Irregulaire

Shattered Windows

I caught a glimpse of the blast just before I got thrown into the air. Is this it? I don’t think so. My ears were ringing due to the blast. I’m supposed to be dead, you know. But here I am, breathing heavily with blood running through my nostrils. Dirt was all over my face. I tried to get up when I felt a sharp pain in my left side, around the ribs. A fragment, from that mortar round. A similar piece struck my left cheek. When I fully regained consciousness, another round had fallen into Ruud’s spot, killing him. I came to realize that the round that fell in front of me was a small caliber.

“Grace,” I said to myself, still trying to get up. “GRACE!” I screamed as I grabbed my rifle. She laid there with Ian trying to pick off shards of glass that’s been embedded into her skin. “IS SHE OKAY?!!”

“Yea!”

“Let’s get her inside!” I shouted as another round fell quite close to the house “ANNA!”

“Yea!?” she answered

“Organize the guys, I’ll be with you!” I then proceeded to help Ian lift up Grace and moved her to her bedroom. I checked on her breathing. She was in shock. “Please take care of her, I’ll be back,” I said to Ian.

Just as I got out of the house, the first of what would be waves of charging enemy fighters came. They have managed to make a hole in the Southeast wall, and Franz was trying hard to stop them. Karl fired his grenades and stuff, but it is too close for the fuse to detonate. Others just climbed over the wall. I tried aiming my rifle, but there was no time. So there I was, crouching beside the pillar of the porch, shooting from my hip.

“Kris! Cover the top of the wall!” I said as Kris was still trying to takeout those who made it in. “Dan, take Ruud’s position!” I shouted as I tried to run towards Kris’ position, supporting him. Bullets flew in all direction—and shelling haven’t stopped. It was more than two mortars, different calibers, too. That guy yesterday was a round-spotter, turned out. And his friend did escape. Jimmy hastily got out of the house with a bag of grenades, and then used the time fuse to his advantage.

Grenades usually have 4-5 second delay after pulling the pin before it explodes, and right timing can create a beautiful airburst. That’s what Jimmy was trying to accomplish. He pulled the pin, waited for 3 seconds, and threw it away. It exploded head-level, and as a result, that single grenade took out five enemy fighters. Red mist came out as a by-product of that explosion; it was horrific yet satisfying. We kept returning fire for solid 10 minutes. There was nowhere to run to anyway. Enemy fighters just kept on coming. They, too, have something they brought on to the table.

Machine gun fire did not stop for anything except lack of targets or reloading. Suddenly, the already full of holes Southeastern section of the wall blew up. They had det-cord charges wired up against the wall and demolished it. From that torn wall, more Lib fighters flood in. That mortared house across the street made a good cover for those bastards. They returned fire with heavier ordnance than ours—technicals rolled in with their .50 caliber machine guns. LT shouted orders for anyone to get a bazooka. Not long after, Steph got a hold of a LAW and neutralized them before they got a chance to pepper us with .50 caliber fire any longer.

I kept returning fire with my M16, rocking a couple of 40 rounders. I did everything—double tap, hip fire, blind fire, everything. Kris’s barrel almost turned red from continuous firing. Our ears, though plugged, are still not able to withstand prolonged gunfire. Added with that RPG fire, a technical car blown up on the other side of the streets, and all, you’d most likely hear a faint ringing for three hours or something. And with me lying really close to a Minimi, which is very loud, I almost thought I’d lose hearing.

Buck was running back and forth providing ammunition for Franz. He was about to take a few other cans of GPMG rounds as a round went through his left leg. He fell, bumping his head into the ammo cans, rendering him unconscious. “Buck!” Karl screamed, helping Buck up and laid him down on the fence. No other hole was found on his body, so he was going to live. Stubs took the captured AK from the lookout last night and using it quite effectively on full auto—something the Marines have practiced for a long time now. LT then ordered a fire team from the 1^st squad to guard the house close. Enemy troops kept on coming, though at slower rate now. Shelling had also stopped.

The Marines in-between our position, who we were supposed to replace, managed to score some hits with indirect grenade launchers. I have no idea how that came to them. They just pointed their weapon up, fired, and grenades fell right on top of the enemy. Karl should try that, I guess. I then continue to fire my weapon—shot after shot, magazine after magazine. I was afraid that I was running out of ammo and out of the action, but then it came to a halt. Gunpowder smoke filled the air as it mixed with the stench of burnt gun lubes. Everyone started talking to each other. But still, we wanted to make sure that the last enemy was down. Dan, Jimmy, and I went up across the street into the mortared house, weapons reloaded.

