“Okay, okay! Jeez!” The lead actor held up his bound hands and sat back down.
Twenty feet away, the petty officer bolted down the train track.
A guard’s whistle blew, and all eyes snapped toward the now-sprinting escapee.
One of the guards stood high above the others on the truck bed. He held his rifle up to his shoulder, raising it to the firing position, taking aim…
“Wait!” Victoria called out, joining the others’ shouts.
Crack. Crack.
The loud echo of gunfire reverberated throughout the train loading area. Jungle birds flew away in fright as the echoes reached the nearby rainforest. Yells and screams and swearing as the group of American prisoners, still bound, began to riot.
More Chinese soldiers now raised their rifles at the Americans. More whistles blew. Victoria felt a wave of fear and revulsion mixing inside her. She saw the crazed rage in the eyes of the Americans, having just witnessed one of their shipmates gunned down. And the horrified fear in the eyes of the young Chinese soldiers pointing their weapons at the Americans.
Whispers from around her. “We should just rush ’em right here. Screw it, man.”
“Fucking commie bastards…”
Victoria felt that same anger. For a brief moment, she almost allowed herself to succumb to it. A final stand. The mob unleashing itself on their guards. They could kill them all, maybe. They had numbers.
But then what?
What was her duty?
“Hey! Stand down,” she said. Then, louder. “Stand down!”
“Get back.” The chief and Plug, seeing Victoria take the lead, got up in front of the mob of prisoners and began restoring order.
Soon Victoria heard more whistles in the distance, joined by the clap of boots running on pavement. She turned her head to see dozens of additional PLA soldiers now running their way. A reserve unit stashed in one of the trucks further back in the convoy.
The additional Chinese troops broke off in pairs and surrounded the American prisoners.
A short PLA soldier — this one with the shoulder boards of an officer — appeared, flanked by several guards who looked distinctly more experienced than the other soldiers.
He searched the faces of the American prisoners, saw Victoria, and yelled something out. The guards nearest to her began shouting in Chinese, hurrying her along. Her fellow POWs, seeing an officer and one of the only females in the group being taken away, began to protest.
“Calm down, everybody,” she said. Some instinct — whether it be maternal or command — told her that she needed to help save her men from themselves. Otherwise, they would throw themselves into a furnace to protect her.
She walked toward the PLA officer. He wore a pressed light green uniform shirt with jump wings above the right breast and several rows of ribbons above the left. Dark green shoulder boards with gold embroidery and tiny stars, gold lapels on each collar, and a dark green cover with a red star surrounded by a gold wreath. He was skinny, with pronounced cheekbones and a thin neck, but his eyes were confident and serious.
“You are Commander Manning?” he asked in perfect American-accented English. The guy could have been from Ohio.
“Yes, I am.”
“I am Captain Tao. I have been appointed to oversee American prisoners here. You are the senior prisoner. I would like to apologize for the loss of your man.”
Victoria did not reply.
Captain Tao motioned to his men and issued a command in Mandarin. Victoria saw the Chinese guards open the train’s cargo doors and begin moving the Americans into the empty carts. No seats, lights, or bathrooms, by the look of it.
Soon all of her fellow Americans were inside, peeking through tiny window holes with metal bars.
Captain Tao said, “There were one hundred and six prisoners when you left the docks. Now there are one hundred and five. I don’t wish for anyone else under your command to be hurt. Please ensure there are no more escape attempts.”
Victoria recalled her training. Every member of the military was taught The Code of Conduct. Article II: I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist. She didn’t want anyone else hurt or killed. Was she allowed to tell her men to sit tight and not try to escape? Article III: If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.
Her men were not in a good position to escape. And she didn’t want to see anyone else killed.
“I’ll do my duty.”
Captain Tao frowned.
One of the PLA soldiers standing behind him was holding a mobile phone, recording video of the scene. He was now focused on the petty officer’s corpse.
“What is he doing?” asked Victoria.
“He is documenting the incident,” the captain replied. “If a prisoner is killed, we must file paperwork. I’m sure you have similar requirements. We will be reprimanded for this.”
Victoria shook her head, mouth half-open.
The Chinese officer nodded for his men to take her onto the train.
As soon as she was aboard, the doors slid shut behind her, and she was trapped in the cramped, humid compartment. She looked out the small window at the Chinese soldiers. They were moving supplies onto the train, and after the trucks left, several platoon-sized groups of PLA soldiers embarked on a passenger car to their rear.
The train engine rumbled and they began moving forward, slowly at first and then at a good clip.
“Ma’am.” It was Plug’s voice. She turned, barely able to make him out in the shadows. He squirmed through the crowded car, then took his place next to her, looking out the window.
“They’re taking us south.”
“Yes, they are,” she replied.
The chief moved next to her. “Ma’am, you all right?”
“Fine.”
“What’d that Chinese guy say?”
“He said not to try to escape anymore.”
The chief snorted.
“Chief, let me know if I’m wrong, but I think you’re the senior enlisted here. I need you to get a muster. Let’s divide into four platoons and set up a command structure. Find out everyone’s military occupational specialty and any other talents that might come in handy, such as Spanish-speakers.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She turned to Plug. “Plug, you’ll be our escape officer. I don’t know what conditions we’ll face when we get to where we are going, but from what I’ve seen so far, we won’t have many opportunities during the transit. Prove me wrong if you can. If you can’t, start coming up with escape plans the second we reach our destination.”
“Got it, Skipper.”
The train traveled for three days, stopping six times along the way for bathroom breaks, food, and water. During each stop, the prisoners were kept under close watch.
The scenery shifted from shaded rainforest to vast, verdant farmland. Tunnels were carved in the mountains. They transited through several thunderstorms, downpours of water hammering their car’s rooftop. The prisoners cupped their hands to gather rainwater to drink.
Victoria knew they had arrived when she saw the waiting trucks. They were ferried out of the train and onto the flatbed troop transports, then endured a twenty-minute ride bouncing through the jungle.
“Shit.” Plug swore softly next to her as the prisoners were taken off the truck and marched into the prison camp.
Five guard towers stood above two layers of razor wire fencing that stretched ten and fifteen feet tall, respectively. Guards with dogs patrolled the ten-foot-wide path between the two fences.
Men and women were not separated before they were forced to strip down. Victoria tried not to feel humiliated as she stood in a single-file line with her men, walking into a building under guard as the Chinese soldiers smirked and leered at her. Inside the building, she walked through a human assembly line. She was hosed off in a shower area, then deloused with powder. Her hair was cut down to a buzz, and she was issued drab prison garb consisting of gray tunics and matching baggy pants. Victoria put on the clothing and then rejoined the line of prisoners leaving the building.