text: [Themes: horror, historical, horror]
  
  Your duty as a sergeant weighs over you. You've failed miserably to protect the men under your command, but perhaps you could still save the rest of your platoon. Bronski is wary at your decision, given your current lack of water, but realizes that you truly feel responsible for the death of your men. He agrees to come with you, and fashions a makeshift pair of crutches to help you move better.
  
  The crutches make you feel loud and clumsy, as they often snag on the jungle undergrowth, but at least Bronski doesn't have to help you with every step. You backtrack through the jungle, in hopes of finding the trail that the Lieutenant and his men left behind. Returning to the site of your squad's slaughter, you find something quite unnerving.
  
  Though none of your men's bodies are left, you find several Viet Cong soldiers dying on the ground. Their veins are black as night, their skin gray and peeling away. Thrashing in pain, when you approach them, they cry out to you in their foreign language. Though you don't understand what they are saying, it's clear what they want: end their suffering.
  
  You raise your rifle, ready to oblige their final desire, but Bronski stops you. His face is pained, unlike his usually calm and optimistic demeanor. Your mouth gapes wide open as he pulls up his arm sleeve. His skin has turned gray as well, revealing black-blooded veins through his once dark skin.
  
  "H-h-how?" you stutter out. No, this can't be happening. You shut out a mental image of Bronski screaming in pain like the VC on the ground.
  
  "Johnny, I didn't want to show you this. You were hurt yourself, and I didn't want to burden you with my problems."
  
  "So why did you stop me from shoo-"
  
  "Because I didn't want this to happen to you too!" Bronski sighs. "As I said, when I was hiding after our squad broke, I shot a Viet Cong soldier who got too close. Suddenly, I felt a horrible pain through my body, but it faded immediately. Johnny, I've never killed before. Can you imagine that? After spending years in the bush, I've never shot a single Viet Cong. So at first, I just thought my mind was acting up. But the pain returned, and it got worse through the night..." Bronski trails off.
  
  You don't say it, but you are reminded of Bronski's story. He's killed someone, and now he will be dragged to the grave himself. It's strangely comical as if Bronski's just joking around with you like he always does. A hollow laugh comes out of you, followed by tears. You can't accept it- that your only friend will die a painful death, leaving you stranded in the jungle. No, you won't accept it. You quickly wipe away your tears and look up at Bronski.
  
  "Listen here," you say, "I'm not going to let you die. Forget about the mission, the objective we had to capture. We're going to get out of this damn jungle, and we're going to get you help. Bronski, I promise you, I will do anything to make sure you return home safe to see your wife and kids."
  
  "Johnny, you will do this... for me?"
  
  "Of course I will. If so, it would be the one good thing that has happened in this terrible goddamn war."
  
  No time to waste, you begin to make plans. The Lieutenant is still out there somewhere, but he would have something that could help Bronski? No, you have to find something else, a high vantage point or a strong radio, which you can use to call for an evacuation. With your radioman dead, the latter would be much more difficult. Perhaps the Viet Cong had something of use? Maybe you should search for their base camp instead.
  
  > search for the Viet Cong base camp
  The camp should be close by, but you're concerned about the possibility of meeting live Viet Cong. You wonder how your enemies are dealing with the threats of the jungle horrors. Nonetheless, you're desperate to find something that could help Bronski, and maybe natives to this country have a better idea about what you're dealing with here.
  
  You tell Bronski to abstain from mercy-killing the guerillas on the ground, fearing that it might hasten the spreading of his illness. You leave one of them with a weapon, letting them do the gruesome job themselves. Gunshots go off as you begin searching for their trail.
  
  The VC's were regulars and were very discreet when they approached and attacked your squad. But little escapes your senses, sharpened by years of war. A shoe print here, a broken twig there, and you steadily track the Viet Cong to where they came from. You also manage to avoid a few booby traps and mines; some were obvious, but others you almost tripped with your clumsy crutches if it weren't for Bronski's watchful eye.
  
  The trail suddenly stops. You arrive at a seemingly insignificant area in the deep jungle thick, surrounded by large trees and bushes. However, the smell of death lingers in the air. Searching the area, you find a wide tunnel into ground carefully concealed by a covering of woven branches and vines. You carefully enter with a flashlight, while Bronski covers you with a rifle. The tunnel slopes down around twenty feet, before opening up into a large room, supported by wooden beams.
  
  In this room lies the bodies of the rest of the Viet Cong. They died fighting, evidenced by the scattered shell casings, bullet holes in the walls, and crazed looks on their dead faces. Slash marks cover their bodies, and the dirt floor is completely painted in blood. You step around carefully, noting the crates of extra food and ammunition stacked in the corner of the room. This was indeed their base camp, but something came inside and killed the rest of them. You can guess what that may be.
  
  Curiously, on one side of the room is a sturdy steel door, something you've never seen in a Viet Cong hideout. Approaching the door, you see it been heavily battered by the Viet Cong, as they tried to break through it to escape from their deaths. A combination lock on the door kept that from happening.
  
  "Where do you think this leads, Bronski?"
  
  He smiles a little and takes out a small canvas bag with a shoulder strap. A satchel charge, it enough C-4 to blow down any obstacle. You exit out the tunnel and close your ears. Bronski pulls the pin and a loud explosion sounds out. The steel door has been blown out of its frame, but you're lucky it hasn't collapsed the underground camp as well.
  
  The environment inside the door here has completely changed. Inside the door is a long corridor with concrete floors and walls. Light fixtures dot the ceiling, but those have gone dark. Midway, the corridor is intersected by another hallway going to the right. At the end of a corridor is another steel door, but with a symbol marked on it.
  
  "Let's check that out," you whisper to Bronski.
  