There were still people in there trying to set us up. They tried firing their weapon but then silenced quickly by Dan’s automatic fire. I circled the house and managed to kill two more guys trying to sneak up. When we searched the house, there were two teenagers wanting to surrender hiding in one of the bedrooms. Their dead comrade laid down by their feet. Stubs, who followed us close behind, took in the prisoners in hope to interrogate them. This time, more information could be obtained, we thought.

Ryan fired that last shot of the skirmish. Just when everything started to seem calm, some enemy troops had been playing dead and planned to throw grenades towards us. Ryan saw it and took action. I joined in, too. After that continuous fire, my weapon was smoking again. I didn’t feel it at first, but it turned out enemy fire had grazed my left earlobe. Anna seemed to be hit—it was caught by her armor plate, however, and she managed to get back up. Mark’s ears were bleeding after a grenade blew near him while his ear protection was off. He had almost totally lost his left hearing, while his right ear was still on.

“Is the Colonel okay?” LT asked the fire team. I was checking on Buck.

“I think so, sir,” said a Marine.

“Lieutenant, I’ll be checking in on the Colonel,” I intervened.

“Go ahead,” he said

I strolled down to the house, rifle in my hand. I then slung my rifle to my back so that it goes across, muzzle pointing to my right. Anna then joined in on me as her guys checked on Mark.

“Dude, are you okay? I saw you thrown back by that first shell,” she said.

“I’m okay. Just a piece of fragment to one of my ribs. It’s good, I think. How about you, you okay? Weren’t you hit?”

“Armor caught the bullets. I’m still breathing, though it felt like being punched in the gut,”

“Good to hear that, man,” sigh. “Let’s go check on the Colonel,”

We were about to enter Grace’s room. There she sat, I think still in shock, with her wounds cleaned up by Ian and her mother. The Colonel stood by, caressed her. She grunted and moaned a little. It wasn’t that bad, her injuries.

“Sir, the lieutenant is worrying about you,” I told him.

“I know. Gimme a second,”

I then crouched near the edge of Grace’s bed, trying to catch her attention. And there she was.

“How do you feel?”

“It hurts, dummy ...Ow!” she grunted as her mother cleaned the rest of her wounds.

“Is your hearing fine?”

“Yes, it is. Is that blood on your ears?”

“That’s why I asked,” I said to her, getting closer. “You hang in there, okay? You’re going to be okay. I’ll see you around. Stay away from the window,” I added, as I turn to her father, “Lieutenant Lichtsteiner is still waiting on you, Colonel,”

Just as I walked outside, I saw Ian coming in with a tub of medical supplies; sulfa, morphine, bandages, etc. I actually want him to take care of this shrapnel and at least clean it, but he was still busy with his girlfriend. Anna’s face then turned red. She seemed a bit more panicked. I guess the adrenalin wore off after several minutes. She tried to wipe her face off with her red flannel, stained by the soil kicked up by explosions and ricochets.

“That was intense,” she said. She slowly went back and forth on the porch with me squatting near the door. “I thought we were gonna die,” she was breathing heavily.

“I know, right. That mortar though,”

She kept moving back and forth. “This is bullshit,” she said, shaking her head.

I then stood up and got closer to her. “Hey,” I said as I grabbed her upper arms, near the shoulders, “You’re okay. Okay? We’re gonna be okay,” I said, trying to calm her down. She nodded.

“I think I need a smoke,” she said, stepping off after letting out a sigh.

“Can I have one of those?” I asked her as she unpacks her Luckies from her pocket.

“Sure. Need a light?”

“Yea, thanks,” I leaned towards her to get that light. I then dragged a deep inhale, enjoying it. It calms me down, I tell you. It seemed to calm her down too.

 “I want casualty assessment right now, and LT, you take a squad, go beyond that fence for a click and clear out any remaining bogies, do it now,” The Colonel suddenly burst out of the front door. “What are you doing here, Mike?”

“Enjoying a smoke, sir,”

“I want you to take your squad back to your original positions,”

“The MG team is taking care of their commander, sir, but the rest of us haven’t moved a bit, sir,” Red replied.

“Tell your MG team to get back immediately, this whole place could be surrounded,” He stormed back in the house. He probably got paranoid after his daughter got peppered all over her face.

“Relax, Anna. You deserve a little time-out,”

“Thanks, Sergeant,” she let out a little chuckle. But seriously, this attack earlier had been the biggest each of us ever encountered.

“Ann”

“Yea?”

“Can I call you ‘Red’?”

“Well, it’s okay, but why is that?”

“Because you seem to like the color red so much. You can call me Mike if you like,”

“It’s a little weird to call you that, but I think I like Gunny better though, you know, like, Gunnery Sergeant?” she said, standing up to check on everyone else.

“I guess you got that from my middle name, huh?” I laughed a little.

“Yea, Gunther, isn’t it?”

“It is”

“See you, Gunny” she said, storming off to her team. I guess Gunny does fit better, I thought to myself.