Chapter One

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Sergeant major Sam Robinson looked down from the window of the chopper flying about fifteen thousand feet above the Brazil a****n forest. He watched the vast landscape unfold, as the military helicopter drop a few feet, like something out of a bad dream, a bad dream he was unfortunate to be part of. To him, and probably the other six men with him, this whole mission was bullshit and too crazy to be true.

His attention shifted to the young rookie who sat across from him. The lad looked scared and appeared to fumble with his helmet.

“First time huh?” Sam said, nodding at the rookie.

“Yeah.” He tried to smile, but his quivering lips gave him away.

Yup, he was scared.

“Crazy generals up there serge, what do you think?” Another soldier with a bald head asked, gripping his gun tightly. “You believe what they said?”

Sam shook his head. to him, nothing about the mission was true.

“Guess we’ll have to wait to find out.” The soldier replied himself. He bowed his head, his lips moving in silent prayer.

“Yo major,” Sam said to the pilot, “how far are we from our destination?”

The pilot looked over his shoulder to Sam. He wore a grin that made him seem unsure of what he was doing. “Few kilometers. . . or more.”

Crazy. . .

Sam closed his eyes, resting his head against the soft leather headrest. He remembered sitting in that office, listening to the somewhat intriguing story that he felt the general had cooked up. He watched the man pace the room back and forth and back again at ten seconds intervals, his lean hands kept behind his back.

Sitting there, Sam could not help but admire the man's sense of humor, how he seemingly enjoyed saying bizarre and unbelievable things.

“I’ve got something for you and your men serge.” The general had said.

“I’ve been sitting here for thirty minutes sir,” Sam smiled. “and you’ve been talking for more.”

The general shot an angry look at Sam. His eyes shrunk into his head, and his jaw ground forcefully against each other just below the surface of the skin.

The entire conversation had been nothing of importance to Sam, not even when the general said it was a direct order from the president. It only made  Sam wonder if they were all sane.

Now, looking down at the a****n, Sam wondered why anybody should be sent to a place such as this for something that did not make any sense.

Coming back to reality, Sam watched the pilot flip a switch and talk to someone on the other side.

“Okay boys, here we are.” The pilot said, dropping the chopper some thousand feet more. “This is where we say goodbye.”

Sam looked a thousand feet below him, there was an open patch of land surrounding, but not covered with trees.

The pilot painstakingly dropped the chopper into the open land, and with every six feet drop, Sam felt the temperature in his blood rise. Though he didn’t believe the shitty story the general had told him, he still did not know what to expect.

The pilot landed the chopper and looked over his shoulder to the military crew that sat at the back of the chopper. He didn’t say a word, but he didn’t have to. Sam and his men gingerly stepped out of the chopper, carrying just about enough ammunition to last them at least three days, if what they faced was exactly what the general had said.

The pilot eased the chopper off from the ground and into the air. In a few minutes, he was gone, leaving Sam and his men alone in the cold a****n forest.

Sergeant major Sam Robinson looked at all six men. They were all alone, and they were all his responsibility. There was Kurt, their communications man; Cory was the rookie, and also the pathfinder; Winston was the ‘heavy machinery guy’; Tyler and Leigh, the doctors; and White, the second in command to Sam.

“well we had better start going,” Sam said. “the mystery ain’t gonna reveal itself.”

“Yeah, that’s disappointing.” Leigh said, packing her hair into a ponytail.

“This ain’t no beauty contest pony.” Kurt laughed, shoving Leigh as he brushed past her.

“Haha, very funny.” she eyed him.

Picking up the RP-G's he’d dropped earlier, Winston walked to stand behind Cory.

“Where to boy?” He asked.

Cory reached for his bag which rested comfortably on his back. He fumbled a bit, trying to reach a piece of paper he’d been given by Sam before they left for the mission. He pulled out a compass from one of his khaki pockets and studied both objects for some minutes, looking up every few seconds. Placing both objects back into where they came from, he looked up at Sam.

“We head west towards the river.”

“Yeah obviously.” Kurt mocked. “we always head towards the river. Anyone would have said that.”

“Says the guy who wouldn’t know the difference between east and west.” Leigh replied, tapping the end of her gun with her index finger.

“Yeah right.” He frowned.

“Alright, guys let's get going.” Sam didn’t wait for a response. He turned, walking through a line of trees that surrounded the circumference of the open land they were in.

The rest of the gang followed, walking behind Sam.

“How do you cope with those things Winston?” Leigh walked beside him, looking at the big man.

“You’ll get used to it.” He smiled.

“Hell no, I wouldn't.” She brushed a strand of hair from her forehead.

“Well.” Winston frowned whilst trying to fight the swarm of flies that had gathered around him.

“Seems like they like you.” Leigh said as she increased her pace to meet up with Sam and Cory who walked in front.

“It’s gonna be a long mission.”