Counterattack by Thomas P Hopp

Author:Thomas P Hopp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, ebook, war, dinosaur, alien invasion
Publisher: Thomas P Hopp

Diedre Porter fiddled with the strap adjustment on her army field helmet. “Oh,” she sighed, “it’s hopeless.” The oversized helmet simply wouldn’t stay on straight. It leaned to the right or left, no matter how she adjusted the strap. She knew it must make her look funny. But she laughed out loud when she glanced at Frank Johnston. His helmet was way too small for his big burly head.

“You know something?” She inspected his strange combination of bearish, thick-waisted body, baggy blue denim coveralls, plaid shirt, bearded cheeks, granny glasses and the seemingly diminutive camouflaged helmet topping things off. “I don’t know which of us looks worse.”

“We both do,” Frank mumbled, not particularly amused by the comparison.

She pointed at his sandals and heavy socks. “Wrong shoes, Frank. You’re out of uniform.”

“Close enough,” said the real soldier present, Corporal Jameson, who had been assigned to prepare them to help defend his fire-point. The position was little more than a pile of sandbags stacked into a makeshift wall just outside the command center door. The corporal, the fire-point’s team leader, was giving them a cook’s tour of their new gear. “Now,” he said, “let’s have a look at your weapons.”

Diedre and Frank picked up their M-16s, which Jameson had leaned against the sandbag wall.

Frank lifted the rifle by its butt and barrel. “I’ve never shot anything like this before. I’ve always considered myself a pacifist.”

The corporal frowned. “You’d better learn how to use that weapon, or your pacifist butt will be on some dinosaur’s dinner table.”

“Good point,” Frank gripped the M-16 by the stock and barrel grip, following Diedre’s example. The corporal gave a brief training drill, demonstrating how to load an ammo clip, how to aim through the gun sight, how to set for single shots or bursts of three, and finally, how to flip the safety catch on and off.

“Got all that?” he asked.

“Got it,” said Diedre. “I’ve fired sporting rifles before, just target practice.”

“Hoo-ah!” Jameson replied.

Frank looked over his M-16, mystified. “That last thing you mentioned was—where?” He turned the M-16 on its side. His trigger finger worked nervously over the surface.

“Careful—” The corporal’s warning was cut short by a burst of three muzzle flashes. The M-16 kicked backwards and Frank’s finger reflexively tightened, banging three more shots out in a spray that ricocheted off the concrete ceiling and wall. Soldiers down the way dove for cover, sprinkled by dust streaming from six new pockmarks in the already-pitted corridor.

“Oops!” Frank said sheepishly, lowering the M-16.

Corporal Jameson reached out and snapped the safety button back on. “Now you know where the safety is, and what it’s for. Keep it on until you have a target.”

“Way to go, Frank,” Diedre chuckled.

“Come on,” he pleaded. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Obviously.”

The corporal reached into an ammo box, took out a half dozen clips, and handed them three each. “There will be more if you need them.”

“What else you got in that box?” Frank sounded like he didn’t really want to know.

Jameson picked out a fist-sized dark object and showed it to them.

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