Fortunate Sons

Chapter 34: Booby Trapped

"Ready!!!" Taylor called out.

Thom and Ma Ahn rolled the thin length of wire from one end of the forest to the other. It was so thin that if the creatures were unfortunate enough to catch it, they wouldn't see what was coming. So far, so good.

Once the line was pulled taught and carefully concealed, Taylor picked up a metal bucket full of a rancid smelling red mixture and began coating every tripwire they had laid with a paintbrush.

"Oh my God," Thom gagged. "What the hell is that smell?"

"Let's see here," Taylor said. "This calls for us to coat the wires in a mixture of black ink, a burnt talisman and.....chicken blood."

Thom feigned an awful retching noise as the foul smell of blood wafted into his nostrils. A few flies buzzed around the bucket while a terrible burning sensation rose in his throat. If the smell of canned ham and lima beans had been bad before, this was ten times worse.

"Tripwires set!" Taylor called out.

Dix gave him the thumbs up and began rigging up his section of traps. The bamboo whips needed to be secure in order for them to work. He tied them down with rough lengths of rope that left his hands a scratched, scabby mess but held together well. "Ready!!" Dix called back to him.

One by one they all went back and forth, calling out "Ready!!" once the traps were set. From up in the trees, Mitch was impressed with the work they had done and had the utmost confidence that everything would work out as planned.

"Perfect," Ho Thanh remarked when he saw the traps. "If the traps don't get them than surely the shape of the layout will."

"Shape?" Mitch asked.

"The Ba Gua symbol repels these beasts and makes them run in fear," Ho Thanh explained. "Think of it as a giant crucifix if you will."

The pair scrambled out of the trees and dropped to the ground, carefully avoiding the traps and tripwires that could be set off with one easy misstep. "So now we wait?" Mitch asked.

"We wait," Ho Thanh replied. "We wait for the slinking, sluthering beasts to come out of their hiding places and fall right into our trap."

The group headed back to the village to gather everything they needed for the mission ahead. The sun began to set on the village, sinking further and further onto the line of the horizon as the Dien Ha Militia began preparing to come face to face with the terrible creatures.

Once they had gathered their weapons, the group made their way out along the trail. Night had fallen and so too had the threat of danger. The Cuong Thi could be lurking anywhere in the bush, waiting to snatch any unsuspecting patrollers and drag them away. Everyone stuck close together in a group, urging stragglers to keep up and stay close.

Taylor, Dix and Mitch had armed themselves to the teeth not just with extra ammunition for their rifles, but with other things the books in Ho Than's collection had advised using. They walked ahead of everybody else and kept a close eye out for fresh trouble, shining their flashlights on the ground to avoid any enemy traps or tripwires.

"I don't like this," Dix said in a half whisper. "The closer we get the stronger their presence is."

"I know," Taylor replied. "But it has to be done."

Onward the group walked, like a ghostly procession through the jungle paths as the full moon hung high overhead and watched them like a great eye. Mist rolled over the path and swirled around their feet and ankles like the tails of ghosts, enveloping them all it its cold and deathly touch.