(OOC: Solo of Markus's past)

Through the sky tore a scourge of metal and smoke, a sight of which had become normal by now. Helicopters filled as far as they can with soldiers, some here of their own will, others conscripted and forced at the age of 16. The year was 1973, and the Vietnam war was coming to a close, most knew that the war was coming to an end, maybe not this month or next, but soon. As for now, their lives lay on the line ready to be given up to the cause of fighting off a boogieman that was only known to politicians and underpaid idiotic patriots who thought it an evil no matter what the situation.

"Alright boys, were going to drop you guys in to get to the first drop zone to pick up our boys and escort any stragglers along with them to the pick up spot across the border, this will hopefully be the last time we will have to deal with these mongrels, those dam Vietcong." A voice sounded over the inside of a helicopter that was soon coming to it's destination and readied to land to drop off troops. Among these men, was a young 18 year old adolescent who joined the army of his own free will. His hair buzz cut and his face clean shaven.

"Burke, you will be paired up with Cohen's squad, I believe he is on the other copter that should be meeting up with us at the drop zone, you just be ready to jump out when the time comes." The man who had spoken to all the troops in the helicopter before now singled Markus out and assigning him his duties which he hoped he was prepared for. His mind absent of fear, his basic training behind him, Markus was now ready to step foot onto the battlegrounds and take a shot at war hero fame and perhaps attain the status of Soldier of Fortune. What lay in this tropical nation that now stood divided was memories soon to rise.

Open fields, the smell of fresh air gliding over you and the sound of birds softly flying away. All would be tranquil if not for the accompanied sounds of metal rotors constantly churning and the sound of gun fire far off in the distance to tense up the muscles before a nice three foot drop from a helicopter. But this was war, and this wasn't going to be a paid vacation for anyone, not the enemy and surely not the so called "Liberators." As each man from either one of the two copters that now hovered slightly above the ground barreled out, they each took the approach to the ground in a number of ways, some rolled some just bluntly landed on their legs, others fell on their faces into the mud such as Markus. The other men laughed for a time being until their squad leader took to the situation.

"Straighten up all of you, this is going to take all of us, so I suggest you help your fellow soldiers out if they happen to fall like that instead of laughing." Markus now half faced in the mud that now covered a large portion of his face when he arose struggled to pick himself up now partially wet and top heavy with his gear on. His knees slipped and he faltered into the mud again as the Squad Leader shook his head in disappointment in his poor skill to get himself out of the mud.

"Need a hand?" Another soldier approached, reaching out to pull Markus up. He accepted his hand regretfully as it showed some signs of weakness but not too much. "My names Private Cohen, you'll be helping us deal with the Vietcong." The kind man said after pulling Markus up with a large exertion of his strength. "Oh so I'm in your squad then huh?"

A loud whistle formed by a human then sounded loudly over the two men talking. "Enough kissing you two, we got work to do." Markus grimaced at the man now commanding them to ready up and began to wipe some of the mud from his face. "Burke you might as well keep that mud on ya, were going into the jungle, your going to need everything you can to survive in there buddy." The jungle? Unfamiliar with tactics used in jungle warfare Markus was at a disadvantage now, this would most certainly try his mentality, and most definitely count on his will to survive.

This wasn't so bad for a first in the military, at least everyone in their group was still alive. The jungle actually gave off a calm and soothing feeling to it almost. No sounds of gun fire, no machinery to cloud the thoughts or sights, only the raw unchained nature that had prospered in the area. This was tension at it's finest. Sweat dripping tension, to know that at anytime opposition could strike. Not only that but who knows what lay in this jungle? That is one thing that this army had failed to enclose in the basic training, and surely enough something was bound to surprise them all.

