Into The Trees

"Alright, boys. Let's do this! Jump on my mark." Said Lieutenant Sanders. The 1st Platoon was lined up at the door of the C-47. The green light turned on and everyone began jumping out of the plane. Ernie felt his parachute open as he exited the plane. The Vietcong started shooting up at the planes and the people jumping from them. As Joe was about to land, an enemy soldier began firing bullets from their AKM into Joe's Parachute. Before any of the bullets could hit Joe, Lieutenant Sanders shot the soldier in the back with a silenced pistol.

As Bert slowly descended from the skies, he felt the bag on his waist detach itself and fall to the ground. That bag contained his rifle and ammunition so he would be unarmed. He continued gracefully gliding to the ground until his parachute got caught in a tree. He cut himself free from his parachute with the knife on his belt and free-fell onto the ground. He sat silently amongst the lush foliage that was stained with the blood of his captured and fallen comrades. He heard screams nearby him followed by the sound of bullets being fired, the screams stopped. Bert shivered and remembered all the good times he had with his pal Ernie. Bert's dreaming was cut short by the sound of footsteps, the Vietcong were returning to a nearby village. Bert peeked through the gaps in the leaves carefully, examining the forest. In the distance he could see smoke rising, he looked closer and saw it was a helicopter. Bert opened a pocket on his shirt and removed a map from it. He unfolded it and calibrated himself. Bert had missed the drop zone by a kilometre so he had to start moving. The sound of rustling in the leaves broke the silence, Bert turned around and pulled his knife back out. "Uh, it's me, Bert!" Bert put his knife back on his belt, it was only Scooter. "Do you have a weapon?" Asked Bert. Scooter nodded and pointed to his M1 Garand rifle. "There is a town west of here that the VC are moving to." Said Bert. "If you scout the area I can cover you with my rifle." Bert nodded in agreement and the duo began walking through the thick foliage. Minutes later, Scooter heard screams from inside the village and guessed that the VC had prisoners. The two decided to infiltrate the village and attempt to rescue whoever was being interrogated or tortured. Bert slowly crawled up to an overturned table and peeked around it. He noticed two Vietcong soldiers in the open next to a campfire and a marksman inside a second-floor window. Scooter leaned against a large rock and prepared for the attack. Bert began counting down on his fingers. As the last finger dropped, Scooter placed a bullet into the marksman's head. He pivoted and landed two shots into one of the men by the fire. As Scooter pulled the trigger on the last man, the bullet didn't chamber properly resulting in a jam. Bert acted quickly and ran towards the last man with a knife in his hand. The Vietnamese soldier wrestled Bert to the ground and tried to use Bert's knife against him until Scooter shot the man in the back. As he stumbled backwards, Bert reached for the man's pistol which had fallen off of him in the scuffle. Bert shot the man twice causing him to fall to the ground. The duo moved to the doorway of the building and kicked open the door. As Scooter entered, he saw a man holding Ernie at gunpoint. Ernie's hostage-taker said something in Vietnamese but Scooter and Bert didn't know what he said. Bert nodded at Scooter as if telling him to prepare a good shot. Bert fired a shot into the man's leg causing him to fall and Scooter fired two rounds into the man's thorax and stomach. "Are you OK Ernie?" Asked Bert. "I'm fine. They got Sanders and Joe though. My radio is busted too." Said Ernie. "We should regroup with the rest of the 82nd." Said Scooter. Bert and Ernie agreed so the group turned to leave. On the way out Bert grabbed an AK-47 from the ground and Ernie took an SKS Marksman rifle from a man's corpse.

The trip to the rendezvous point went relatively smoothly. The group found a small team of Vietcong men patrolling a road but their expedition was short-lived as Bert had an assault rifle and the element of surprise. The team regrouped with Samusé at the RV point and the crew was tasked with attacking an NVA outpost and they deployed in an hour.