Fortunate Sons

Chapter 8: The Hornet's Nest Six miles northeast of Than Ahn

"You see anything?" Taylor asked Thom as they hid in the bushes.

"I can't see a damn thing," Thom replied. "Binoculars are a piece of crap."

"Yeah but for now it's the best we've got," Taylor told him.

Neither of them could see ten feet in front of them. It was pitch black and every member of the team was in a tight spot. They had been spying on the small village near the river for six straight hours, barely taking their eyes away from the thatched roof huts and houses that rose up out of the foliage.

"You think we've got Charlies hiding out there?" Taylor asked him.

"Scuttlebuttin' has it that's where we'll find them," Thom said. "I tell you this place is like walking into a field infested with Africanized bees."

Taylor and Thom continued to watch the village from a distance, waiting to see if anything out of the ordinary would happen. Nothing....absolutely nothing. As far as they were concerned either the enemy had indeed laid low or was doing a damn good job at hiding.

"Man this really friggin stinks," Taylor muttered.

"Sorry but unfortunately we're all going to be smelling like the garbage dump at high noon," Thom replied.

"Not that you dunderhead," Taylor said. "It's the fact that we're just sitting here playing the hurry up and wait game, waiting for the enemy to waltz out into the open."

Thom had to agree with him, but in his mind playing the hurry up and wait game was much better than being shot at fifteen times a day. All day long they had kept their eyes on the place and waited for something to happen but nothing ever did. Maybe they're all holed up in their stupid tunnels.....he'd think to himself.

Stupid tunnels......stupid tunnels......stupid tunnels.....

"Hey," Taylor said when he noticed Thom's thousand yard stare. "Tommy boy, you ok? Hello!"

"Stupid tunnels....." he muttered. "Stupid tunnels......"

What in the damn hell is he raving about.....? Taylor wondered. "You ok?" he asked quizzically.

"I think I know why we haven't seen anything all day," Thom concluded. "I think the rats are all holed up in their tunnels."

"Shit," Taylor hissed. "This isn't good."

"Damn right it isn't good," Thom replied. "Attacks from underneath spell one thing and one thing only."

"You think we should get out of here then?"

"Damn straight."

The snapping crunch of a twig behind them suddenly made Taylor and Thom go stiff. They felt the violent slamming of their pulse in the soles of their feet and in their chests, their blood turning ice cold. Both of them were terrified to look behind them lest they find the barrel of a loaded gun.

"You hear anything?" Thom signed.

Taylor held up a finger, a clear sign for Thom to listen and pay attention. Not too far off they heard another snapping of twigs and the rustle of leaves on the forest floor, one after the other in quick succession. Taylor listened closely, so closely that he could hear the short bursts of quiet Vietnamese being uttered in the humid night air and the sneaky footfalls on the ground.

"Guns ready," Taylor signed, tapping the muzzle of his rifle.

Thom clicked the safety as he and Taylor headed out into the bush to catch whatever it was that was sneaking around. They remained quiet as they moved along, unseen and unheard despite the heavy boots that encased their feet all wrapped in a layer of itchy green wool. Taylor steadied his breathing, trying not to shake from the adrenaline that shook him like an earthquake.