SHOT TO HELL
Chapter 2
The flight over started off uneventfully. Garrison watched his men while he waited for the drop zone to come up. Actor was casually leaning back against the bulkhead. Casino was watching Goniff who was prone to airsickness. Garrison's eyes drifted to Chief. He had selected a seat as from the others as he could get and now appeared to be resting with his eyes closed.
Was it over? Would the man remain angry? If he did, would he take it out on the others, on him? He knew Chief was touchy. Both he and Casino were prone to violent explosions.? If he was to control these men he had to know their triggers.
Casino's seemed to be being told what to do. Casino was a leader, or so he thought. He liked to be in charge. Having Garrison tell him what to do did seem to irk him. The Lt. smiled inwardly. Well there was no help for that. He was the boss.
What was Chief's trigger? He had heard a few racial remarks from Casino that looked as if without his or the guards presence would have caused a fight. In the present situation he had heard none of that. It couldn't be that the guard yelled at him. Maybe it was the drawn gun or was it a combination of a guard drawing a gun and yelling at him. This had to have been a common occurrence in prison. The one good thing was that Chief had not exploded but had bided his time until he had the upper hand. This would be important, even life saving for himself or the whole team, if the situation occurred while behind enemy lines.
He returned to the thoughts at hand. Had he handled this situation right? His options had been limited. In the Army a commander does not sit down with some of his men and explain to them how to deal with the others. But then this was not regular Army. The cons were definitely not regular Army. He had over heard enough of the guards' talk about the cons having too many privileges. The guards slept in hastily constructed barracks while the cons lived in the manor house. The guards had no idea how warm and comfortable those barracks were compared to sleeping in a bombed out building or in the shelter of over hanging rocks, going days with what they could scavenge. The cons earned what few privileges they had.
Suddenly the steady drone of the aircraft was interrupted by the sound of flak exploding around them. Every one gasped. Flak was deadly. There was no protection from it. Then, every airman's nightmare, a blast and the plane lurched and began to slowly roll. Garrison was up immediately and raced as best he could for the cockpit to help the pilot. The others watched him intently. The pilot was lowered to the floor and then the plane stopped its roll but was no longer level. They were going down.
"Everyone bail out!" Garrison had leaned around to the cabin and yelled as loud as he could. The sound of the engines, the wind blowing in the shattered cockpit window and the continuing flak almost drowned out his words. The men had expected the order so were ready when the bay doors opened. First Goniff, then Casino and Chief jumped. Garrison hauled his way up the sloping aisle to the open door. As he waited, Actor looked past their leader back to the pilot laying on the floor.
"He's dead. Cockpit's shot to hell. Go!" They pulled themselves up the increasingly slanting floor and jumped into the blackness.
Even with just starlight the enemy below tracked them and fired as they descended. Fortunately they landed on the other side of a ravine but Garrison had been hit in the upper thigh as he came down and was in considerable pain. With no time to spare they raced for cover. Casino grabbed the machine gun Garrison had been carrying and laid down cover fire. He tossed the hand gun to Chief who dropped back to see who he could pick off. Actor and Goniff took their leaders arms over their shoulders and dragged him as fast as he could. First Casino and then a few minutes later Chief caught up to where the others had stopped. Actor had tried to check the wound but could not see enough in the dark.
Casino took over for Goniff and they continued running. Chief appeared on Actor's left and signalled them to veer off to the right. They soon came to a shallow stream which Actor tried to cross but Chief grabbed his arm pulling him into the water. Actor figured the water would slow them down so rounded on Chief to tell him so but the younger man was already running down stream. They followed. Carrying Garrison's weigh was tiring the two men so they were glad when they rounded a bend and saw Chief signalling them up a grassy bank. From there he led them down a road then into a forested area where he stopped in a small depression that would shelter them from the road. They lowered Garrison down, then Actor set to checking the wound using the light from a match. The bullet had gone through but the wound was bleeding profusely. Fearing discovery, Actor set to work in the dark. He applied a bandage from the first aid kit and used his belt to keep pressure on the wounds. Once finished Garrison tried to check his map but was so light headed from blood loss he was having trouble focusing. Actor looked up to tell Chief they needed a place to stay but he was gone.
