There was a burst of fire from the Taliban to my right, then an ear-piercing scream stopped me in my tracks. It came from one of us.
"Man down! Man down!" I crashed through the maize to try to reach whichever one of us had been hit, but I still couldn"t see through the thickness. Toki"s voice hit me from about five metres ahead. "Keep moving! He"s dead. Go, go!"
More fire came from my right as I carried on running, jumping over Flash"s body on the way. He was face down, soaked in blood. More fire followed from the left, and then from behind. I still couldn"t see anything except maize. Another round of fire burst out from ahead of us. I started to panic. "Toki!"
Before I could decide which way to run, Si was screaming at me. "Briggsy! Left. Tali, left! Look left!"
There was a Taliban just a metre to my left. Dark eyes wide open, teeth bared, his beard glistening with sweat. There was nowhere to run.
I don"t know who screamed the louder, but both of us yelled at the top our lungs as we hurled ourselves towards each other. I gripped my weapon and lunged as hard as I could. The bayonet made contact with his chest. His dark eyes took one last look down the barrel of my weapon as his shirt and skin resisted for a second before giving way under the bayonet"s blade. I heard a squelch as the cold, hard steel resisted a little against bone.
I pushed in harder, my war face now just inches from his as we both screamed at each other. The bayonet forced its way past his ribs and rammed all the way home into his chest. He gave one long scream as his knees buckled and he fell backwards, pulling me forward with him. There was no way I was going to let go of my rifle. There was no way I was going to let go of my rifle.
It was then that I realized my bayonet was stuck in his chest. My rifle was practically standing upright all on its own now that the Tali was down on the ground.
"What you doing? Leave him! Come on!" Si"s voice hovered between exhaustion and panic.
"I can"t get it out. It"s stuck in his ribs!" Si took hold of my rifle"s grip, putting his hands on top of mine.
"Pull, Briggsy, pull!"
We pulled together, wiggling and twisting to pull the blade free. There was another squelch and a rasping noise as the bayonet slid out stiffly from between two ribs. I stood stock still, watching the blood drip slowly down the blade.
Si"s voice cut through my daze. "Run, Briggsy, run!" More rounds came from all directions. I scanned every shape ahead of me but still couldn"t see him. "Where"s Toki?"
"Keep going!" Si was panting so heavily he could hardly speak. "Do as he said, the RV!"
I increased my speed to catch up with Si and we ran the last ten metres together to the edge of the field. In the distance, I could hear the two Apache attack helicopters approaching. I scanned the horizon but couldn"t see them. It didn"t matter.
They would arrive soon and sort this drama out good style. I scrambled quickly into the cover of the ditch, and slid down the mud until I was up to my knees in cold water.
Chapter Sixteen
The two of us crouched in the ditch, our helmets sticking up over the top just enough for us to make sure no Talis were following. Not that we could have shot them anyway.
Si was right next to me, still panting after the run. "Mate," he whispered in between gulps of air. I turned my head. The sweat dripping down his face was turning the streaks of mud to a wet paste. He gave me a big grin, his jagged white teeth flashing against his shiny skin.
"Happy days or what, we made it!"
I grinned and nodded, but to be honest I didn"t feel the same relief. I could only focus on one thing. "Where"s Toki?" We looked back at the field, scanning every inch of maize.
"Look!" Si"s arm shot out as he pointed. "Edge of the maize. Half left."
Sure enough, there was Toki, bent forward with Flash"s body draped around his shoulders. I jumped and waved my arms in the ditch.
"Toki, quick. Over here!" As he looked up to hear where my voice was coming from, he hitched Flash further up his shoulders and headed towards us.
"Woah!" Si gripped his weapon tightly but remained stock still. "Talis!"
Four Taliban had sprung out of the maize. They didn"t appear to be taking aim with their AKs, but were running straight for Toki, and they were catching up with him fast.
Like Si, I too was frozen to the spot. Couldn"t speak, couldn"t move, could only look on in terror. Si"s voice came through in short, sharp, terrified bursts. "Mate, what do we do? What do we do?"
As the Taliban closed in on Toki and Flash, they began to scream out. It sounded like Indians attacking a wagon train in one of those old black and white westerns. Toki dropped Flash to the ground and looked wildly about him. He swung his weapon up, ready to fight, his bayonet glinting in the early morning sun. "Come on, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Come on!" he screamed back at them. He had worked out what was happening before we did.
I felt Si grip my shoulder. "They"re not shooting ..."
My eyes didn"t leave Toki as he stood over Flash. A wave of panic spread through me.
"That"s because they"re trying to take him!"
As I watched Toki stand his ground waiting for the Talis to come to him, something shifted within me. It began to rip through my heart and churn my guts, twisting and turning inside. Without thinking, I began to scramble up the bank.
"Where you going?" Si already knew the answer.
"Come on!" It didn"t matter whether he was going to follow or not.
"Mate, we only got bayonets." Si"s voice was pleading, but he was already scrambling up the bank to join me.
