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Category:  Science Fiction
Publisher: XLibris
ISBN-10:  1933449314
Type: Fiction
Pages: 280
Copyright: 04/21/2016
ISBN-13: 9781514497401
Price: $3.95 (eBook)

My name is Al Connor. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I have common sense. I knew my place in the world, or so I thought. Well I was only eighteen, so I knew it all. I was old enough to vote, though I knew nothing about politics. My Mum and Dad were strong believers in the rights of the common man. Well that rubbed off on me. Dad had grudgingly let me finish high school, so I could get a reasonable job.
I wanted a job, a car, and a girl on my arm. What more was there to life? I soon found out, that the real world doesn’t operate like that. Well it didn’t for me. Dad decided I should join the army and make a career out of it. I had done cadets in school and quite liked the routine. I did hate saluting the officers. I wasn’t the only one.
I had very little choice. I went to many job interviews, only to be knocked back. I reluctantly enlisted in the Australian Army. It took me a few years to get organised and show my skill level was above others. As I said, I wasn’t the cleverest there, but I got the job done. I had common sense.
I was sent on a long stint, to the Middle-East. On the twelfth day, we came under heavy fire from the Taliban. John the lieutenant was killed in the first few shots. I watched him fall down, blood spurting from his chest, as he fell. It was quite different, especially when the target was shooting back at you. Bullets were flying everywhere. I followed the protocol and headed for cover.
Then Jim the sergeant and Harry the corporal, both got it, Joe, the lance corporal was shot in the leg. There were just the three of us left. We were like a chook without a head on, running around madly. Geoff shouted to me from the left.
“Hey Al, are you okay?”
“Yeah, but the lieutenant, sergeant and the corporal have been killed, and Joe is hit in the leg.
“Somebody get me out of here!” Joe yelled.
“Geoff, where’s Danny?”
“He’s here with me. Oh shit they have a bead on us.”
“Cover me! I’m going to get Joe,” I yelled, as I ran towards Joe.
The bullets whizzed over my head, as I ran stooped, to where Joe lay. I hoped Geoff and Danny would pin the bastards down and give me a chance to drag Joe behind some cover. Geoff and Danny let fly with everything they had, while I was in no man’s land. I grabbed Joe’s outstretched arm, as he fired his gun with the others. He wasn’t the lightest bloke to move, but I pulled him through the dust and we made it to some rocks, which gave us some cover.
Of course, now we were separated from the other two, by some twenty metres. I looked over to see how the other two were doing. They were getting peppered with bullets.
“I’m okay Al, It’s just a flesh wound,” Joe said, with half his leg blown off, blood was pouring on the ground.
I grabbed his belt off him and put it around his thigh and tightened it, to help stop the blood flow. He passed out on me, but he was still breathing.
“Geoff, can you call for backup?” I yelled, as bullets hit into the rocks in front of me.
“What with? The two-way is out there in the open. It looks like its hit.”
“What do you and Danny want to do? Joe has passed out from loss of blood. His leg is nearly blown off. How far are they from us? Can I use a grenade, or two?”
“No way, you couldn’t reach them. They have some heavy weapons.”
“We can’t stay here,” I said, looking around.
“Well what do you suggest?” Geoff said.
I then saw a ditch that went off to the right. It was deep enough for me to crawl in.
“Geoff, you and Danny chuck a few grenades as far as you can, in front of me. That should make a dust cloud. I’m going to try and outflank them, so keep firing to make them think we are still pinned down, okay.”
“Sure mate, say the word and we’ll do it.”
Just then Joe came too, rather groggy, but awake.
“Stay here, I’m going to flank them and attack from the side, or back. For God’s sake, don’t shoot me, okay,” I said, nodding.
He smiled and nodded.
“Go get the bastards,” Joe said.
“Now guys, do it. Give me three to five minutes, to get around there.”
I jumped into the ditch, as the grenades went off and blew up a dust storm. I heard the lads firing and the retaliation they received. I moved as fast as I could, running crouched over. The dust cloud gave me good cover, and soon I could hear the noise from my left. I was on their left flank and closing in on them. I had four grenades and my trusty rifle. I could see where the firing was coming from, and realised they had not seen my departure.
