by W. R. Benton
The walk back was uneventful, the birds were singing and the weather was perfect. I was in no rush and carefully scanned the countryside, but it remained safe. As we neared our base camp, a female voice ordered, "Stop!"
I raised my left fist and we stopped.
"Who are you?
"We're a group returning from Colonel Parker and we have two Russian prisoners. My commander is Captain Willy Williams."
A thin woman of middle-age stepped from the woods with a shotgun in her hands and said, "Follow me."
I saw no one until we neared the barn and then a man, also way past his prime, walked from the open door. He was unarmed.
"Hey, Thomas!" Willy yelled, and the serious look on the old man's face quick vanished.
"Willy! How'd the attack go?"
"We won, but the cost was high. I have no idea of the number of wounded and dead, but more than we needed. Look, I have two prisoners, can I turn them over to you?"
Thomas pulled a long pig-sticker with a wide blade and said, "Sure, I'll take care of 'em."
Willy chuckled and said, "Keep these two alive. I know for a fact, Colonel Parker will want to talk with both of 'em. Now, if they try to escape, kill 'em. Best way to do that would be to turn the dogs loose after 'em. Hell, them dogs ain't killed nobody in over a week. I know they're hungry and a little Russian food would do 'em good."
When I met Willy's eyes, he winked, but I saw the general give an involuntary quiver and he glanced at the colonel.
*****
Colonel Parker and the rest didn't get in until early the next morning. They'd spent the night in the woods and from listening to the survivors talk, they'd just saved the world. Little did they know our war to regain our nation hadn't even started yet, and that it would soon turn bloody.
They'd returned with ten horses and all the warriors loaded down with something. They'd taken what they could and destroyed the rest. We now had cases of ammo, grenades, mines, flares, and a mountain of food. Unlike our MRE's, the camp had been eating fresh food, and I looked forward to a nice thick steak this night. And, it would be beef and not venison.
Our team gathered in the colonel's office as he said, "Our casualties were light, considering we were attacking a base camp, and ten percent is acceptable. I'd feared well over forty-five percent, only your group made the difference. That machine gun you took out killed most of our folks, but thank God you did what needed done. As a result of your actions, Willy, you're now a lieutenant colonel and the others of your team are promoted two ranks. All your medical personnel with college degrees are lieutenants as well."
I turned, found Sandra and grinned, because I'd now be sleeping with an officer and me a newly promoted E-7. I was proud of her, but realized no money came with our promotions, just more responsibilities.
Turning to Kate, Parker said, "Kate, according to our newest lieutenant colonel, you did an outstanding job, so consider yourself the commander of our sniper unit, lieutenant."
Kate gave a loud unladylike horselaugh and then said, "Sir, we have no sniper unit."
"No, we don't, but you'll see we will soon have one, right? We'll talk more about this in the coming days."
"Sir," Top said, "I hope you realize the Russians will stop at nothing to find their general."
"I thought of that already." Parker said, and then added as he shook his head, "There will likely be killings or hostage taking in an effort to have us return him."
"What'll we do if they start shooting folks as reprisals?" I asked, knowing full well they would do it.
"We kill 'em back. For every American they kill or take hostage, we will kill ten of them. See, that's the main reason Kate is starting a sniper group. I intend to keep them fully employed."
"Lawdy, sir." Willy said and continued with, "How are the American people, what's left of us anyway, going to react?"
"Colonel, it doesn't matter. Once our people get mad enough, they'll join us by the thousands. Like you, I don't want anyone to die, but it can't be helped. There ain't no way in hell I'm returning a Russian General and Base Commander, not alive anyway. As a colonel, Willy, start looking at the big picture and not the small shit."
Willy thought for a moment and then asked, "As a colonel, does that mean I can't lead my team in the field?"
Parker grinned and replied, "Of course you can still lead your team. However, once and if, we regain control of our country again, you'll be a real colonel with back pay coming."
"Hell, by then I might be a general!"
We all laughed, except Parker. He gave us a serious look and said, "By God, you very well might be. This is going to be the roughest war in the history of our nation. Most of us will likely not be alive when we gain our freedom, but you can be damned sure of one thing."
"What's that, sir?" Tom asked.
"We will win this war, no matter how many of us die or are captured. We will drive the enemy from our soil! We are Americans!"
The roomed echoed with cries of Airborne, Hooaahh, and Rangers lead the way!
*****
A week later the atrocities started. We were out on patrol and edging through the woods, when I heard a loud voice scream an order, only it wasn't in English. Willy stopped and cocked his head the right to hear better.
He motioned for us to move forward with him to the brush that lined the road. I counted forty Russians moving around on the road and a five American men standing on the back of a flatbed truck. I kept Dolly at my side and as I waited, I scratched her ears.
As I watched, ropes were thrown over a huge oak limb right above the bed of the truck. Nooses were quickly tied and placed over five necks. The long end of the ropes were secured to the tree trunk.
A Russian officer pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and in heavily accented English read that these five were the first of thousands who would die until their POW's were returned. Finished, he folded the paper, stuck it in his coat pocket and said, "You have 2 minutes to pray to your God."
