Jungle Tooth

''The following recording was leaked alongside the United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, or better known as the Pentagon Papers, prompting public outcry against American troops fighting a pointless war. Daniel Ellsberg, the man responsible for leaking the papers, was immediately visited by a group of unknown operators, clad in black suits. The men stayed at the Ellsberg house for approximately thirty minutes, before they departed abruptly. Ellsberg refuses to discuss what he found on the tape. On July 23rd, 2011, we received an unmarked package with a tape-recorder inside. The audio on the tape has not been altered since it was leaked.''

[Audio Plays]

Man 1: State your name for the recording.

Miles: I know what you're gonna say, okay? I've been through the whole song and dance before, you all keep proddin' me like I'm nuts, but I KNOW what I saw! Get fucked-

Man 3: Mr Miles, I'm only going to tell you once to calm down. You cooperate with us, and things go smoothly.

Miles: Heh, what, you're gonna torture me?

Man 1: If that's what it boils down to, yes.

Man 2: State your name for the recording, sir.

Miles: SPC, Jonathan D. Miles... SOG Analyst.

Man 3: SOG? Jesus Christ...

Man 1: Talk to ██████, this is big.

[Chair pulls back. Man 3 leaves the room.]

Man 2: Where was your unit stationed?

Miles: We... It was about twenty miles North of Khe Sahn. W-we had intel saying that there was an unknown military force in that area. SOG was all over it... Captain Lawrence Tabert was leading our squad. Frenchman, was posted in Vietnam before the Geneva Accords, yeah? So, we stop about two or three miles away from the site and hop off the truck. Troops on it were heading back when the base was hit. I dunno what happened to those guys, but they were talking about some village catching an outbreak of Jungle Tooth... We proceeded on foot and there was this giant campsite. Tents everywhere. Looked like maybe it'd house troops up to three hundred strong, I'd say. No one there. Ghost town, er... camp.

[Miles sighs, fingers tapping on metal table.]

Miles: Orders were to just set some charges and wipe away the entire site. Simple enough. But fucking Connor...

Man 2: Who's Connor?

Miles: Private Connor Ortega. He had the radio. He thinks he sees a little kid in the trees, and that the little boy just runs off when we see him. Says he had 'ugly skin', black eyes... Not bruised, I mean black. He runs after this kid, and we all had to follow him. Lawrence tried to get him to come back before he ran after him too. And then this kid gets behind him, with a gun and... shoots him right in the back. The bullet didn't go in, stopped by the radio. Lawrence shoots this little boy right in front of all of us, and... why the fuck were we even there?!

Man 1: You didn't shoot the boy, your Captain did. Now, did you set the charges?

Miles: No, we didn't. VC picked up on the shot. There weren't supposed to be any Americans in that area. We couldn't reach HQ 'cause Connor fucked up.

[Silence] [Tape skips, damaged at location.]

Miles: It was supposed to be routine fucking operat-

Man 1: What happened to your squad?

Miles: We just had to fucking... F-fucking Charlie got to us too fast. Too fast. They were everywhere. In the trees.

Man 2: Your squad, from what you've said, was armed with significant weaponry. You could have easily held off a force of a hundred VC, correct? What happened?

Miles: They weren't normal, man... They leapt outta the trees, like monkeys or something... crazy. Their eyes...

Man 1: What. Happened?

Miles: I look to the left, after I hear this weird scream. Like... like a kettle, right? And this guy, just flies out of these bushes. He has no gun. And in a second, C-Connor is on the ground with this fucking Gook is ripping him up with his teeth. Captain Lawrence spins around, tells Roger to pull the guy off. He gets hit, and gunfire all around. We didn't fucking see it. Connor is trying to kill this guy, but his guts are everywhere. Cap runs over and plants his knife in the base of his skull. Connor just... dies. And then he tries to crawl over to me... and he was saying my name, but his eyes... F-fuck...

Man 1: What do you mean, "Connor just dies?" You said he started to crawl over to you?

Miles: He fucking starts crawling over to me... and...

[Miles breaks down into incoherent sobs.]

Miles: *inaudible*... and he f-fucking starts eating Roger... and everything he swallows spills out onto the fucking gr-rass...

[Miles stops, and takes uneven breaths.]

Man 2: Your squadmate... began eating a dead body?

Man 1: This is bullshit. It's gotta be. You're lying.

Man 2: Shut up ██, what happened after that?

Miles: The Gooks got hungry...

Man 1: No...

Miles: The f-fuckers poured in... and we tried to hold them off, and I turn to Connor... and I shot him in the head. We couldn't hold the position. O'Brien set the charges, tried to retreat. They pulled him down into the grass, like he just disappeared in water... Lawrence and I ran. We ran. But... the Captain was bitten. He got all weird too. He told me not to shoot him, that he felt great, that everything would be fine... and he tried to bite me, man! He tried to bite me... so I took my pistol and I told him to back up... But he just kept saying, "Miles, I'm okay. I'm okay." Over and over.

[Silence.] [Miles then briefly sniffles.]

Miles: "I'm okay, Miles." All he said, "I'm okay." A-and he reaches across, and b-bites me, right here...? *showing large spot of burn-scar tissue on forearm* I shot him in the chest and left him there... and like they knew what was there, napalm falls from the sk-skies...

[Man 3 enters the room.]

Man 3: We have new orders. This can't get out. Comes down from The Pentagon.

Man 2: What does that mean, exactly? Did ████████ authorize this?

[The two men leave the room, Man 1 stays.]

Man 1: Can you expand on this... 'Jungle Tooth?'

Miles: Yeah... If I remember right, the Gooks made it up, it was like a curse or a sickness or something... made you crazy... made you eat people...

Man 1: You think that's what it could be?

Miles: I don't know...

Man 1: I wonder... if what you're saying is true, and that napalm hadn't fallen, you'd be like them, wouldn't you?

[Silence.]

Man 1: Wait...

Miles: I'm okay.

[Man 1 begins screaming, and the sound of ripping flesh fills the next minute, followed by weak, muffled pleading.]

Man 3: Holy shit. Holy shit!

[Gunfire.] [An inhuman shriek pierces the speaker.] [A muffled thud.]

Man 2: He... he bit you!

Man 3: W-what? What if he did? Let me out of here-

Man 2: No! You stay back █████! You stay in here until we get more people down here!

Man 3: You can't leave me in here with-

[Man 3 screams as Man 1 groans and snarls.]

[The steel door slams.]

PA System: Warning. Emergency in Sector █-1, requesting security personnel. Warning. Emergency in Sector-

[Audio stops.]

Director ████ has declined to discuss the contents of the tape on any occasion, and therein requested that all US troops be evacuated from Vietnam under "any means necessary."

''Miles, Jonathan D. was pronounced dead two days after his MedEvac, three weeks before the ████ operatives intercepted him at his home in ███████. Georgia. The bodies of the operatives in the interrogation room, and likewise the alleged body of Miles, were removed and have been stored at the ████ facility. Operative ██████ has since been in 'retirement.'''