"Watch out for those Mosquitoes boys, probably carrying diseases you'd never want." The Squad leader said in all seriousness leading the prowl through the jungle to their destination. "Jones over here probably already has most of those Boss, him and his routine visits to the Whorehouse in town." A fellow soldier remarked and chuckled pointing out another who had a large tank which now was clear to Markus as a Flamethrower. The only one laughing was the one who made the joke in the group but soon was stopped by the veil of caution drawn by the Leader. "You guys hear that?" He spoke as he stopped midst way through a collection of low hanging vines.

"Boss this is all just gettin..." The man who was now just laughing seconds ago stopped as a loud thud was heard as if a rock slammed into soft dirt. Behind the man a quick and devious being stood who had lodged a large bamboo spear into the base of the mans head. "Ambush!" The Squad Leader yelled as he began to fire the shotgun in his hands he had been toting around and attempt to shoot the exposed legs of the one man who had somehow side strafed into their group. The rest of the group backed off, whilst the lead missed the man who had relinquished the soul of one from our group fled forward and then jumped for an odd reason back into a more shrouded area. "Get back here you Vietcong piece of s**t!" The Squad Leader leaped after him and shot again and missed once more and continued his pursuit about to enter the shrouded area when Markus now understood. Too late to utter words of warning, they all could only watch as their Leader fell into a pit dug by their cunning attacker.

By now the attacker was long gone and the Soldiers were too concerned with whether or not they could save their fellow G.I.s that had been attacked by the man. "Sarge! One yelled as he ran to see where he had fallen while the one with the Flamethrower knelt down beside the now motionless body of the man who had been stabbed in the back of his head. Once the man after the Squad Leaders whereabouts had looked down the pit he had fell he could only show his emotions through a quick turn followed by the purging of his stomach's contents onto the ground away from the pit. Moving closer out of curiosity, Markus looked down and not moved as much by the sight as his fellow soldier he still was in disbelief.

The man had been skewered and ran through with multiple bamboo pikes that had been placed at the bottom of the pit. "A Burmese tiger trap?" "What was that Burke?" Jones asked standing up now to confront Markus and look for himself as the other Soldier still reeling from the sight spit what was left in his mouth out and began to wipe his mouth with his arm. "It's a Burmese tiger trap, used...well to catch tigers, and anyone or anything else that may be unsuspecting." Markus replied as he walked away from the pit and began to gaze over it to see if he could spot anything in the shrouded jungle further out.

"We need back up fast man!!" One of the four remaining soldiers panicked as he looked to Private Cohen to speak. "Well the Sarge had our radio and I don't know about you but I am not going to catch dysentery from going into that pit, also that radio is probably smashed from the fall anyways. We will just trek our way back don't worry." "I don't know Cohen, something tells me were in for something big, and I got this feeling right now...." Jones replied as he surveyed the area looking for something as he turned his head slowly back and fourth. Now the true tension would set in.

"It feels like it's been hours, how far does this god d*m jungle span!" In actuality it had only been 20 minutes, that man now panicking like a cornered animal was a conscript so his fears were all understandable yet annoying at the least. "What's your name?" Jones asked as all turned attention towards the man who raved on about his fear of the jungle as they all continued to walk. " I'm John Fairest, I was conscripted into this whole d*m thing." "Well pleased to meet you John, now shut your jaw before I smash it together and make your teeth look like glass shards, I don't care if you think that this is unfair to you, I am sure everyone knows that, but right now we don't have the time to deal with this kind of s**t." Jones replied with anger in his voice.

"Would you relax Jones, were down to four men and I doubt any of us know how to handle this, we need to keep cool heads all of us and just make it back out of the jungle and wave down a helicopter hopefully." Cohen spoke in hope and attempted to cheer up his squad, sadly however he was not sure of if he said was right, for all he knew they could be stranded here. But just then the sound of a helicopter began to chime in. The men began to look at one another in amazement and began to shout and and scream at their hopes coming to reality. "Down here!" Fairest yelled over and over at the helicopter not knowing it's true area but knowing it would come closer.

