Nude's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. The
   postman muttered something about wishing he could go too
   and handed over a yellow envelope.
   It was a command long overdue that called for healthy,
   young men.
  
   In reply to your request,
   please find...
   I hereby protest.
   To the ways and means you use
   you know...
   I cannot refuse.
  
   So I'll take this vow
   of Loyalty.
   Fight for the right,
   You have said,
   To be free.
  
   When this time has run its course,
   I must...
   Live without remorse.
   For the deeds I'm bound to do,
   I know...
   it's all the same to you.
  
   But I won't forget
   the memory...
   Taking a life,
   for a life...
   to be free.
  
   Nude's life revolved around orders. He found himself pushed
   and pulled onto a crowded deck of uniformed figures who
   shared the same expressionless faces. Loved ones stood
   anxiously on the pier as the transport faded into separating mist.
   Water and night seemed one. Nude was going to war...
  
   Thunder cracked. Ramps hit the beach and countless boots
   assaulted the shore. His heart punding, Nude stumbled
   headlong into the undergrowth in a desperate search for
   refuge. Sheets of rain drenched the sunless forest as the skies
   opened raging down on the tiny island. Panic-stricken, Nude
   staggered forward and fell unconscious.
   Raindrops spattered from the trees onto Nude's face.
   Startled and confused, Nude listened in the humid silence; he
   was alone and had no idea where he was. Worst of all, he didn't
   know what had become of his Regiment.
   The setting sin left Nude with the growing darkness of his
   fears. He made camp and slept with dreams of a dawn rescue,
   unaware that his Unit had already left the island. In wartime, one
   less soldier is hardly noticeable.
  
   Seasons turned with time. Nude had given up the search for his
   Unit but continued to move through the jungle, bayonet poised,
   as if a thousand eyes were upon him. Home was a cave in a
   hidden lagoon with abundant vegetation and fresh springs. The
   highest point of the island provided shelter from annual
   monsoon floods and sanctuary for his soul.
   His military duties consisted of a monthly visit to the
   mountain top whereupon he ceremoniously croaked the
   national anthem and fired one precious bullet into the air.
   In the loneliness he endured, Nude found an inner strength
   that flowed with the rhythm of instinct.