Out of the blue

A rahter short excerpt.

Out of the blue

At that very moment two choppers appeared on their west flank, flying low over the rice puddles in the open plain. But Nick lost the sight of them, as they merged with the jungle fringes and plunged deep into the vast green patches, the clatter of their engines fading slowly away.

Are they going to use me in some way for their own ends? He wondered.  Walk me over a minefield, or push me over barbed wire fences...? GOOD GOD!!! Should I try to escape right now...? It’s too late...! Too late...! Better wait and see...

He kept thinking as his thoughts were chasing one another in frenzy.                   

A short high-pitched grunt came from behind, it was their leader. They got up to their feet again the lot of them, adjusting their belts and battle harnesses. Before Nick could make up his mind on anything, they were marching out, straight into the open plain, with Nick in their midst. The sky cleared up and the first rays of the rising sun fleeted towards them, chasing the morning mists away, caressing tenderly their faces. They were not fifty yards out in the open field...

WHEN A CHOPPER CAME FLYING LOW LIKE A HUGE MONSTROUS INSECT!

Straight into their faces it flew, and another one followed, up to the left. The V.C.'s panicked shouting excitedly on both his sides; they leaped back and started to run, as fast as they could towards the jungle's shelter. With his eyes still fixed on the approaching chopper, Nick stumbled and fell forward hitting the ground. Half way down before his hands actually touched the grass, he heard the shots two long bursts of an automatic rifle, just from behind him.

Bullets whizzed about and above and then the chopper joined in, with its high velocity guns �" spitting flames of fire!  He could see the guns rattle on both of the chopper's sides. A rocket left the round gleaming fuselage, just as the chopper passed over him and exploded with a deafening noise at the jungle's edge. The second chopper buzzed right after, its guns still spitting fire; its thirty millimeter shells slashing the air around him, hitting the ground with nasty little explosions!  But then quite suddenly the choppers soared above the treetops and disappeared, as fast as they appeared. The clattering sounds of their engines, fading slowly away and a sudden unexpected silence overwhelmed him.

© Haim Kadman 1991 �" all rights resrved.