BJ! He heard his name and sat up from where the blast had thrown him, shaking the dust that colored his hair brown. The plume caused him to cough and his eyes to water. He wanted to run to Hawkeye, to see if his friend was all right, but an exploding bomb forced him to roll over and cover his neck and head with his arms.
A moan to his left caught his attention. He tucked his medicine pack under his arm and ran towards the groaning body. He realized too late that the body belonged to a Korean.
The Korean forgot his own pain when he saw the American and lunged with surprising force at his enemy. His hands went towards BJ�s throat, intent to strangle him, but he found his hands stilled by the surgeon�s more powerful ones. His attack did send the American backwards and he heard a satisfying thunk that only a head against a rock could make.
BJ gasped at the pain, but his grip didn�t�couldn�t�slacken. If it did, he was dead. His vision swam and his arms shook. The Korean had the advantage of gravity on his side.
A solder running by saw the struggle. Without a second thought he shot the foreigner, then continued on his was as if nothing had happened. As if no life had been taken.
BJ rolled the body off his chest and tried to get up. His head was throbbing so much it sounded as if an African tribe was conducting a band practice, his skull being used as the drum. He made it was far as his knees before he gave up and laid back down. Hawkeye might be hurt, he realized suddenly. BJ reached for his bag, intent on crawling all the way to where his friend should be. Unfortunately, he made it as far as pulling his bag tightly to his side�his last thoughts were of making it to Hawkeye�s side�
***
He wasn�t sure if it were the bombs or the sensation of being moved that woke him.
The Korean that was standing over BJ had already removed his tags and was now searching though his pockets. He glanced at the man�s face and froze when he realized that the body was alive and watching him. Panicking, he grabbed the Captain�s bag and ran off.
BJ had always frowned upon body looters, no matter how bad off the family was. Even more now that it was his own. He sighed. It sounded like the fighting was starting to move on. He sat up and gingerly touched the back of his head. He felt the dried blood, thankful that it wasn�t bleeding.
Stretching his long legs, he righted himself and stumbled to a nearby tree, using the trunk to support himself. He rested his head on the rough bark and closed his eyes, trying to make his world stop spinning. The 4077th, he had to get back somehow�if only the nausea would pass so he could open his eyes.
BJ felt something on his neck and reached to brush it off. He didn�t look at his hand; his eyes were still closed. If he had, he would have noticed that they were red with blood�
He didn�t know how, but next he found himself on the ground next to the tree. His limbs had grown heavy. When he opened his eyes, the ground beckoned him, and he complied.
***
BJ awoke to see the familiar canvas of the Swamp�s roof. He blinked and the wonderful image was replaced by that of an old thatched roof. The disappointment hurt. He slowly sat up and felt the back of his head. A cloth had been tied there and he cautiously removed it.
A yell from the door scared him half to death. In bustled a Korean woman, about 30 years of age. She spoke a rapid string of Korean words as she hurried towards him. She checked to see if the bleeding had stopped, it thankfully had, then forced him to lay back down, not willing to take no for an answer, no matter the language. She turned away and hollered something in the direction of the door. An answering yell was heard and soon a man stepped in. He was slightly older than the woman, who was his wife. He peered over her shoulder at the strange American
BJ felt uncomfortable under their scrutiny. �Either one of you speak English? English?� He looked back and forth between the two strangers.
The looked at each other, recognizing the word. �Korean,� the man said slowly, then nodded.
�Oh, boy,� BJ sighed.
The man pointed to himself. �Sin�ye,� he said. Then he pointed to his wife. �Jen�a.�
�Jen�a,� she repeated, raising her eyebrows in question.
BJ pointed, first to the man, then the woman. �Sin�ye. And you are Jen�a?�
They smiled, both nodding.
He pointed to himself. �BJ.�
�Bee J,� Jen�a repeated.
He heard her voice, saw her lips move, but all he could think about was how much that sounded like Hawkeye�s nickname for him�BJ nodded and closed his eyes, not wanting them to see his tears.
The couple left him alone. He could hear them conversing in low voices. Most likely they were discussing the situation they now found themselves in. Why were they helping him? By the looks of their little leaky place, they couldn�t afford to have anything else to worry about. Soon after they were gone, he sat up again. His dizziness soon passed, and then he stood, leaning his back to the wall for support. His head still throbbed something terrible.
Jen�a chose that time to reappear. She made a disgusted sound and marched right up to him. She wasn�t intimidated in the least by the fact that BJ was almost 2 feet taller than her. She pointed to the pallet he had been laying on.
�I can�t stay here,� BJ said, carefully shaking his head. �I need to go home�MASH 4077th.�
Again she pointed for him to sit back down.
BJ sighed and mumbled a �Yes, ma�am� as he lowered himself back down. He pretended, to himself, that he was sitting because he was told, not because he was too weak to try to make a run out the door.
She watched him, noticed the perspiration on his face. Convinced he would be good and stay put, she went back to help her husband outside.
***
Jen�a returned several hours later to find BJ sound asleep. She went about her usual task of preparing rice for her husband, keeping one eye on the cooking and another on the man. He had practically stumbled onto their doorstep. At first they had thought him dead, but he still bled and moaned in his sleep.
***
BJ woke much later. He wondered what time it was�all he could tell was that it was sometime at night by looking up at the gaps in the roof.
Sin�ye was watching him. He moved to get BJ�s attention. Trying not to wake Jen�a, who was asleep in the corner, he pointed to BJ, then to his mouth. The stranger looked confused, so he rubbed his stomach, then again pointed to his mouth. This time BJ nodded. He had left some rice in a bowl heated by some leftover coals. He snatched it and brought it over along with a pair of chopsticks.
BJ nodded his thanks and slowly ate the rice, trying not to pay attention to it�s lack of flavor and odd texture. He watched Sin�ye lay down next to his wife and go to sleep. The silence was deafening and he had the sudden urge to yell. He refrained and instead finished the rice, then laid down to try to go back to sleep.