The Rifle

• Morgan Millan, Grade 5, Keithcot Farm Primary School
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

"We've been hit!" Yelled the captain. Hi, I'm Alfie Alcott. I live in Eastern Sydney with my Mum and Dad but right now I'm at war. I grab my glossy black rifle and jump into the dark yellow lifeboat.
I'd been floating for days and starting to lose hope that I'd find land. Suddenly in the distance I spot what appears to be a rocky mound protruding from the gloomy ocean. As I drift closer I see a golden beach surrounded by rolling sand dunes. In desperation to get to shore I jump out of the lifeboat and swim. Once my feet touch the shore I collapse from exhaustion and without warning I fall asleep.
"Where am I?" I yell as I wake in some sort of dormitory. As my eyes adjust to the dim light I look around and see that there are other allied soldiers. Maybe I'd been saved and would soon be shipped back to war but then I hear "Roll call!" coming from outside. As I stumble through the dingy room and out the door I suddenly realise why there are so many allies, I'd been captured! I must have ended up in the enemy's territory and they'd found me while I was asleep. After evening roll call we were crammed back inside. Struggling to sleep I look outside to see that the guard had fallen into a deep sleep. As I leant against the window I realised it wasn't locked and knew that this was my chance to escape.
I climb out, sneak around to the where the guard is sleeping and manage to slip his rifle out of his hand. Without warning the silence is broken by the loud, rumbling noise of a German tank as it leaves the camp. As the tank comes past I take another huge risk by jumping onto the back. As the tank passes through the opening gates I'm surprised I haven't been noticed. The tank travels for a couple of hours when all of a sudden it comes to an abrupt stop. In a flash the driver is pointing a gun at me. I fire my rifle and within a couple of seconds the driver is dead. I run into the woods and try not to think about what I just did.
I wander for a couple of hours when I see smoke. As I get closer I see that there are tents and soldiers wearing allied uniforms. Yelling "Don't shoot" I slowly wander into the campsite. I notice some crew mates who had also survived. I feel relieved as I say hello to Freddy. He looks down at my rifle and says, "Aren't you going to get rid of that German weapon?" "No," I say. "I kind of like it plus it saved my life."
Six months later the war is over and I'm back home with my parents. Sitting in front of the fire I glance up at the rifle and give thanks.