by Leo Nix
“Seems that we might have terrorists here or perhaps they're scavengers. I see four recently murdered people here, that's not a good sign. Load your weapons, one up the spout, safety on, be prepared for an ambush. Don't walk too close to each other or we might all be taken out in a single burst of automatic fire.” He made this last comment deliberately to make them realise this was now the real thing.
They started towards the shopping centre car park and saw a four wheel drive being loaded by a group of people. They wore black leather and the sparkle of chains and jewelry glittered in the sunlight. One held a rifle by the barrel and began to lift it to a firing position when he saw them approaching.
Nulla pulled his troops behind a row of parked cars, out of the line of fire. “There's four of them, armed and they look like trouble don't you think? We can take them out but we need to be disciplined and use our brains.” He spoke softly, as if to himself.
Nulla looked at the young woman beside him chewing on her thumb nail and said, “Glenda, I want you to stay here and guard our retreat back to the bikes.” He gently touched her hand and went on. “I didn't say that to keep you out of the fight. I need someone to protect our escape route. Besides, a shot gun has a limited range and it's useless against that bludger's rifle.”
Glenda nodded, she understood.
“Luke, you go right and stay behind those cars right there, see them? Simon, you go left to those ones there. Try not to be seen and do not go any closer or else you'll be shooting into each others position. Can you see that possibility - shooting each other?” he asked them, they nodded.
He went on. “Your role is to distract the enemy. Fire when you get a chance, don't do anything stupid. We don't know how many weapons they have. It looks like there's just these four but there may be more of them inside. Be careful and watch your backs as well.”
He looked closely at the boys, judging their mood and state of readiness. He saw nothing to worry him, they were staunch.
“I'll go up the middle and assess the situation. If they fire then we fire. Use short bursts, three round bursts only. If I think it's too dangerous we go home. Watch what I do and copy. If I fire then we fight and you two join in.” He raised his eyebrows, they nodded.
“If it's a fight just annoy the crap out of them so they lie on the ground to escape your bullets. I'll do the rest. Stay behind cover as best you can because their bullets will kill you. If either of you do anything to disobey my orders, I will take your weapon off you, got it?” His face was serious.
“Yes, sir!” they said in unison. Nulla knew that losing their weapon would be the worst punishment he could ever hand out to these two lads.
“Repeat to me what I just told you.” The boys and Glenda each recited clearly what he had just told them. He nodded once, pointed the boys in the direction they should go, nodded at Glenda. “If all hell breaks loose disengage and get back to the bikes. If one of us goes down we leave them and make our way back to the bikes. We regroup then head back for recon and rescue. Got it? Repeat everything again please.” They did, perfectly.
No sooner had Nulla walked to within fifty metres the firing began. A bullet whined off a car bonnet beside him and he leaped behind a one ton truck. He cursed but he was excited, he needed action, violent action.
The boys had crawled stealthily into position. Simon opened fire first then Luke. They fired a series of short, three round bursts. Simon's fingers closed gently around his Steyr's trigger and they did their thing without him thinking. The four scavengers ducked behind the cars surrounding them.
The scavengers fired back and both Luke and Simon were forced to fall flat on their stomachs as bullets went right through the cars they were hiding behind. The two teenagers tried to melt into the ground as they huddled behind the wheels of the cars in terror.
Nulla stood, took aim and fired then he quickly ducked back down. The bullet almost severed one of the scavengers legs. He screamed so loudly the whole township could hear him. The two girls already yelling abuse increased their chorus. The air turned blue with their creative word-smithing. He aimed again and the girl crouched over the wounded man stopped swearing and was flung backwards. Nulla aimed and fired again and the man on the ground stopped his screaming.
He couldn't allow the screaming to weaken his troops resolve, not on their first blooding. The sounds of the screaming wounded sometimes traumatised new recruits ruining any chance of them becoming first class warriors.
