War Photographer's Notebook

Driven by the strong wind, continuous waves also appeared in the calm lagoon. These waves washed over the beach again and again, smoothing away the remaining footprints on it, and at the same time, the owner of the footprints, together with the lifebuoy he just grabbed in his hand, Pushed back to the shore together.

Stopping his galloping pace, Wei Ran ignored the wound on his foot cut by the reef, and knelt down on Captain Evans to help check his wound.And Hawks, who ran up first, also hurriedly dragged Deputy Captain Sterling, who was also shot, over.

After some inspection, Wei Ran easily found the location where Evans was shot. At the same time, he couldn't help sighing. The shot hit his stomach just now. With the current environment and existing medical conditions, The only thing he can do is to give the other party a shot of morphine to relieve pain.

Shaking his head regretfully at Hawks with a panicked expression, Wei Ran gently laid Captain Evans flat on the beach, and then moved to the side of Vice Captain Sterling.

His condition is not much better than the former one. The shot that hit him in the back, the wound that continuously overflowed with blood, and accompanied by his breathing, the continuous gushing of fine bubbles made Wei Ran subconsciously think of The squad leader Liang Yimin in Savage Mountain!
Sighing secretly, Wei Ran regretfully pushed the last morphine they had into the vein of Vice Captain Sterling.

"Hawks"

Sterling yelled softly with all his body, and when Hawks looked over subconsciously, he stretched out his fingers tremblingly, drew a small star on the flat sand, and marked "N" representing true north beside it. ".

Immediately afterwards, he drew a triangle with the little star as the vertex, and then drew a line connecting the five-pointed star and the base to draw a new triangle.

"Often North"

Sterling beckoned Hawkes to come closer to write, and said intermittently while coughing blood, "North.East, 40 degrees, the more... North, the sextant. Polaris angle. The higher the angle, the higher the angle. like me.painted,.go.you go"

While talking, Sterling pushed Sterling's head gently with all his strength, and pushed him to the side of Captain Evans.

"Bury us with...and the moose."

Evans put his hand on Sterling's shoulder, pointed to the sailor's whistle on his neck and said, "Help us, it's enough to blow the sailor's whistle for us, no... don't take us back, just, just let us Fight to the death with the Johnston."

After a short pause, Evans showed a wry smile, took a deep breath and finally said, "Also, the flower in the camp, I...I like it very much, help me bring back its flowers... and, and seeds. .”

Looking at Captain Evans who had lost his breath before finishing his sentence, and then at Vice Captain Sterling who had also stopped breathing, and the sand map he was still protecting with his arms until he died, Hawks silently pulled out the ax that was still attached to Jiro's chest, and slashed down on its face and neck like crazy!
Sighing again, Wei Ran took a few steps back silently, turned around and took out the camera bag, replaced the camera with a wide-angle lens and a cassette containing new film, and twisted the ratchet to wind up the mainspring.

Finally put away the camera bag, Wei Ran turned around and held up the camera, and took pictures of the two captains lying on the beach, the blood-stained sand map on the beach, Hawks who was swinging an ax with his back to him, and the blood-splattered body. The dead body, and even the 1911 pistol in the hands of the dead body, which had been emptied of bullets and hung up empty, were all included in the viewfinder frame as much as possible.

With the sound of the creaking shutter, Hawks gradually stopped his venting behavior and kicked Jiro, who had already changed beyond recognition.He silently stretched out his finger, dipped it on the blood-stained ax blade, and then drew some lines of unknown meaning on his face.

"What are you going to do?" Seeing that the other party was walking towards the camp on the north side of the island with an ax in hand, Wei Ran immediately put the camera into his satchel and asked.

"You know what I'm going to do" Hawkes stopped for a moment.

"I'll go with you," Wei Ran said, and quickly took two steps to follow behind Hawkes.

The short distance was less than a hundred meters, and as the distance got closer, the two of them also saw the campfire on the north side of the island, which was blown by the wind, and saw Akila leaning on the tree trunk.