I looked across the hundred metres of open ground at Toki, preparing to fight to the death, and a wave of emotion blasted through my body. It seared through my lungs, roared through my throat and finally broke free. "b.o.l.l.o.c.ks!" I screamed and broke into a run.
I kept my focus on Toki as I raced across the field. He stabbed his bayonet at the first Taliban, who dropped to his knees, wounded in the shoulder. But the other three were too quick. They kicked and punched Toki to the ground, took hold of his arms and legs, and started to bundle him back towards the maize. As they dragged him off, Toki writhed and screamed until the tallest one hit him over and over again with the b.u.t.t of his rifle. The tall one then ran back to help his injured friend, who"d got hold of Flash by one of his heels. Flash didn"t resist as they dragged him off in the same direction as Toki. He couldn"t. But he lifted one arm to protect his head as it banged against the rocks jutting out of the ploughed field. He was still alive!
As I ran towards my mates, it was as if my head knew what my body wanted to do and it just sort of happened. All sound became m.u.f.fled. I was sure Si was following me, but I couldn"t actually hear him. I knew I was screaming out loud, but I could barely hear any sound come from my mouth. The Apaches must have been approaching, but I wasn"t aware of the roar of their rotor blades. I was running in slow motion and all that mattered was getting Flash and Toki back, nothing else. I had to get amongst it. I had to help them. I couldn"t have stopped myself even if I"d wanted to. I just kept on running, kept focusing on Toki and Flash getting dragged closer and closer to the maize, where they would be lost to me for ever.
This time my war face just happened. I didn"t have to think about it, but I knew it was there. I wasn"t scared of the Taliban or frightened of dying. There were more important things to think about: my mates.
I took the final few bounds towards them and crashed into the tall Tali who was dragging Flash. My bayonet slid into the side of his chest like b.u.t.ter. It must have helped that I was running at full speed when I smashed into him. I didn"t even slow down to take aim. The Tali fell backwards slowly, screaming. Or at least he looked like he was screaming as he had his mouth wide open.
Out of the corner of my eye, I was aware that Si was taking on the wounded Tali, but I kept on looking at Toki. He was being dragged by his arms by the other two and they had just reached the gap in the maize.
I set my sights on the one nearest me. With my rifle gripped firmly, just like Toki said, I aimed for centre ma.s.s and charged. Concentrating on my target, I was barely aware that I was screaming my head off.
Everything happened slowly and clearly. I saw both Talis look up at me as I got closer. They dropped Toki"s arms and started grabbing their AKs from their slings. It didn"t bother me. I knew I was going to be faster. I jumped over Toki"s blood-stained face and landed on top of my man. My bayonet plunged into the right-hand side of his neck and he dropped at my feet. With his windpipe shredded, he was slowly suffocating.
I turned to the next, but he had already bottled it and vanished into the maize. I didn"t bother to follow. Behind me, Si was checking out Flash, the injured Tali lying dead by his side.
As if on cue, the two Apaches started shooting the maize field. Every few seconds, the whirr of rotor blades was broken up by the rattle of cannons as their thermal sights found what they were looking for. The ejected 30mm cases rained out from underneath the helis, one of them bounced off my helmet with a metallic thud.
Chapter Seventeen
As the Apaches did the business in the maize fields, Si and me got Toki up and limping, then we dragged Flash halfway down the ditch.
As soon as we were in cover, Toki got straight on the radio to MacKenzie to give him our exact location and to report on the state of our casualty. The blood on Toki"s face had already dried in the sun and there was a nasty cut on his lip. He was definitely going to be battered and bruised for a good few weeks to come, but at least there was no major damage done.
Flash was another story. We"d managed to stretch him out on a slight shelf just above the waterline. Si and me had cut off his combats, and just about stopped the bleeding in his leg, but he had a big, fat hole ripped out of the middle of his thigh.
Si had pumped him full of morphine, but it didn"t sound like it was working that well. He wasn"t screaming, but he wasn"t exactly talking much either. We stayed close, even though there wasn"t much more we could do. We just tried to chat to him a bit, so at least he knew his mates were with him as we waited for MERT to arrive.
Flash"s face screwed up in pain. "I can"t feel my leg."
"You"re alive, mate, that"s all that matters." I really meant it.
Toki came off the radio. "MacKenzie says just two more minutes and MERT will be here to lift us all out."
I felt a surge of happiness rush through me. "Hear that, Flash. MERT will be here in two. You got us going back there, you know. Thought you were a gonner."
"So did I." He managed to grimace. "I blacked out when I got zapped. Next thing I knew, Toki was there."
"Just making sure you were properly dead," Toki smiled and his lip bled some more. Si and me burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing we"d ever heard. I don"t know why. It wasn"t much of a joke. I looked around at all three of them, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with happiness. "We made it! We all made it!" I pumped my arm in the air. "Yessssss."
Si beamed back at me. "Happy days!"
