The Sound of Courage

Part Six

The sun shined through James's eyes forcing him to wake up. He blinked his eyes to open. The bright sun made it impossible to see, blinding him. James not fully awake heard shouting. He assumed it was his soldiers arguing on what to do next. By the time James's vision came into focus he was terrified by what he saw. A Japanese soldier was pointing a gun directly at his head who was shouting words James couldn't understand. James thought it was useless to fight and only cause more trouble. He put his hands in the air showing that he wasn't threat. The soldier grabbed his arm tightly dragging him where his crew was and shoved him onto his knees. James looked at his soldiers seeing the terror and fear running through their bodies. All he could think was how he let them down. The group of Japanese soldiers walked towards them in pride to intimidate them. "Who is your leader" said one soldier with a thick Japanese accent. In training soldiers are to authorize not to tell the enemy any information whether about a mission or your status as a soldier. James and his men laid on their knees in silence. "I'll ask again. Who is your leader? Answer or suffer consequences" said the soldier again this time impatiently. They continued to stay silent. Another Japanese soldier reacted with anger and walked viciously towards one the James's soldiers. He grabbed Richard by the collar of his shirt and dragged him across the sand. The soldier took out a long wooden staff. He raise it into the air and struck Richard upon his head fiercely. Richard's body stooped forward falling to the ground. The soldier raise it high in the air again and struck him onto his back. Richard cried out for help begging the soldier to stop. The soldier repeated to hit him until he got answer. "It's me. I'm the lieutenant of this platoon" shouted James begging the Japanese soldier to stop. A soldier from behind him grabbed him and started to yell in Japanese which was just nonsense that James couldn't understand. They made James stand in front of Richard. The Japanese soldier made him hold the staff in his hands. "Hit him" order the soldier. James looked back at the Japanese soldier in repulsion and dropped the staff onto the sand. The soldier grab it and strike James in the back of his knees forcing him to fall to the ground. "First you dishonor your country by surrendering then you disobey us. Hit him or you all die. I will not repeat myself again" the soldier shouted into James's ear. James looked behind him to find that each soldier was pointing a rifle to each of his soldier's head. He looked back at Richard who was bleeding and had bruises and scrapes from the beating by the wooden staff. "Please James... just do it for our own sake" whimper out Richard in a miserable tone. Tears rolled down James's face. James found the task difficult to do. He reached down to grab the staff and lifted it above his head and stuck Richard with one blow. Richard wailed in agony. "Again" shouted the Japanese soldier. James repeated until Richard was unconscious. "You're all dishonorable to your country" said the soldier. "You work for us now". Each Japanese soldier pulled cloth bag over each person's head. They shoved James and each soldier toward a military truck. James tilted his head to see through the small opening at the bottom of the bag. The drive didn't seem to be long. The Japanese soldiers then dragged James and his men off the truck. While they walked all James could hear was wails and screams of other soldier prisoners. James knew he was now in a living hell. They took off the bag from James's head and shoved him harshly into a small wooden cage which looked man-made. The cage seemed no bigger or taller than a yard. James tried to position himself in the cage to find anyway to be comfortable. He crouched down seeing that other soldiers were doing the same. James could predict how long each soldier stayed at the prison camp by how skinny or the state each person was in. Some looked healthy like James while others practically looked like skeletons with dark bruises. James was looking around and saw each soldier of his platoon was locked up in cages themselves. The only soldier closest to him was John who was moaning from the pain of the burns on his body. They sat in their cages on hours on end. James wanted to talk to his soldiers who all coiled in fear but didn't want risk anymore punishments. The sun finally disappear as the sky turned into night. James was trying to stay awake because he didn't trust the Japanese. It was hard considering when you didn't eat in the last twenty-four hours, gone through multiple adrenaline rushes, getting hit by a staff, and not knowing what was going on. James's eyes were beginning to get heavy. Without knowing he closed his eyes and rest. Later, James was woken up when he heard a Japanese soldier yelling. Feeling terrified and not knowing what he was saying