"BAN DET TU VIET CONG?!"

"Are you out of your fuckin' mind, Rabbit? What are you, nuts or something? For christ's sake don't you aim that weapon on me!"

The young soldier knew this way of intonation and the southern slang. This was the way the Sarge used to talk. Just the image Jake saw in front of him didn't match with that anymore. But this was flawless english... And the name tag on the camouflage-uniform said "Petrovic". The name of the Sarge. But it just couldn't be... This person was...

"Sarge? - A...Alex? I... is that you?"

"Well, whom did you expect Rabbit?! - Now get that weapon of yours down or I'll have you ass handed to the military-court!"

"I..." Jake lowered his rifle. Not only because he had been told to, but mostly out of sheer surprise. "Er..." he just didn't know what to say anymore. This whole situation was way to much for his mind to understand. If this was some kind of psychological warfare trick of the Viet Cong, he surely had undererstimated those fuckers big time before. But what he was much more worried about was that he actually didn't think that it was one.

"Hell, boy! You really scared the shit out of me. I really thought you'd lost it." Alex cleared his throat. "Damnit! What is it with my voice. Some sideffect from this darn chemicals?"

If it only would have been just that. - Jake emotionlessly stared into the far while he enabled the security lock of his russian machinegun and slowly sat down on the ground.

"You better... *cough, cough* You better pull yourself together, Rabbit.

Just gimme a second. Gotta take a leak. But hen we're off to go. If we keep hiking the whole day we even might make it to the camp till evening."

Jake just sat there reasoning, waiting... - He had considered to say something, like "You better sit down" or anything similar. But he couldn't get himself to do it.

So it came as no big surprise to him when Alex returned to the clearing some moments later. The fly of the pants was opened and the fabric between the legs totally soaked with piss. The wide eyes and the trembling lips implied the condition of a serious shock.
"I... - I can't find... Where's my cock?!"

"What happened to me?" Alex in disbelieve kneaded her breasts, staring at her crotch. The woman which once had been the Sarge had pulled down her now much to large army pants down to the boots, so her... well, primary sex organ was now visible not only to her eyes, but also to his.

Jake had turned around on the log he was sitting on, giving the S... Alex some privacy. He could imagine that it would take her some time to get up on her feet again, realizing the impossible. He himself wondered how something like this could even be possible. The Searge had changed completely into a women. But not just that. He looked in fact exactly like the vietnamese girl which he had killed back there in this damned little village.

Yeah, sure. Jake had heard of chemicals that were poisonous. Rumors had it that some vietnamese women already gave birth to mishappened children due to agent orange or however all the other shitfuck the spread over the woods these days might have been named. - But the change the Sarge had obviously undergone was so drastic and total that it seemed simply unthinkable.

"Christ Rabbit, I have a... a...!" she couldn't finish the sentance and just broke down again whining.

Jake stood up and came over trying to not look at the young women's private areas. Not an easy thing to do, as she in her cofusement had unbuttoned her shirt to get a sight on her chest. He got her up to stand and from behind grabbed her pants and pulled them up.

"There, there..."

He buttoned Alex's pants, trying to calm her down through speaking in a soft tone.

"You gotta cover yourself up, man. - We've been here way to long anyway."

Of course the term didn't seem to fit anymore, but Jake used it on his former comrad so he wouldn't think that he'd be treating him any different now. This actually would turn out to be a little difficult, but what the hell. In this very moment, the message was wwhat seemed to count.

"You think I care about that chinks?! Look at me for fuck's sake! I'm a WOMAN! A WOMAN you hear!"

Alex had turned around, grabbing Jake's collar while she screamed out here dispair and anger.

Jake just stood there, a face on white as the wall and suprisingly silent. Alex followed his eyes down to her bare chest, which she realized was pressed now against his as she had pulled him in to look him directly into the face.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she all of the sudden felt something hard pressing against her crotch.

Alex immediately turned herself away from him blushing.

"You.. you damned pervert!"

With shaky fingers he started to button up her shirt. Before Jake could react she broke down on her knees, bending over, crying out unrestrained.

"Hey Alex, listen."

Rabbit got down on his knee besides her and tried to comfort her by laying his hand gently on her shoulder.

