"I died for my country, will you?" - Unknown
Route 9 - Near the Dong Ha Defensive Line
April 5, 1972
05:22 AM
Serika walked through a dark expanse. She didn't know where she is. But she was alone. There was no sound, no light, just her.
Time passed for so long, as she simply stood there, unmoving. Putting up a brave face, she turns her head and utters a word.
"Hello?"
She looked around again.
"Anybody there? Hello?"
Nothing responded, but as she turned back to her front, there stood a corpse.
Its eyes are gone, and it's staring at her.
It was the man she met first on that fateful day, there on that first brutal day in this world. The same man that stood before her.
Brandon.
"Why did you leave me?" The man asked.
"I-I needed...b-because...you were dying, I can't do anything!"
"You left me to die! Look at me, look at what you did to me!"
"Why did you have to live while I died?"
Serika bowed down in tears.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Why her, why is she still alive? Why did she leave him, why did they leave him? Why did they leave so many dead?
Around her, more and more dead marines of the squads she fought for, surrounded her, all of them blaming her.
She simply dropped down in tears, as she closed her eyes, trying to block out the accusations thrown at her.
"I died for Uncle Sam," she hears that man again. "Will you?"
"Please make it stop! Please! Please! Please!"
BGM: For What it's Worth - Buffalo Springfield.
As the darkness fades, out of nowhere, she begins hearing a calm tune.
"Serika?" She suddenly hears Jordan's voice. "Are you alright?"
"Man she definitely doesn't look alright, she's hyperventilating and shit." Jimmy's voice butts in, as she slowly opens her eyes from her slumbering state.
Looking around, she is now inside of a moving truck, evident by the moving motion she feels, and the occasional rumble of the truck when it hits something.
"I'm still here." Her face darkened as tears threatened to spill. She is still here, in this...hell. Again.
She just remembered what happened yesterday, and while she fell asleep, it almost felt like she didn't really sleep.
She then feels a hand on her shoulders.
"Hey, it's alright now...you know you look like you have seen a ghost. Are you good out there?" Jordan asked the poor teen.
She simply nodded weakly. Jordan, on the other hand, wasn't convinced but decided to just ignore it, looking around, he sees his men are now fully awake, doing whatever business they do.
On the other hand, the other three teens are still enjoying their time in their dream world. The trucks continued their drive as the convoy sped through Route 9, determined to reach the defensive line before the artillery reaches them.
"How far away are we?" Mike asks while yawning before he turned and checked Hifumi, who is still sleeping peacefully at his shoulder.
"Cute," Mike mindlessly mutters before yawning again.
"Yo man, how far are we?" He repeated.
"Should get there within ten minutes," Jimmy responded, before handing him some crackers, which Mike off course, graciously accepted.
"Thanks man."
"No problem."
Alex on the other hand simply blew some smoke.
"Goddamned commies."
"Alex, I think you should ditch the cigarette out," David suggested in front of him, all while eyeing a sleeping Koharu on his lap.
Both then stared at each other, with David simply giving him an 'Are you fucking stupid' look.
"What?"
"Dude, there's like a kid, on your lap."
Alex looked down at the pink-haired mess.
"Damn."
"See, you moron."
Alex immediately tossed his burning cigarette outside of the truck, internally punching himself for his brain-dead blunder.
"Well anyways, there's that, what now?" Alex started, hoping to change the subject from his recent blunder.
Jordan simply pinched his nose.
"We still have to deal with the girls."
"Well, they did save us, tell you what I happily volunteer to help find their way back home after that stunt they pulled out back there." Alex jovially suggested.
"Yeah, I agree with Alex here." Mike joins in.
"Well, that's nice...now moving on to the next thing, we're entering the defensive line soon, so get yourselves suited, because we may be staying here for weeks."
"Weeks? Ha! I'll give it a few days before it has to be abandoned." Alex commented pessimistically.
"Oh c'mon you're such a downer man," Mike said in annoyance.
"Just saying the truth, that's all."
"Yeah sure. I swear, with that attitude I wonder how you even fight." Mike responded.