"Damn. Warden's shot to hell. I have to get a proper bandage on his leg. Where the Hell is he." Fear for the life of their leader made him short tempered and he turned on Casino. "Where'd he go?"
"How the Hell would I know." He didn't like Actor's tone so responded in kind. "I'm not his owner." As soon as the words were out of his mouth he realized Actor's tone was a cover for worry. If Actor was that worried then they were in bad shape. Where was the Indian? He looked around and listened. Suddenly a sound behind him caused him to jump.
"Let's go." The voice was quiet but carried a tone of urgency.
"We're going to have to carry him. We keep jostling him and he's going to bleed to death." In the dark Actor could only make out a vague shape. There was a short pause and when he went to speak again he was hissed at. Surprise stopped him. A quiet 'Down' and they all flattened themselves in the leaf litter. All was quiet for so long Casino was about to lift his head up when he heard a sound. There were foot steps along the road; soldiers approaching, searching for them. They all remained motionless until the sound faded.
"Wait here." There was a slight rustle then silence. A short time later he returned. "There's a shelter up the road. Here, use this." The urgency was gone; the tone now neutral.
Actor felt something nudge his arm and realized he had just been handed an old chair. They carefully positioned Garrison on it and the two larger men picked it up and began to move out. It was awkward but less jostling for Garrison.
About five minutes later Chief, who was leading, directed them down a narrow treed lane. After crossing about twenty feet of clearing they came to the front of a small shed and lean-to used by local shepherds. Beyond that there was more open meadow. Once inside Actor lit the small oil lamp and set to work tending to Garrisons wound. Being only semi conscious, their leader did not feel the pain.
Chief hated it in here. It smelled of sheep, a smell he associated with Residential School where they had told him that all he was good for was tending sheep. He learned to hate sheep and their smell. He headed over to the door. It had, long ago, sagged on its hinges and no longer closed properly. He peered around the edge, scanning the area then slipped through the opening into the night.
Back inside it was Casino who asked the worrisome question. "Where are we and how do we get back."
" Actor looked up with a frown on his handsome face. They knew the town and place but only Garrison knew the name of their contact. He looked for the map that had been in Garrison's pocket but it was not there. It must have dropped in the woods.
"Casino, go ask Chief to go back to where we stopped in the woods. See if he can find the map." said Actor.
"Come on. It's pitch black out there. Even ol' eagle eyes wouldn't be able to find it", was Casino's surly reply.
"Yes you're right. We will have to wait until morning." He didn't like it but there was nothing he could do.
Ever alert Chief paused to listen. The area around the shed was packed earth but walking on the stubble of dead grasses beyond that would betray his passing. Even the young grass was frost covered and crunchy. The shed was surrounded by sheep meadows which made it difficult for anyone to sneak up on them but also difficult for them to leave unobserved. He knew he should sleep for a bit but he had to see what was around. Knowing your surroundings was one of the things the old Apache woman had taught him. Always be aware.
He grabbed the long staff that stood leaning against the door frame and strode off across the meadow. Hopefully he looked like a shepherd going about his business.
When Chief returned from checking the area Actor called the young man over. "I need you to go out at first light and see if you can find the map and figure out where we are. It must have been dropped where we stopped in the woods. You will have to look for any landmarks." The expression did not change. Actor knew that of the four of them he himself was the best at reading a map but the worst at staying hidden. Chief was the least likely to be seen so he would have to do it.
"Get some sleep then go at first light. Casino, take the first watch."
"Hey, I carried Soldier boy there most of the way here. Let Goniff take it."
"Yes, you are right. Goniff?" He watched as the smaller man rose and went out the door. Casino and Chief lay down in the corner. Actor remained by Garrison's side to watch for infection and bleeding.