They skimmed low along the muddy landscape, sunlight glinting off their wings. They left tender trails in the thickening mist.

Swish, swash, swish.

The patrol normally cleared this area before noon, but today had been different.

There had been a report from the morning scouts about activity near the less-traveled airways. And according to one source, there had been an "unidentifiable".

"Redtail 7, Redtail 7, you got a visual yet?"

The low thrumming of his passage through the air was all he heard in reply.

Swish, swash, swish.

"Redtail 7, come in, copy."

"..."

"Redtail 5, you got a fix on 7?"

The voice buzzed in. "Yeah, he's not answering, sir. He's pulling hard left. Uh... wait."

"Dammit boys! Redtail 5, come in! Redtail 5!"

"....not responding sir...losing....ltitude...sir! SIR!"

"Redtail 5 stay on his back, I'm coming in."

He banked hard to the right, skirting the rusty outcrops overhanging the open water. 'Never should have brought them out,' he thought. 'Too green, too young. Not ready for trouble.' He accelerated, bursting through the low fog.

Swish, swash, swish.

Emerging from the dense cloud, he spotted the back end of Redtail 5.

"Redtail 5. Redtail 5. Son, I'm on your back. You still have a fix on 7?"

"Sir!" the voice much clearer now. "Sir he's banked left again and gone low, sir."

Damn. "How low, son?" He took a moment to assess their current location. Double damn. "And how far left?"

"Sir! Sir! Too far on both, sir. He's in the Black Zone."

The Black Zone, that desolate wasteland from which many stories but few flyers returned. All the rookies heard the legends of overeager flyers stumbling into the noisy abyss and being sucked up by the light. On the outside, the young guys shrugged off the warnings as myth and make believe.

But deep down, in the quiet of flight, they knew and they remembered the warnings.

Swish, swash, swish.

Most of them remembered.

"Redtail 5! Redtail 5! You pull back right now and shadow me, you got that. I'm heading in."

Redtail 5 slowed and edged left, letting his commander slide into the lead position. They flew fast and low. Visibility was quickly reaching zero and the few breaks in the fog revealed a jagged, sparse landscape below. They were reaching the Zone.

Swish, swash, swish.

"Redtail 5! Redtail 5!"

"Sir!"

"Listen son, neither one of us are going in there, we're just gonna shimmer around the edges of that thing and try to get a lock on Redtail 7. Understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good, now hang back a bit, we're getting close."

Unpredictable updrafts marked the edge of the Black Zone. Winds whip-cracked their wings and made controlling their approach difficult. He was about to order Redtail 5 to fall back even further when...

"...sir, sir! Come in, sir! Redtail 7 to Redtail 10! Do you copy?"

"Hold back 5. Hold back. Redtail 7 what is your location? Redtail 7! Come in."

The noise near the Black Zone was intense, it had a physical presence, a weight that was known to bring flyers down. Between the churning air and that constant throbbing, he could barely make out what the young flyer was saying.

"...visual on uniden...large...never seen anything like it...coming up through the fog now. Sir! SIR! It's reflecting so much sunlight...feels like..."

"Redtail 7! Redtail 7! ABORT!"

"...being pulled in. So much sunlight! SIR! Arrgh! Can't see..."

"ABORT! 7! ABORT!"

He sensed rather than saw Redtail 5 pulling up on his left.

Swish, swash, swish.

"Redtail 5, I told you to hold back!"

"But I can see him sir."

He sighed, relenting. "So can I, son."

They watched as Redtail 7 hung in the air, paralyzed. The unidentifiable hovered below him and he was being sucked into it's gleaming surface. As they grew closer, Redtail 7 dipped forward, nose down.

"Nooooo! Pull up! Pull up!" Redtail 5 screamed.

"He can't hear you, son," said the commander. "He's in the light now."

"Nooo. Sir! Sir! We have to get him out!"

"Hold back Redtail 5! That's an order!"

"But sir!?"

