 

After 15 minutes we are clear of the tree line and a wide open Savannah greets us.

Scotty pauses to check the GPS strapped to his chest and we move into the grass.

For the first time I start looking back checking for anyone coming out of the trees behind us but it is all clear and we move further and further into the grassland.

Finally Scotty stops and rolls Theo onto some flattened grass.

Relieved I drop the heavy packs and kneel next to him, silent tears streaming down my cheeks.

I touch his face to make sure it’s really him and I shudder at how thin he is.  I run my hands over his body examining all the cuts and bruises looking for serious injuries.