But now joining the sound of the rotors came the sound of something else, something that would bring an end to all their joy. The sound of a 50 caliber machine gun being fired from the copter at them from overhead. "Get down!" Cohen shouted as he tackled Markus to the ground and the bullets riddled away the trees and vines that domed the jungle ceiling.

Jones flopped to the ground to follow Markus and Cohen to the ground as Fairest began to run away in fear. "Get back here Fairest you idiot!" His voice drowned out by the sound of the rotor drawing near the bullet firing getting louder the helicopter now plowed into the trees above, it's blades entangling and cutting vines yet smashing off tall trees and then it became apparent, that this helicopter was damaged prior to it showing up. Flames rose from it's tail and began to spin sideways into the rest of the trees as it flew wildly towards Fairest's chosen route.

Not knowing his fate the others scrambled to their feet and began to double back while taking in the site to behold, a crashed U.S. transport helicopter much like the one they were dropped off in, smashed into the ground and the flames spreading soon to the trees and the gas tank of itself. "What in God's name did this?" Jones asked as he gestured forward. Then from above the scream of a jet engine could be heard, one not of theirs but of the enemies gliding over to survey their handy work.

A quaint silence came over the situation that was under a second but felt as if it lasted a day, but closed with the sound of flames springing fourth to bloom from the gas tank that was accompanied by the loud combustion and overall decimation of the helicopters frame. Metal now scattered int he sky covered in burning gasoline furthered the propagation of fire across the jungle the three men who stood in it's wake stumbled in the blast and then turned tail and ran.

"Where are we going!?" Markus yelled as now he had fallen victim to the same panic Fairest had but now with a much better reason. "Where ever there's not a giant signal flare giving away our position and trying to turn us into kebabs at the same time!" Cohen replied as they ran from the original path and into a more plant indigenous route.

Now gasping for air the men took a break, especially Jones, whose gear weight wore greatly on his back and leg movement. "We gotta keep moving...or we are going to be face to face with about thirty Vietcong or get picked off one by one eventually." Cohen spoke gasping in between his sentence from exhaustion. "Just give me some time, I think I pulled something in my leg." Markus knelt as he said those words in response to Cohen and grasped his ankle.

"I twisted it, well f**k, this is going to be a terrible experience." Struggling to get back up Markus limped somewhat on his left leg to start off towards the intended route they had. "You gonna be okay Burke?" Jones asked concerned as his voice sounding somewhat hoarse from running. "Yea, let's just keep going, I don't want bamboo to be shoved up my a** by a couple of guys in an ambush." Venting his anger for his condition through swearing Markus began to lead the trudge through the jungle further.

As the remnants of this small squad arduously makes it's way to some distant hope of salvation, something lingers among the trees and dark corners of anything these men think not to ask twice about. Clouded by perseverance to leave this hellish place they will be far too blunt to realize their folly.

"Now I really don't know where we are going, and honestly I think we went further over the border, for all we know, were now behind enemy lines." "Bulls**t!" Jones replied to Cohen's speculation of their situation. "Jones calm down, remember keep a cool head." Before he could further his statement to Jones, Cohen heard something. Looking up he began to scrutinize the tree tops and his eyes widened. "Jones!" "What!?" He replied with anger and no realization as to how essential his true presence in this would matter.

"Burn those trees! Burn everything up there!" "What? Why?" Jones voice now more sincere to Cohen's words. But by then it was too late now the shrieks of enemy tongues and the rattle of gun fire came rushing at the men in a tsunami of chaos.

Turning to his assault rifle for assistance, Cohen began to fire his M16 wildly into the air with no cause for accuracy and only hope for making at least one hit on the enemy. Markus fumbled for his weapon as well as Jones as they too took in the ambush that was soon to engulf them all. "Đối với thành phố Hồ Chí Minh!" "Tấn công!" Yells and screams from all angles of the jungle seemed to lurch at them, guns fire of AK's began to reign over the sound and Jones now opened fire with his Flame Thrower. "Burke watch out!" Cohen shouted looking back as he reloaded an utterly wasted clip as gun fire now came from the side and Cohen fell to the ground prone to get a tactical advantage somewhat.