There were at least ten to fifteen of them, hiding behind rocks. They were firing at will and seemed unaware of my presence. I got as close as I could, within grenade tossing range. I grabbed a few grenades, pulled the pin out of one and threw it into the biggest group. Well the blast from the grenade did the trick and the second grenade, sort of blew the other lot away. A smaller group to my right caught sight of me and started shooting at me. I fell to the ground, throwing a grenade, as I did. The blast killed them, leaving only two men left standing. I shot those dead, before they could retaliate. The silence was deafening.
“Al, are you okay?” yelled Geoff.
“Yes, I got them, you can come out and get the two-way, and see if it works.”
I walked towards the lads, when Joe from behind the rocks fired at me, missing me by inches.
“What the hell are you doing, Joe?” I screamed.
“Behind you,” he said, as he collapsed.
I spun around to see a dead man lying ten metres away. Well we were even, that’s for sure.
“The radio works, they’re sending out a helicopter for us. Well done Al, you’re a genius,” Danny said, smiling happily.
“We better watch out for any other Taliban. They would have heard the fight. Hey Joe, are you still with us?” I yelled.
There was silence, so I ran to the rocks where Joe was. He was out to it, his leg, or what was left of it was white.
“Where’s the helicopter?” I yelled.
“They said it was coming, how’s Joe?” Geoff asked.
“Not good, he’s lost a lot of blood. He saved my life, I owe him one,” I said, as I crouched down beside him.
Geoff and Danny, then helped me carry our three dead men into one spot, next to Joe. I looked around at the battle zone and thought, it could have been us lying there, dead.
“I’m going to scout around. You and Geoff set up a watch,” I said, walking off.
“Don’t be long, the helicopter will be here soon,” Geoff said, looking towards the east.
“I’ll hear it, just don’t shoot me, okay,” I said, waving my hand.
I headed towards the place where the Taliban were entrenched and slowly inspected the place. The blown apart bodies of the men were not a nice sight, but neither were those of our men. I headed back to where the lads were. I heard the helicopter coming and saw it on the horizon.
“We could be lying here with them,” Geoff said.
Danny nodded and looked down at the three dead men. The helicopter landed, and we help load the dead and wounded aboard.
“Sorry guys, you’ll have to make it back on foot. We have to pick up some more wounded on the way,” The helicopter gunner said, just as we were getting on.
Danny swore and Geoff muffled his disgust. I just smiled and shook my head. Joe came to and smiled at me.
“Thanks Al, you saved my life,” He said, half dazed.
“Thank you, you saved mine, so we are even mate. You take care and I’ll see you back home.”
He nodded and blacked out, as the helicopter took off. I turned to go, but Geoff grabbed me.
“There’s a vehicle coming, over there,” he said, pointing towards the dust trail, snaking towards us, on the left.
“Let’s get under cover, I don’t think it is one of ours,” I said, leading the way.
Danny didn’t need any persuading, he was right with me, as we dived behind the rocks. Geoff was right behind us.
“What are we going to do now?” Geoff said.
“Let’s wait and see how many men are in the vehicle,” I said, checking my gun.
They followed my lead, reloaded and readied themselves for another fight. We waited in silence. The sun was very hot and beads of sweat rolled down my face and into my eyes, burning them. I rubbed my eyes with my dusty hand, it only made it worse. I blinked rapidly to clear my eyes and stared at the oncoming vehicle. It was a large four-wheel drive, not one of ours. I wriggled my body for a better position to fire from.
“What do you think?” Geoff whispered.
“We’ll just have to suck it and see,” I said.
The large four-wheel drive pulled up next to where the dead Taliban lay. Three armed men got out, the driver staying in his seat, the motor running.
“We could use the large four-wheel drive,” I whispered.
“You take the driver, Danny and I will take out the other three,” Geoff said, aiming at one of the three men.
“On the count of three,” I said.
I looked at the driver and realised it was a woman. She was dressed in combat gear.
“Well, when are you going to start?” Geoff whispered.
“One, two, three,” I whispered, firing my gun.
The driver’s side window of the car smashed, as the bullet blew it apart and hit the woman in the head. I immediately turned my gun onto the three men and fired at one of them, knocking him down. Danny and Geoff both shot at the same man, leaving one still standing. He ran for cover, but I winged him and he fell down. He began crawling towards some rocks. I fired two more shots and he didn’t move.