Walking into this camp filled with the smell of feces and meat, Wei Ran immediately frowned, and reached out to stop Hawks who had raised his axe.

"What's wrong?" Hawkes asked gloomyly.

"wait first"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he looked again at the bone on the bonfire, which was placed in the helmet that served as a cooking pot.

Even if he hadn't studied at Hongqi Forest Farm, he had already discovered that something was wrong. This small island surrounded by the ocean was too small, and there were no large terrestrial wild animals on the island at all.

On the other hand, whether it is seabirds flying in the sky or various fish in the water, it is impossible to grow bones that only land mammals have!That being the case, those bones.
Glancing at Akila who was wearing a flying leather hat and goggles, and covered the lower half of his face with an umbrella cloth, Wei Ran stepped over, carefully lifted the umbrella cloth wrapped around the opponent's body, and untied the opponent's chain. He unbuttoned the belt of his flight suit, and then unbuttoned his upper body.

Without seeing the situation inside clearly, he and Hawkes could smell a strong smell of feces, and Akira also let out a weird giggle!
He tore off the umbrella cloth from the other person's face, but Wei Ran frowned. It's only been a few days since he disappeared, and Akila's teeth are gone!

When he came back to his senses, he immediately helped the other party take off the smelly one-piece flight suit. Immediately afterwards, he and Hawkes saw a horrifying scene.

At this time, Akila's injured right foot was gone from below the knee, and about ten centimeters above the knee, there was still a circle of paracord tied tightly, but the wound was only roughly burnt. !

What it is missing is not only the right calf, but also the parts below the elbows of its left and right hands!Similarly, the treatment of these two wounds is no different from its right leg!

In addition, the flight suit on Akila's body was also tied to the trunk behind him with a lock. After missing half of his leg and two hands, he wanted to stand up, let alone unlock the lock behind him. , are simply impossible.

Even though he maintained an irreparable hatred with the other party, Wei Ran had to lament the tenacity of life, even though he was almost eaten into a human stick, Akila was still alive at this time, even when he saw Wei Ran and Huo Ran When he was with Max, there were bloody tears flowing from the corners of his eyes!

"vomit--!"

Hawkes, who had clearly come here for revenge, couldn't hold back after all, and started to vomit violently while leaning on a tree by the camp.

Taking a step back a little later, Wei Ran bent down and picked up a handful of fine sand to wipe the blood stains and dirt on his hands, but he didn't think that there happened to be a complete nail cover hidden in this handful of fine sand.

Wei Ran let the sand in his hand be carried away by the wind with a blank face, cleared his throat and said, "Hawks, go back first, send the two captains back, and bring back the weapon bag."

"He vomits!" Before Hawkes finished speaking, he continued to retch involuntarily.

"Let him live"

Wei Ran showed a flat smile, "For Mr. Akila, living is a painful thing."

Hearing this, Hawks couldn't help trembling, spat out the stains in his mouth, and was about to leave this hellish camp.

"Etc., etc"

The toothless Akira begged vaguely, "Help me, help me."

"help you with what?"

Wei Ran squatted only two meters away from the other party, looked at the other party and asked. At the same time, he was very grateful in his heart to the metal book like a close elder sister for giving him the request of "not allowing anyone to kill" this time.

Just like what he just said to Hawkes, for Akira at this time, living is the more painful thing.

"Kill me kill me."

Akira said vaguely, and Hawks, who was standing outside the camp, couldn't help but snorted coldly after hearing the request, and continued walking towards the south side of the island.

"I'm afraid not"

Spreading his hands, Wei Ran took out his camera from his bag and took a picture of the other party while saying, "I can't kill people, it will dirty my hands."

Naked and covered in feces, Akila struggled to get out of the dirty flight suit like a bug. Under Wei Ran's cold eyes, he moved under a tree little by little against the increasingly irritable sea wind. , using its only remaining foot, pushing down the fine sand under the tree.