  You creep towards the door, trying to keep your step silent despite your crutches. However, when you come up to the hallway a knife twirls through the air towards you. You dodge, but it strikes Bronski in the arm, who drops his rifle which clatters onto the concrete floor. Across the hallway stands the Green Beret, who carries a machete and is quickly advancing towards you!
  
  > draw your pistol
  You draw your pistol from its holster and fire down the hallway. The Green Beret jerks back with every shot, but it soaks up your entire magazine and still comes towards you. You manage to unsheathe your bayonet as he lunges on top of you, attempting to slash your throat. Grabbing his arm before the blade comes down, you try to push away the machete, but to no avail. The rusty but sharp blades inches towards you, its wielder staring at you with inhuman orange eyes. Suddenly, the Green Beret's head is knocked back. Bronski had recovered and slammed it with the butt of his rifle. You take the opportunity to jam your bayonet into the Green Beret's eyes. He lets out a piercing animalistic shriek, flailing his arms in a struggle to get free. Finally, he stops moving, and with that, the body disintegrates into mist.
  
  You turn around to thank Bronski for saving your life once more, but you're startled by his condition. With the knife embed in his arm, his illness has drastically worsened. In the dim flashlight, you see him gritting in pain as the skin on his arms starts peeling. His eyes have started to display an orange tinge as well.
  
  "Bronski, hold on, we're gonna get you out of here." He can barely move, so you drag him with one arm towards the door at the end of the corridor. You briefly stop as you notice something shiny left behind as the Green Beret's body disintegrated. A pair of dog tags. They are quickly scooped up into your hands before you proceed through the door, which is thankfully unlocked.
  
  You enter what seems to be a mission control room. Files and papers of all sorts are haphazardly scattered around. In the center, a large map on a table depicts features you recognize as nearby terrain- the river, the Viet Cong hideout. Referencing your own map, you quickly realize that the Lieutenant had made a terrible mistake in navigation. You chuckle as you remember an old joke- the deadliest thing in the world is a Second Lieutenant with a map and compass.
  
  Your eyes set on the corner of the room, where a long-range radio sits. Jackpot. You lay Bronski down on a chair and tell him that everything is going to be okay. No idea how to operate a radio, you fiddle with the switches and dials and try broadcasting your voice on as many frequencies as you can. Suddenly, you receive a signal.
  
  A deep voice sounds out from the radio. "How did you manage to get hold of this frequency?"
  
  You hesitate, not expecting to be so lucky.
  
  "I'm Sergeant Smith of the Marines. I need evacuation, one of my squadmates is infected with a-"
  
  "Answer my question, Sergeant, and understand that you are speaking with the commander of the 1st Special Forces. You've breached a highly classified facility that we've lost contact with long ago."
  
  You frantically explain the events of the last days, while the voice remains silent.
  
  "Please, my friend is dying! We can't wait any longer." You glance at Bronski, who is starting to cough out blood. He seems delirious, unaware of what's going on.
  
  "Evacuation will arrive shortly, Sergeant. But you must do one thing first."
  
  > The final task
  "What could you possibly demand of me?" you say.
  
  "There's an armory located in the facility. It contains a large number of explosives, especially napalm. Destroy the facility and collapse the tunnel leading in."
  
  You suspect that Special Forces are forcing you to do their dirty work and cover up the secrets here. Enraged that they place that objective above saving Bronski's life, you snatch a few files from the room before getting to work. After dragging Bronski out of the tunnel, you travel across the hallway to the armory. You dump the explosive in one area and create a trail of napalm leading from it to the tunnel entrance. You light the napalm, which travels down the line into the facility, igniting the explosives. The ground shudders as the tunnel collapses, sealing it off from the world.
  
  "Johnny, what's going on? The sun's so bright, it's hurting my eyes." You and Bronski are sitting in the shade, but you see that his eyes are starting to turn orange. You push down your panic.
  
  "Bronski, just relax, help's going to come soon. Just hold on." Nothing to do but wait, you look through the files that you've taken from the facility.
  
  The first file describes the deployment of Green Berets in the area five years ago to investigate the disappearance several platoons of South Vietnamese soldiers.
  
  The second file describes a discovery about the nearby river, a small tributary of the Mekong containing a unique species of leech, which had stingers that could inject a certain toxin.
  
  The third file contains the approved orders for the construction of an underground science laboratory near the river.
  
  The final file, however, is a handwritten note.
  
  "It's getting dark, so dark. Richie and Hammond are dead, killed by the things from the mist. We thought that they were once soldiers, but they're inhuman- something different. The Vietnamese scientist escaped though, to the nearby village we identified earlier. However, the sickness courses through me. My veins are getting dark, skin peeling. I've locked myself in the science laboratory, but the radio won't work...all static. If anyone finds this, tell my parents I died for my country.
  
  Staff Sergeant Adam Hinks, 1st Special Forces
  
  The name matches the pair of dog tags you've picked up. Everything starts to come together, as you realize what has happened. A secret science project supported by Special Forces. A supernatural toxin that turns killers into... monsters. The implications are horrible, and all this time your squad naively wandered into this valley of death. Suddenly, you hear the sounds of helicopter rotors.
  
  A group of large camouflaged helicopters arrive and hover above you. Soldiers, which you recognize as Green Berets, rappel down from them. They forcibly disarm you and place you into handcuffs, while Bronski is led away in a stretcher.
  
  "What the hell are you doing!" you yell, struggling against your restraints as you are separated from him. A bag is placed over your head and a needle stuck into your arm.
  
  "You shouldn't have been reading these files, Sergeant. Oh well, the general wants to see you."
  
  Drowsiness overtakes you, and you fall unconscious as you are carried into a helicopter. You and Bronski's fate go into the hands of powers beyond your control.