The Yellow Birds Page #5

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So we need to move?

Motherfucking animals.

Murph.

Murph, what's up, you think?

Move back, move the vics

back! Move the vics back!

Move back!

Savior Six, this

is Three Agile, over.

I need a EOD team

to my location.

[Sterling] All the way!

Sarge, what is it?

Body bomb.

All right, listen up!

EOD's on the way.

I want a clean sweep.

No surprises.

[thudding]

Clear. Two coming out.

[thudding]

[people talking in

foreign language]

All right, come on.

Let's go, bud.

Hey.

Let's go.

You can see her, too, right?

Yeah, I see her.

Come on.

We're all clear in here.

Let's go. Grab your weapon.

[Lieutenant on radio] Savior

Six, this is Three Agile, over.

Savior Three, pull

back, pull back.

Meet the vics at the

intersection, over.

Stand by to copy, over.

[EOD commander on radio] Hang

tight, we are almost there.

Copy that.

Get safe, people.

We making a hole!

All Savior Three elements,

pull back to the hard ball.

I say again, pull back

to the hard ball, over.

[dramatic music]

I'll do the countdown.

Yo, whoa, whoa, where's Murph?

Where's Murph?

I don't know.

[Bartle] Francazino,

where's Murph?

In five,

four, three...

Murph!

[Lieutenant] Two,

one.

[bomb exploding]

Murphy!

Murphy!

Private Murphy,

speak the f*** up!

Hey.

Hey, where's your boy?

I don't know.

I don't know, sir.

Well, when's the last

time you saw him?

When we were checking

that building back there.

[Sterling] Jesus.

What was he doing?

I don't know, he was

f***ing hanging back,

but we left together.

Ah, f***.

Yeah.

We lost Murphy.

I'm gonna take a

team, go look for him.

Take off and sweep every

building east to west.

[distinct radio chatter]

[Bartle] He was

sitting right here.

Hey.

Hey.

What?

He say anything to you?

Anything funny?

No.

- Look at me, anything?

- No.

[Whitaker] Over here!

That don't mean sh*t.

Christ, a drop of

blood in this city

don't mean a

motherfucking thing.

So what do we do now, Sarge?

Let's get going.

Sun'll be down soon.

[Bartle] We searched for

I don't know how many hours.

Second Platoon

formed a perimeter

in case some dude nabbed him

and was trying to

get him out of town.

The rest of us worked

our way through the city,

block by block.

Our squad took point.

[children talking]

[dog barking]

Sarge.

Hold up!

She was out earlier.

[Sterling] You sure?

Yeah.

[speaking in foreign language]

[speaking in foreign language]

[speaking in foreign language]

What's up?

[Sterling] Alpha, sweep left.

Bravo, 360 perimeter, hold here.

[Bartle] The

woman told Sterling

that she'd seen an

American walking

toward the edge of the city.

Alone.

With no shoes on.

Bartle, with me.

He looked lost, she said.

Sergeant knew it

had to be Murph,

but he didn't tell anybody.

Whatever we were gonna find,

Sterling didn't

want any witnesses.

He wanted it just to be us.

In our report, we, um...

We wrote that we returned

to base that night

without finding Murph.

But that's not true.

No, ma'am.

It wasn't.

[creaking]

[clinking]

[Sterling] Hey.

[whistles]

[speaking in foreign language]

[Bartle] What's he saying?

He said he saw a boy.

[Bartle] What boy? Murph?

That's all he

said, he saw a boy.

Where?

He's gonna show us.

[clinking]

[man speaks in foreign language]

[man speaks foreign language]

Something ain't right, Sarge.

This feels like

a f***ing set-up.

Ah, f*** it.

One way to find out.

[dramatic music]

[flies buzzing]

[dramatic music]

Help me get him out.

Oh!

[Sterling] F***!

Motherfuckers tried

to castrate him.

[dramatic music]

[sobbing]

I'm so sorry.

[dramatic music]

Best I can tell,

Murph slipped away

as soon as we stepped outside.

Who knows what he was thinking?

If he was even thinking at all.

[dramatic music]

[exhales]

Oh, God!

Who the f*** did that?

Goddamn it.

What do we do with him?

We do what we came here to do.

F***, we take him back.

No.

We can't take him back.

Not like this.

Like what don't matter.

We got a job to do.

[Bartle] Look at him.

I did.

Look at him.

[panting]

Ah, f***.

[panting]

All right, fine.

What, then?

I don't know.

Let me think.

F***.

You go get the Hajji with the

cart, bring him over here.

Go f***ing get the

Hajji with the cart.

Anyone hears about this...

We need to fix it like

it never happened.

Understand?

[Bartle] "Fix it like

it never happened."

That's what Murph wanted

more than anything.

Getting separated,

wandering off...

None of that was an accident.

Murph was looking for

a way to disappear.

And he finally found one.

[clinking]

I didn't wanna take

that away from him.

I figured if Murph couldn't

forget, then maybe...

Maybe he could be forgotten.

[dramatic music]

[splashing]

[dramatic music]

Like it never happened.

[gun firing]

[dramatic music]

[exhales]

You didn't think that

I would wanna see my son?

Not like he was.

I...

I didn't want you to remember

him the way that I do.

That's not your

decision to make.

This is probably gonna

seem silly now, but...

Will you...

Yeah.

Just tell me where it happened

just so I kind of have an idea?

No, that's not silly at all.

We found him here.

Right about...

Here.

And we carried him

to the water here.

And then we just let him go.

Right about here it

opens up into the gulf,

and I guess that's

where he stopped.

Or kept going, you know.

There's nothing to

stop you out there, no.

Nothing to get in your way

when you look out at it all.

No trees, just...

Sky and water, and

after a while you...

Can't tell one from the other.

There's nothing to shield you.

There's nothing to keep you

from just taking it all in.

That's where he is now.

Somewhere.

[dramatic music]

Ma'am?

Was he ever happy over there?

Sure.

Why don't you

tell me about that?

Well...

There was this girl he liked.

And, um...

I don't know if she

ever even knew his name,

but he liked her.

One time, this wasn't that

long ago, there was a party.

It was a Christmas party.

And, um...

And that girl was there...

And he was too shy

to go dance with her.

And I kept trying to get

him to go talk to her.

He kept saying, "No, no, no."

And...

And then she came up to him.

And she made him get out

there and start moving.

And he wasn't that good.

[chuckles]

But he wasn't that bad, either.

And he was laughing

and smiling...

And having a real good time.

[soft instrumental music]

And I just watched

and I could tell...

He was real happy then.

Wake from your sleep

[Bartle] That's

what I remember.

The drying of your tears

Today we escape

We escape

Sing us a song

A song to keep us warm

There's such a chill

Such a chill

And you can laugh

A spineless laugh

We hope your rules

And wisdom

Choke you

Now we are one

In everlasting peace

We hope

That you choke

That you choke

We hope

That you choke

That you choke

We hope

That you choke

That you choke

[folk music]

With my wings

spread out forever

God bless me in the air

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