Hunters moon

12: What's confidential about hyenas?

Piet elbowed Frits on his arm "Sorry cap, where did you get that beer?"

"Want one Piet?" Koos asked and took a beer out of his cooler.

"Well this day just got much better" Piet said happily taking the beer and cracking it.

"So, you ram turs hey?" Koos continued. Piet nodded drinking.

"Well, we're going to need a loose cannon for this one, you won't believe me if I told you we used artillery on hyenas last night?"

Piet laughed "Fucksakes! That must have made quite a fokkin splash hey!? Here I thought I was the crazy one?"

"No jokes boet, those were some big fokkin mutts" Frits said.

"Attention!" The sergeant major said returning with a tall man in jungle camouflage "This is Quintin Trueno, he will be the man you'll escort into Angola"

"Oh!? So were babysitters now!?" Piet asked.

"That's what I said!" Koos bellowed.

"Shutup! Nobody asked you to shoot fokkin hyenas with artillery! Now get it done!" The man left mumbling to himself.

"Fucksakes, you weren't joking about the hyenas hey Koos?" Piet laughed.

"Nope" Koos replied approaching Quintin "So Frikkie... You ready to rumble in the jungle hey?"

Quintin stood watching Koos, although he bulked up quite a lot, Koos was bigger and taller than him, he has never met someone higher on his shoulders than himself so far.

"Uh, yes?"

"That's 'Yes sir!' for you boet!"

"Yes sir!" Quintin repeated.

"Good, because take a look around pipsqueak! You're not in the fokkin jungle now! You're in the bush veld!"

Quintin shriveled in then scanned, it was true; tents, vehicles even uniforms, all a coffee shade brown, not even camo printed.

"Captain, will you be so kind to go get this roof some browns, before I get fokkin jungle fever and beat his head like a drum!"

"Roof!?" Quintin asked.

"It means maggot!" Koos belowed.

"Be right back" Frits left.

"So, what's so special about these hyenas boet?" Piet asked still laughing at Koos' words. Quintin looked up at Koos, who looked like he got slightly angrier.

"He asked you a Question!"

"I, uh, it's, sort of confidential, sir"

"Confidential!? Whats so confidential about hyenas!?" Koos roared, he was so angry he could shoot at his own shadow.

"I'm sorry sir! It just is!" Quintin yelled defending.

Frits came over and shoved a uniform in his arms "Use that tent there" He pointed at Koos' tent. Quintin quickly ducked in, not wanting to be in the scorching stare of Koos for any longer.

"So? did he squeal?" Frits asked.

"Fokker said it's confidential"

"Confidential!? What's so confidential about fokkin hyenas!?"

"That's what I asked him! Anyway, Piet, go get your Ratel, as soon as this Frikkie put his browns on, were off, I want this ordeal over asap!"

Quintin was busy tying his boot laces, Ezbar told him not to say anything at all, these men are only there to wound one if possible, so he could get a vale of blood, if they die during this mission, it's only collateral damage, many lives will be kept safe if this succeeds.

He jumped up and headed out. A large sand brown six by six vehicle with a small cannoned turret on top was waiting outside, it had what seemed like smeers of back paint all over its front and side, almost as if water ran from front to back and rusted the thing in that fashion. When Quintin approached a smell horrid and vile hit him, he gagged.

"Ghurg! What!? What the f**k is that smell!?"

Koos was in the turret hatch "Jump in boet! We're going!"

Quintin's insides turned "Uuhalg f**k! it's f*****g awful!"

"Jump! I don't have all day!"

Quintin squeezed his nose and hopped in, Frits closed the side hatch and beat it twice "Good to go Piet!" The Ratel rumbled off.

"Head for the east exit Piet, then floor it!" Koos called.

Now with his nose closed, Quintin could taste that smell.

"For fucksakes! Hugrg! How can you breath in this!?"

"Hoi! Don't vomit in here Frikkie!" Frits yelled.

"hmm... hmm... hmmhhu!" Quintin almost hurled.

"Fok! If you vomit here! I'll beat the fokkin crap out of you!" Frits yelled again.

Koos and Piet was laughing "You think that's paint this thing is covered in boet!?" Koos called down.

"It's not paint!?"

"Nope"

"f**k, is that where the smell is coming from!?"

"Yup"

"s**t! it's, it's rotten! Like, a skunk pissed on rotten eggs, then, f*****g ate it, then puked it out! What is it!?"

