Apollyon's Saint The Unraveling

by Zachary Koukol

knowledge of their surroundings to sneak past their enemy.

  All of the men were younger than Gabriel, he could not fathom what they had to go through. Not even his run in with the devil or trials in life compared to this. There could be no hell worse than this for a young man, not only that but we all know the outcome of the war. They gave their lives for nothing as Mitch fought just to keep his men alive.

  They were not there to rid the world of communism, or defeat those who threaten America's freedom. They were there to protect the man next to them and there could be no greater bond between man. They just wanted to survive and keep their brothers in arms alive to return to a rioting nation who would outcast them.

  Gabriel Could not tell where they were going, he could be back in that mineshaft in pure darkness and have just as much bearing of his surroundings. But Mitch lead the way with faith in his men, and self. He never stopped and looked around or pondered if they were lost. To him it didn't matter if they were back on base or deep in enemy territory, he had a mission. To return his men to their loved ones sleeping safely in their beds thousands of miles away.

  The sun was barely coming up when they arrived to a village of small huts. Mitch held a fist up in the air motioning his men to come to a halt. It was still hard to see into the village but Mitch moved his hand in a swooping pattern signaling his men to go around. Just as he motioned the orders small arms fire erupted from the village.

  The men took cover and returned a impressive display of fire. Each time one of the men had to reload he shouted reloading! The way they fired and worked together was like a well oiled death machine. It was clear though they were not of legal age to drink, they were combat hardened vets. They continued to fire at any shadow or sound that came from the village until the sun came up over the dense forest.

  The smoke had cleared and the men cautiously headed into the village. Before them laid countless dead, but only one enemy wielding a Smith and Wesson Model 12 pistol most likely removed from the corpse of a chopper pilot. Before them were dead women and children and one coward who put the innocent lives of the villagers at stake so he could fire a few shots at the men.

  Mitch knelt down and dropped his head into his hands. He could no longer show the strength from the night before as he broke down into tears and sobbing. “Mitch, it's okay we didn't know” one of his men said in a calm tone. A few feet from them was a child struggling to move in the dirt. One of the soldiers ran over to comfort the young boy.

  He had multiple gunshots to his back and it was amazing that he was still alive. The man held the boy in his arms as tears fell from his eyes. Just two innocent boys worlds apart watching each other die in their own way. One would be free of the cruelty of this world while the other would be haunted by the images of the other for the rest of his life.

  The boy died in the soldiers arms and Gabriel busted into tears. This wasn't Mitch’s sin's, or any of the soldiers. But the sins of politicians back home making these young men suffer the ultimate sacrifice. Life with the haunting memories of war.

  With the shock of electricity Gabriel was tossed from that village and now riding in a Huey through a valley with mountains on both sides. Mitch was sitting with 7 other soldiers all with blank expressions. Gabriel looked out from the Huey and could see 6 other Huey’s spread out around them as he continued to cry from what took place in the village. “We are coming in hot!” The pilot yelled out to the soldiers as he descended into the valley.

  Once the Huey touched down the men quickly and methodically jumped from the chopper into a field with high grass. Once out of the Huey it ascended back into the sky with the others. The soldiers on the ground made a dash for the tree's. There seemed to be some confusion on which end of the field they were going to but they just wanted out of the drop zone.

  Once behind cover they watched as they Huey's disappeared over the ridge. The rumbling sound they made through the valley had to alert the Vietcong of there presence in the valley. The men looked more organized in the tree's, a few units lined up to head out and the other soldiers followed suit.

  They looked well prepaired for whatever was waiting for them up the valley. Armed with M60 machine guns, M16's, Grenade launchers, Stevens pump action shotguns and a couple of flame throwers. They had medics, men with radios, and some men who still looked to green to have seen any combat yet.

  They walked through the endless valley for miles, these were the times the war had to be frustrating Knowing hell would come, it was just a matter of time. But that day hell never opened it's gates in the forest. Nightfall came and the men dug in for the night. They set up make shift machine gun nests with M60's around the camp. A few men set up claymores around their perimeter and then returned to the camp. They designated who would be first on night watch and the rest of the men struggled to rest until they were on watch.

