by Leo Nix
“Tonight we make our move,” he said quietly to the platoon members sitting around him, their heads bent in prayer. “I've got the keys to the four wheel drives, they'll get us to Longreach. Heffo's given extra special attention to the other Sundowner vehicles.” He grinned slyly and his friends nodded, understanding exactly what he was hinting at.
Nancy was the only one who had any uncertainty. Should she stay with the nice lieutenant, or go with Normy and his group to Longreach where she had family.
“Why Longreach, Normy? Why not back to Marree?” asked one of his group.
“Because the Birdsville Track's mined and heavily defended. I'm not going to tempt fate with my life. Besides, we have church folk in Longreach. The Crusaders of Light run the place, they'll treat us like long lost heroes,” was his confident reply.
Wiram, Ahmet and Blondie knew their prisoners were planning a break out, the prisoners were ripe for it. They hadn't managed to find out how, where or when though, despite Blondie's expertise and Chan's cunning, they were in the dark.
In the early hours of the morning, Normy and his group broke out through the wall of the shed they were housed in. First they gagged and bound Donata and his supporters, then they quietly pushed the wall apart where they'd sawn off the rivet heads.
It was incredibly easy to do. They had five days to collect the gear they needed to break out and five nights to separate the wall panels. They timed their sawing to the snores of one of their platoon and other odd noises. The wall panels parted and they each crawled out.
The guards were standing in their hastily thrown up stockade smoking and chatting, oblivious to the terrorists moving quietly towards the vehicle shed. Normy had his troops sorted into vehicles and their engines roared into life.
“What the hell!?” cried private Wilmott. It wasn't one vehicle it was many. Before he had a chance to grab at his Steyr or nudge Halo, sitting beside him, the vehicles roared out of the shed and onto the road heading towards Longreach.
“Holy crap!” said Halo who just stood there in shock, watching.
As one they leaped into action grabbing at their weapons and calling loudly for the commando to wake up as they raced towards the vehicle shed.
Suddenly Wilmott stopped and stood dead still. He had topped his explosives class and was the cavalry squadron's go-to man for explosives.
“Hold it, Halo!” he yelled, “Don't friggin' move! Walk slowly towards me, very slowly.”
Halo stopped, he was now in a state of heightened awareness as he took one slow step at a time, over to Wilmott.
“What is it? What did you see?” he whispered.
“Booby traps, one right in front of me, at the shed door. See that wire? Little trick of ours, a trip wire attached to a grenade, when we walk through - kaboomba!” said Wilmot as he pointed to the wire at his feet.
Halo felt a wave of recognition sweep over him. For a moment he was back in Marree and he held four sticks of sweaty dynamite in his hand placing detonators and trip wires around the door. He felt nauseous and dizzy remembering the smell, the sounds and the sight of body parts in what was left of the laundry on that eventful day.
The morning was spent cleaning up the damage the Stosstruppen did to the remaining vehicles. There was no way they could follow, not for days.
Within minutes Wiram had Lieutenant Donata in Sundown's office with Ahmet, Blondie and Chan. “I'm not sure what to do with you Donata, you've been dumped by your own kind you know. What does that mean for you?” asked a tired and irritated Wiram.
“I guess it means they think I've turned traitor, me and my three loyal followers. I can't go back to the church now, I know what they'll do to us. Wiram, I've always followed my heart and my Lord's teachings, if you'll let us continue our work here with you, that's all I can ask,” Lieutenant Donata said simply.
The commandos grumbled among themselves and sent the lieutenant back to his shed, there wasn't much more they could do. Wiram turned to his fellow committee members and shook his head.
“We've lost the prisoners and the vehicles are trashed, Sundown's gonna be pissed.” He wasn't sorry the prisoners escaped, it solved one of the problems he had. What he was sorry about was the damage they left behind, that would take ages to sort out.
It was a fine morning at the palace when Sundown and Pinkie woke to the news of the breakout. He called his officers and administrators together. Over an early breakfast watching the sunrise, they discussed what to do next.