James looked confuse and coil in the corner of the small cage. The soldier open the hatch and grabbed James's arm then shove him onto the ground. The soldier hit James in the stomach with a club and repeated to hit him. Suddenly two soldiers grabbed his shoulders from behind and dragged him into a small isolated room. James felt useless as his feet dragged on the ground. He couldn't do anything even if he wanted to, he was too weak. The soldiers threw him hard onto the ground. They grab ahold of each limb making sure he couldn't move or fight back. Another soldier came up behind him and settled a rag upon his face and hold it tight so it wouldn't fall off. "Where are you from" asked the a soldier. James refused to talk out of anguish. James suddenly felt water being poured on him. He couldn't breath due to the soaked rag choking him every breath he took. They took the rag off and asked again. This time James tried to answer but couldn't due to gasping for air. They continued until James responded back breathlessly. "The United States" James replied eagerly. James decided to give some information but not everything he knew that way he could gain some of their trust. "How did you know about our base" ask the soldier. "Me and my platoon were flying and our plane got shot down. We'd swam here not knowing about your military base. I'm being honest" responded James not telling the whole truth. "Why were you flying in the first place". James didn't know what lie to tell and laid there silence. A soldier kicked him the chest. James felt like his ribs were now broken. Wheezing from the pain and agony the soldier repeated the question. James still didn't responded. Unlike the last time they didn't pull the rag over his face or hit him with the club. Instead the soldiers stood there looking at James. The soldier turn to another soldier and nodded. The soldier left the room and later return with a person who was covered with bruises and whose hands were tied behind them with a blindfold covering their eyes. James didn't know the man they brought in. "No, please I told you everything" said the man that was carried by the Japanese soldier. By his accent James knew he was a British soldier. The Japanese soldier took out a pistol and aimed at the man's head making the man whimper in fear by hearing the sound of it loading. "You can take all the pain you want but nothing hurts like having a life in the palm of your hands. I'll ask you again, why were you flying towards the island" remarked the Japanese soldier. James couldn't say anything even if he wanted to save the man's life. He was in too much shock and couldn't grasp that this was a reality, on top of that he didn't want to give out any further information regarding his crew's mission. The soldier put his finger on the trigger and counted down from ten. While each number came out of the soldier's mouth the British man begged James to tell him but he James still laid there in doubt of what was happening silently. By the time Japanese soldier got to three the British soldier shouted something that would forever haunt James. "You fucking coward! My blood is on your hands! I want you to look at me when they shoot me! I won't return to my wife and children because you!". Before the man could continue to yell at James, the Japanese soldier then pulled the trigger when he got to one, firing a loud gunshot into the room causing the man's head to explode with brain matter and blood flying into the air and his body fell instantly to the floor forever silencing the man. James still stayed silent but this time from the trauma. He was hoping this was just all a horrible nightmare and that he'll wake up in his bunk. But it was just as real as the soldier that stood in front of him. The blood started to pour into a large puddle. James began to wail. He tried to look away but the soldiers held his head in place for James to see the corpse that laid in the room. Afterwards they continue to torture James by beating him with wooden clubs and water torture until he went unconscious. When they grew bored they dragged his body back to his individual cage and stuffed him inside. All James's soldiers looked at the condition he was in and feared that the same would happen to them. By the time James woke up again he saw John looking at him. "We all thought you were a goner" whisper John. James responded by staring back at him. "I wanted to thank you for saving us and everything you do as a lieutenant, especially helping me out there in the ocean. Our last lieutenant was nothing like you. I had many friends who died because of him being indecisive. Whatever order you gave I always trusted you. We all trust you with our lives. " said John. James felt like anything but a great lieutenant but James thanked him for his kind words. John seeing how traumatize James was knew he wasn't the same as before. It wasn't soon after James passed out again due from the pain he'd endure.