The scavenger's rifle fire then turned on Nulla. They must have had at least one automatic. It sounded like an AK47, thought Nulla. He ducked as bullets sprayed into the truck he was hiding behind. The sounds and smells of battle made him shiver and added to the thrill of killing, it was what he had trained for all his life.
He stayed down, `let the boys do something, time to turn these boys into men,' he thought somewhere at the back of his mind.
They did exactly as he expected of them. As soon as they heard the screaming they knew Nulla was firing and scoring hits. Both of them opened back up and the man with the rifle collapsed. The other girl screamed and cursed. She stood up holding his automatic rifle in her hands so Nulla put a round between her breasts.
It suddenly fell quiet, very quiet. The sound of a crow cawing in a nearby tree could be heard above the sighing of the wind. `This is so peaceful, so right,' thought Nulla. He blinked his tired eyes and leaned forward pondering his next action.
Luke squinted through his Steyr's magnified scope when he saw one of the men turn towards Nulla. The scavenger lifted his rifle to his shoulder and fired. Luke saw the rifle kick, heard it crack and the scavenger's body moved back a bit. He quickly swung the Steyr scope towards Nulla and watched as he crouched behind a truck.
Luke heard a sharp `brrrip' of Simon's Steyr and swung back to watch where he hit. Simon's rounds hit the vehicle in front of the scavengers and sparks leaped into the air. Luke saw the four enemy fall to the ground in panic and wriggle about as they sought to locate where the fire was coming from.
He snapped off two bursts of three rounds each himself. Through his magnified viewer he saw his rounds ricochet off the ground and among the scavengers. A round hit one of the men's shoes and tore a piece of leather from his heel. He fired another burst but it hit the wheel of a nearby car ripping out a chunk of rubber. Its squeal was loud in the silence between the bursts of rifle fire.
Luke's breathing came sharp and sounded harsh in his dry throat. His chest heaved as he tried to breathe more oxygen into his lungs. His head spun dizzily with the noise and a rising panic. He didn't notice the scavenger crouch and aim at him. A patter of bullets ripped into the car that he was crouched behind. They bounced off the bonnet and into the air - some went right through both doors. They made a whining sound and Luke recalled sounds of ricocheting bullets from the war movies he and his father liked to watch together.
Instinctively he ducked his head. Luke checked his Steyr sights and saw one of the scavengers squirming and screaming at the top of his lungs. A growing pool of blood beside him. His leg lying square to his body looked as though it was a piece of play-dough stuck there by a child's hand. One of the girls crouched beside the man on the ground. `I hope she doesn't get shot,' he thought to himself.
Nulla didn't have that same thought. Through his scope Luke saw the girl flung backwards as though hit by a truck. She flew back to slam into the car parked behind them. She slid into a sitting position and didn't move. He heard the crack of Nulla's Steyr again and the man stopped screaming.
Adjusting the focus on his sights to see the girls face, he watched as her eyes fluttered slightly then closed. Both fascinated and sickened he was drawn to watch in morbid fascination, he finally jerked his eyes away.
The other man moved into a crouch and opened up with his assault rifle. Luke looked back through his magnified sights and saw him. `Right in my line of fire!' he thought and pulled at his trigger with short excited jabs. His breathing had stopped completely and he
had to gasp raggedly for more oxygen.
The bullets flew wide and whined off the car bonnet where the scavenger was hiding. Then the man fell, his head jerked to the side and one half exploded into the air. Luke went into mild shock, `I missed him, surely I missed?' he thought.
He then saw the other girl reach down and pick up the man's rifle. `Put it down, put it down!' Luke breathed in a panicked sob, `you'll get yourself killed too.' He clearly saw the bullet strike her in the chest. Blood sprayed out of her arched back as she appeared to trip and fell against the same car her friend was lying against.
Luke was sickened and sad but couldn't stop himself watching her through his scope. She wore a chain that curled from her nose to her lip. It looked cute on her, but when her eyes glazed into nothingness, he snatched his rifle up and looked away. Luke shivered in the burning sunshine then looked across at where Simon crouched. He tried to erase the sickeningly vivid image from his mind.
