Chapter Twenty-six
And you hear gunfire off to your left and the shots spatter against the little fort, and the Marine says oh shit they are coming in and he runs to the window to the south and looks out the corner of the window and he says I see five, maybe six guys coming and all the sudden he jumps up and lets loose out the window for about ten seconds, and then falls down and says now there’s four, maybe five guys, and then there’s more shots like rain on the roof at the start of a thunderstorm, and you crawl over next to him and then you hear three shots and three bullets whistle over your head through the window, and then another two shots go in the window you just left and the Marine says they got us flanked fuck.
And the Marine says we got to get out of here and get our ass back to the HUMVEE, grab the radio and your rifle and we’ll crawl our ass back just like we got over here and then you nod and he jumps up and fires for about three seconds, and then you hear the hammer clicking on an empty chamber and he ejects the magazine and reaches down into his BDU thigh pocket for another magazine, and then you hear three shots real quick and the Marine falls down next to you and you grab his shoulder and its all wet and warm.
The Marine shouts what the fuck is this and you say you’re hit bad and he says it’s all meat, no bone lets get the fuck out of here and he crawls to the door and you sort of lift your rifle over the ledge and fire until the magazine runs out, and then you crawl back to the door and the Marine says fuck crawling let’s run and you look at him and he looks at you and then you both jump up and run as fast as you fucking can back to the HUMVEE, and you hear in the distance behind you more bullets smacking into the fort.
You dig around to the back of the HUMVEE, with your boots scraping in the sand and squealing on the blacktop, and fall down behind it and you hear the Marine say shit and then he moves a little and he says I jumped on your officer, probably go to mast for that, and all the sudden you laugh like hell slumped against the HUMVEE, and you try to stop laughing, but the Marine is laughing too, and you slow for a second and you say just fucking reload this bitch for me and he shows you the button that makes the magazine fall out, and how to line up the new one, and to make sure it clicks home, and then you charge the rifle, still wiping your eyes and the Marine gets on the radio and calls in and they say the A-10 is five minutes out.
And you look around the corner of the HUMVEE and you can sort of see the fort, and you catch the shadow of a guy coming around the front through the door, and you turn and you say to the Marine they’re in the fort, and you lift up your rifle and he pushes it back down and says no use letting them know where we went and you squat down and sort of lie on your side and look out under the HUMVEE with your head on the blacktop and your cheek touching the road and look from behind a tire at the guys slipping one by one into your little fort.
And you turn back to the Marine and you can see him slapping a bandage around his shoulder and wrapping down over his arm and you say you gonna be okay and he says yea bleeding like a stuck pig here and you move to help him and he says just watch those motherfuckers will you and then he reaches down for another bandage and pulls out something like a long pen and says will you look at this and he smiles and you can see his teeth white in the dark.
And you say what the fuck is that and he says this my squid friend is a laser designator, and then he grabs the handset and calls the voice and asks can I get patched through to the A-10 and they play around with it for about a minute and you watch the guys in the fort and you wonder what the hell is going on and then you hear him talking to the pilot who is overhead and telling him we are behind a HUMVEE and the fort is about 50 yards to the south and I will begin designating in one-five seconds, one-five and then you hear a rumble overhead and the Marine counts 15 and then turns on the little pen and points it at the side of the fort and you can barely see a little red dot on the wall.
And the A-10 comes over real low from south to north with a whoosh and a roar and a guy comes out of the fort and looks up at the two red circles at the back of the plane as the sound goes low like a semi on the highway, and the guy turns and yells something into the fort and the Marine says hurry up you motherfucker and the guy is yelling louder and someone answers him, and you hear the A-10 take a big honking turn, and then its sound starts getting higher and higher, and its coming in, and the guy reaches in and grabs a guy out of the fort, and the A-10 is about a half mile behind you and the red dot is on the wall and then the A-10 whips over and you hear just a quick little whistle and then the whole fucking fort goes white and you duck and there’s this huge crunch and little bits of stone and other shit are rattling against the other side of the HUMVEE and raining down out of the sky.
And the Marine hoots and puts down the laser on top of the HUMVEE glowing red, and you both look up and over the side of the HUMVEE at the fort and the thing is just blown to fucking bits, and then you hear on the radio, you hear the pilot say something about insurance and you can hear him take another big honking turn and then he’s coming from the south, his engines getting higher and higher, and he says something about locked on, and then he’s about a half mile away and you hear the Marine say something like holy jesus motherfucker run and you jump up and start to run when you hear the A-10 whip over and a little whistle and in front of you the ground goes white with your shadow dark and you hear a huge crunch and this huge fucking hand slaps you in the back and you fall face down into the dirt and slide on your face, and then little bits of HUMVEE and other shit are raining down out of the sky.
And then you smell the sweet smell of sweat and dirt and then you fall asleep.
You Are Free Page 26