The Reckoning: The Day Australia Fell by McArdle Keith

Author:McArdle, Keith [McArdle, Keith]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Published: 2013-12-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

“Andrew Baker, first President in US history to be convicted by the Senate!” Al-Sharq, Doha.

Lying amongst tall ferns, long dead musky smelling leaf litter surrounding him, Grant Bridge listened to the foreign language. He remained frozen, barely breathing as he heard the Indonesians walking along the dirt road. It was the third time in a week since escaping Concentration Camp Hatta he had come in close proximity to enemy soldiers. Grant was sure it was only a matter of time before he was captured. They were talking in loud voices and obviously held no concern of alerting any Australians. In their minds, it seemed, the brief war had resulted in victory and Australia was theirs for the taking.

Eyes wide, he stared hard at the fern reaching up out of the leaf litter in front of him and noticed a grasshopper sitting on one of the fronds, returning his intent glare. The insect was frozen in place, hoping that the giant newcomer had not seen it and would soon leave. Grant in turn lay still, silent, adrenaline quietly leaking into his bloodstream as he willed the enemy to depart.

As the minutes passed and the voices grew faint, eventually fading into the distance, Grant began to relax. He was bone tired and knew his body was still recovering from malnourishment. His food intake had slowly increased day by day, until he was comfortable eating a normal diet once again. Although, eating well came at a price, especially when one had escaped as a prisoner of war and on the run. Grant shifted under the weight of the pack and grunted as it moved into a more comfortable position. The pack was full of non-perishable food. Boomer had also provided him with a reverse osmosis pump that he could use to help purify water from rivers, creeks, even puddles of muddy water. However, Grant had been advised to boil the water before drinking whenever possible. When lighting a fire was not possible, Boomer had given him several boxes of purification tablets. One tablet dropped into a bottle of drinking water was enough to remove all impurities and render the water drinkable.

“They make the water taste like shit, but they work,” Boomer had chuckled. Grant would be ever grateful to the Navy Diver, and if he ever came through this, had intentions of buying him a beer.

With chafed shoulders, a sore back, utter exhaustion dogging him, and the fear of capture or death at any moment, Grant pushed himself into a kneeling position with difficulty. Clasping the pistol in his hand, he scanned the environment quietly, watching and listening. A flock of Kookaburras began asserting their domination over an area of the forest in the near distance. The noise sounded so much like laughter that Grant felt they were almost laughing at him. Grunting, he pushed himself into a standing position and quietly walked through the ferns. He could see the road appearing through the forest as he advanced. It was a narrow dirt track.

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