Just then, the faint sound of the MERT Chinook filled the air. I looked up to find the dot in the sky but couldn"t see it yet. It didn"t matter, it would be here soon.
I put my hand on Flash"s arm. "Hey, Flash, the doctors are nearly here, mate. You"ll be in hospital with that gammy leg of yours within the hour."
"Briggsy!" Toki barely took his eyes off the sky as he threw me a smoke grenade. "Mark us up so the heli doesn"t land on top of us. Give it some blue a good twenty metres from the ditch. You know what those RAF are like."
I leapt to my feet like I"d just been asked to pick up my winnings on the lottery. "Okey-dokey, Toki!" I giggled as I caught the baked-bean-cansized grenade.
Funny how things turn around. You think you haven"t got it in you, then you find out you have. When the Tali started dragging Toki and Flash back into in the maize, it was my time to prove I had what it took. I did my job, good style. Si did too. For me, that was a big relief.
Even bigger was that I was still alive to think about it. I didn"t feel good or bad about killing. It was just them or me really. But I know one thing for sure, back there by the maize was the first time I felt like a real soldier.
I scrambled up the bank and ran into the open ground. I could now see the Chinook clearly, about six or seven hundred metres away. I pulled the pin, threw the grenade and a thick cloud of blue smoke filled the air. The Chinook slowly turned and headed towards us. Happy, happy days!
Under the cover of smoke, Toki climbed up the bank to meet me. He cupped his hands to his mouth to shout above the sound of the rotor blades.
"Hey, Briggsy! I was right, wasn"t I? You did good back there."
I grinned as I walked towards him, enjoying the praise. "Looking at the way you were mincing about with those Talis," I shouted from about two metres away, "I thought you could do with the help. Besides, I had to help my mates out, didn"t I? Happy d-"
I heard a click underneath my foot. Nothing else.
Chapter Eighteen
Two months later and I was back at home in my old bed. My room hadn"t changed since before I"d joined the army. It still had Chelsea posters stuck all over the walls, and my old skateboard propped up behind the door.
The only thing different was that Mum had Blu-Tacked a couple of army photos next to my poster of Beyonce. There was one of me and the lads on the a.s.sault course at the Infantry Training Centre, and a big group shot of the whole platoon, who were still back at the FOB with another month left to go of the tour. Si had sent me that one while I was still in hospital. His a.r.s.e was in the middle of the picture doing a moonie, with all the others grinning behind him, giving me the thumbs up.
Apparently, when I had trodden on the mine, there was just a small explosion and some dirt got thrown up into the air. You kind of expected a fire and a blast of epic proportions if it was going to change your life that much, but it hadn"t happened that way. The explosion hadn"t thrown my body high into the air. It had just sort of lifted me off the ground about six inches. Trouble was, when I landed, I was no longer in one piece, but two. I lost most of my right leg in the blast.
It was Toki who hadn"t stood a chance. The force of the explosion had hurled lumps of rock straight towards him at supersonic speed. A shard of rock had flown up into his chin and sliced straight through his brain. He was killed outright.
At least Flash was doing well. He had called me yesterday from his new married quarters. His missus loved it. He had a ma.s.sive scar on his leg and was still in a lot of pain, but he would be fit enough to stay in the army. Good news.
Si emailed me all the time. The lads back at our FOB were still getting shot at by the Talis most nights. Other than that, he was busy burning t.u.r.d drums for his red leather sofa. He told me that after Toki was killed, MacKenzie had given him a really good send-off.
It felt strange not being out in Afghanistan with the lads any more. Some days I felt guilty for surviving when Toki hadn"t. But on other days, when the pain in my leg was really bad, I reckoned maybe Toki had the better deal.
I tried not to think too much about what life would be like in the future. Better just to crack on with it. Wait and see, know what I mean? The doctors said once my leg had healed well enough, they"d be able to fit a false one to the stump.
Having to leave the army was the worst thing really, but I still planned to keep in touch with all my mates. And like MacKenzie said in all his speeches, I would make sure I never forgot Toki, or any of the lads killed in action wherever they fought.
People like Toki lived and died as soldiers, doing a job they loved. For some reason, back in the UK, no one seems able to get their heads around that fact.
Soldiers don"t fight for Queen or country, like they say on the telly. They fight for each other. It"s the job of a soldier to kill the enemy, and if that means getting killed or injured in the process, so what? Toki and all the rest of them who died knew the risks. Toki wouldn"t want any pity. And if he didn"t want any, then I didn"t either.
One good thing that had come out of all this was that I was starting to get my dad back. The second half of that letter I"d posted to him from Afghanistan said he could write back to me if he wanted. I"d told him I"d post him some pictures of me in my uniform, and maybe he could send some of him from when he was in the Army.
Things moved on quite a bit after that. My dad went to see a doctor about PTSD and they started giving him some help. He even came to see me in hospital last week, and drove me and my mum back home just now. Maybe they"d get back together one day. Who knew?
One thing I did know, though, was once a soldier, always a soldier. Know what I mean?
Books in the Quick Reads series
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