"It's all for Uncle Sam, off course I'll fight."
"Oh yeah, you burned down that village for uncle sam?"
"You were there too asshole."
"Alright knock it off you two, you're both getting too rowdy." Jordan hissed in anger at the two.
There is literally a teen listening with them.
Serika meanwhile just stared at David, who gave her a blank expression.
"Don't even ask about it." Is all David told her.
Serika narrowed her eyes at the group, who didn't pay heed to her.
"Am I with murderers?"
"Will we finally get some rest sarge?" Alex moaned annoyingly, like a child demanding something from his parent.
"Yes."
"Finally, I think my neck is gonna break from this."
"I think my neck is in a worse state," Mike said, while gently touching his neck to check it.
"I have a question guys, it's been bugging me for days," David said seriously.
"Sure, spill."
"It's very very important...if Jesus can walk on water, can he swim on land?"
"..."
"..."
"No no he got a point," Alex turned to Mike. "But the first question is, do god and Jesus exists?"
"Course they do, I mean hell we got angels amongst us." Mike reasoned.
"Who's to say these girls ain't a CIA psyop though?" Alex asked jokingly.
"How can we be a CIA psyop? And what the hell does psyop means anyways?" Serika interjected after they were mentioned.
"Bulletproof girls, magic like shit, I tell you man, it reeks of a CIA black project," Alex added in a conspiratorial manner.
"Why put the cat ears though?" Mike asked.
"Maybe those spooks are pervy folks. Who knows what even happens in those people's minds." David theorized.
"What are you guys even talking about?"
"Silence child, the Adults are talking." Alex grinned at her.
Serika merely pouted in annoyance.
"We're getting out of topic here gentlemen," David complained. "My question was, can he swim on land?"
"Why are you guys even wondering if this whoever guy can swim at, land? That's just ridiculous!" Serika whined. As the silence continued, due to everyone still trying to formulate an answer.
"Shut, you little brat, this discussion is important and children like you won't understand it, so shh."
Serika merely frowned.
Jimmy grunted after thinking about it and failing to come up with an answer.
"This cannot be answered through the scientific method, and thus, must be ignored."
"Jimmy's got a good point." Jordan declared, determined at shutting down the nonsense. "This is a pointless discussion."
"Oh come on, these party poopers." Alex groaned.
"I was already halfway to my smartass answer. Why'd you have to ruin it?" David whined.
"My brain got worked up with that crap." Mike exhaled.
"So they were discussing nonsense?" Serika asked, she was now absolutely confused by these marines.
"I suggest you just ignore it, sometimes, commanding these marines just feels like handling schoolchildren." Jordan chuckled.
"But Sarge, schoolchildren don't get guns," Alex mentioned.
"Sure they do, at least some of them, and it ends disastrously...also we're with schoolchildren with guns, you dumbass."
Alex looked around and saw the girls holding guns, even the ones asleep. Serika smiled at him.
"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that one, hehehe." He chuckled awkwardly.
"Is schoolchildren with guns, really that weird?" Serika asked.
"Oh yes my fair lady it is!" Alex sarcastically responded. "If I had a gun back in my school days I would have probably shot 2 or 3 kids, those kids were just assholes really."
"Damn man, that's some weak ass shit, you gonna shoot children?" Mike asked in disgust. "Hope you're joking man."
"Course not, I'm just joking, like always, but people snap, sometimes, and then things happen."
Mike pondered a bit.
"Hmm...good point."
"Alright, we're here boys!" Jimmy shouted as the convoy began to stop.
"Wake them up, trip's over guys," David told them as he began shaking a sleeping Shiroko beside him.
"Hey sleepy head, wake up, we're here!" Shiroko slightly opened her eyes, then closed them.
"Fwive more minutes." She mumbled at him as she dozed off again.
"Uhh, how do you do this?" David asked, before coming up with an idea.
He began whistling at her. Like she's a dog.
"Come on wake up come on." He continued his whistling before he received a slap to the back of his head.
"What was that for?"
"She's not a dog you dense-headed buffoon." Mike mocked him, before kneeling to her seated position.
"Girl, wake up, we're here."
