Danger Ahead

• Claire Laffey, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2012

All I could hear was the noise of the plane’s engines. I was so nervous I felt sick in the stomach. My best mate, Mark, and I were flying to Afghanistan. We were not going there for a holiday, to sit on the sunny beach, the cool breeze blowing through our hair. We were going there to fight for our country!
When the plane landed I was freaking out. This was my first deployment and I was not used to being away from my country for more than two weeks. We were sent to our camp for more training in this strange country, but not for long. I still felt nervous.
After two weeks our group of ten soldiers was ordered to check a part of the coast for enemies. We walked along cautiously for some hours, all the time looking out for danger. Wayne who was our leader gave us a signal to move to a small hill that was some distance ahead and covered in trees. Suddenly something caught my attention. I saw two men with guns move behind some trees.
I called to I call to Wayne, “Enemies, we are under attack! Enemies, we are under attack”! He told everyone to spread out and look for cover. Soon, when the message got around, everyone was running to get into position.
Wayne told one of the older men called Frank to take Mark and me down to the beach to check what was happening and send a message back to the camp and ask for help. In the excitement I forgot my nervousness.
By now the sun was setting and we had to find a safe place for the night. As we pushed through the trees close to the beach Frank who was leading slipped and fell heavily. Mark and I tried to help him up but Frank said, “I think my leg is broken, help me over to that tree.” We did this but all of a sudden I was nervous again when I realised we were still in danger.
We looked around and all we saw was dirty sand and haunted looking trees. When we had made sure no one was following us, we unpacked our backpacks, attended to Frank and found a place to sleep for that night. We had no clue where we were and we did not know where our troops were. I found it hard to get to sleep.
In the early morning I woke up to a strange noise coming from the beach. Frank and Mark were still asleep. As I looked out I saw an army truck that had two Afghani soldiers at the back. I thought they were on to us. I quickly woke Frank and told him. He said not to worry as he was sure our troops would soon be coming. He was right because a few minutes we heard the roar of our trucks and we were safe.

When I got back to camp and thought about all that had happened I knew that there could be other dangerous situations but I also knew that I could meet them.