Platoon Page #10

Their voices trailing off. Bird cries come back.

Elias combing the ground for clues ... nothing.

Chris looking on, can't believe it, none of them can, a

collective chill running through the platoon.

EXT. JUNGLE - DAY

The Platoon moving downslope in the Jungle, their faces grim,

quiet, deadly. King is on point.

CHRIS (V.O.)

We had to get to the village before dark so we left

Elias with some men to keep looking and to wait for

the engineers ... But it was King who found him ...

about 1000 yards downriver, not far from the village

- It was the end of the mystery.

A moving shot approaching Manny. He's trussed with rope, arms

behind his back. Throat cut, eyes startled open, mouth shaped in

a scream of terror.

Barnes, the other men looking ... Chris. Barnes says it for

everyone, 'The motherfuckers ...'

EXT. VILLAGE - TRAIL - DAY

They come up out of the jungle onto the side of a CART TRAIL,

where a tiny village overlooks the river. The VILLAGE is poor, a

series of thatched hutches made of C-ration cardboard and

aluminum beer can sidings, faint whiffs of smoke coming from cook

fires. Pigs and dogs wander about.

An OLD VILLAGER watches them pass from his tillable plot, smoking

a cigarette, one leg wrapped around his hoe, resting, no

expression.

CHRIS (V.O.)

... the village, which had stood for maybe a thousand

years, didn't know we were coming that day. If they

had they would have run ... Barnes was at the eye of

our rage - and through him, our Captain Ahab - we

would set things right again. That day we loved him

...

A pig loiters along the trail, rooting.

Bunny coming up on it with a smile.

BUNNY:

Hey pig, pig - come here, pig, pig.

The pig grunts. Bunny leveling his shotgun, fires point blank.

A horrible squeal.

Chris, directly behind him, looks disgusted.

EXT. VILLAGE - DAY

Tony suddenly points, excited, calls to Barnes.

TONY:

There goes one!

Their POV - a young VILLAGER fleeing down the slope.

Barnes doesn't hesitate, nails him with a short volley of well-

placed shots.

BARNES:

(to Tony)

Check him out.

He turns back into the village.

EXT. VILLAGE - DAY

Troops fanning out over the village, some TWO DOZEN VILLAGERS

scattering to collect their children, dogs barking.

SGTS.O'NEIL AND WARREN

Get em out! Get em out!

EXT. VILLAGE TUNNEL - DAY

In another part of the village, Barnes hovers over a hole leading

into some kind of tunnel.

BARNES:

Get out of there you fuckheads move! Move!

Fires a warning shot. Three VILLAGERS climbing out of the spider

hole, arms raised, but not showing any emotion. Barnes turning

to his radioman Hoyt and Big Harold accompanying.

BARNES (CONT'D)

(to Harold)

Put'em in the pig pen.

(to Hoyt)

There's more down there. Gimme your Willy Pete.

Hoyt, with reluctance in his eyes, hands over a specially shaped

grenade.

Barnes stands over the hole, the grenade in hand.

The three VILLAGERS who just came out of the hole, yell from the

distance, to others still in the tunnel, pleading with them to

come out.

BARNES (CONT'D)

FIRE IN THE HOLE!

Barnes throws the phosphorus in. A muted EXPLOSION. Then

sizzling acidic fumes. Frying sounds. A hideous scream from

somewhere deep in the hole.

Hoyt, watching, is sickened. Barnes businesslike.

The Villagers, in grief, howl and tear at their faces.

FU SHENG:

(hustling up to Barnes)

Sarge, we found some sh*t!

Barnes going with him.

EXT. VILLAGE - OUTSIDE HUTCH - DAY

The sun is sittin there hot and high in the sky.

Chris, strangling in heat, a demented look on his face, staggers

into a hutch with Francis.

INT. HUTCH - VILLAGE - DAY

Threadbare, poor, a typical Buddhist shrine in the corner, motes

of light crisscross through the poor matting and c-ration sides.

Chris edges over, pries up a floorboard, flips it over, scared.

There's a tunnel inside. A long dark dangerous hole.

CHRIS:

La Dai! La Dai! GET THE F*** OUTTA THERE!

FRANCIS:

Hey take it easy man. They're scared.

CHRIS:

They're scared? What about me! I'm sick of this

sh*t man, I"m sick of this sh*t! They don't want us

here! Who do you think they're fighting for! GET

OUTTA THERE!

Francis doesn't recognize him in his rage. Bunny now coming in,

followed by O'Neill, drawn by the shouting.

EXT. VILLAGE - WEAPONS CACHE - DAY

Barnes stares down at a WEAPONS CACHE buried cleverly underneath

the ruce urns. Ace, Fu Sheng, Sgt.Warren, Lt.Wolfe, others, are

digging it out. It's in white plastic wrappings - a load of AK-

47's, rockets, grenades, claymores, carbines, flares, NVA

uniforms. A real find.

SGT. WARREN

(to Barnes)

... and over here there's enough rice to feed a whole

f***in' regiment ...

Barnes walking with him over to an undercover rice silo being dug

out by Tubbs and Junior. Barnes looks it over.

BARNES:

(to Warren)

... bring the honcho over here.

(to Tubb and Junior)

Burn it.

INT. HUTCH - VILLAGE - DAY

An Old Woman and her Son, a young man with one leg, throw up

their hands, climbing out of the hole with stupid confused looks

as Chris, shaking with his own sort of confusion and rage, cuffs

them, hustling them out. The Young Man uses a pair of crutches

for his blown-off limb, hobbling like a mangy three-legged dog.

BUNNY:

Hey look at this! Ma and Pa Kettle here. Look at

them - greasy gook motherfuckers!

CHRIS:

Get up out of there! ... You see I didn't wanna hurt

you. Why didn't you come out, when I said so hunh!

Why? WHY! WHY? DON'T YOU LISTEN ... WHAT ARE YOU

SMILING AT HUNH! F***ING A**HOLES!

The couple, hands raised, muttering things in Vietnamese, don't

understand a word, shaking their heads stupidly and smiling that

impassive Oriental smile which sends Chris into a rage only he

can understand.

His finger closes on the trigger of his 16.

Francis, the baby-faced black, looks nervously, sensing the

danger ... Bunny amused, drawn in by Chris. O'Neill watches

passively from the lip of the hutch.

The Young Man continues to grin, not seeming to realize the

degree of danger he's in, which is what Chris wants - a token

sign of acquiescence. There is also the added element of showing

off his manhood in front of an audience now.

BUNNY:

Do 'em man, do 'em.

Chris. The trigger. He pulls. But he can't quite bring himself

to kill. The bullets exploding in the dirt at the edges of the

young man's foot.

CHRIS:

(demonic)

DANCE YOU ONE-LEGGED MOTHERF***ER, DANCE!!!

The Young Man hops up and down in a reflex fear of the sounds of

the bullets as they thud into the dirt. Yet his eyes remain

fixed on Chris in wonderment.

Chris, firing out the magazine, seems to expend his bloodlust.

He ceases, noticing - for the first time - the eyes of the Young

Man. They aren't stupid - nor fearful - but filled with

resignation and despair - a despair that Chris, in disgust of

himself, recognizes.

Chris lowers the rifle, silent.

The Young Man's impassive face shines now with tears. That sad

young look - as if death itself would've been a release. Chris

turns his eyes away, an awkward sense of shame.

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