Jeremiah 4.2 Mutiny

The rain made things colder and even more miserable than they already were. It fell from the gray sky into the brown of the mud and soup that the Lieutenant's map said was a road. The rain was getting the Lieutenant's map wetter and less legible, but he stared at it nonetheless. No matter, his hands were shaking so much he couldn't have read a perfectly dry map.

We looked at the trembling young lieutenant. Then, we looked at eachother. His hands weren't shaking from the cold.

As we stood at the fork in the mud, voices could be heard amidst the wind and the rain. The enemy was somewhere out there in the forest.

"We can't stay here, Lieutenant" I ventured.

Sarge glared at me and growled, "Nobody asked your opinion."

The lieutenant started to put away his map. "We'll k-k-keep heading south."

I couldn't believe it. We had been cut off for over three days. First, we lost touch with the rest of the battalion and then we got completely lost. Then foolowed a pathetic repetition of errors. Every place we bumbled into, there were enemies. Shooting ensued, one or two men would be left behind as we ran for our lives. Then, we would do it all over again.

"Before we head off," the Lieutenant ordered, "let's give the radio a shot."

"The radio doesn't work, sir" Sarge offered.

"Well," the lieutenant responded, "maybe we are in range now." 

"Sir, the radio was plugged full of holes in that last scrap we got into. It's useless."

The lieutenant was completely overmatched. It was his first command and he had bungled every part of it. Men were dead or captured because of decisions that he had made. Only half of us were left.

"Sir," I pleaded, "if we keep heading south, we're screwed for sure. There's a whole enemy division out there. We've seen them and heard them."

"We are heading south," the Lieutenant chortled. "I realized we got a little lost, but by now the major and the rest of the battalion must have made it to the rendezvous point."

"Are you crazy?" I blurted out. "Do you really think the major wants you to march through an entire enemy division? What the hell is the point? You're going to get us all killed!"

"That's enough!" Sarge suddenly roared. He stepped between me and the lieutenant. "You will do as you are told. Get your ass moving! That goes for the rest of you. Move out!"

I stood firm. I was tired of marching in the exact wrong direction. I had enough of following a leader who was clueless. I had been pleading for days that we had strayed too far west. We needed to head east. He was leading us in the wrong direction and now was the time to make a stand against this maddening waste.

Sarge moved menacingly toward me. I looked to my squad mates. They looked back at me, uncertain. They all knew I was right. This bumbling idiot was going to lead us right to our graves.

"C'mon, guys. We're heading the wrong way! This - "

I didn't even see Sarge swing. One moment I was on my feet, then I was on the ground with a bleeding lip. Sarge threw in a kick to the ribs, for good measure.

I lay on the ground for few moments. After a while I lifted my head. My vision was momentarily blurred. When it cleared, I saw the men had turned their backs to me and were walking in line. They were headed south. Mine was a mutiny of one.

I rolled over on to my back and lay in the mud for a while. I touched my busted lip and wiped the rain off my face.

Slowly, I got my legs back under me. I picked up my rifle and my pack. The company was out of sight by this time, somewhere south in the darkening forest. I hurried to catch them. I rounded a bend, and saw them no more than 100 yds ahead just a  hidden machine gun nest opened up. Half the men fell in seconds, the rest dove for cover. The woods exploded as into motion as several hundred enemy soldiers poured out to complete the ambush.

My first extinct was to run toward the massacre, but then I stopped. There was nothing I could do. They were all dead or dying.

Horror paralyzed me. They were fools following a fool, but they were still countrymen and friends. And now they were gone. Even as I saw enemy soldiers pointing and gesturing toward me, I stood motionless. The enemy soldiers ran toward me, screaming. Even I understood their language, I wouldn't comprehended anything. My ears were filled with a strange ringing. It drown everything else out.

I dumbly looked down at the rifle in my right hand. I dropped it to the mud below. It was useless. It was all useless.