K9LTW – a fiction by MKHurder
Chapter 10: McCready’s Measure
On Patrol
McCready moved through the undergrowth with the quiet assurance of a man who had seen too much to be surprised anymore. The jungle pressed close, damp and heavy, but his thoughts were on the two handlers ahead. Donnie and Bodie had become a unit so tight it was hard to separate man from dog — every pause, every shift of weight mirrored in the shepherd’s stance. Reyes and Rook, once raw and hesitant, were turning a corner too. McCready had watched it happen: Donnie’s steady guidance, Bodie’s silent marks, and Reyes learning to trust the silence instead of fighting it.
He found himself almost comfortable letting either team take point. That was new. For weeks he had carried the burden of every decision, every formation, every extraction. Now he saw the dogs leading with instinct sharpened by discipline, and the handlers reading them with growing confidence. His own experience was still the anchor, but it no longer had to be the only one.
McCready adjusted his boonie hat, eyes scanning the brush. He knew the jungle could turn on them in a heartbeat, but he also knew the squad was stronger now. The bond between men and dogs was no longer fragile — it was becoming the kind of trust you could stake your life on. And in this war, that was the only kind that mattered.
The Cache
The patrol moved in staggered file, the jungle pressing close with its damp silence. McCready kept his eyes on the handlers, watching how Donnie and Bodie flowed together at point. Reyes and Rook held the flank, their movements sharper now, less hesitant. McCready felt the shift — the two young men were learning to read the bush the way veterans did, and the dogs were teaching them faster than any manual ever could.
Rook froze. His nose angled toward a tangle of roots and half‑buried foliage. Reyes stiffened, then dropped to a knee, hand firm on the harness. McCready’s hand went up, halting the squad. The jungle seemed to hold its breath.
They uncovered the cache slowly: oil‑stained crates, wrapped in tarps, stacked beneath the roots of a fallen tree. AK rifles, magazines, and mortar rounds — enough to arm a platoon. McCready’s jaw tightened. He had seen caches like this before, each one a reminder of how close the enemy lived to them.
“Good mark,” McCready said quietly, nodding to Rook. Reyes’s eyes flicked up, pride tempered by discipline. Donnie and Bodie shifted to cover, rifles steady, while McCready made the call.
“We blow it in place. C4, quick and clean.”
Demo Team Up
The squad moved with practiced efficiency. Charges were set, wires checked, and the jungle swallowed their movements. McCready gave the final nod, and the blast rolled through the undergrowth, a thunderclap that sent birds screaming skyward and left only splintered wood and scorched earth where the weapons had been.
As the smoke drifted, McCready looked at the handlers. Donnie’s calm steadiness, Reyes’s growing confidence, Bodie and Rook alert and silent. He felt something shift inside him, trust earned and undeniable. These weren’t just kids with dogs anymore. They were a team, and with his experience added to theirs, they were becoming something formidable.
Withdrawal
The jungle hadn’t finished with them. The blast still echoed when Bodie’s ears flicked, nose cutting toward the east. Donnie froze, reading the dog’s mark. Rook stiffened too, a low rumble deep in his throat. Reyes tightened his grip on the harness, eyes scanning the brush.
McCready felt it before he saw it, the subtle shift in the jungle’s silence. Enemy probes. He raised a clenched fist, halting the squad, then motioned them into a staggered withdrawal.
“Smoke,” he ordered, voice low but firm.
Grenades hissed, curling white plumes through the undergrowth. Bodie and Donnie led, weaving through roots and vines, their silent signals guiding the men around danger. Rook and Reyes moved with them, rifles steady, every step measured. McCready brought up the rear, eyes sharp, rifle angled to cover the squad’s retreat.
A burst of AK fire cracked through the haze, rounds snapping overhead. Donnie dropped to a knee, returning fire in short, controlled bursts. Reyes mirrored him, Rook pressed low against the ground. McCready’s voice cut through the chaos when the smoke was dense enough: “Move! Keep it tight!”
They broke contact cleanly, smoke and jungle swallowing their trail. When the firing faded, McCready slowed the pace, letting the squad regroup in a pocket of dense ferns. Reyes was breathing hard, blood streaked on his sleeve, but his eyes were steady. Donnie gave Bodie a quick pat, the dog’s chest heaving but alert.
