Recoil

9

The biggest, ugliest of the front runners zeroed in on me like removing my head from my shoulders was his only mission in life. I fired from point-blank. He was so close, I almost had to kneel to get the elevation up to him.

His mud-splattered face was set in a frenzied snarl as he raised his blade.

I gave him a big burst and his gollock clattered into the fire trench. His blood gushed over my face as he buckled over the gun barrel and started to sizzle.

Sam turned to back Crucial as I heaved the body off the gun and tipped him into the mud. His flesh smelled like scorched crackling.

There was another blur of movement from my left. I dipped down to grab Sam’s AK and snapped back up in the aim.

A rope flailed behind his leg as he ran.

‘Sunday! Stop!’

Crucial had a stoppage and dropped from view to change mags.

Sam stepped up his fire.

I flicked the safety lever down and fired the whole magazine to cover the boy as he ran in blind panic towards the track.

Finally, out of ammo, I dropped the weapon and scrambled out of the trench after him.