Unknowing what Cohen was talking about he looked to him for a moment giving the element of surprised even more power, as Markus was now pushed against a tree close behind him and looking down a hollowed bamboo rod, sharpened to a point now being pressured to be aimed to stab his left eye out. Markus now struggled as did the ambusher attempting to kill him, the only thing separating the two was his M16 and Markus's right hand grasped around the top portion of the bamboo stick trying to suppress it. Attempting to break this stalemate, Markus fired his M16 pointing to the right of him at nothing, the firepower not only made the enemy flinch but moved both their hands with the recoil as the bamboo was dislodged from the man's grasp and now in Markus's hands and the M16 on the ground.

In this moment, this rushing feeling, using the upper hand he had just gained, Markus swung the bamboo rod and lodged it in the man's right temple. He fell limp and now pushed his entire weight onto Markus against the tree. This was his first kill, the first person Markus had ever stricken from the slate of life, he didn't know how to feel. But the time for feelings was not now, one dead man made no difference to the encroaching forces that had made an appearance to the scene. Attempting to take in what had happened in so little time, Markus tried lifting the body off of himself and move off the tree.

Just then in a sight to behold, he saw a bullet hit the tank on Jones's back to his flame thrower which had already set ablaze a number of plant life. The explosion this time happened as if it had skipped everyone through time almost. One second Markus is lifting a body of a dead man off him to move, the next he is falling backwards down a steep unseen embankment to his imaginable demise.

Loosing sight of his fellow soldiers and the scenery he fought in just moments ago, he began to notice the screams of them filling the atmosphere, it was lucky he heard them over the pounding to the head Markus was taking ever so often as he tumbled down the embankment. Like a lopsided boulder which couldn't stop and pounded into the ground, Markus's body was relentless with the momentum it was gaining. Finally being flung forward somewhat onto one knee and a foot, he flung forward which he though would finally bash his head into something and kill him, but luckily his flak vest was able to snag on a tree, and the only thing he suffered was a quick dose of whiplash.

Breathing heavily, barely conscious, Markus shivered from shock of all that had transpired in a matter of moments. He wanted to rest, he wanted to give up and just fall asleep or die right there, but fear would play a part in his survival. Now he began to snap from zoning out of the moment and hear a dialect in the distant air. "Có ba, chúng ta đã giết hai, mà là khác?"

He began to think over the pros and cons of his choices, die here by the Vietcong's hands, or move onward. Thinking of the possibility that he may be captured and tortured, Markus took into more consideration survival. Slowly working his arm that sporadically shook, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a combat knife. Knowing that his legs would act the same way, he knew that standing up would prove a challenge, and the only way to overcome this would be to cut his jacket off by the shoulder seams. Maybe there was an easier way out, but Markus didn't think too much into it at the time, the only thing he wanted was distance, lots of distance.

Markus shedding from his flak jacket with his knife in hand he began to fall one more, this time it was only for a short period, before he finally met with leveled ground. Now on his back Markus breathed out his mouth at slow paced rates, as he began to pull his arms and legs inward and attempted to stand up. Struggling and stumbling, Markus shuffled up and saw in the distance from the shrouded jungle, a hut of sorts and rice fields. Markus saw an opportunity to hide in there, perhaps it was evacuated or just abandoned. There seemed to be no crops planted, so perhaps the residence had recently left, other than that, Markus was not thinking clearly.

Limping to the hut as fast as he could, he began to hear gunfire behind from where he was coming from. Thinking it may be directed at him, he frantically pushed his battered and dirtied body harder and harder to get to his destination. Trudging even through some rice paddies to make a short cut he now soaked his feet in mud and water which only hindered him more, as he fell full face into it but quickly crawled back up to continue on, as he was almost there. A few yards of a gap to close and maybe just maybe he had a chance. But in his peripheral he saw something obscure. He stopped to turn and see it, and to his eyes to behold he saw a small boy wearing only pants and holding a gun pointed right at him.

