War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 452 Inquiry in the Flames
On the morning of August 8th, under the witness of many wounded and engineers, Wei Ran and others temporarily buried Tom lying in the coffin on the edge of the beachhead landing site.

Not far from here is the wreckage of the tank that Wei Ran hid when he first met Tom.

After a few volleys of shots, many familiar engineers, wounded, doctors and nurses, led by Black Will, prayed for Tom.

After three volleys of shots, Marshall and Randy looked at each other and quietly left the crowd.

"Where are you going?" Wei Ran, who had been staring at them, stopped them and asked.

"Victor, either help us or don't stop us." Marshall said indifferently.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran asked, "What do I need to do?"

"Let's go find the rat that shot"

Marshall said as he walked towards the edge of the camp, "This is our last chance. At noon today, the engineer battalion will lay mines around the camp. Before that, we have to catch the person who killed Tom."

"Where to catch it? How do you know who fired the shot?" Wei Ran chased after him and asked.

Marshall slowed down a little when he heard the words, "Last night, Randy and I went to the birthday scene again to have a look, and we were able to roughly determine the direction of the bullets coming. As long as we chase the rest in this direction, we can always find them." Some footprints and shell casings."

"We have to at least have weapons," Wei Ran suggested again.

Marshall nodded but didn't say much. He just led Wei Ran and Randy who had been silent a lot through the camp, and finally stopped under the sentry tower on the edge of the camp.

To Wei Ran's surprise, the dawdling platoon leader who had a good relationship with Marshall was already waiting for them here.Seeing the four of them approaching, he immediately pointed to a Willys Jeep with a machine gun on the co-pilot's seat beside him.

Marshall saluted the other party solemnly, and then greeted Wei Ran and Randy to get into the car.And he himself took out a Garand rifle from the car and walked ahead alone.

Leaving the job of driving the car to Randy, Wei Ran sat in the co-pilot's seat and looked at the car carefully.In addition to the machine gun on the hood and the ammunition box under the feet, there is also a 200-liter oil drum and a flamethrower in the rear of the car.

Marshall, who was walking in front, asked Randy to control the speed of the car to the minimum, while he lit a cigarette and walked in the front.

Behind them, the dawdling platoon leader whistled, and then the soldiers on the sentry tower immediately clenched their weapons, ready for support at any time.

In the low panting sound of the engine idling, the three-person vehicle was getting farther and farther away from the camp behind them, and closer to the forest ahead.But no matter how careful Marshall was, he was still unable to find the traces left by the shooter.

Wei Ran couldn't help but look back at the dawdling platoon leader who was still holding a binoculars under the sentry tower, and then at the fuel gauge of the jeep, Wei Ran secretly sighed.He had already seen that the reason why the platoon leader supported Marshall so much was that he had no hope at all, and he just wanted the latter to vent his depression.

Although Guam is not too big, how easy is it to find the murderer on this not so big island?And Marshall didn't notice, Randy didn't notice, but he could see clearly that the car probably wouldn't be able to drive very far before it would stall because it ran out of gas.

"It's Marshall's luck to have such a platoon leader who is willing to indulge his misbehavior." Wei Ran muttered to himself, then patted Randy on the shoulder behind him, "Stop, you are here Manipulate the machine gun on guard, and I'll help Marshall find it."

Hearing this, Randy stepped on the brakes silently, and after Wei Ran jumped off with the carbine on the rear seat, he immediately took over the machine gun in the co-pilot position.

He lowered his head and looked at his feet. After these days of wind and sun, seedlings of unknown plants had grown on the surface that had been burned by the patrol soldiers with flamethrowers.

The felled palm trees have also been dried, but in the shadows, there are already some small insects such as spiders slowly building their own small world.

Looking up and looking around, Wei Ran walked towards Marshall, and accompanied him aimlessly, looking for possible clues in the smell of corpses filling his nostrils.

"It was my suggestion to celebrate Randy's birthday." Marshall stopped abruptly, and looked at Wei Ran with a wry smile, "I killed another good friend."

"You didn't kill Tom"

Wei Ran sighed, "Just like the gift you prepared for Tom to give to his wife, if there was no accident last night, Randy would be very grateful for the birthday party you prepared for him. But even if it was an accident last night, I don't think either Tom or Randy can blame you."

"Really." Marshall responded casually, obviously not listening to the words, but still immersed in self-blame.

Wei Ran pointed to the remaining bonfire traces in the distance, "Look, Marshall, that's where you helped Tom prepare gifts for his wife Laura, right?"

Marshall looked up, then nodded, "That's right there."

"If an accident happened to you at that time, would you blame Tom? Blame him for trying to prepare a personal skull as a gift for his wife, but killed you who were enthusiastic."

"How, how could I." Marshall paused halfway, "That's different."

“Nothing different”

Wei Ran shook his head, "We all want to do something for our friends in this war, but those who hurt us and our friends are never our warm hearts. Could it be because of this that when I celebrate my birthday in the future, you Aren't you going to prepare a birthday cake for me?
Marshall, it wasn't your cake that killed Tom, it was the rats hiding in the woods, it was the men who started the war. "

"But now I can't find those murderers at all," Marshall said almost desperately.

"Even if you can't find it, at least it can let you vent."

While speaking, Wei Ran raised the carbine that he had been holding all along, aimed at the stinking corpses in the distance, and pulled the trigger.

Amidst the fine and crisp gunshots, fishy stains exploded on the already decayed corpse.But before a magazine was finished, Wei Ran himself began to feel dull.

"Keep looking." Marshall took a deep breath, lit a cigarette again, and walked towards the entrance of the cave not far away.

