Chop the fucking throttle, stupid! Put it in a skid, let him overshoot you!
Oh, my God, the windshield's gone. I can't see a fucking thing. I'm going to die. Where the fuck are those goggles? Where the hell is that Zero? Why does my leg feel wet? Did I piss my pants?
Not unless you're pissing blood, you didn't.
I thought it was supposed to hurt when you got wounded.
Oh, shit, it hurts! I wonder if it's broken?
(Three)
"How do you feel, Dunn?" the tour guide from the Atlanta Zoo asked, pulling up a folding metal chair to the side of Dunn's bed. "Well enough to talk to me?"
What if I said "no"?
"Yes, Sir."
"The more you can tell me about what happened out there, the better," the tour guide said. "You want to take it from the beginning?"
"We were at fourteen thousand, about thirty miles out, when Major Parks spotted them. He showed us where they were and went into a dive, and I went after him."
"And?"
"And that's all I remember."
"Come on."
"I remember being surprised that the Zeroes were on the bottom of the formation, not the top."
"OK. That was unusual. They apparently intended to use the Zeroes to strafe the field here. I guess they didn't think we had anything to send up against them. When you went in the dive, then what happened?"
"I shot at a Kate."
"You got it. It was confirmed."
"The Kates were on top. Then there was a layer of Vals. I went right through them without firing a shot. And then I was in the Zeroes."
"And?"
"I don't know. I don't remember much."
"You are credited with shooting down one of them. You don't remember that?"
"Who says I shot down a Zero?"
"I don't immediately recall."
"The Skipper?"
"Major Parks didn't make it back, I'm sorry to say."
"Shit."
"I was hoping that perhaps you might have seen him go in."
"I saw somebody go down. His right wing, most of his right wing, came off. I don't know who it was."
"When was that?"
"I don't know. Toward the beginning."
"That was the only time you saw one of ours go down?" "Yes"
"You're sure?"
"I told you, that was it. How many of ours went down?"
"A good many, I'm sorry to have to tell you."
"How many is a good many?"
"We lost fifteen. Two Wildcats-not counting yours, although yours has been surveyed and is a total loss-and thirteen Buffaloes."
"We only had nineteen Buffaloes with us."
"In addition to yourself, Captain Carey, Captain Carl, and Lieutenant Canfield came back. Of Major Parks's flight, I mean."
"You mean the rest are dead?"
"Do you remember when you were hit?"
"You mean everybody but the four of us is dead?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Oh, my God!"
"Do you remember being hit?"
"No. I remember the windshield going."
"In other words you don't know who shot you down, whether it was a Zero or some other type aircraft?"
"It had to be a Zero. I was in the Zeroes."
"But you don't know for sure?"