Jungle

The Jungle is a frightening place. A place where a man can lose his limbs, a place where a man can lose his mind.

Lang crouched down and tied the rope of the tiger trap, the rough rope ripped her soft delicate skin. She carefully covered the trip wire as the soldiers had become more aware of the Vietnamese children creating these vile traps. A shiver travelled down her spine as she heard the larrikin laughter of a group of soldiers that were stomping closer. She had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. The damp leaves rustled as Lang quickly scurried away and huddled behind a tall palm tree with little protection. She looked up to the covering canopy, the leaves and branches created hand like figures. The branches swayed in the wind, they almost seemed like hands reaching out and trying to snatch her. Lang's stomach was almost as knotted as her raven hair.

Then Lang heard a horrible noise and the pit in her stomach grew in fear. The mossy leaves on the moist jungle floor seemed to move by themselves. The hissing noise became louder with every movement of the rustling leaves. Out of nowhere, it emerged. The long black creature emerged from the pile of leaves. Lang grasped on to the tree for dear life, whatever was left of her life. She looked directly into the red glowing eyes, and it look straight back into hers. Then the snake pounced. Before she knew it she sprinted out into a clearing, only just missing her own treacherous trap. She froze. She gulped, causing a burning pain that slowly moved down her extremely dry throat. Lang knew who the soldiers were, she had seen them before but never this close. Their ripped clothes and worn out faces were filled with shock, as was hers. The pit was no longer just in her stomach, it was everywhere. She was shaking with the terror that overwhelmed her.

'What are they going to do to me?' she thought to herself.

One slowly picked up their dirty foot and stepped closer to her. She spun around and ran off as fast as possible. As she ran, the hand like branches hit her and scratched her, but she didn't slow down. A deep voice called in the distance, Lang knew it was one of them. She could not stop, she had to keep running or else. The hands seemed to become longer and larger, it was making it harder for her to run. Lang kept tripping over the long claws of the trees. Suddenly a piecing pain shot through her left foot causing her to fall hard to the ground and land on her back. Sharp spikes dug their way into the bone of her foot. She lay on the damp floor, blood oozing out her cut. The pain was unbearable; the traps were meant for the soldiers not the children. The side-closing panji trap was digging into her foot with all its strength. She lay there on the floor of the jungle waiting for her eyes to close for the last time, when she heard a similar noise. The same loud clomping of boots, it was the solders. They had caught up to her. Not only was she to die but to die at enemy hands. Two silhouettes carefully moved closer to her. Lang tried grasping at the trees hands but it was no use the hands just let go. She clawed at the ground, trying to escape the clutches of the soldiers but her pieced foot kept her anchored. The soldiers were all kneeling around her and speaking some kind of gibberish.

'It's okay.' one said.

'You are going to be okay.' the other spoke as he held her hand.

The one with a hat on bent over and examined her wounded foot. His dirty hands reached out and tried to move Lang's caught foot. She screamed in pain as he pulled out her bloodied foot from the spikes which were also covered in her dark blood. Lang's chest rose and sunk slowly as she was freed from the pain. The soldier without the hat grabbed a small box with a red cross on it out of his muddy bag. He pulled out a long piece of white bandage from the small box and handed it to the one with the hat. The man wrapped the bandage around her bloody and dirty foot, his hand was shaking with caution. Lang realised that the soldiers are helping her, they were always trying to help her.

'Tên tôi là Johnno – My name is Johnno.' the soldier with the hat on said as he softly placed Lang's foot on the ground.

'Tên tôi là Steve – My name is Steve.' said the other whilst he lifted up her torso so she was sitting up right.

Johnno shifted over to the opposite side to Steve and their arm arms wrapped around Lang's tired body. The men slowly lifted Lang up to standing position. She placed both her arms around their necks, and lifted her left foot off the ground. She hopped forward as the soldiers supported her.

'lets' take you back to the infirmary.' Johnno said with a shy smile.

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