"That's the smell of death boet"

"Death!? Death doesn't have a smell!"

"You sure? Ever smelled a rotting carcass before?"

That's it! That smell! That's the name he was looking for! He once smelled a road killed dog that had that same scent, it's then that it all made sense to him, that black paint, it wasn't paint, it was... "Blood!?"

"Bullseye" Koos said.

"What the f**k!? Why do you paint this thing with blood?"

"We didn't, Our driver here is very fond of ramming s**t"

"Ramming!? What like cows? And sheep?"

"Turs!" Piet called back.

"Turs?"

"Yes! Turs, terrorists, insurgents, the enemy!"

"That's... Insane! That's inhumane! You can't run people over! That's... That's..."

"War... That's war boet" Koos helped him.

"f**k that! Shooting at those shooting at you, that's war, not running them over, and carrying their blood on this thing like war paint!"

Koos jumped off the turret seat and grabbed him by his collar "Listen here boet! Understand one thing! We don't hate them, no feeling of animosity, were soldiers that's all, soldiers just as they are! We fight because we are ordered to, just as they are ordered to!

Now! Do you want to know what they do to us!? Huh!!" Koos screamed, lifting Quintin off his seat "They take antiaircraft guns, level them to the ground, then fire at us with it, have you seen what an antiaircraft gun does, to a fokkin Ratel like this!? Huh!? It tares through this fokkin thing like butter!" Koos was still screaming, he threw Quintin down in his chair.

"This is a Infantry fighting vehicle, it carries twelve troops, all dead if that thing opens up on us...! So tell me again Quintin... What's humane? Running men over? Or killing them with cannons meant to take down aircraft?"

Quintin was speechless. Koos climbed back onto his turret seat.

"Exactly, nothing is humane in war, no matter how you die in war, it was due to the war that you died, if you didn't come to war, you wouldn't have died" He mumbled opening another beer.

Quintin realised, just as his struggle on the streets was harsh, these men had it worse, at least he didn't get shot at before. And now Koos said, they don't hate the enemy? They're only soldiers, just as the enemy are only soldiers.

"I'm sorry sir, I was out of place"

"No need to apologize Frikkie, just don't assume everything is what it seems, never look at a situation and judge it without knowing the whole truth, never"

Quintin felt ashamed, but this Ratel must have killed a lot of men to smell this bad.

"With all due respect sir, why not wash this thing then, instead you carry the blood on it around like a bad reminder of the aftermath of war?"

Koos shrugged "Ask our driver"

Quintin looked at Piet, who also shrugged. "Why wash it when it just kept drawing more blood, heck, there are some intestines stuck in the wheel arched, that's the sour smell you're smelling, but those are from animals Frikkie don't worry"

Quintin gagged again, making the three men laugh.

"Please can we wash this thing!? I'll even help! I swear!"

"Why boet? We're going after hyenas, nothing draws hyenas like the smell of rotten flesh" Koos chuckled.

Quintin's shrill found him again, werehyenas bite through steel, they're not safe in this thing! It's basically a food tray, on wheels! And he's going to be food!

"Uh, um..." He remembered that small cannon on the top of this thing "What type of gun does this thing have?"

"A twenty millimeter auto cannon"

"Auto cannon?"

"Yup, fires three hundred rounds a minute"

"What type of ammo?"

Koos reached into the chain belt magazines of the cannon and took a round out, it was about three times larger than your average carrot, it didn't give Quintin much hope "Its small'ish"

"You ever see a balloon burst boet?"

"Yeah?"

"That's what happens if you shoot a hyena with this, pop, over and out, it's fires a high explosive tip, so it makes a big mess, trust me" Koos said and reloaded the round. Quintin sighed, that settled him more, there might still be hope.

"Speaking of which, you know when you go to the toilet right?" Koos asked lighting a cigarette.

"Uh, yes?"

"You lock the door, and sit down to take a dump?"

"Yes...?"

"Technically speaking, that's you, being confidential about your business right? locked door n all?"

"Yes, I guess so?"

"Know this Frikkie! Eventually I will smell that s**t, then I'll know you're taking a dump, and not maybe j*********f or something, the truth will come out..." He leaned over to Quintin "Still want to keep this confidential? Maybe tell us now and avoid us finding out for our selves?"

Quintin looked at Koos, then dropped his gaze.

"I'm sorry sir, I wish I could"

"Arriving at the coordinates General" Piet called from the front.