@@@@@He squinted upward toward the peakThey still
@@@@@He squinted upward toward the peakThey still had a morning's climb ahead of them, and then what? They would drop down among the Japs and be wiped outThey could never come back over the mountain againOn an impulse he walked over to Martinez, who was fixing his pack
Red hesitated for an instantNearly all the men were ready, and Croft would shout at him if he delayedHe still had to put his blanket in his pack
Aaah, fug him, Red thought again, ashamed and angry
Before Martinez he paused, uncertain what to say"How you doin', Japbait?"
"Okay
"You and Croft couldn't work it out for a little while, huh?"
"Nothing the matter Martinez averted his eyes
Red lit a cigarette, disgusted with what he was doing"Japbait, you're kind of chickenYou want to quit and you ain't even got the guts to say so
Martinez made no answer
"Listen, Japbait, we been around quite a while, we know what the hell the fuggin score isYou think it's gonna be fun goin' up that hill today? We're gonna have a coupla more men droppin' off on one of those ledges, maybe you, maybe me
"Leave me alone," Martinez muttered
"Let's face it, Japbait, even if we do get over, we'll just get a leg or an arm blown off on the other sideYou want to stop a slug?" Even as he argued Red was bothered by a sense of shameThere was another way to do this
"You want to be a cripple?"
Martinez shook his head
The arguments filed naturally into Red's mind"You killed that Jap, didn't ya? Did ya ever know that brings your number a little closer?"
This was a powerful point to Martin