CHPT 3 | It’s Not A Bad Beginning, It's A Bad Ending

The only useful thing, besides a tourniquet, was a rotary telephone, some pliers, a map, and a MAC-11. That was my ability to keep moving forward, that said I kept on the path, looking at the map periodically. Then, there was a total silence. Just a few more miles Karlson, then we'll be to base camp, so you can tell the Corporal about your "little accident". "Shut up Daniel, I've heard enough out of you". Alright, Alright, why do we keep having this problem? 'Which one', I said. The one where you keep fucking rambling on about nonsensical shit, the type of shit that's not important. Well- I- I stayed quiet for a while, trying to reconcile my thoughts. Meanwhile, Karlson wandered off into the thick overgrowth."Tango to Zulu, come in, Tango to Zulu, do you read me? Hello?", yet again there was static on the other end. There was radio silence yet again. In the distance, faint screaming was heard. Then, all of a sudden, if getting wounded by stray bits of shrapnel wasn't enough, I heard Karlson. "shots fired, shots fired, lieutenant down". I rushed to his aid but he was already gone.

I continued on the set path, watching out for land mines and other targets. I covered his body and marked it so that the next morning the corporal could retrieve his body.