Jon Cornwall’s Adventures

“We have had an urgent call from Split,” advised Brian, “Apparently there are still around seventy forms sitting in a field tent that were not submitted with the rest and we have to go out there and retrieve them.” “Why cannot the military simply bring them over to us?” queried John. “Apparently they cannot spare anyone for such a minor oversight and asked the Civil Secretary to take care of it.” “OK, when do we leave?” “Right now.” The jeeps bounced up the road with its four passengers sitting in the back and were trying their best to avoid hitting their heads on the roof. The jeep was just crossing the Bosnia/Croatia border when there was a sudden explosion and the jeep was lifted off the ground, flew into the air before landing on its side. Its wheels were still turning and the engine smoking as it came to a sliding halt at the side of the road. John was thrown from the jeep and had landed in a heap on the other side of the road. He shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears. “Keep down,” yelled someone from the other side of the jeep. He did as he was told. He carefully looked around then saw two other bodies lying close to the jeep, the driver was hanging half out of the vehicle, across the windscreen. Just as he was watching the driver started to stir and raised his head but almost immediately a shot was heard and John saw what looked like a little puff of smoke shoot from the back of the driver’s jacket then the body slumped and suddenly went still. “Don’t move,” said the voice again, “Sniper. I’ve radioed it in, support will be coming soon.” John laid flat on the floor, when another explosion was heard off to his left. “Mortar,” explained the voice again just as yet another explosion sounded but this time a lot nearer and he heard a grunt. John called out but the voice was suddenly silent. He just lay flat for a little while not sure what to do when he became aware of movement from the side of the jeep so again carefully raised his head just in time to see one of the bodies starting to arouse from their concussion. “Don’t move,” he called out putting his hands at the side of his mouth, but whoever was controlling the mortars obviously heard his voice and the next explosion sounded very close and he was covered in flying dirt. He stubbornly raised his head again to see the figure from the jeep starting to stand up. “No, stay down,” he warned but he was too late as the sniper aimed and fired with the bullet passing straight through the figure’s throat. The man dropped like a sack of potatoes, while the mortars continued to move closer. He could feel the panic welling up inside him as all his instincts were telling him to get the hell out of there, while his body remained fixed to the ground and refused to respond to the demands his mind was making. He could not move as fear had paralyzed him. After twenty minutes had passed, which felt more like a lifetime to John, he decided he had to force himself to move so slowly sat up onto his knees. There was an immediate flash of light in the distance and he felt a burning sensation as something red hot struck his chest. A surprised John looked down to see a hole in his jacket, just above the breast plate, while dark liquid was seeping from the hole. He suddenly realised he had been shot and just sat there looking stunned when another shot was fired and hit him in his chest again, no more than five inches from the first hole. The force of the second bullet pushed him backwards and he landed hard on the ground. His eyes were wide open and there were small rasping sounds coming from his mouth. His world then blissfully turned dark. He suddenly blinked opened his eyes to once more find himself floating again over his own body, which looked dead with blood still oozing from the two bullets that had struck his chest. However, this time he felt strangely calm and after taking a quick glimpse of himself he then turned in the direction of the sniper. “Where are you?” he said aloud to himself when his body immediately took him to the top of a hill where he found himself looking down at a camouflaged soldier, who was laying face down under a hedge with his rifle just to his side....