"Gold, I will give you all the gold." Akila begged tearfully, "Medicine, give me a medicine."

Taking a picture of the other party again, Wei Ran put the camera into the bag and looked around, picked up the greasy machete by the campfire, and walked over under Akila's horrified gaze.

Ignoring Akira who moved his body to the side in a panic while trying his best to protect his only good leg.Wei Ran dug through the sand, and dug out a long lunch box from it.

Under Akila's eager gaze, Wei Ran threw the machete outside the camp, and unhurriedly opened the lid, revealing the small medicine bottles on the tray.

Glancing at Akila who was looking at him eagerly, Wei Ran put these small medicine bottles into his pocket, and then lifted the tray, revealing the dollars, gold bars, gold rings, and A map in a cellophane bag and a compass still protected by a condom.

"Where did these things come from?" Wei Ran picked up a roll of dollars in a condom and asked.

"that's me"

"You'd better tell the truth." Wei Ran reminded before the other party finished speaking, "This is related to whether you can get those medicines."

"It was looted from Feilu Bin." Akira replied vaguely, "We robbed the churches and temples there."

"Where's the golden statue?" Wei Ran pressed the lid of the lunch box and asked, "Where is she? She was also snatched?"

"Give me the medicine first." Akira swallowed and said, "Give me the medicine, and I will."

"Forget it, I don't have that much curiosity."

Wei Ran said, put the lunch box aside, ignored Akila's struggle and pleading, stuffed him back into the one-piece flight suit, and helped him re-tie the belt and put on the umbrella cloth.

"Enjoy the coming storm"

As Wei Ran said, he kindly helped the other party to strengthen the umbrella cloth against the rain, and added some firewood to the campfire, and even took out the engineer shovel without any disguise, and under Akila's sluggish gaze, gave the campfire and Around Akira, a circle of windproof and water-resistant sand was cultivated, and then he left the sinful camp with the greasy machete, the lunch box he just dug up, and the Japanese smoking set.

Facing the sea breeze coming from the pavement, Wei Ran walked to the water's edge, squatted down and grabbed a handful of fine sand that could squeeze out water, carefully scrubbed the machete and his hands clean, then got up and walked slowly towards the small island. the southernmost point.

When the bean-sized raindrops were crackling down in the strong wind, he also walked into their camp, but in less than half an hour, in the camp that was once full of laughter and hope of escape, only Hawkes, who was sitting in a daze by the campfire, and the bodies of the two captains who were either lying on the bed or in the hammock.

Glancing at the hammock that was stained red by Sterling's blood, and then at the Indian pipe ax that was still full of blood next to Captain Evans, Wei Ran didn't know what to say, he could only Sitting silently on the simple wooden bed that belonged to him, he stared blankly at the increasing rain outside and the waves blowing up by the strong wind in a daze.

I don't know how long it took, when the waves had washed up on the beach driven by the strong wind and almost crashed into the woods, Hawkes suddenly stood up.

"What are you going to do?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.

"Bury them"

While Hawkes was speaking, he had already found the copper skin he made from the shell casings by himself, then put on the tattered gloves, left the camp, and dug the tomb by himself in the wind and rain beside the sailor moose pit.

"What are you going to do next?" Wei Ran asked while helping.

"Bury them first," Hox continued after a pause, "then store enough food, repair our ship, and leave here."

"Can you use the sextant made by Sterling?" Wei Ran couldn't help asking.

"will not"

Hawks shook his head, "But it doesn't matter, I just need to go 40 degrees north by east. Although I don't know how to use a sextant, I can at least use a sail and a compass. That's enough. .”

"I will help you," Wei Ran said seriously, "just like now."

"Thank you"

Hawkes muttered something to himself, while Wei Ran sighed. In this time and space, Hawkes at least had his own company, but in that time and space without himself, he couldn't imagine that this How an Indian soldier who was just 18 years old survived loneliness.

