Three seconds

I woke up in a ditch. Well, at least I thought it was a ditch. My vision

was fuzzy and my head felt like someone was pounding my head
against a brick wall. The last thing I remember was in one of the
military helicopters, which were flying over Port Moresby, when a
yellow devil shot our damn copter right out of the sky. They came
out of nowhere and shot more than half of our fleet down, the
Japanese I mean. After a minute or two, I took my flashlight out of
my pocket and checked out my surroundings. I came to the
conclusion that I was underground, because The sky seemed to be
a dull shade of grey and the sound of ear-piercing bombs could be
heard in the distance.
I must be in the abandoned subway system, I mumbled as I
attempted to stand up.
I immediately felt an alarming shot of pain run up my whole body
from my right leg. I shone the torch on my thigh, and discovered a
large piece of shrapnel wedged in my flesh. I ripped one of the
sleeves off of my jacket and winced as I pulled the piece out. Then I
quickly tied the jacket sleeve firmly around my leg to prevent loss of
blood.
And now Im limping through the endless tunnels trying to find a way
home to my family. I regret leaving them back in Darwin, but after
the Japanese decided to bomb my home, I had to do something to
protect my family. So on the 30th of March 1942, I instantly flew
over to New guinea to fight for my country in yet another world war.
Its getting colder. The bombs from above are causing dust on the
ceiling to fall, which is making it harder to breath. I really hope the
other soldiers made it. They were my mates. Id hate to think that
they were killed, or worse- captured. But I mustnt think like that. I
will not think like that. When we were training, they always told us to
think positive, no matter whats happening, always think positive.
Well its hard to think positive now, because I have been walking for
over an hour and haven't found anything. The tunnels are very eery.
There is so much noise going on above, yet it is dead silent in the
tunnels. And yet I cant shake the feeling that I'm not alone in here.

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Every now and then I think I hear a whisper, but Its so quiet that I
cant tell if its actually someone else, or just the light draft of wind
sweeping up the tales of the hundreds of dead soldiers that I have
passed.
I wonder what my wife and Ally are doing. It was allys 4th birthday
yesterday and I wasn't there for her.I sent a card about a week
before the 14th so it would get there in time. I wrote a poem about
how much I missed them both at I promised I would come back
soon, but thats not looking very likely now
I think its been 3 hours now that Ive been stranded in these
tunnels. About half an hour ago my stomach started rumble. Now it
has reached the point where I think it is eating itself. My mouth is as
dry as a desert. If I don't find food and water soon, I will surely die,
which funnily enough seems to be a pretty good option at the
moment.
Suddenly, I see two lanky silhouettes on the dusty wall before me. I
instantly crouch and grab a pocket knife I had for emergency close
combat. As the two men come closer, my heart is thumping a
thousand beats for each second they get closer. They began to
speak in low voices, in Japanese, so I couldn't understand what
they were saying. Luckily, they do not spot me in all the rubble, and
continue to march down the train tracks.
As I turn to see where they had come from, I see a warm glow on
the wall. I could hear many more voices now- at least 20- and I don't
think that my small pocket knife could fend off that many. So I grab
my backpack carefully off my shoulders and investigated if there is
anything handy that could help me. But the only thing in there was
an empty flask, some spare ammo (but no gun), and seven
grenades. Great, I think, there is no way Im getting past these
yellows without getting killed.
Hugging the wall, I crept over to the commotion to see how dreadful
my chances were of getting out of this. Crouching behind a pile of
bricks and rubble, I could see everything.We were at one of those
huge, open train stations and It seemed to be the Imperial Japanese
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base, which is it was full of little yellow devils. There were several
tents pitched against the walls and a big bonfire in the centre of their
camp. Looking back at my backpack I realise what I have to do. If i
could place the grenades around their camp, blow the whole place
up, after somehow finding a way out of this hell hole, because
otherwise Ill be killed along with the rest of the Japanese soldiers.
So I quickly set to work, hiding the grenades out of sight, around the
border of their camp. I quickly discover that every 5 minutes a pair
of Japanese soldiers would march down the tunnel, while another
pair would return and talk to the rest. This distracted the Japanese
soldiers while I placed the last four bombs.
Done, I whispered as I positioned the last bomb a few metres
away from one of the tents. As I was carefully standing up, trying not
to make a noise, a cold hand snapped around my neck while the tip
of a gun was shoved into the side of my head. shit.
Thats it. There was no way I am getting out of this one alive. Only
one option left I felt the little bulge of the detonator as my hand
carefully slides into my pocket. In my final moment i decide to think
about my sweet daughter Ally. Ive done so much to protect her and
keep her out of harms way. She has taught me so much. taught me
to be brave, and believe in myself. She taught me that if I am ever
afraid, I should just count to three, and face my fears. Boy I wish I
could have that courage now, knowing what I'm about to do. But I
know deep down that this is only way. This is the only way I can
keep her safe.
It is the only way.
I have to be brave.
I will be brave.
i wrapped my fingers around the trigger just as the soldier shoved
my face into the cold, hard floor.
1 2 3
bang.

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