“What happened on the trail, L-T?” Sixpack inhaled deeply, trying to catch his breath.
“Charlie was set up at the fork in the trail and waited for us to get close. We weren’t quite in the kill zone yet, but they opened up on us anyway.”
“How many were there?”
“I’m not sure, but I would guess they had just as many men as we did.”
“Why didn’t they wait for you to get closer?”
“I think somebody in their group f****d it up, because we heard a misfire several seconds before the shooting started. That gave us all that split second we needed to jump off the trail, find some cover, and return fire. When they broke off the ambush, we kept firing and backing away, then took off at a run when we could.”
“Anybody get hurt?”
“It is truly a miracle, but everybody made it out okay.”
“So what do y
