An Unexpected Victory

• Matteus Holm, Grade 3, Toowoomba East State School -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

It was not a nice day, the Russians had declared war on us and it was said that every man over 18 had to come and fight for the country, and that included me: Ronny Alistair. We had to go on a long train journey to the dock, once we reached it we had to board a ship that was so big it looked bigger than the Titanic. It took about two hours for every one to board the ship. After two whole weeks of sailing we finally arrived at the battlefield in the Russian city of Ossora.

After we reached the battlefield it only took us one hour and a half to disembark because a lot of people had died on the boat. We went in little boats to the land but then we heard thousands of gunshots. Suddenly I felt something wiz past my arm. It took me five seconds to realize what had happened, and what had happened to me was a bullet had skinned my arm. “Arhhh!” it hurt so much, although, the best part was that it wasn’t bleeding very much. We soon realized that the Russians were attacking! “Quick get the guns”, I screamed. As fast as lightning other soldiers grabbed the guns and handed one to me, then we started firing and firing and firing. After one whole day of firing non-stop we dug under ground and made tiny burrows to sleep in. The next morning I wanted to go out but the general said it was too dangerous.

Now I started to wish I had brought food along. I felt so hungry I asked my mate if he had any food and he said, “yes”. Then I asked if I could have some and he said, “of course”. I was so happy that I promised him that when we got home I would give him ten dollars. My mate gave me some pear and apple. After having some pear and apple I felt reenergised.

Later that night the general said we would plant grenades everywhere in the Russians camp without them knowing. Everyone thought that it was a great idea including me. First we assembled all the grenades we could find and crammed them into our pockets and started crawling to the Russian camp. Some of us stayed at camp to keep guard. Once we arrived at the Russian camp we planted grenades everywhere. When we had no more grenades left we set off the last one and then we ran for it.... BOOM!! We ran and ran and ran till we got to our burrows, every one was so puffed out!

As it turned out, the Russian camp we blew up had a secret underground bunker that stored all their weapons. By blowing up their secret bunker, the Russians realised they had no chance of winning the war and the Russian President surrendered. We had done it, we had just saved our whole country from the Russians.