Platoon Page #9

Elias and others fanning out now, careful ... whispered

conversations in the wind.

Chris moves past a rope with freshly washed laundry stretching

between two trees, clothes stirring in the wind. He looks up as

King points out a treehouse, then looks down as Lerner whispers

something and points - NVA rucksacks are laid out on the ground

in an orderly platoon-sized pattern.

CUT TO:

INT. NVA BUNKER - TUNNEL POSITION - DAY

Elias goes down into a dangerous-looking TUNNEL, on a rope with a

.45. Barnes watching him. We sense Elias loves the danger,

smiling.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - COMPLEX - MAIN POSITION - DAY

Lt. Wolfe signals Manny and Chris out onto the two flanks.

INT. NVA TREEHOUSE - DAY

Rhah and King explore a treehouse. Rice stores. Rhah, an

experienced soldier, seems tense, moves cautiously, expecting

booby traps.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - WARREN'S POSITION - DAY

Sgt. Warren cautiously explores another bunker, probing a little

tunnel in the bottom of it with a stick. Bunny, having a small

frame, goes down into it, fearless.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - MANNY'S POSITION - DAY

Manny, the skinny black boy with the coloured beads, is out on

flank - alone, smoking a cigarette, humming.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - CHRIS' POSITION - DAY

On the other flank, Chris, also alone, waits, listening to the

sounds of the jungle. He too is smoking a cigarette. The

eeriness is everywhere. Rays of morning light peeking through

the cathedral dome of the jungle. Bird calls.

INT. NVA TUNNEL - DAY

Elias climbs deeper and deeper into the hole, a rope attached to

his waist leading out to the surface, his flashlight now coming

around on a shaftway demarcating a TUNNEL that seems to stretch

for at least 100 yards. The light revealing cobwebs all along

it, but tall enough for a small man.

EXT. CHRIS' POSITION - DAY

It's quiet, weird. Chris takes his pants down, squats. He

thinks he hears something, tenses.

There is a soft rustling sound now. And as he focuses on it he

realizes it is coming from very close to him. Something light

and sinuous moving over the leaves. He looks down.

A bright yellow and orange-ringed krait viper is crawling right

between his two legs. It stops, senses another life standing

over it.

Chris frozen with dread.

The snake crawls on, pulling its long, long 15 foot body behind

it.

On Chris, eyes dilated, slowly regaining his breath looking

around everywhere now.

INT. NVA TUNNEL - DAY

Elias moving down the tunnel, fearless. We expect something any

moment to come out and nail him but nothing does. He stops. His

flashlight revealing a kitchen and an NVA hospital set up. A

hammock swings as if someone just deserted it. In another

hammock is a dead man. Elias advances cautiously.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - COMPLEX - SANDERSON POSITION - DAY

Spec 4 Sanderson, the big handsome blond kid, is moving through

an abandoned bunker. With him is Sal, a tough street kid with an

intense face, all whiskered. Sanderson noticing now a metal box

of 50-caliber ammo, U.S. marking, half-buried in the ground.

SANDERSON:

Hey look at that.

He opens the case. Official-looking documents are inside, they

glance through them, lighting cigarettes, the search over,

successful, they relax.

SAL:

(a worried type)

Leave it willya - it's gook sh*t.

SANDERSON:

Nah this stuff's important.

He puts the documents back in the ammo case, lifts it. It's the

last thing he ever does.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - SANDERSON POSITION - DAY

The ensuing explosion shakes the ground, obliterating both boys,

brances, smoke and dust flying out.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - CHRIS POSITION - DAY

Out on flank, Chris hits the ground, hugs it.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - COMPLEX - SANDERSON POSTION - DAY

Barnes runs up. Black smoke sweeping through the trees. Sal

suddenly appears, stepping out of the smoke, stunned. The front

of his body is soaked in blood from a thousand shrapnel holes,

his clothes shredded, he stares at Barnes, dazed. Both his arms

are gone and blood is geysering out like a water fountain. He

crumbles - dead or dying.

BARNES:

Corpsman!

He runs over to Sal, gets a hold of his face in a vicelike grip,

enraged, tries to yell some sense into him.

BARNES (CONT'D)

(directly to Sal)

Goddamit! Are you f***ing kids ever gonna learn!

Don't you understand how easy it is to die!

The Doc running up - one look tells us all we need to know.

DOC:

Holy Jesus!

EXT. NVA BUNKER COMPLEX - MAIN POSITION - DAY

Lt. Wolfe, shaken, is on the radio with Cpt. Harris, words

garbled through the air, trying to describe a primal horror.

EXT. NVA BUNKER COMPLEX - SANDERSON POSITION - DAY

Barnes moving through the wreckage - sees severed limbs sticking

in a sandbag.

EXT. NVA BUNKER COMPLEX - MAIN POSITION - DAY

Rhah crouches over a piece of leg tied into a hipbone and a rib.

EXT. NVA BUNKER COMPLEX - DAY

Elias coming out of the tunnel, filthied.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - MAIN POSITION - DAY

Elias coming abreast of Wolfe.

ELIAS:

Tell Six we need engineers here, this pos. is

crawling with traps.

WOLFE:

They're on their way ...

(consulting his map)

There's a gook village half a klik downriver,

Battalion wants us to move in and search it ASAP,

something's going on ... where's Barnes?

INT. NVA BUNKER - SANDERSON POSITION - DAY

Barnes is still there in the wrecked bunker, squatting there

staring as if his mind has disconnected for a moment. He reaches

up, touches his scars. The look on his face suggests he is

deeply wronged by this tragedy, that he is taking it very

personally.

EXT. NVA BUNKER - MAIN POSITION - DAY

Chris watches him from outside the bunker, awed.

Barnes notices Chris watching him, takes a breath, stands.

BARNES:

You gonna sit there and play with yourself Taylor or

you gonna be part of my war ... Awright, saddle up,

let's go - Tubbs you got point.

The men moving into jungle formation, silently.

Chris walking over into line, stops for a moment - noticing a

freshly-severed eyeball partially buried in dirt, staring up at

him. He turns away, sickened.

EXT. NVA BUNKER COMPLEX - MAIN POSITION - DAY

O'NEILL

Where's Manny?

WARREN:

Manny! ... Hey Buchanan.

There is no answer. The men in the platoon start to look at each

other, sensing more trouble.

Elias heads into the bush after him. Barnes watches him go.

Francis, his friend, and Tubbs and King follow.

FRANCIS:

Hey man whatcha doing ... where you at? Get your

black ass back in here!

EXT. NVA BUNKER COMPLEX - MANNY'S POSITION - DAY

Out on the flank position, where he once stood, Elias walks out,

looks. The jungle is silent once again. Francis, Tubbs, King

follow. The others - Barnes, Lt.Wolfe, Warren, Chris, Rhah ...

FRANCIS AND OTHERS

(whispering loudly)

Manny? ... Manny?

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