"Oh please god no..." Markus spoke as he used the last of his breath to utter the words and fell to the ground. His hair stuck to his face as it was covered in mud and dirt along with the rest of his body he looked at the ground as he began to hear a voice close to the boy begin to speak. "Bảo!Đó là ai?" It was a woman Markus could tell by the voice. He looked up to see a person covered in cloth and a rice hat which concealed her face. "Một người lính.Chúng tôi làm gì?" The boy replied in the same language. Markus knew there was no point in trying to talk to them, he knew they spoke about as much English as he spoke Vietnamese.

He caught a glimpse of the girls eyes through the rice hat, they were green, and he could see that she thinned her eyes at him for a moment as he only gave a blank stare of exhaustion and desperation. Giấu anh bên trong, có một tuần tra Việt Cộng. She turned to the boy and said something that the boy disagreed with, Markus could tell by the boys tone in his quick reply. Ngay bây giờ! The girl yelled as the boy flinched at her anger and then looked at Markus and pointed at the hut and waved the gun. Markus looked back and forth and then got the messaged as he picked himself up, and began to limp to the hut, not knowing his fate.

Inside the hut it was dark and it smelled of incense that was recently burned. The first sight to be seen would be an old oriental man who was bald and retained a large beard and mustache that covered his neck somewhat. For some reason he began to laugh and then stop and surprisingly speak English. "American Soldier? That is not rice! Hahaha!" He started to laugh again. "Oh thank god, you can speak English, I need..." Before finishing his sentence, Markus was hit with the gun, as the boy pointed it at a rug on the ground when Markus looked at him to see why. Markus was confused by the boys actions, but he noticed a bulge in the rug. He moved it aside somewhat to reveal a handle that was retractable from the other side of a trap door in the floor.

The boy motioned for him to go into the large space that was hidden from sight by the door as Markus was hesitant and spoke to the old man in a quivering voice. "You're not going to let him do this right?" His question was only met with silence as Markus was pushed over the ledge into darkness and the door slammed above him.

He landed on something soft but his head had slammed into the side of the opening in the floor which made a large clunk sound. At this point Markus thought he had died on the fall in. Maybe heaven was dark he thought, and maybe this soft stuff is just the clouds.... This was his last thought before drifting off into a sleep that was brought on by his panic and exhaustion, he was tired of fighting for his life, what ever they planned to do with him, he didn't care, he only wanted sleep and rest, lots of rest.

Waking up in complete darkness was a new thing for Markus, he thought he was still asleep or as he thought previously, that he had died. But Markus was still alive, within the confines of a room he couldn't even see the inside of. Markus felt around in the dark and tried to make out where he was. He felt dirt on the ground that was somewhat damp and wooden walls that led to a framed piece of wood that was the opening. He tried to push it but it would not budge. Giving up for now he began to feel around more, he felt what he had landed on which seemed to have an odd texture to it. It felt like it was a sac but inside was something extremely malleable and squishy. Markus's mind wandered into the depths of the horrible possibilities of what the sacs could hold, but eventually common sense found it's way into Markus's mentality and settled him for the moment.

A few hours of waiting, Markus began to try the door again, this time he began to slam against it trying in vain to move it. "Im lặng!" He heard a shout from above and a pound on the door that scared him at first. "I don't understand! Let me talk to the Old guy please!" Markus replied but there was no reply. For about half an hour Markus tried to open the trap door by force but only broke down in a panic and tears as he began to hyperventilate from stress and start pounding on the walls of the small space he was in. "I cannot die like this! Please let me out! I revoke America! I revoke everything! Please just don't do this to me!" This continued on for about another 30 minutes and then Markus fell asleep, once more from exhaustion and this time filled with even more feelings of doubt and hopelessness.