“Stand down! Cease fire boys!” yelled Nulla. “Don't move, stay in your positions. Check your surroundings!”
He waited a few more seconds then stood up but remained covered by the truck. He leveled his Steyr, through his scope he could see all four bodies spread out on the ground, none moved. He scanned the area behind to check if there were other scavengers. He expected they would have done something by now if there were.
Fifty metres of open ground lay between himself and the four-wheel drive where the scavengers lay still. He wasn't keen on leaving his cover. “Boys!” he barked, “Pull back to the bikes, make sure you use your cover. Now!”
They did as they were told, fearful of losing their coveted weapons.
Once together Nulla led them back to their bikes. “Well done all of you. We'll go back to the training ground from this morning and debrief.”
Chapter 8 - Nulla - Debrief
Back at the park they'd left only a few hours earlier Nulla brought them together around the picnic table. He told them to eat and drink. He kept his eye on them for signs of distress. They all sat and ate their army rations without speaking.
“I want each of you to tell us what you did, your every movement, every shot you fired and what you observed. Don't leave anything out. You first, Glenda.”
They each told their story. Nulla explained that this helped make sure everyone saw the contact from a full 360 degree perspective.
“Today you started out as novices, and now you've experienced a real firefight. You learned what it's like when someone shoots back at you. It's not nice is it?” He didn't wait for a response. “Those folks were scavengers and they would have killed us if they'd had half a chance. We should have done several things, and I'm to blame for that. I should've withdrawn and reconnoitred properly first. I didn't because I was in a bit of a rush to blood you lot. It paid off, but I want you to know that it's always better to reconnoitre your contact. Can someone tell me why I pulled us back and didn't follow up?”
The three looked at Nulla then at each other. Luke said, “Because there could have been more inside the shopping centre and if we went to the scavenger's vehicle they could ambush us?” The others nodded. Nulla waited but no one added anything.
“Yes, that's right. We'll head back tomorrow, just before sun-up. We'll take the Nissan. Glenda you drive and Luke you ride shotgun with her. I'll take my Norton and Simon you ride shotgun behind me. Righto, why will we approach a new target, the new shopping centre, this way?” For Nulla everything was a lesson. He needed his troops to be battle-smart and ready, he didn't want followers, he needed leaders.
Luke wanted to answer but he let Glenda speak first. Nulla nodded for her to go ahead.
“I think it's because we'll be taking the weapons the scavengers left behind and their four wheel drive as well. Plus we save fuel by cutting down on extra bikes.” She smiled up at him and Nulla found himself thinking of other things. He closed his eyes briefly and focused his mind. `Calm down you old fool,' he said to himself.
“Ah hmm.” He cleared his throat which had suddenly grown tight. “Correct, I think we just might make good urban guerrillas after all. We'll take what we can and that includes their four wheel drive. We'll also run a patrol through the shopping mall. It's big and we'll need all four of us to check it out. I think the automatic the scavengers used was an AK47, the best terrorist weapon on the planet. Glenda, that's yours,” he added. “We'll be moving house soon so anything you need grab and throw in the Nissan. There's another safe house closer to the city centre. We can set up base camp and run our guerrilla operations from there. We're just about ready to be a real pain in the butt for those terrorists.”
He stopped speaking for a moment then said, “Boys, how do you feel about killing that scavenger, are you OK? I want you to talk about it. Glenda, what was it like to be on the outside watching and not able to help?” Nulla pushed them along.
Glenda spoke first. “It was horrible listening to the screaming. I was terrified, I wanted to run away. It reminded me of my partner dying and his screams. I feel a bit weird and shook up still.”
Nulla nodded but didn't add anything, he looked at the boys expectantly.