"I just found this in Akila's camp." Wei Ran promptly handed over the lunch box and even the Japanese smoking set he brought back to Akila.

Temporarily stopping the work of digging the grave in hand, Hawkes casually opened the lid of the lunch box, then lifted the empty tray, glanced at the yellow and white things and the map compass in the lunch box, and closed the lid again Throwing it aside, "Except for that map, the remaining things are probably the most useless."

"Hawks"

"what happened?"

"to survive"

While digging the grave with his bare hands, Wei Ran said, "I also promised you that when we return to Hawaii, I will take you to a strip club to see the dick of white girls. The money and gold are enough for you to see a hundred white girls. Nako is fine. So for."

"In order to see Nako of the white girl, I also want to survive."

Hawks once again said what he said when he met Wei Ran in the sea, but this time, there was no ridicule in his tone, only sadness.

In the increasingly manic wind and rain, the two gradually dug a grave that was wide enough and deep enough.

Without resting at all and without discussing with Wei Ran, Hawkes left the camp alone in the rain, and dragged back the life raft hidden behind the distant reef.

"Victor, I'm going"

"Do what you want." Wei Ran nodded without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, "I will support you whatever you do."

Hawkes was stunned, reached out to open the air vent of the life raft, then picked up the machete that Wei Ran brought back, and cut four knives on the original "O"-shaped life raft, turning it into two "I" " and two "("-shaped rubber tubes, and a load-bearing net full of holes.

After removing the coconut that was originally used to block the damaged opening, Hawkes carefully sewed up the damaged opening with fishing line and hooks, and then tied one end with a paracord, like a body bag, carefully wrapped in the on Sterling.

After tying the other end to death with paracord, the two first sent Sloat into the grave, and then followed the same pattern, wrapping the body of Captain Evans in a waterproof floating bag, and sending him into the grave as well.

This is not over yet, Hawks cut off the sea anchor bag where Akira and the two hid their things, and took Captain Evans' diary, the simple sextant made by Sterling, and even the two of them just desperately picked up the sea anchor bag. All the weapons that came back were put in, and after they were carefully wrapped, they were placed between the two corpses.

Under the gushing wind and rain, the fine white sand gradually buried the two corpses, and finally they were no longer distinguishable from the surrounding sand.

"Beep! Beep!"

Hawkes stood on the edge of the filled grave, exhausted all his strength, and blew the sailor's whistle in his hand again and again alone.With the low whistle, Wei Ran once again raised his camera to do the only thing he can do now - to record this unknown history and pain.

"Crack!" Amidst the crisp shutter sound, Wei Ran's field of vision was completely filled with white light.

Is it finally over? While Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief, he was inevitably a little disappointed.

But soon, before his eyesight recovered, he felt the scorching temperature and glaring sunlight, and even his body was shaking slowly.

Twitching his nose to smell the familiar and disgusting smell of the sea, Wei Ran tried his best to blink his eyes, and finally saw the surrounding situation clearly.

At this moment, he was sitting in the dark blue traffic boat.The two sides of the hull of this transportation boat are respectively clinging to the side of the boat, and a long cylindrical floating bag wrapped in white umbrella cloth is firmly fixed.

And in the center of the hull, there is also fixed an insulated bucket also wrapped in umbrella cloth, and a triangle sail that is fairly delicate in work.It's a pity, perhaps because of the lack of wind, the spinnaker was so loose that it couldn't generate any power at all.

The stern of the boat across the insulation barrel, just like the bow, used wooden sticks and umbrella cloth to set up a shed for sun and rain, and the top of the shed was even tightly wrapped with the original load-bearing net of the life raft.

At this time, Hawkes was leaning on the thermos bucket with his back to himself, carefully tearing off the fiber from a piece of dry coconut shell, kneading it into a ball and stuffing it into the Japanese-style cigarette pot , Then he took out a lighter from the Japanese-style smoking bag, and lit a burnt-yellow flame to ignite the fake shredded tobacco in the smoking pot.

