[center]----------------------------------------------------------------------------- June, 1960, Zambia/Rhodesia Border -----------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center] Comrade Bupe, son of Kalonde, son of Zambia, stood with his back to a Giant Eucalyptus as he carefully peeled a Mango with a pocket knife, digging out the sweet fruit inside as he did so. He slid a piece into his mouth, some of the juice trickling down his chin as he did, chewing happily as he half heartedly scanned the jungle in front of him. It looked as it had every day for the past three weeks, green, dense, and alive with so many different creatures. In retrospect, if he hadn't decided to join the a local Communist group known as the Masiye, he might have like to study the jungle and all it's various species. Behind him, just out of view, was the mouth of a cave, heavy vines hanging down over the dark opening, trees on the rock face above serving to conceal the hideout from Rhodesian air patrols. Even as he ate the Mango he heard the drone of an engine and looked up, peering through the jungle canopy to see a Rhodesian Airforce Mosquito flying along the ridge line. Another surveillance flight in all likelihood. The Rhodesians made one a day but the Masiye had been careful to keep their space well hidden. Though, maybe not hidden enough. A week ago two people, a man and a woman, had staggered into the cave half dead with exhaustion. The man, called himself Andrew, had told them of how the previous group he had been with, a local bunch of nobodies none of them recognized, had been ambushed and wiped out by Rhodesian Security Forces. The woman had shied away from contact with anyone, especially men, and only spoke in low tones. Whatever had happened to her had clearly been horrible. She had only confirmed Andrew's story with nods. The Masiye leadership had pressed them to stay but Andrew had shaken his head violently. He kept saying "They will come. They will come." It was no secret who "they" was, but the cave was well hidden and the Masiye well armed. They had been raiding into Rhodesia for years now, the ongoing Bush War, and never had the Rhodesians located them. Andrew and the girl, they had never gotten her name, had thanked them for their help, accepted some supplies, and carried on westward. Mango froze halfway to Bupe's lips as he heard the snap of a branch in the brush. He was dressed like any of the other sentries, his body covered in a series of branches and fern fronds that allowed him to look somewhat like a dress or bush. It was very difficult to detect and had been used to great effect numerous times in ambushing unwary Police and even several Rhodesian patrols. Nothing moved now but his eyes as he scanned the brush in front of him. Several raiding parties had been sent out a short time ago but they were not due back for days. A shadow moved within the undergrowth and Bupe ever so slowly lowered his hands until he could touch the stock of his rifle. The mango, now hidden beneath his cover, dropped to the ground with a gentle thud. He kept still once again. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end and he had the uncomfortable feeling of being watched. He was not alone. He acted in an instant, dropping into a crouch and spinning away behind the tree. A rifle cracked a second later and wood exploded next to his face as he ran for the cave entrance. It did not matter that the enemy had found them, only how they were going to survive. More bullets shredded the brush around him but he was in the thick of it now and who ever was shooting at him would have to be a lucky. As he drew closer to the cave he was his comrades moving up to throw the camouflage off of their defensive trenches, weapons at the ready. As he came closer he held his rifle above his head until one of the others saw him and waved him in. He leapt over the nearest neatly concealed stone berm and spun around, laying his rifle across the top layer of ferns. Shouts echoed through the jungle in front of him, shouts in Afrikaner. His own men were shouting now, pointing to various points in the bush and he watched as another sentry, caught outside the cave entrance, lunge up to attack a Rhodesian soldier who suddenly appeared in an opening in the foliage. The two struggled for a moment, the tree like Masiye trying to stab the bigger Rhodesian with a machete until a hail of gunfire from the barricade threw down both men. A storm of gunfire erupted from all across the jungle in front of Bupe as if in revenge. Bullets shattered the rock behind him, threw dirt into his faces, and men began to die. Bupe had been doing his best to shoot back at the enemy. He felt fear, he had always felt fear, but he thought it made him smarter. He did not take risks that the others might and kept his head down when he could. Even now, as he slid his rifle forward again, working a new bullet into the chamber, he did it slowly. Attracting attention was a sure way to get killed. He took a breath, held it for a moment, aimed at where he thought he had seen a muzzle flash, and pulled the trigger. He quickly began to reload, never knowing if had hit a man or not. Another bullet was sliding home when two canisters came curving out of the jungle trailing orange smoke. It took Bupe a moment to realize that they bracketed either side of the cave entrance. "Fall back!" He screamed, startled faces turning towards him. One man opened his mouth to reply and then flopped backward as a machine gun burst tore half his head away. "Fall back!" Bupe screamed again, frantically this time as he began to run doubled over toward the cave entrance. He did not have to look to know that the Rhodesians had ceased firing. He could hear the sound of engines. There were no roads here. He burst through the camouflage vines that covered the entrance to the cave just as the Rhodesian [i]Angel[/i] opened fire. Bupe had seen the aircraft once before in a magazine. It was designed as a "bunker buster", that was the term he had read. It was not terribly fast, nor did it fly very high, but it was perfect for smashing strongholds. Like a cave for example. The first rocket was high, slamming into the rock face above the cave and sending a thunderous cascade of rocks down onto the Communists trying to retreat from their defensive positions. Bupe heard the screams as his comrades fell beneath the falling debris. Some, most, managed to stagger through the wall of dust just as a second rocket burst through the screen of vines to detonate against the rear wall of the cavern. Bupe felt as if his world had exploded, his ears rang and, when he put his hands to them, his fingers came away wet with blood. He had dropped his rifle and frantically began to search through the dust that was choking him. Shapes ran in the dust, others limped, some twisted and fell and more dark shapes appeared at the entrance of the cave. His fingers found a pistol, he did not know whos, and he picked it up, squinting towards the cave entrance. The sights found a dark figure running to the entrance and he pulled the trigger once, twice, five times, and the man spun away to fall into the dirt, Bupe unable to hear his screams. He felt a stinging sensation in his leg and looked down to see blood oozing from just above his knee. He did not feel any pain even when hands grabbed him by the arms and he was hustled toward the back of the cavern where a sharp turn in the tunnel would protect the Communists from their attackers. The last sight he saw before they turned the corner was that of the cave entrance. The vines that had covered it were gone and the entrance framed the jungle outside, a beautiful green mass topped with an azure blue sky he would remember forever. But in that sky, coming like an angel of death, was the Rhodesian plane. He saw flames burst from beneath its wings and the small objects drop away. They did not move or waver. They were coming for him. Bupe was dead before the rockets slammed into the back of the cavern, sealing the communists into their web of tunnels. The bullet in his leg had severed the femoral artery. His comrades, those who survived, swore to continue the good fight while outside the victorious Rhodesian Security Forces buried their dead, leaving the enemy dead for the scavengers. Above it all, un-moved by the wars of men, a mango tree reached towards the sky.