“I don't feel anything, I don't even know if I hit anyone. So much was happening, so much noise and the recoil of the rifle. I concentrated so much on doing the right thing, trying to slow my breathing and aim properly. I kept hearing your voice in my head to breathe, remain calm and fire short bursts. The incoming fire was scary, I felt frightened then.” His eyes widened as if it were still happening. “I discovered that a car isn't the best place to hide behind, the bullets can go right through the doors. I'm still running it all over and over in my mind, it won't stop. Those scavengers shouldn't kill innocent people, they deserved what they got.” Simon spoke clearly and carefully. He stopped and turned to look at Luke, so did Nulla and Glenda.
“Well I feel pretty horrible. I didn't know it would be so sickening to watch someone die. I watched all of them die through my sights. I'm glad I didn't shoot those girls too, that'd be pretty hard to live with. And Simon, you took out the second scavenger, I saw it. All I hit was one of their shoes and a car tyre. I'm still a crap shot.” He looked at the three watching him, smiled briefly and resumed eating his cheese, ham and tomato sauce sandwich that he'd found in his pack from the day before.
“Righto, Glenda, you're up for lookout, choose your spot carefully and watch the road in both directions. Run and get us if you see movement. Righto boys, time for us to clean and oil our weapons. Later we'll do some weapons training and look at the map for tomorrow's trip.” They cleaned their Steyr's without Nulla's help, then loaded their empty magazines.
When they finished the cavalryman sat with his back against a tree and said, “Boys, close your eyes and go to a nice place in your imagination. I'll teach you how to train your mind when we get the time. For now, find a nice place, like the beach or a tropical island, and go there, like in a day dream. You'll need it after today.” Nulla then pulled out his tobacco pouch and rolled a cigarette. He sat quietly smoking, his eyes closed.
That afternoon they trained in how to select strategic positions for an ambush followed by target practice.
“A pinning strategy only works if you don't fire in the direction of one of your own blokes. Just imagine if Simon and Luke stood opposite each other this morning. Any bullets that didn't hit the cars or targets would hit their mate. What if Simon or Luke went to a different position instead of the one I told them to go to this morning? They could have put themselves in the line of fire for me, or each other. That would mean they compromised the assault and I would have had to call them back.
“It's important we take orders, listen, observe and act. We always think of safety, of ourselves and of our mates in every contact. What if someone crept up behind you while you were busy firing at the scavengers? How would you ensure your own positional security or that of your mates?” Nulla drilled them over and over and then directed them to take command and place the other three in
positions and then to explain why. It was a full day of fight, kill, train.
They got home just before dark. He made them approach their house as they would a contact. He went through their movements and positions over and over repeating everything he taught them earlier. Each took their turns to be the commander. When they finished they collapsed exhausted. It was Simon's turn to cook the evening meal and clean up. As expected it was simple: cereal and bread sprinkled with curry powder and tomato sauce with layers of cheese.
Nulla made them wash daily in the big bowl they found on their previous trip. It wasn't big enough to sit in but they could stand and splash water over themselves. They didn't have much water for washing and Nulla drilled into them to conserve everything, especially water. By mid evening they sat around the table under candle and torch light, to plan for their trip tomorrow. That night they slept like logs until Nulla woke them for breakfast.
They were up well before dawn and breakfast was the first item on their agenda.
“I don't want coco pops, I want something that'll stay there all day. I'll make some porridge if anyone else wants some?” grumbled Luke. “My mother always said porridge made big boys and girls.” He twirled his spoon in the air and poured some hot water on his bowl of dry porridge. It turned into a stodgy mess.
“I don't care as long as it's food,” said Nulla doing stretches in the lounge room. “I've eaten rats, cats and saddle bags so porridge is as good as anything else. Count me in, you're the cook for today, Luke.”
Simon and Glenda, still half asleep, ate what was on the table: coco-pops with powdered milk and boiled water. Glenda finished her bowl and first cup of black tea.
“I just can't get use to this dried milk business, Nulla. Can we get a cow in here some time soon?” she called as she squeezed past Luke on her way to do her morning ablutions.
Breakfast gave them time to wake up and socialise. The boys enjoyed having Glenda with them. For the pubescent males she was nicer to look at and more fun than Nulla and his endless lectures.