However, as the distance drew closer, Marshall raised his fist vigilantly, and then spit out the cigarette he just lit in his mouth.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately put on a new magazine and came up, half-squatting behind Marshall and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

"That rifle." Marshall finally had a trace of emotion in his tone, "the leg of the corpse whose head I borrowed."

"I see," Wei Ran responded in a low voice.

"There were absolutely no rifles there before"

Marshall's tone became more and more affirmative, "After I finished that human head, I led people to throw all the weapons into the bonfire. There is no way there are weapons there!"

"Don't move yet, I'll let Randy get ready first."

With that said, Wei Ran quickly ran to the side of the jeep, "Randy, be alert to the edge of the forest."

"Understood!" While Randy was speaking, he had already turned the muzzle of the machine gun.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately ran back to Marshall's side, and the two quietly approached each other with weapons in their hands.

As the distance got closer, the smell of the rotting corpse became more and more intense, and they gradually saw that the [-]-cap rifle on the leg of the headless corpse was aimed at precisely last night. Directions for hosting a birthday party!
In addition, next to the corpse, you can also see obvious footprints and palm prints extending all the way to the broken hole!

The two looked at each other, and Marshall bent down to pick up a stone and threw it into the hole, while shouting "fire in the hole!"

Almost at the moment when the stone collided with the entrance of the cave, a panicked cry came from the cave!

"Come out!" Marshall shouted loudly standing on the side of the cave entrance, suppressing his anger.

However, soon, there was a clear gunshot in this narrow cave.

Seeing this, Marshall threw the Garand rifle in his hand to his feet, and quickly ran back to the jeep to get the flamethrower!

Amidst the whirring sound, a fiery snake sprayed out horizontally far away from the entrance of the cave. The scorching temperature made Wei Ran subconsciously take a step back.

Sure enough, this danger was far more useful than shouting. Soon, a dirty figure crawled out in panic while shouting something that everyone could not understand.

Although it was far away, Wei Ran smelled a strong smell of feces when this dirty thing with its lower body naked crawled out.

After a rough check to make sure that the nuclear recruiter did not hide any weapons on his hands and body, Wei Ran raised his finger and pointed to the cave.Seemingly understanding what he wanted to express, the recruiting soldier immediately shook his head.

Wei Ran pointed to the [-] Dagai rifle not far away, and then saw a crazy smile on the dirty face of the recruiting soldier.

Seeing this, Marshall signaled Wei Ran to take it away, then pointed the flamethrower at the hole and pulled the trigger!

After spraying two fire snakes in a row, Marshall immediately threw the flamethrower away, stepped forward and kicked down the nuclear soldier who was still laughing wildly.

But then, it began to cry again, with a look of fear on its face, and stretched out its dirty hands trying to hug Marshall's thigh and beg for mercy.

However, before Marshall backed away, it started patting the ground again, pointing at Marshall and laughing wildly, and then made a shooting gesture, and hummed the melody of the birthday song.

"It's crazy," Wei Ran reminded behind Marshall.

"That's not an excuse"

Marshall kicked it to the ground again, turned around and waved to Randy, and after he drove the car over, the two immediately pushed down the oil drum in the jeep and opened the cover with a wrench.

"Randy, you and Victor go back first." While Marshall was speaking, he had already brutally stomped on the limbs and joints of the recruited soldier.

The clearly audible bone cracking and screams made Randy shiver subconsciously, and Wei Ran, who was watching from the side, also frowned subconsciously.

"Marshall"

"Don't persuade me"

Before Wei Ran could finish speaking, Marshall had already thrown the captive into the oil drum half filled with water, and unloaded a small drum of gasoline from the rear of the car by the way.

In the splash of water, Marshall held the grenade hanging on his shoulder, "Drive back immediately, there is nothing for you here."

"I want to stay"

"Go back!" Marshall yelled at Randy with red eyes.

"Marshall, have you thought about the consequences of doing this?" Wei Ran asked Randy, holding him back.

"Consequences?" Marshall yanked off the grenade frantically and let go of a finger, "Now, you two go back immediately! You have nothing to do here!"

Sighing, Wei Ran pulled Randy into the car, stepped on the accelerator and backed up a distance of [-] meters.

"Victor, what is he going to do?" Randy asked in panic.

"He has to bear all the consequences by himself." Wei Ran almost muttered the same words as the idle platoon leader behind him.

Compared to Randy with a sluggish face, Captain Lewis who was standing under the sentry tower sighed, "Forget it, let the military police get ready, that's not bad, at least he doesn't have to continue to suffer in this war. "

With everyone watching from a distance, Marshall threw the grenade in his hand into the hole, then pulled some almost dried dead wood from around and piled it on the side of the oil barrel, poured gasoline on it, and left Lao Yuan picked up the flamethrower again.

After replacing the ignition tube with a new one step by step, Marshall pressed the ignition trigger with a calm face, and accurately let the scorching fire snake ignite the firewood doused with gasoline, and then roasted the oil surrounded in the center of the flame. bucket.

And in the flames that were constantly spraying, Marshall also muttered to himself and asked those questions that had been accumulated in his heart for a long time without finding the answers.

"Greg was also screaming like this when he was eaten by you, right? You boiled him in a barrel while he was alive, didn't you?"

"The God that Tom made me believe in probably wouldn't allow me to do such a cruel thing?"

"So when you started the war, did you think that there would be such a consequence?"

"Your parents, your wife and children, your friends, will they forgive me for doing these things to you now?"

"If they can forgive me for torturing you, then I can also forgive you for killing Tom, and you for killing Sean, and for killing Greg."

"If you also have your beliefs, let the God you believe in negotiate with the God I believe in tomorrow, and see who between us should go to hell!"

(End of this chapter)