Survival from Darkness

They suddenly realized that Japanese soldiers were following the river and heading straight toward them.  Quietly, as if reading each other’s minds, they began laying down in the mud and brush and rolling as close to the river as they could.  Dusk upon them now, they covered themselves to hide from the soldiers.  The intruders came closer and closer until they were practically on top of the five men.  They were so preoccupied in their conversation, and their gear was making so much noise, that surely they didn’t think another human being would be within hundreds of miles. 

It seemed that the soldiers would never pass.  O’Malley could hardly keep from gasping, as one of the soldiers stepped on his foot.  It seemed an eternity had passed when the noise finally moved away from them.  They were afraid to breathe for fear of being heard and discovered.

They couldn’t judge how long they had to lay in the mud before they dared to even move a muscle.  The sounds had disappeared long ago into the jungle before they began to pull themselves up and out of the bed of mud that had hidden them so well.  Their lives had been spared once again.  They were speaking in whispers, still afraid of being detected.  What had happened mystified them.  None of them knew for sure how many soldiers there were.  They all agreed there were quite a few, maybe as many as seven or eight.  And the greater question was where they had come from, and even more so, where they were heading.  They showed no signs of being lost, but more like they were on a routine maneuver.  The men wondered if perhaps there might be an encampment of Japanese troops somewhere close by.  One more thing they would probably never know.  One more danger they had to be constantly on guard for.  They feared being taken as prisoners or perhaps killed.  They would have to move in complete silence so as not to warn the enemy of their presence.  They decided to settle down in the spot for the night, as it was pitch dark and they were afraid that any movement would reveal them to the soldiers.  It was one more endless night...something they had experienced over and over.  None of the men could fall asleep after what had just happened.  The filthy mud that covered their bodies was of little consequence.  They took a little of the water from the river with their hands to get some of the itchy, drying mud from their faces and hair.  After their experiences with the leeches, they chose to not to bathe completely in the river but to tolerate the mud on their bodies.  Their bodies still reflected the raw redness and pain from the encounter with leeches.  They fell into silence hoping to pass out from utter exhaustion.