![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zyracuse.com\/images\/titles\/znakesinthegrass.jpg?resize=463%2C173&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The heat was incredible, burning Rhine\u2019s face as if he had stuck his head inside an oven. The normal heat of the Afghan desert was complimented by the flames licking up from the burning Humvee. Through the flames, Rhine could see the corpse of one of his men burning in the passenger seat. The head of the corpse suddenly turned to Rhine, smoldering flesh tearing as the neck twisted his way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you bring us here Rhine?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rhine attempted to bring his M-4 up to fire but when he pulled the trigger nothing happened. The corpse was out of the Humvee now, quickly approaching him as he tried again and again unsuccessfully to get his rifle to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWHY DID YOU BRING US HERE?!?\u201d The corpse screamed in his face.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lieutenant Rhine sat up with lightning speed, his body covered with sweat. He looked down to see his .40 caliber Sig Sauer pistol in his right hand. The nightmare had been so real, he almost swore he could still feel the flames and smell the burning flesh.<\/p>\n
\u201cEaaaaaasy Lt. you\u2019re alright. Just a bad dream, that\u2019s all, everything is fine\u201d said a Ranger to his left, putting a hand on his shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus, you would think we had enough nightmares while we are awake these days\u201d Rhine said, holstering his pistol, throwing the blanket off of him, and climbing into a seat.<\/p>\n
They were in the back of one of their trucks, situated amongst the platoon\u2019s collection of gear. Rhine hadn\u2019t wanted to sleep but Rhodes had informed in as polite a manner as possible that he was no good to the platoon after going 72 hours straight. In as professional a manner a possible Rhodes then told him that if he didn\u2019t volunteer to sleep on his own, his next cup of coffee would come laced with Ambien .\u00a0 Rhine rubbed his eyes and began to put on his body armor and get himself situated. The squeaking of brakes announced that they were coming to a stop for some reason. Rhine grabbed his SCAR and peered out of the back of the truck. The small convoy had pulled off to the side of the road and Rangers were hopping out, forming a security ring around the vehicles. Rhine climbed out of the truck and approached the cab as Sgt. Rhodes exited.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids need a potty break?\u201d He asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw a couple trucks on the road side, thought we should stop to see if they needed help\u201d Rhodes informed him, pointing to two large green cargo trucks ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell let\u2019s go lend a hand\u201d Rhine replied as they began walking forward while still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.<\/p>\n
A platoon of infantry stood along the roadside facing a field of tall grass, awaiting orders from a young Lieutenant to their front.<\/p>\n
\u201cLt. Rhine, 2nd<\/sup> of the 75th<\/sup>, you guys alright?\u201d Rhine offered as he approached.<\/p>\n The young Lieutenant looked around and realized he was being addressed before replying . \u201cLt. Andrews, 1st<\/sup> brigade, 4th<\/sup> Infantry division. We are fine; just got orders to clear this field. There are reports of large number of Z\u2019s attacking refugees on this stretch of road. We were just about to get started\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou are gonna take your guys in to this field?\u201d Rhine asked incredulously.<\/p>\n \u201cYea, we spotted tracks heading in to the grass, we were gonna follow them till we spot these things\u201d<\/p>\n Rhine noticed one of the Sergeants behind the Lieutenant roll his eyes at the last comment. Obviously Rhine wasn\u2019t the only one who could see the stupidity of this plan.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s take a walk and go over this plan of yours, maybe I can help\u201d Rhine offered; putting a hand on the Lieutenants shoulder and leading him away.<\/p>\n Once they were out of earshot of the collection of soldiers, Rhine turned to the man.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t want to correct you in front of your guys, but you can\u2019t seriously be thinking of walking them in there. Have you ever heard of the expression \u201csnakes in the grass\u201d?<\/p>\n \u201cI gotta be honest, I was in OCS 3 days ago and now they have me running an infantry platoon. I was going to lead an engineering unit, not combat infantry. I am in way over my head here\u201d the lieutenant replied while shaking his head in frustration.