Alternate Ending: "In the Field"

Kiowa blinks as shit from the field oozes into the cracks of his eyes. The shrapnel from the blast had just missed him but the force of the explosion had pushed him into the muck. Loosing breath and loosing consciousness Kiowa began to sink deeper into the shit field accepting what was to come next. Norman Bowker could hear to his left a deep dark sucking sound. The kind of noise that would give you chills down to your toes. Besides the rounds going off in the background Norman kept focusing on the sound. Off in the distance he could see a tip of a boot. Not just any boot but Kiowa’s boot. It was fight or flight and blasts kept exploding all around him. He could not stand up as he made his way over to Kiowa’s boot. He had to stay close to the ground, close to the shit and the smell. The smell seemed to drown him even more than the shit itself. With surrounding odor and that sucking sound fading away Norman grabbed Kiowa’s boot. One large pull and the boot came off with Kiowa’s body sinking further down by the minute. Norman this time engorged his arms in the stench and the sound and grabbed a hold of Kiowa’s leg with one swift movement Norman slid Kiowa out half way. It was as if the field was fighting back, this time the sucking sound became louder. Norman reached down again this time grabbing Kiowa’s waist. Mud flew everywhere as the sucking force snapped and broke Kiowa was free. He looked lifeless. Shit filled his nostrils and ears. Norman opened Kiowa’s mouth and began CPR. Within a few minutes Kiowa was coughing up the muck and so much more. No words were needed between the two. The rest of the night the two sat next to each other not speaking but both still alive. Norman Bowker had just won the Silver Star for valor.