The Prisoner

He said that they said something about moving the camp."

John replies in a harsh whisper, "Moving the camp, where? And how does Mathers know what the hell the VC are saying anyway."

Roger forces his face out of the slot as far as he can and scans left then right. He says, "Mathers had special training, he could speak Vietnamese, and they were talking about a North Vietnamese Army POW camp deep in Vietcong held territory. That's all I know."

With that Roger looks over and hears an approaching guard, than quietly slides out of site. As the guard passes, John's head begins to swim. Where is this camp the VC were taking them? He runs his hands through his hair, as he reclines into his pallet. Breathing deeply he begins to worry if he will ever be free again. After hours of tossing and turning John finally succumbs to fitful slumber.

A few days later John slowly gains his strength back, despite the loss of 10 pounds. He soon learns that the rumors the Vietcong are planning to move them deeper into VC held territories are true. With the next sunrise the Vietcong gather the 20 POW's into the center of the camp. Vietcong soldiers begin to bind the prisoner's wrists, then tie them to a short stick across their backs. Soon John and the other POWs find themselves being marched out into the sweltering jungle. As they trudge through the day into the night, the mosquitoes begin to swarm around and bite the prisoners unprotected faces.

After hours of marching, some time around midnight an American ambush team attacks the group. They hear the sound the sound of M16 rifle fire break the silence and then the muzzle flashes light up the night, followed by the glowing red streaks of the tracer bullets flying across the Jungle floor. All of the Vietcong soldiers take cover in the brush next to the path. While the POWs begin to take cover behind the VC. John realizes that the Vietcong soldiers' attention is now on the American ambush team. This is his chance. His heart begins to beat faster, he looks at his captors' backs, and then he scans to his left into the dark jungle. He stands quickly and begins to run into the night. He hears a VC soldier yell at him, ignoring the sound, he continues to stumble into the night. Branches tear across his face, chest and legs as he runs wildly through the tropical thicket. Then the yelling stops and the sound of the solder's AKA assault riffle fire punctuates the silence. Hot pain sears across his back as he stumbles forward. Darkness consumes him before he ever hits the ground.

His first moments of awareness seem like a long nightmare. He feels a kind of detachment from his surroundings. Confused, disorientated, and not sure where he is, one thing he's sure of is being in another confining cage. This cage seemed like the previous one, but yet it's different. It's pitch black and something is odd, but he can't place what it is. The cage suddenly shifts, rocking him violently back and forth. The walls suddenly seem to constrict on him. Hot anger and frustrations course through him, and he suddenly lashes out at the walls. As suddenly as it beganthe movement stops. Memories flash and swim through his head. He tries to get his bearings. The last thing he remembers was running from his captors and being shot at. He feels a weird sensation through his body, as if it were completely numb. He doesn't have much control over his muscles but he still has use of his limbs, so he can't be paralyzed.