1968

Chapter Fourteen: June 22nd, 1968

Hilda's point of view:

It had been days since Jack and I had drank or eaten anything. We had been kidnapped by Guerrilla soldiers when the attack on the Saigon Base happened. I didn't know what was going to happen to us, only to find we would be tortured by a bunch of men who didn't speak a word of English. I doubted it was needed, seeing as all they wanted with us was to slap us around and then kill us.

It was the early hours of the morning and the sky was still pitch dark for a little while longer. Jack and I were tied to the chairs they had put us in when we first arrived here. "Jack, are you awake?" I whispered to him. He turned his handsome head and nodded.

"Yeah, baby, I'm awake. You doing alright?" He asked. I sighed and shook my head, beginning to cry again for what felt like the thousandth time.

"I want my babies back," I said to him. I wanted to hold them in my arms and I wanted to let them know I would never leave them again, I didn't care what happened. I wondered constantly where they were and if they were alive. I just wanted them to be safe and with me, comfortable and happy again like we always were.

"We'll get them back, Hilda, we will. I promise you, we're going to get out of here. I just have to figure out how to do it. You think I can cut through these cuffs?" He asked. I didn't answer as my eyes closed. I trusted him with my life, but I wasn't convinced that we were getting out of here alive. It had already been days since we arrived here, and neither of us had found a way to escape. They kept us in one place at the same time, every time. We had no other options but the scarcities we were surrounded by.

After some more time passed, I heard a sound of rustling in the bushes. I turn my head to see where the sound came from, and I didn't see a thing in the pitch dark of the earliest morning. Dawn hadn't even risen yet, which meant it couldn't be more than two in the morning. Yet that sound was really significant and easy to make out. "Jack, do you hear that?" I whispered. He stopped trying to leave his bonds and listened for what I was talking about. There was, indeed, something around us.

Out popped a figure of a man, one that was tall, about the same as Jack. I couldn't see him as he walked up to us, but I began to get increasingly scared of who it might be. I prayed to God that if we had to die now, that it would be quick and somewhat painless. But as I prayed, death never came. The man did though, the man that appeared was a lot kinder than all the ones we had been around the past few days.

"Mihn!" I whispered happily but also a little confusedly. Why was he here and how did he manage to get here? He was a good man, and I doubt he would get himself stuck in a group such as this one. Any friend my daughter made was sure to be a good person.

"What are you doing here?" Jack said just as frantically as I did.

"We don't have time. Come on, I'll get you out of here," he whispered back. We nodded and let him quickly cut the cuffs off of us. We stood from our chairs and Jack took my hand in his as soon as it was free from the bonds. I was glad to be able to feel his touch on my skin once again. I didn't have a whole lot of time to relish in it, seeing as we had to get out before we were caught and killed on the spot.

We got out surprisingly easy, and ran out of the bush. Mihn showed us to a road nearby and said he would show us to a town. We were so thankful to be able to have met him at the Guerrilla base. Without him, Jack and I would have probably died, and both of us knew that although I was sure Jack wouldn't admit it for a while.

"Would you care to tell me how you managed to find yourself in a Guerrilla group? I didn't strike you as the type to do so," Jack asked as we walked. Dawn was beginning to show itself in the sky as the road showed brighter as we kept progressing through.