"I said five more minutes." She mumbled sleepily.
Mike simply sighed. "School's boutta start."
Her eyes immediately snapped open. And she immediately went into panic mode.
"School?! Oh no, what time is it? I still have to-"
"Calm down girl, there ain't no school down here at Nam, shit's at war." Mike then placed his hand on her shoulders to prevent her from panicking.
"Calm down alright, we're already at the defensive line by the way."
Serika looked around a bit, before understanding it. Mike simply left her, followed by David who simply placed his green-covered helmet as he stepped down the truck.
Serika watched the entire thing and is now questioning their chances of even getting home. She also arrived at one conclusion.
"I'm with a bunch of idiots." She thought as she followed the rest of the students, and soldiers towards the camps.
Everything about these Marines was strange. Yet, at the same time, they were human...people. Fragile and afraid, yet they're here.
She looked down at the ground, and for a second, Brandon, was there again, bleeding to death, begging for her to save him.
No.
She simply walked on to follow her group. Such memories are better ignored.
Better him, than her.
...
"Gun the crap out of them!"
"Aye sarge!" David responded in glee as he fired off his machine gun in the distance, with yellow tracers lighting up the night sky.
Besides them, the four girls helped wherever they can, taking pot shots here and there, as they held off the NVA night assault.
"Bastards are trying to return fire!" Mike cursed as NVA artillery and mortars began exploding around them.
Just as American 152's also responded with shells towards the NVA positions.
"Take that Charlie!" Alex cheered as he fired his M16 at the dark. In moments, they were already winning, as the figures began running away.
Jordan grinned.
"Orders are to keep firing to their general direction west, ahead of us, so don't stop, we have the goddamned supply for this all week long!" Jordan shouted while holding his binoculars.
"Oorah!"
A slam of a massive explosion in the night ends the scene.
...
"And he said 'We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves' and guess what? Here we are." Alex stated, before taking a drink from his canteen.
The four sat on a bench in the small trench in the defensive line, silently eating and listening.
Hifumi herself stared at a bird flying in the blue morning skies, pondering, what the bird could see up there.
Yesterday has been particularly bloody, as the NVA tried to assault them, thinking they were still disorganized and setting up defenses.
But it seemed that what they have here did well, that the four didn't even have to use their skills.
"So your leaders, they lie to you?" Shiroko asked.
"Oh yes, they lie as naturally as they breathe," Alex replied with no hesitation.
"Then why do you fight for them."
"Lie as they do, communism is still a greater threat."
"What even really is this communism thing? And why do you all fight...this hard just because of it?" Serika curiously asked.
It certainly seemed strange to them, from the bits and pieces she gets from them, it seems that they are at war because they have differing ideas.
What it is, and why they fight for it, she doesn't know.
Mike then walked into their part of their trench, with a confident stride as he just defeated people from other squads in various games, giving him some nice stacks of cash.
"Alright it's all ruined, he's gonna start bragging." Alex's head simply dropped in disappointment, while David groaned in annoyance.
"Oh come on, you guys need someone to explain capitalism and communism, and I'm here with lots of cash, why can't I do it?"
Alex snorted. "Oh c'mon McMillan, no one asked you to start explaining why you want to explain."
"Alright fair point, so crash course ladies." Mike pulled out a generous amount of cash.
"This right here is money." Mike held the green in one of his hands, while his other hand pointed at the cash.
"Listen very carefully here, now this-"
"Buys stuff." Serika deadpanned.
"Do you seriously think we have no idea how money works? For the thousandth time, we're not dumbasses." She continued in irritation.
Mike comically deflated from his blunder, on the other hand, Alex was chuckling at his expense. The four teens on the other hand also joined in the laugh at mike day.
"There you go you smartass." Alex chuckled while clapping at him.
"Alright, alright I get it, I got too cocky, I apologize guys c'mon."
"Still though, I'm interested in what exactly this communism is." Hifumi curiously said, with a bright face.
"Aight, so you know how money works right, the thing is, communists want the money to be redistributed equally to the people. Oh and also everything will be owned by the people, or something like that. Yeah, that's communism, I think." Mike ended.