Heads bowed, but the oldest of the condemned men looked to the sky and began to sing. He was quickly joined by the others.
"Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
Oh, say! does that "
The officer looked pissed as he nodded, and a sergeant banged hard on the truck door. The driver goosed the truck and the singing stopped instantly as all four hit the end of the ropes. I heard their necks snap from where I was. The bodies twisted and turned as the ropes unwound.
Willy had not been watching and when the Russians neared our dead to joke and look, he elbowed me and handed the clackers of two Claymore mines to me. I nodded, still shocked by the deaths and patriotism I'd just witnessed.
I exploded both mines and when I looked up at the road, all the Russians were on the ground and a few were screaming. "Attack! Take no prisoners!" Willy yelled as he moved forward.
I came off the ground, spotted the driver of the truck sneaking toward the woods and placed a solid hit in the middle of his back. Moving forward, I shot into anyone I suspected was still alive.
Sandra discovered one young man hiding under a truck, but Tom squatted, smiled, and said in English, "Son, this just ain't your day." He pointed his rifle at the Russian.
Dolly had moved to Tom's side and was giving a low threatening growl.
The Russian was still smiling when the bullet from Tom's gun struck him just a little above the left eye, blowing the back of his head away and spattering the underside of the truck with blood and gore. The dead man was still smiling, his unseeing eyes open, as I turned and walked toward Willy.
"We need to move, and now," I stated.
"Let's move, people! Before you leave, take all weapons, ammo or anything we might need." Then, taking out a deck of cards he'd always carried, he placed the ace of spades into the blood-filled mouth of the dead Russian officer.
Seeing me looking at him, he said, "My dad was with a unit in Vietnam that did this to those they killed, so the enemy would know which unit did the nasty deed."
"I guess we have a new business card, huh?"
"Yep, and when we get back, let's all start drawing them on cardboard. Each ambush we complete, we'll leave a card in the mouth of the senior member. They'll soon start to fear us."
*****
Colonel Parker sent us back out almost immediately and what we discovered was not good. Tom had been walking point when he froze and raise a fist. I knelt on the trail, knowing the sides of trails were often booby trapped. I looked forward, but all I could see was the smoking remains of some large building that had recently burned to the ground. Suddenly the smell of burned human flesh filled my nose and I noticed a thin cloud of smoke overhead.
Willy passed me as he quickly moved forward to see what Tom had found.
I noticed Willy and Tom talking, but heard nothing. A few minutes later, Willy returned and said, "The Russians must have burned a few folks alive in a building, because it's still smoking. They are putting up signs warning others that more deaths will happen, unless the general and colonel are returned immediately. The signs say more Americans will burn unless their demands are met. I make out five Russians, so lock and load."
Minutes past and then a truck neared, obviously to pick up the men still nailing signs to oak trees.
Willy whispered, "Now!"
We ran forward as a group and Russians began to fall with our first shots. The driver slipped his vehicle in gear and gunned the gas pedal, but before he'd gone five feet his windshield exploded into thousands of small pieces of flying glass and his head fell limply forward, resting on the steering wheel. The back glass of the truck was spattered with blood and brains. In minutes it was over, but Tom had taken one man alive, and the man was terrified. The prisoner was as ugly as sin, with a huge nose and a round face. His hair was cropped to his scalp and he looked like a half-wit to me.
The Russian was on his knees with the barrel of Tom's M16 against his neck, as Willy neared.
Willy slapped the Russian hard on the right side of his face and began speaking to him in his native tongue. The man mumbled something a few seconds later and lowered his head.
Willy said, "This piece of shit, a senior sergeant, had the idea to burn the forty prisoners in an old barn. He wanted to save ammo. He was under orders to kill these folks, but no one told him how to do the job."
"Good God!" Sandra said.
The smell of burnt flesh was rough on me, and I fought a strong urge to gag or puke. I heard someone behind me puking, but didn't turn. I can usually take the smell of a burned bodies, but forty is a bit much even for my stomach.
"I speak little the English." The Russian said.
"Do you believe in God? Do you pray?" Willy asked.
"Да, Русская Православная Церковь, I Christian, yes."
"You have one minute to pray and then right after that, you'll be standing in front of God and can continue your prayer in person." Then, turning to Tom, Willy said, "Get me a gas can from the truck."
Tom hesitated and asked, "Are you going to do what I think you are?"
"Tom, I gave you an order, now get the damned gas can and do it now!"
"Willy, think! Do you want to live with this act the rest of your life? Good God, you can't do this!"
"Get the damned gas can or I'll get the sonofabitch myself!"
Cursing, Tom made his way to the truck, removed a can of gas and returned.
While Tom was fetching the can, Willy had secured the prisoners hands and feet using plastic ties. Taking the can from Tom, Willy poured gas on the prisoner and said, "Everyone move back."
"No! Please! No fire! Нет! Пожалуйста! Нет огонь! " The Russian NCO screamed.
Sandra moved toward him and softly said, "Willy, don't do this, it's inhumane. You'll not be able to live with yourself if you do this."