<\/p>\n \u201cOk ok, listen, it doesn\u2019t matter what your specialty was yesterday, you are an infantry platoon leader today\u201d Rhine said, putting a finger to the chest of the young Lieutenant. \u00a0\u201cYou need to accept that change and do your job right. You are forgetting to use the greatest asset you have in your arsenal. Forget that rifle and your body armor, your greatest weapon in this fight is right here\u201d Rhine said, stabbing the man in his Kevlar helmet with a rigid finger. \u201cYou need to use your brains and attack these ghouls with logic. You go against them with your brain turned off and you are only setting the dinner table for them. You get me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re right. What should I do instead?\u201d The Lieutenant asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWatch and learn, remember you need to pick your battles carefully. Fight them on your terms, not theirs\u201d<\/p>\n Rhine began walking toward the collection of soldiers with his new pupil hot on his heels.<\/p>\n \u201cRiley, get over here! I want you up on top of the cab of this truck spotting for us. You men, get ready, we are going to draw these bastards out. Burn em as soon as they exit the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n Rhine opened the cab of the truck as Riley; his platoons designated marksmen, climbed on top of the truck\u2019s roof with his sniper rifle.<\/p>\n \u201cCall them out as you spot em Riley! Here we go.\u201d<\/p>\n Rhine began frantically hitting the truck\u2019s horn, sending shrill blasts through the morning air. After ten seconds of horn honking, he heard Riley call out from the truck\u2019s roof. From his perch, though he couldn\u2019t actually see the ghouls through the morning fog and tall grass, he could see the wake they left as they moved towards the soldiers. The swaying grass and trampled path they left behind them gave away each of their locations as if they were holding up bright orange flags. It reminded him of the shark fins cutting through water he had seen as a kid surfing in San Diego.<\/p>\n \u201cContacts in the field moving this way; ten, fifteen, twenty plus contacts moving this way. Twenty five yards and closing\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHey they come, single shots, fire as soon as you have a clear line of sight\u201d Rhine hollered.<\/p>\n They came out of the grass ready to eat, emerging and picking out soldiers they intended to sink their teeth into. The line of soldiers opened fire, dropping them as they each came bursting out.<\/p>\n \u201cThirty five, no forty contacts!\u201d Riley yelled, opening fire with his silenced M110 rifle.<\/p>\n They were coming out of the grass in groups of three, four, and five as the soldiers began increasing their rate of fire. Ghouls collapsed face first in the dirt as the supersonic rifle rounds greeted each emerging Z. \u00a0Rhode\u2019s moved along the line of engaged soldiers, his deep voice urging them to \u201ckeep it up\u201d and \u201chold the line\u201d. The sounds of gunfire from down the road drew Rhine\u2019s attention at his Rangers began engaging Z\u2019s who had been drawn to the sounds of the horn and were attacking from down the line and across the other side of the road. The level of gunfire reached its peak, the time between gunshots becoming indistinguishable before eventually slowing to an occasional gunshot here and there. Finally the assault ended as Riley reported seeing no more moving grass trails. Rhine descended from the truck\u2019s cab and slammed the door.<\/p>\n \u201cYa learn something new every day huh? Good luck Lieutenant. Keep that brain switch in the on position and you will do fine.\u00a0 Oh and next time if you aren\u2019t sure, just burn the goddamn field\u201d Rhine said as he, Rhodes, and Riley turned and made their way back to their convoy. They left the new Lieutenant standing by his truck, his jaw dropped and mesmerized by the display of carnage along the roadside.<\/p>\n \u201cYou think he learned his lesson Lt?\u201d Riley asked, opening the door to his Humvee.<\/p>\n \u201cI think so, but let\u2019s get a move on in case Zack proves me wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The heat was incredible, burning Rhine\u2019s face as if he had stuck his head inside an oven. The normal heat of the Afghan desert was complimented by the flames licking up from the burning Humvee. Through the flames, Rhine could see the corpse of one of his men burning in the passenger seat. The head […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":924,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-unedited-drafts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pemv8-FK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/924"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2588"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2658,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions\/2658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zyracuse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}