"Hold back, dammit. Or you'll end up just like

that"
******
"Splatt!"

"Ewwwww, Daddy!"

"Dammit, Merle, I swear you aim for them things!"

Merle chuckled softly behind the steering wheel. "That was a big ole fat dragonfly that time. Huh. Stupid bugs."

He reached forward and switched on the wipers.

Swish, swash, swish.

Oh my God! I can see them coming. There’s one right there. Sarge said don’t shoot until he says it’s ok, but Jesus, he’s right there! I could just squeeze the trigger and…

Can I squeeze the trigger? I’ve never killed anything before. I mean, he’s just a guy like me, right? He’s got a mom and dad. Probably has a brother or sister, too. I bet he’s just as scared as I am. I bet he’s married. Does he know that I’m married?

Sarah! Oh, please. I’ve got to get home to my Sarah. What’s gonna happen to Sarah if something happens to me? Please, God. Let me get out of this Ok. I don’t want to be here, God. I want to be home with Sarah.

What’s that noise? Someone’s shooting. Did Sarge say we can shoot? And the explosions are so loud. I’ve got to keep down. They can’t see me in this hole, can they? Please don’t shoot me. I should get my gun and shoot back. But if I put my head out of this hole, they will see me and shoot me. I’ve got to scrunch down so they can’t see me.

There’s Patrick. He’s waving at me. What is he saying? Oh, he wants me to shoot. But I can’t shoot. How can I tell Patrick that if I get up, they’ll see me and shoot me? Maybe I can…

Patrick! Why did you fall down, Patrick? You’re just lying there staring at me, Patrick. Oh, he’s bleeding from his mouth. They shot him and he’s just lying there bleeding and staring at me. Stop staring at me Patrick!

I’ll close my eyes and then I won’t see him and maybe they won’t see me.

It’s so loud, Patrick. Can’t you hear the bombs and all the shooting? Why are they shooting at us? Patrick, tell them to stop shooting at us. I just want to leave and go home and see Sarah.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod… There’s another one and he’s coming right for me. He’s coming over here to shoot me like he did Patrick. Does it hurt, Patrick? Is he going to hurt me?

LOUD!! That’s too loud! Make the sound go away!

Where’s the bad man coming for me? He’s gone. Did the loud make him go away? Did the loud make everyone go away?

I can’t breathe. The dirt in the air is coating my lungs and I can’t breathe. Mommy said when the air is dirty like that I can’t play outside anymore. I hope Mommy doesn’t get mad at me for staying outside.

Here comes another bad man. He’s pointing his gun at me. He’s gonna hurt me, isn’t he Mommy?
Mommy? Why are you lying there staring at me, Mommy? You’re red lipstick is running down your face, Mommy, and you’re staring at me.

Look, Mommy. The bad man fell down and he’s bleeding too. Everyone is bleeding but me. I should get a sticker because I was good and didn’t get any boo boos, Mommy.

Mommy. There’s another man. He has the same school clothes that I do. Run? He wants me to go run with him Mommy. Can I, Mommy? Please? Can I go outside and play?

That man fell down, too, Mommy. He fell down into my secret hole and he landed on me. Get off of me. You’re too heavy. Please get off of me. I can’t breathe! I can’t see my Mommy!

Ssshhhhhhh. There’s a bad man looking in my hole. He’s got a gun. He’s gonna try to shoot me. No. Don’t shoot me. No.

Who’s screaming? Someone is screaming and now everyone will know where I am. Stop screaming! STOP IT.

NOOOOO!

----------------

“…and they found him like that, in his foxhole screaming and screaming. They had to sedate him to get him out of the hole. They brought him here and he’s been here ever since. He’ll be quiet for a week, just sitting on his bed, staring into space. Then all of a sudden, he’ll start screaming again. We just go in and give him another shot.”

“Dude, that’s just freaking creepy.”

“You want to hear creepy – when they found him, his foxhole was surrounded by twenty dead bodies, friend and foe alike. But the weird thing was – his rifle had never been fired.”