"They use this chemicals all over the place. - You can't be the only one which this effect happened to. The military only uses things they have tested intensively. So I bet they have files on this and also a medicine to cure it."

The young GI knew he was telling a lie. And he felt Alex seemed aware of that to. But sometimes lies are better than truth. He guessed it must be due to some self defense mechanism that evolution created over those uncounted thousands of years. It might be irrational, but it helps you to go on.

"Yes... - You... you're right. - They do, don't they?"

Jake just nodded.

"Let's get to that camp to get you some proper treatment."

He took as stand stretching out his hand to help Alex up. "Let's do this."

With a determined look Alex took it and he pulled her up.

> Don't shoot!<

Chinh had a bad feeling about this. He layed down and got his M 60 ready to shoot. There was something seriously wrong with that scenario.

What woman on her sane mind would step out of the forest all naked in front of a bunch of armed soldiers? - On the other hand he had seen way more strange things over the last month. War is no rational thing. It makes people go wild, some of them even crazy. He had seen children burning in the phosphor fire of the capitalist american's bombs, the corpses of women who had been raped with bajonets. If you ever have faced things like this in your life your spectrum of 'what is possible' whidenes significantly.

The belt was set, the gun all ready he aimed out on the girl. She might have been somewhat around twenty years old. A vietnamese. They propably wouldn't have much trouble with her. The woman was obviously desperate, her face was redened from the tears.

His comrad Dak Kien now stepped closer to the girl, his sub-machinegun ready to fire.

">Where are you from, girl? How did you get here?<"

Good thing. In these day and age it was always better to be save than...

>"Viet Cong good!"<

The accent and grammar of the the girl were far from natural for a vietnamese. There was something definitely wrong here. This must be a...

>"ARGH!"<

The merciless hit shook his whole body. The Vietnamese soldier trembled in shock while he felt the cold steel beeing stabbed into his lung from behind. - Air! He had to get get some air!

Everything went black to Chinh when the knife got twisted, ripping his flesh to scraps.

Five of the Congs. To much for the two of them. They had already gotten suspicious since Alex carelessly had broken some branch. To much noise. The chinks now knew they were there.

They might be tough mercenaries, but they also were men... The idea flashed just into Rabbits mind out of nowhere. - He hadn't have much time. No room for a discussion. He quickly had explained his plan to the former Sarge. Then he just had ripped of her uniform. Then, not waiting for an aggreement, he had simply ripped of the clothes of the young woman.

"Wait for a minute, then step out into their sight."

She just had looked at him, speechless, freaked out...

"Do it if you wanna live."

Before Alex could think of any answer, Jake had vanished between the leafs of the jungle.

Hastly he sneaked around the scenario in a wide arc. He had heavily doubted that Alex would do as told. Try to be silent while your heart beats like an engine. He was quite releaved when he savely got behind the enemies.

How come they didn't come to get him? Well, never underestimate what the sight of a naked woman can do to men which have been in the combat zone for weeks, or even month.

If you would have asked Jake several month ago, he surelay would have said he would never be able to do such a thing. - But now he rammed the knife into the gunners body with immense brutality. - Alex stood out there. And he wanted to be damned if he would be responsible for these fuckers to do her any harm.

The guy still moved. "Stop moving! Just die... For god's sake DIE!" That was all rabbit could think about. Cut down to his basically survival instincts he twisted the knife inside the wound, pulled it out and...

"Damned!"

The loader had yelled out something in vietnamese before the blade entered his eye. Some white liquid floated over the GIs hand, when he swirled the knife around, sending the poor bastard down for good.

The other three asian guys, now standing in the river right before Alex, must have heard their comrad's scream. - Well, 'big surpise'. - The american soldier just acted like trained. Grabbing the machine gun of the killed asian mercenary he layed down...

Ammunition-belt set... Security device of... - Go....

"ALEX! DOWN!"

As soon as the young woman had hit the water, he pulled the trigger. Shoot... Taking aim... Shoot... re-aim... shoot....

The rain of led mowed them down like grass.

The young woman slowly got up, when she realized all the noise above the surface had stopped. The muddy water dropped from her hair. Alex was glad to be able to take some breath again. - Suddenly a shadow fell on her.

"Need a hand?"

Jake smiled when he pulled the girl up.