text: [Themes: horror, horror]
  
  "Bronski's right," you say. "Who knows what will happen to us if stay here or keep moving on. Our only chance to stay alive and find help is to search for a village."
  
  Corporal Bronski looks at you, nodding his head while the Lieutenant scowls, "I'm in fucking charge here! We march to the hill, not pursue any fantasy in the forest."
  
  "I'm with Johnny," Bronski says. "Who else?" Your men shout in assent.
  
  "No, these are my orders. We go to the hill! I could court-martial you, Sergeant."
  
  Lance Corporal Simmons walks up, his machine-gun in his arms. "Lieutenant? I'd think you're hard-pressed to do that out here."
  
  Your men form a circle around the Lieutenant, who turns around, surprised at the change of events. His hands move to his pistol holster, but your men draw their rifles on him, forcing him to freeze. He is disarmed and handcuffed by your men, as he shouts a string of profanities out at you. You chuckle.
  
  "That's behavior quite unbecoming of an officer."
  
  "You'll lead us to death, Sergeant!"
  
  You divide the platoon into halves to search both sides of the river bank. You assign Bronski to lead one half so you can keep an eye on the Lieutenant, who you've forced to gag to prevent him from yelling. Your men fan out into the jungle, using machetes to slash through heavy vines and undergrowth. After hours of heavy exertion, you are soaked in sweat. You are almost ready to call it quits as the sun falls when one of your men points something out.
  
  "Hey Sarge, there are some strange-looking trees over there."
  
  You take out your binoculars and get a closer look. No, they aren't trees at all, but a section of a tall wooden palisade! A large wall made from sharpened tree trunks, whoever built it means business. You spread the word that a man-made structure, possibly a village, has been found. Your men cheer at the news despite being exhausted. You fire a flare into the sky to signal Bronski's squad to come over.
  
  However, the jungle falls suddenly silent. You hear soft footsteps all around you as the mist returns.
  
  "Shit! We've got to get to the village!" yells a private. Figures began appearing at the edge of the mist, but you know that Bronski's squad is still out there. Should you leave him behind to run to the village, or regroup and fight?
  
  > regroup with Bronski
  You can't abandon Bronski behind. He's your best and only friend, and you won't let him be butchered by the creatures of the mist.
  
  "This way! We need to support our other half!" you yell.
  
  You receive a few confused looks until your men realize your plan.
  
  "Shit, I'm not messing with that!" yells one, who sprints towards the village anyway. He disappears into the mist, but his screams echo from within, dissuading the rest of your men from doing the same.
  
  Figures emerge from the mist. You see the mangled, shambling corpses of the dead Viet Cong you killed two days ago. They wield rusty blades, their orange eyes glowing in the dark. Some men freeze at the sight of them, but you drag them with you. You rally your men to the erupting sounds of combat near the bridge.
  
  "Friendly, don't shoot!" you yell, as you regroup with the rest of the squad. You see Bronski organizing his men until he looks at you with surprise.
  
  "Looks like you've come back to have some fun, Johnny!" he says, smiling.
  
  "Could never miss it."
  
  You and Bronski order your men to form a circle so that your fields of fire can cover all flanks. You wait for the mist creatures to arrive, and when the first of them shamble into your sights, your men open fire. Shell casing bounce off the ground as one by one, the dead Viet Cong are shot into pieces.
  
  "I'm out of ammo!" Bronski yells, followed by the rest of the platoon.
  
  You see even more Viet Cong shamble towards you, getting too close. You say, "No time to reload. Affix bayonets!"
  
  You platoon charges the Viet Cong, engaging in brutal hand to hand combat. Blood flows through the ground, as many of your men succumb to slashes. You are nearly overwhelmed until gunshots ring in the air.
  
  A group of Vietnamese civilians holds muskets and flintlocks, firing upon the dead Viet Cong. With their support, you manage to eliminate the rest of the mist creatures. The resulting battlefield is packed with the wounded and the dead. You slip on the blood and nearly collapse onto the ground, but Bronski holds you upright.
  
  "This will be a battle we'll never forget, Johnny."
  
  > The Science Laboratory
  The village gate opens for you, villagers carrying the wounded in stretchers. The village is made of small wooden buildings that could hardly even qualify as shacks. However, a single sturdy concrete compound starkly stands out among the rest. As you come inside, a wiry Vietnamese man in a lab coat approaches you, speaking perfect English.
  
  "You must have many questions. Come with me to the lab."
  
  Bronski and you are led into the concrete compound and see a full Western-style science laboratory inside. Leeches with long stingers wriggle inside several beakers, a tube extracting a dripping black liquid from them. Photographs of the soldiers of the mist are tacked to the walls. A penciled sketch illustrates the progression of a familiar disease on the human body. A disease that darkens the veins and peels the skin.
  
  "What is this! Are you..."
  
  "No, it's complicated. I've called for evacuation for you on my radio, but let me explain what's going on." He takes out an old US Army uniform; it contains the insignia reserved for the most elite of forces- the Green Berets.
  
  "I was deployed with the Green Berets five years ago to explore the... mysterious disappearance of soldiers in the area. We found that the local tributary of the Mekong River contained a unique species of leech, which had a stinger that could inject a toxin." He picks up the jar of leeches, its inhabitants trying to stab his hand with their stingers through the transparent glass.
  
  "The toxin is responsible for a disease that you are very familiar with at this point." He points to the sketch of the symptoms, making you and Bronski shudder.
  
  "I was a scientist sent to research this toxin, but the Green Berets messed up. All of them were killed by a Viet Cong patrol, except for one. He succumbed to the disease, joined the creatures of the mist. Meanwhile, I salvaged my equipment and ran for this village, where I continued my research until you arrived."
  
  You glance at Bronski, and back to the scientist. "Isn't this classified."
  
  "It is, Sergeant. I assume the incoming Green Berets will have a lot of questions to ask you."
  
  You join your men in the village square, some of whom talk and laugh with the villagers. With the mist gone, a beautiful dawn is revealed to you, gold and orange painting the sky. A scowling Lieutenant has been removed from his restraints, but he is so embarrassed that he doesn't even look at you in the face. The whirring rotors of a line of camouflaged helicopters fly towards you.
  
  "We've survived, Johnny. I can hardly believe it."
  
  You think above the sacrifices you and your platoon have made, of the men who've died and been left behind.
  
  "Remember the cost."