War
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Bailey Patterson, Grade 6
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Short Story
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2008
Artillery shells screamed down, exploding a few metres away from our foxhole. Clumps of dirt and rocks clattered off our helmets. This is war at it’s worse.
“Corporal!” barked Sarge, “send a message to Fox B Company, the counter-attack had started!” I leaped out of the foxhole and sprinted towards the communications bunker. Bullets whistled past me, with several ricocheting off my helmet.
I burst through the door of the bunker, only to find to the occupants dead! I quickly tuned the radio into Fox B’s frequency.
“Come in Fox B, come in. The counter-attack has started, repeat, the counter-attack has…”
At that moment a bullet whined into the bunker and smashed into the radio, rendering it completely unserviceable. “Arrrrrgh…” I groaned and with that I sprinted out of the bunker and towards the foxhole.
I found the foxhole in a bad state. Spent bullets covered the mud at the bottom and there was a dead enemy with a bayonet in his neck hanging over the edge, bleeding. Worse still, Sarge was leaning up against a side of the foxhole with a bullet wound in his shoulder.
“Corporal,” rasped Sarge, “leave me here, you’ve gotta retreat back to the trench!”
“No sir,” I said defiantly, “I’m gonna give you medical attention, then I’m gonna defend you until Fox B arrives!”
“Leave me here!” replied Sarge, “That’s an order!”
“Court martial me then sir, I choose to disobey that order!”
I quickly grabbed some coagulant and field dressings, and I administered the coagulant to Sarge then applied pressure to the wound and wound it in the dressings.
I searched for some ammo and upon finding an ammo belt for the machine gun, I slammed it into the blood-slick machine gun at the front of the foxhole. Upon pulling the cocking lever back, I took up a firing position, squeezed the trigger and the gun rattled out a storm of metal death.
Several advancing enemies fell in the distance, letting out a cry of pain as they crumpled over. I continued to fire until I ran out of ammo, I then pulled out my rifle and sighted in.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four less enemies to worry about.
As I attempted to sight in again, a bullet smashed the rifle from my hands. I drew my sidearm, sat on an empty ammo crate and waited for death to come so I could shoot it in the face.
It was about this time when I became aware of a rumbling in the distance. I peeked out of the foxhole to see a tank charging towards me! I searched vainly for some grenades to use when I heard an explosion. I looked out of the foxhole to see the tank burning!
I looked behind me to see Fox B Company’s tanks and armoured personnel carriers.
“Hey! Over here!” I shouted, “I need a medic!” I knelt down to Sarge, “Sir, Fox B have arrived, you’re gonna be on your feet in no time!”