McCready looked at them — two young handlers, two silent dogs, and a squad that had just destroyed a cache and slipped the enemy’s net. His trust had deepened another notch. They weren’t just surviving anymore. They were learning to fight as one.
“Your arm okay, Reyes?” he asked.
“Scratch, Sarge. Caught it on a branch. No biggie.”
“It will be a biggie if it gets infected. First chance you get, clean and cover. Got it?”
“Roger that, sarge.”
Return to Base
The jungle thinned as the squad pushed back toward Firebase Bearcat, smoke still clinging to their uniforms and the dogs’ harnesses. Bodie padded close to but in front of Donnie, nose low, ears flicking at every sound. Rook stayed tight to Reyes’s side, steady even as the younger handler’s steps dragged with fatigue.
McCready brought them in with practiced calm, his eyes sweeping the perimeter until the wire and sandbags of the firebase came into view. The sentries waved them through, and the squad slipped back into the relative safety of the compound.
Inside the wire, the silence of the bush gave way to the hum of generators and the smell of hot metal. Reyes dropped to sit on a crate, wiping blood from his sleeve, while Rook pressed against his leg, watchful. Donnie crouched beside Bodie, checking the shepherd’s paws, murmuring quiet praise.
McCready stooped beside them. He saw it clearly now: the two handlers had stepped up, the dogs had led them true, and the squad had come back intact from a mission that could have gone sideways. His trust had shifted from cautious oversight to genuine confidence.
“You did good,” he said simply, voice low but carrying weight. Reyes looked up, surprised at the rare praise. Donnie gave a small nod, his hand resting on Bodie’s harness.
McCready knew the jungle would test them again soon. But tonight, inside the wire, he allowed himself a moment of quiet pride. The K9 teams weren’t just proving themselves — they were becoming the squad’s edge, and with his experience woven into theirs, they were something the enemy would learn to fear.
Fire on the Wire
McCready had just allowed himself the rare luxury of pride, watching Donnie check Bodie’s paws and Reyes lean against a crate with Rook pressed tight to his side. The hum of the base seemed steady, safe for a moment.
Then the jungle answered back.
The first warning was the hollow thump of mortars in the distance. A heartbeat later, the compound shook as rounds slammed into the perimeter, dirt and shrapnel spraying skyward. AK fire rattled from the tree line, joined by the shriek of RPGs. Explosions tore through sandbags, men shouted orders, and cries for aid cut through the chaos.
McCready was already moving. “Secure the dogs! Defensive positions!” His voice carried above the confusion, sharp and commanding.
Donnie pulled Bodie in, snapping the harness handle tight, rifle angled toward the wire. Reyes dragged Rook behind cover, blood still on his sleeve but his eyes locked forward. The vet tech scrambled to their side, weapon in hand, crouching low as another mortar round landed with a deafening crack.
The handlers braced at their sector of the compound, dogs pressed close, ears forward, bodies taut with instinct. Smoke curled across the firebase, tracer fire stitched the night, and the K9 group waited, steady, silent, ready to meet whatever came through the wire.
(to be continued: Chapter#11 – Not outlined yet)
To start from the beginning: K9LTW-ch#1
to read another of my fictions in progress: DohReyMe&theKitties3-Ch1 or the Prequel – Doh – Rey – Me
Related Links:
- Four-legged-fighters
- Vietnam Dog Handlers Association
- Military Working Dog Heritage Museum
- Top Dog – Lucca
Bonus Fiction Feature:
If you read any of the fiction I create here to the end, you will be able to download a free copy when It’s complete. If I get a referral from you, I’ll throw in the fiction – Burtt the Blade.
From Popi’s Tales & The Book of Wonders
More from Popi’s Collection of Facts & Fiction
- Burtt the Blade – fiction
- Doh – Rey – Me – fiction – book – written here
- Mystery of Willow Woods – fiction – short Story – written here
- The Last Signal – part one – fiction – book – written here
- Rift Guardians – chapter#1 – fiction – book – written here
- DohReyMe&theKitties3-ch1 – fiction – book – written here – in progress
- Shorty’s Path – non-fiction auto biography book
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