  Gabriel walked around the camp, the men on watch looked exhausted and uneasy. While the men resting tossed and turned, few of them were sleeping. One of the men got up, he abandoned his helmet, pack and gun and headed out of the camp in a rush. Gabriel was unsure what the man was doing so he followed him into the tree's around the camp.

  The man was in a rush, then it was clear to Gabriel that whatever the man last ate on base had caught up with him. But Gabriel was shocked the man abandoned his gun, and never took the time to alert the watch of what he was doing. Gabriel could see the man maybe 20 yards away facing Gabriel and doing his deed.

  Then almost on que, one of the claymores in the forest 30 yards behind the man exploded. Gabriel could see a patrol of Vietcong dashing through the tree's. The soldier taking a shit hit the ground and with pants down was now laying defenseless in his own shit. The Vietcong patrol was now just feet away from him when they opened up on the camp with AK47's, RPK's, and a assortment bolt action rifles.

  The machine gun nest's erupted ripping apart tree's and any Vietcong in their path. The men in camp scrambled to find cover and return fire. Gabriel and the soldier taking a shit were now right in the middle of the battle. Another claymore went off as Gabriel watched 30 or more Vietcong come charging through the forest.

  Gabriel could see Mitch and another man on the radio calling in an air strike. Now the Vietcong were almost at a full Japaneses banzai charge towards the camp. They were pouring from the tree's firing and running at the camp. The soldier taking a crap was curled up in a ball as enemy men ran right past him. “Thump” Thump” Gabriel heard from the camp as grenades exploded around him.

  Even Gabriel took cover next to a tree and could feel the shell shock of war. Debris and dead Vietcong were all around him. Gabriel looked down at one Vietcong soldier, just a boy maybe 14 years old. He was groaning and crawling away from the battle. He stopped and rolled over on his back just past Gabriel.

  The boy was gut shot and was using his hand to keep his insides from coming out. He looked up at the night sky for a few moments and then died . Instead of playing with his friends in some village as boys do, or getting that first kiss from a girl, he would die and join the ranks as another wasted youth in Vietnam.

  Gabriel watched as the last of the Vietcong laid dead or dying. The once dense forest had been shredded and bullets and craters scarred everything around him. He glanced back at the soldier who stepped out at the worst time to take a shit. He to laid dead, riddled with holes from the M60 that one of his comrades was using to defeat the charging Vietcong.

  Gabriel could only ponder if the soldiers family would get the true story behind his death. Then again the truth no matter what was a wasted life. Hopefully they would tell his family only that he was a hero of war, who died protecting our freedom, and the lives of his fellow soldiers.

  The barrage of gun fire came to a halt and Gabriel could hear the bloody cries of war. One of the Vietcong was missing both of his legs and screaming something in his native language into the night. Some Vietcong groaned and moaned on the forest floor, while others laid silently dead. The men at the camp
all just stayed alert full of adrenaline from the firefight.

  Gabriel headed back down to the camp to escape the dead and dying in the forest. Once back at camp he watched the soldiers listening to the cries of their defeated enemy. But they too had suffered some casualty at the camp as the medics steadily attempted to save the lives of their friends. All the other soldiers in camp were shaken and experiencing the most extreme high they would ever feel. The medics kept completely calm though and with steady hands tended to the injured men.

  Mitch was back on the radio calling off the air strike and trying to get the wounded evacuated. But it was too late, the glorious sound of hell fire was coming through the air. Mitch was off in the distance with some of his men while Gabriel was standing amongst the medics and injured. Then a bright inferno rapidly spread right before him.

  Gabriel was now standing right in the middle of the napalm strike as he watched the medics and wounded turn into charcoal flesh in an instant. The flames surrounded him and the horrific site of napalm burning young men was right before him. Gabriel could faintly hear the screams of Mitch and the rest of the men from outside the inferno.

  One man on the edge of the blaze ran out into the forest on