Ignoring Hawkes, who was coughing and choking on the counterfeit tobacco, Wei Ran glanced at the more than 20 shelled coconuts piled up in the stern cabin, and finally turned his attention to himself and behind him.

I was still wearing the handyman's deck uniform, with a folded body armor sitting under my buttocks, and a heavy telescope box hanging on my waist. The only difference was that on my ten fingers, there were a total of Three plain gold rings.

Look at the cabin at the bow of the ship behind you, where a row of 8 American kettles are tied with ropes, as well as a life buoy and underwater ventilation equipment modified with gas masks, plus a canvas bag filled with dried smoked fish.

But apart from what he could see with his eyes, he didn't find anything else, especially the canvas sailor bag, the pipe axe, and the sailor's whistle that later generations saw.

After pondering for a while, Wei Ran tried to take out the camera bag under the cover of the thermos bucket between the two of them, took out the camera from inside to check it, and then took out the British army kettle and the three unreliable oil barrels .

However, what made him want to scold his mother was that it was alright for the British army kettle to be light and empty, but the three oil drums were surprisingly heavy, especially the one with the spout stained with a bit of permission, which was even unexpected. It was so hot that he shivered!
"What's the matter Victor?" Hawks, with his back to Wei Ran, held up a piece of incense in his hand, "Would you like a coconut-flavored pipe?"

"nothing"

Wishing to eat people, Wei Ran hurriedly put away the oil barrel and kettle, "Forget about the pipe, I will choke to death."

"We've been at sea for a week"

Hawkes glanced at the notch on the side of the boat, carefully took a sip of the counterfeit cigarette, changed the subject, and asked hoarsely, "I don't know how far we are from the main island of Palau."

"I don't know how far away." Wei Ran kindly reminded, "But if you continue to smoke this kind of fake tobacco, you will become dumb sooner or later."

“Some draws are good”

Hawkes took another sip of his pipe and said with some frustration, "It's impossible for us to go back to Helen Island now. I don't even know where we are now."

Hearing this, Wei Ran subconsciously stood up and raised his eyes to look around, but then, his heart skipped a beat, and he slapped the thermos bucket between the two of them vigorously with one hand, and pointed at the sea in the distance with the other hand and shouted, "Huo Huo! Hawks! Hawks! Boat! There's a boat over there! And the island!"

Hearing this, Hoxten stood up abruptly, and looked in the direction of Wei Ran's finger.Sure enough, on the sea in the distance, there is really a small boat that can barely be seen clearly!And not too far from the boat, there is a small green island!

Looking at Wei Ran, Hawkes immediately opened the cloth bag hanging on his chest, tremblingly took out a simple signal transmitter from it and handed it to Wei Ran, and then took out another signal flare, Tear off the wax seal and hand it to Wei Ran.

Before he fired the signal flare, Hawks had already pulled out his pistol, pointed it at the top of his head, and pulled the trigger again and again!

Amidst the sound of gunshots, Wei Ran finally stuffed the flare into the launcher, picked up the firing pin on the tail and aimed it at the top of his head.

"Bang! Whew!"

With a beep, a red flare flew into the sky.

"One more!"

As Hawkes said, he took out a few more flares from the cloth bag on his chest and handed them to Wei Ran, who also took Wei Ran and handed over the telescope by the way.

"Bang! Whew!"

Another signal bomb flew into the cloudless sky, and Hawkes immediately shouted excitedly, "They noticed! Their ship is turning towards us!"

While talking, Hawks picked up the sailor's whistle hanging around his neck, and brought it to his mouth and blew a long whistle.

"beep--!"

In the low but penetrating whistle, Hawks couldn't help but shed tears from the corners of his eyes, and Wei Ran's vision was once again completely filled with intense white light.