Willy responded brusquely, "Get the hell away from me, and move back like I told you to do! This bastard just burned a group of American people alive, American people! Payback is a sumbitch."
When Willy removed a pack of matches from his pocket the Russian's eyes grew huge, and he screamed and continued to beg in Russian. Willy, his heart made cold by the smell of burnt American bodies, struck a match and dropped it on the prisoner. Instantly, a loud woof was heard and the man was engulf in a ball of almost invisible flame.
Screams came instantly as the man twisted and jerked to escape his blanket of flames, but to no avail. After a few minutes, I saw the plastic ties separate and the man's body began to twitch violently as his central nervous system shutdown. The sweet scent of burnt flesh grew stronger, and I leaned to the right and puked. I think it was more from the drawn up black body than from the smell.
Willy had not watched the mans grotesque death, instead he'd gathered gear from the dead and the truck, placing it all near the woods. Then, he'd gone to each body, poured gas on the remains and ignited them. One must have been playing possum, because a piercing scream was heard for a few minutes, but I didn't dare turn to watch. I fell to my knees and gagged. Moving to the truck, Willy poured the remainder of the gas on the driver and the seat. He then threw a match inside, moved to the first man he'd burned, and placed an ace of spades in the mouth of the still smoking hot corpse.
"Brute force is all Russian troops understand. From now on, we'll treat them as they treat us. Now, gather up the gear near the trail and let's return to the base camp. John, you're on point and Tom, you're got drag. These Russian sonsofbitches want to play rough, well by God two can play that game."
CHAPTER 25
Weeks turned into months and each day we were out looking for Russians or their allies, and killing small groups of men. During the same time, we found thousands of dead Americans and while most were shot or hanged, a few died horrible deaths. We left no Russian alive, not a single one, and each leader we killed had the ace of spades in his mouth.
Finally, one afternoon, Colonel Parker called us into his office and said, "The Russians have agreed to release thirty Americans in exchange for the general and colonel. I have agreed, but they'll be super pissed when they get them back. Under no circumstances are our prisoners to be released before the Russians release our people. We will release them at the same time, or the deal is off." He then sat on the corner of his desk.
"Who will handle this exchange?" Willy asked.
"I'll go with your group and we'll handle the exchange. Additionally, Kate is bringing five of her snipers to keep the Russians honest. See, I don't trust them, and in war they are cruel and vicious as a people. You can be sure, if they try to screw us over, Mother Russia will be short a few soldiers come morning."
I'd been thinking about the colonel's comment about the Russians being pissed to get their people back, so I asked, "I don't understand how getting the general and colonel will piss off the Russians."
"John, I'm not a cruel man by nature, and actually I considered myself a liberal until the fall of this great nation. However, I lost everything within a year of the fall, including most of my family. I turned mean. I turned junkyard dog mean and I give as good as I get."
"Colonel, no disrespect, only you're not making much sense to me."
Parker gave a dry laugh and said, "No, I guess I'm not. See, each time the Russians killed a large group of Americans, a body part was removed from the general. When the general ran out of parts, I move to the colonel."
"And, sir, what kind of shape are the two men in now?"
"Sergeant Leeds, bring the prisoners in, please?"
The man who usually guarded our briefings left and returned a few minutes later leading two men by
dog leashes attached to ropes around their necks. Both had canvas hoods over their heads.
"Gentlemen and ladies, meet General Sidorov and Colonel Alexandrov of the Russian Army." Parker removed the hoods.
Both men had been horribly mutilated and neither had a nose, ears, lips, or eyes. Good God, what have we done? The Russians can't allow this to go unpunished! I thought, and fought off a twist of fear in my gut.
Parker waited a few minutes for the brutality of what he'd ordered to sink in and then said, "In addition to what you see, both men are blind, their eardrums have been ruptured, and their tongues have been torn out. The Russian's will be madder than wet hornets in a mason jar when we return these two men in this condition. In addition, I think the colonel only has two fingers left, the others were all removed. Of course, no anesthesia was used at any point. As Willy said to me, 'We must reduce ourselves to the level of our enemy, and I have. We must become as brutal and vicious as our enemy. Once the prisoner exchange is completed, we'll break up into small groups of perhaps a squad and go into hiding."
Willy, who I'd expected to smile, shook his head and said, "They'll come after us hard now, colonel. They can't allow this to go unpunished."
"They will be looking for a large group, not almost a thousand small groups. We will hide, but we will not stop fighting. Each group will organize random terrorist attacks, as well as hit and run strikes against our enemy. They will be the famous Russian bear alright, except fighting thousands of hunting dogs attacking at the same time. It's a fight they cannot win. Now, get your troops ready. We leave in an hour."
*****
I crouched behind some brush and looked the group of Russians waiting in a large field over closely. I saw no armored vehicles, but a group of about fifty men standing and one was obviously in charge, by the yelling he was doing. I don't speak Russian, but an ass chewing is the same in any mans army. The formation came to attention and then lined up properly. A group of about thirty poorly dressed people were sitting in dirt in front of the soldiers with their hands on their heads. A machine gun had the group covered. Dolly didn't make a sound, but watched the group closely, her ears standing up.