Open Fire by Amber Lough

Author:Amber Lough [Lough, Amber]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fiction-Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction, History, Historical, Military, Wars, Battles, Bravery, Courage, Friendship, Historical Fiction, Military History, Russia, Russian History, War, War & Military, Women and Wars, Women in the Armed Services, Women in the Military, World War I, WWI
ISBN: 9781541590625
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2020-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

June 16, 1917

We were marching through a thin blanket of fog to the Field of Mars, where the grass had given way to mud. When the army had brought in truckloads of sand to level and dry it out, the soldiers had begun calling it the Sahara. Today, where men had trained for generations, we marched in lines and columns until every single woman knew her leader’s command almost before it was spoken. Exhilaration rushed through me. The platoon was beginning to feel like it was mine.

Once we’d satisfied the trainers and it was time to return to the barracks, Masha ran up to me and slapped me on the back. “That was good! We’re getting good at this!” she said giddily.

I grinned at her. “We’re going to be terrifying on the battlefield, Masha. The Germans will run screaming back to the Rhine.”

As Masha turned to talk to Alsu, Avilova marched her platoon past mine and gave me a mocking salute. She paused next to me, letting her soldiers walk on.

“You need to be careful about favoritism, Pavlova.” She looked pointedly at Masha.

“I’m not—”

She raised her hand up to shush me, then turned to walk backwards with the last of her platoon. “You need to lead them. Don’t be stupid.”

Then she turned back around and said something to the last woman in her platoon, who laughed. I knew it couldn’t have been about me, but I still felt like they were laughing at me.

I got my women back in line and into a march, but my mind was on Avilova. Masha was my best friend and I spoke with her more than with anyone else, but I didn’t make her life any easier. I expected the same from her that I expected from the others. And she knew it, surely.

My soldiers kept in step the whole way back to the barracks, not breaking formation until they’d been told to fall out and go inside to wash up. Masha and Alsu waited for me, both of them gripping the rifle slings that hung over their shoulders.

“What’d Avilova say to you?” asked Alsu.

“That I need to step up as a leader.” It wasn’t a lie.

—

Later that day, we were taken out of the city for target practice at the seashore. The winds racing off the Baltic smelled of salt and saltpeter.

Our targets were fifty meters away. I lay on my stomach in the sand, propped my elbows up, pulled the bolt back, and opened the receiver. One bullet. We each had three, and we had to hit the target with at least one of them. I inserted the first bullet, felt it catch, and slid the bolt closed. It clicked.

I took aim, running my eyes down the stock and leveling the rifle so the target appeared directly in the little valley of the metal piece at the end. I took a deep breath, exhaled, and then squeezed the trigger.

Bam! The force jammed the stock into my shoulder, but I’d had lots of practice recently and the bruising there had turned hard.

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