Prince of Peace by James Carroll

Mac!"
    Maguire looked at Pace. "How can we just leave them?"
    "Fast! That's how! Come on, Goddamnit!" Pace's agitation was intense. He'd survived the night, but it had left him manic and insecure. He'd clung to Maguire's side since they crawled out of the crater. He was terrified of being alone, but he was also terrified of being left behind. Their company had been detailed to take up the rear, but most of it had moved out already. He and Maguire were the last ones left except for the lieutenant, the sergeant and the radio operator. Their job was to get the radio gear down to the jeep waiting on the road. It was one of the few vehicles still running, and Pace hoped to get on it. "Come on, you shit!" His voice cracked with panic.
    But Maguire said suddenly, "What's that moving? Do you see that? Is something moving there?" He pointed to the lower slope of the opposite hill.
    The urgency in his voice cut through Pace's agitation and he too fixed his stare on the brush and boulders across the way. Bushes were moving and he saw it too. Both men stared, motionless, not breathing. Bushes were moving up the hill, toward the party of wounded.
    "Fuck!" Pace said, "It's them!"
    The Chinese had brush fixed to their helmets and their backs, and they were steadily creeping up the hillside.
    Pace whispered, "I thought they charged, whistling, screaming, banging cymbals and throwing grenades."
    "Maybe they're just the advance patrol. I don't think there are that many of them." Maguire threw the bolt on his rifle.
    "Hey, man, come on! Let's go!" Pace started to back off. He was eyeing Maguire as if he'd lost his mind.
    Maguire raised his arm and pointed to a spot in the sky above the farthest ridge. "Look, Whirlybird!" He felt a rush of happiness, as if the helicopter was coming for him. But the rescue wasn't going to succeed, he saw suddenly. The Chinese patrol was closing on the hilltop. They'd drive the chopper off or down it. Locks snapped open in Maguire's mind, and he saw what had to happen. There was no experience of decision, only of insight; his response seemed no more the product of choice than a sunrise is. The second helicopter appeared as a dot moving behind but in sync with the first. "Lennie!" Pace was already fifty yards down the hill, clambering backward. "Lennie!" Maguire went after him. He caught up to him easily and grabbed him. "Lennie, we've got to slow them down! We've got to give our guys some time!"
    "No, Maguire! Let me go!"
    "I can't do it without you, Lennie!"
    "Fuck you, man. I'm gone. Get your hands off me or I'll tear your fucking eyes out!"
    Maguire released Pace roughly. "You chickenshit!"
    Pace whined abruptly. "Don't call me that." Suddenly he looked like the adolescent he was, at the mercy less of his fright now than of his buddy's contempt.
    Maguire turned and started up the hill.
    Pace called him and Maguire stopped.
    "You think we can help?"
    "We can get them five minutes maybe. It might be enough. But we have to make the Reds think there's a bunch of us at them. That's why I need you."
    Pace caught up with Maguire. "Okay. Okay. But don't let the fuckers kill me, will you?"
    Maguire smiled. "No, I won't." He said this soberly, as if he meant it, as if it was his to mean. "You got a grenade?"
    "Yeh. A deuce."
    "Me too. We have to get close enough to throw them. Then we pin them down with rifles, get it? You take the left flank through that crevice. I'll slip across here. Keep an eye on me. Don't do anything until I do."
    "Not too close, okay?"
    "Just watch the bushes, Lennie." Maguire slapped his friend's shoulder. "We can do it. Those wounded guys would do it for us." He felt responsible for the boy suddenly, Maguire's first experience of that sensation, and it seemed to him that his affection for Pace at that moment was strong enough to protect him.
    As they set off Maguire had to stifle a whoop, as if they were boys at play. His flash of exhilaration did not cancel his anxiety but matched it. He was