The Green God by L. Ron Hubbard

Author:L. Ron Hubbard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Military & War
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Published: 2013-11-22T21:30:31+00:00

Chapter Four

I waited to see no more. A firing squad was once again beckoning with a bony finger. Before those others could swarm out of their truck, I began to fire. The automatic snapped back. A man with the general collapsed. Another ran blindly toward the wash, diving headlong out of sight under the bridge.

The noise was terrific. Rifles of every known make were adding their clamor to the chatter of the machine gun which bucked in my hands. A slug twitched my collar and I realized that I was in plain sight.

I threw myself down into the dust and propped the gun up on my elbows. These men were of Hseng’s regiment—I gathered that much. They were about ten in number, all of them yelling at once.

Abruptly I missed Hseng. The yellow dog was taking a beat, leaving me here to cover his going. But he wouldn’t get far on the plain in this bitter night.

Dust stung my face, thrown up by a rifle bullet. The soldiers were all on the ground now, trying to get up enough courage to stand and face the machine gun. I couldn’t see very much beyond the flare of my weapon. I had to guess at the targets. Every time I stopped firing, red spots danced before my face to be immediately replaced by blackness. Hseng’s machine was suddenly alive.

That was too much. I was flanked and outnumbered and to cap it, the bolt of the gun slammed home with an empty click.

Jumping to my knees I saw that a man was rushing me from the right. I threw the machine gun into his face and he fell back, stunned.

Taking the .45, I started to back away. I couldn’t see the soldiers and now that I had stopped firing, they couldn’t see me. It was an eerie sensation, death stalking me through the darkness.

Wait until I caught up with Hseng this time! I’ll pretty up his face for him.

Walking backward, I neared the other end of the bridge. I could hear the Benz motor between shots from the truck and touring car. The soldiers were waiting to make certain of my position before they rushed. In the flash of their powder I saw their momentarily illumined silhouettes.

The uncertainty gnawed at me. I was unable to get back to the Benz without rushing the Chinese—and one man launching an attack was rather out of the question.

They decided matters for me. Their firing stopped. I heard a loud command, “Forward!”

Boots hammered the bridge planking like kettle drums. I was caught! Unable to retreat through the darkness, charged by yelling Chinese, held in the gleam of a flashlight, I mentally kissed Sandra goodbye and shook my own hand in farewell.

But I had counted without Sandra. With a snarl, the Benz roared out of the wash and leaped up my side of the embankment. Or was it Sandra? I caught a hasty glimpse of bulky shoulders bent over the wheel as the machine roared toward me.

It was going about fifteen on the upgrade.

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