"So you're saying...it wants equality?" Shiroko asked.
"Yes, exactly, but you see the problem is, this is forced equality, which is bad for freedom, and it always ends disastrously, instead of equally prospering, everyone just equally starves."
Behind them, Aaron and Nguyen passed through the trench, and saw them discussing communism.
Brooke began whistling as he walked towards Mike, who is answering questions from the girls.
"Would you look at that, brainwashing them young now are we?"
Mike snorted.
"Pfft...it's not brainwashing Aaron, it's called education."
"Whatever you say man, but hey I guess at least your doing your job for Uncle Sam. Hearts and Minds and all that, hearts and minds."
Nguyen sat in the wooden chairs, pulled out an apple, and began eating.
"Hearts and minds my ass, look at how much VC we got, I think we definitely did a very bad job at that." Nguyen mused as he relaxed his back at some of the sandbags.
"Ain't our fault the people here don't want freedom." Alex scoffed, before motioning to Nguyen for something.
Nguyen then pulls out a box of cigarettes, and tosses it into Alex's hands.
"Gonna be gone for a while." Alex passed Mike, while lighting up his cigarette.
"Aight, be careful out there mate," Mike replied.
"Roger that mom." Alex nonchalantly responded as he left.
"That fucker..." Mike simply sighed as he heard some giggling from the girl's bench.
"You Marines are really funny..." Hifumi chuckled brightly at their antics.
"Would you look at that, civvies finding us funny, that's quite new." Mike chuckled as he took a seat.
Moments passed in the group, as they did small talks, told stories to each other, and ate their rations.
Mike on the other hand cleaned his gun as time passed. The girls themselves had a very interesting story. The place they come from is Kivotos, a massive city made up of thousands of academies.
And it was ruled by these, "Student Councils" now at that point they were not having that nonsense.
Until they pulled out their smartphones and showed them high-quality videos and pictures of that city, and the people in it.
"My god, it truly is heaven!" Brooke was practically drooling as he scrolled through Serika's phone.
"Look at those ladies! It's ladies everywhere man!" A slap behind his head suddenly arrived.
"Those are fucking teenagers Aaron, TEENAGERS, and you're salivating, do I have to explain further?" Mike aggressively asked in disgust as he pulled the phone from his...degenerate hands.
"But those curves man, and where are the men over there?" Brooke whined and whined, probably because the phone was unceremoniously transferred away from his hands.
"Hmm...I must say, it basically looks like a more modernized version of...new york? I mean those skyscrapers definitely look sleekier and more futuristic...definitely a masterpiece of a city." Mike analyzed as he scrolled the pictures, mostly featuring nice shots of the city.
Serika held a smug look as she nodded.
"Yes yes indeed, Kivotos is definitely miles better than Earth."
Mike gave her a blank look as he handed back her phone.
"As much as it hurts my earthling pride to say this..." and as tears comically appeared in his eyes he continued. "It would appear that we are definitely inferior."
"Hey don't be so down," Hifumi's sweet voice spoke. "I think this place can also be just as good as Kivotos if everyone works together."
She smiled innocently. Mike died internally.
"Work together..."
Well, it would appear that such a dream is unreachable then. Truly, the tragedy of Earth.
"I feel even more depressed now..." Mike jokingly said as Hifumi began nervously laughing in response.
"Y-yeah, wait was I wrong?" Hifumi suddenly asked.
"Technically you're not-" Artillery suddenly sounded in the distance, as the sound of gunfire erupted once again, signifying that the battle has resumed.
Mike simply sighed, while Brooke and Nguyen begrudgingly picked up their rifles and helmets once again.
"Technically you're not wrong Hifumi," Mike continued as he placed his helmet on his head, turning towards the four, he continued, with the explosions from the distance being visible behind him.
Above them jets screeched and dropped their massive ordinances at unsuspecting NVA positions, turning them into rapidly made burned meat.
"Unfortunately, this war, and the wars after this, will make sure we won't be working together." He finally picked up his trusty M16 rifle.
"Well then, let's go back to our posts."