Begonia | A Ukranada Countryhumans Fic

2: Bombs N' Flowers

[POV - Ukraine]

I awoke to the sounds of planes overhead and bombs being dropped in the distance.

Pretty standard.

I got up and walked to grab my MRE from the box. It was a bright green plastic bag with instructions on how to make beef and buckwheat porridge. I opened up the bag and its contents included the porridge mix, water, powdered heat mix, dried apricots, and a dark chocolate bar.

I first poured the water into my heat mix. The heat mix was a blend of magnesium, iron, and sodium chloride. Once you add water it will cause a chemical reaction heating the water. Neat. Then you pour your, now hot water into your bag of beef and porridge mix and shake. After 5 minutes it should be done.

I sat down on the ground and set up my tray of food. I first ate the dried apricots. They were good and moist. Next, I ate the porridge. To my surprise, it tasted like shit. I nearly threw it up. I tried to forget about it by washing it down with the chocolate bar, but it just tasted like a brick.

...So this is what depression feels like.

Stuck in a hole. Starving. Dirty. Hungry. Depressed. And all for $0.44 an hour. Who wouldn't want to be me?

After "breakfast", we packed up and started to move to the next... place? We're going southeast. Why? I don't know. Apparently, they're against telling us important information.

As I was walking I observed what was around me. It was a thick dense jungle, for hundreds of miles. The vines on the trees reminded me of a snake slowly choking out its prey. The ground was hidden by a heavy layer of mud from the rain. You could barely tell what time it was because of the thick foliage blocking the sun. It was humid and foggy. You couldn't see more than thirteen feet ahead of you.

Just how the Viet Cong liked it.

As we walked, we passed a downed F-4 Phantom II. I had never seen anything like it before the war, but now I'm used to shit like this. The wings were balled up like paper and not like 3,000 kilograms of metal. The paint on the bird was completely ripped off making the gray burning wreck stand out among the green bushes. There were still explosives attached to the hull. A plane like this could hold well over 8,000 kilograms of pure bombs. It's a miracle this thing didn't blow a hole in the jungle. Actually, a hole in the jungle doesn't sound half bad. No way anybody could survive this. Right? As I looked into the cockpit I found the answer to my question. The pilot was still in there. Well, at least part of him. He was missing his head.

Pretty standard.

We kept moving.

I was constantly looking around. Knowing the Viet Cong could be around any tree or bush.

We had been walking for nearly 8 hours. The next trench was only two and a half kilometres away, another 2 hours of walking. I checked my watch. 16:14.

I'm so tired.

I thought of my favourite song. La Vie En Rose. I first heard it when I fought in Paris.

I was sitting in the apartment that we had taken over as our base of operations. Me and Zanzibar had a radio in the room. We decided to see if the old thing even worked. I flipped the switch to turn it on. Static. I started to turn the knob switching through the stations, but all I got was static. I started to lose hope, but just as I was about to give up I heard a soft voice. I excitedly turned up the volume and that's when I heard the voice of an angel. Even if I couldn't understand a single word I still listened to every word that was said. "Et, dès que je l'aperçois" I sang "Alors je sens en moi" I saw Zanzi on the bed chuckling at me, but then he joined me. "Mon coeur qui bat" He started. "Des nuits d'amour à plus en finir" I joined. "Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place" "Les ennuis, les chagrins, s'effacent Heureux, heureux à mourir" We sang in unison. We probably sounded crazy. Our French was so bad we were practically just making noises, but it was the most fun I have had in forever. For the rest of the fortnight, we were there, every night we would tune our radio into that station and sing that song together. After a few days, I actually learned the lyrics. We would just dance there together singing the song. It was so much fun.