Phantom War

Phantom War Written By Scott Jeschke & Micah McFarland It’s 1955. Jim Speltzer is a veteran-turned-photojournalist whose plane goes haywire and crash-lands on an uncharted island in the South Pacific, right in the middle of the Dragon’s Triangle. He stumbles upon the last thing he expected to find: Corporal Caffey, an American soldier who doesn’t know the war’s been over for ten years. Caffey takes him back to his hideout and tells him that they’re not alone on the island — there’s a Japanese soldier known only as Seishin who’s been locked in guerrilla warfare with Caffey for the last ten years. Over the many years he hunted and killed the rest of Caffey’s company, and the two of them have been in a stalemate for years. But Caffey hasn’t seen any sight of him in three years. Speltzer doubts Caffey’s story and drops the news that the war has been over for a decade. Caffey’s confused and devastated, but Speltzer persuades him to leave the island with him. At the last moment, Caffey turns back: he can’t go while Seishin is still out there. Speltzer argues that Seishin is probably either dead or left years ago — just as a storm of gunfire rains down on them. They take cover and make a dash for the plane, but Caffey stands and fights Seishin one-on-one. He manages to get the upper hand and prepares to execute his foe, but Speltzer steps between them and pleads for Seishin’s life. “The war is over. You’re not enemies anymore.” Caffey wrestles with his demons and finally decides to spare Seishin’s life and, ultimately, his own