They could hear the rooster crowing from the chicken pen, the ducks were settled on the lagoon in front of them, and the children were already awake and playing with the dogs.
Sundown settled Cat in his lap and looked at his team and smiled. “You know what? It's going to be fine. I've told Wiram we're on our way in a few hours, we'll be there for lunch. First we set up patrols north and south. Over the next few days we'll transport the gardens, irrigation gear and solar panels from Birdsville to the palace. Then we finish the defenses we've started to build at Birdsville.
“Lewis, give your mechanics extra staff and we'll support them as much as they need to fix our vehicles. We'll use everyone else not involved in fixing the vehicles or patrolling, to work on the garden systems here at the palace. We keep busy and by the end of the week we should be set up, we'll have an oasis in the middle of the desert right at our doorstep.”
Sundown looked around at the lagoon and lawns to enjoy watching the world waken anew. “We might have lost eighteen prisoners, but we appear to have gained four experienced patrol members and two intelligence staff. Remember how valuable John and Chan have been, my hope is that we'll attract more ex-Revelationists to our cause.”
Captain 'Johnny' Walker now asked to speak.
“Sure, Johnny, what is it? And you'd better not be asking to be relieved from your 'girl guard' training program,” said Sundown, knowing exactly what Walker was about to say.
“Ah, Sundown, yeah… well, it's those girls, they're are driving me crazy but I'll stick it out. Just make sure you leave a few of my boys behind. I need all the support I can get.” His face appeared to have aged since their arrival.
Major 'Louie' Lewis laughed as he put down his piping hot cup of tea. “Johnny, you're doing fine mate, pick two men and they're yours. I'll go with Sundown and leave one of the Bushmasters with you. After we leave you're in charge.”
The convoy arrived with most of the Alice Springs Command. It was lunch time and people were starting to wander into the lounge room for their midday break. Wandering over to the fireplace, Sundown noticed a row of sticks and idly picked some of them up.
'Crikey,' he whispered to himself, 'these are our troops who died in battle this week.' He quietly read each name to himself so he could send his personal thanks to them in spirit.
But one name stood out, 'Who the hell is Private Brinley?' he asked himself.
THE END
Glossary of Australian Words
ASLAV– Australian Light Army Vehicle, armoured cavalry troop carrier with mounted 7.62 mm machine gun and 25 mm cannon.
Alice – Alice Springs, affectionately called 'the Alice'
Billy – tin to put on the fire to boil water in, for tea making and heating water
Blimey – crikey, strewth, darn, damn
Bloke – man, male, fellow or fella
Bloody – damn or darn
Blowed – confused, no idea, can also mean exhausted (out of breath)
Boofhead – meat head or beef head
Brumby – wild horses
Bullcrap – bullshit, not true
Bushmaster– six-wheeled cavalry armoured personnel carrier with 7.62 mm machine gun.
Cobber – friend, mate
Comms – communications, radio operator
Crikey – strewth, blimey, darn, damn
Dingo – Australian wild dog
Duffel bag – all-purpose canvas bag
Fellas – fellows, people
Flaming – bloody, damn,
darn
Flinders – Flinders Ranges
Football – rugby, like gridiron without a helmet
Four wheel drive – SUV's designed for travel in the desert, all four wheels engage for better traction
Fussed – bothered, worried
G'day – good day, hello
Mate – friend, buddy
Men of high degree – fully initiated aboriginal men with elevated status in their tribe – some would have nangarri, sorcerer or 'medicine men' abilities and training
Mob – mobs, a lot of, usually associated with a group of people and of kangaroos
Nangarri – aboriginal medicine man or sorcerer – see also 'men of high degree'
Needy – horse
Noogy – rubbing the knuckles briskly against the scalp of a friend in fun
Outback – the desert country
Salt-pan – salt covered plain, flat as a saucepan, also called salt-flats because it's flat – the desert has many such salt covered plains
Sod – slang for 'bastard' or 'ratbag'
Stations – property or large farm in outback Australia, some larger than Texas
Strewth – damn, darn, crikey, blimey
Stuffed – exhausted
Swags – bed roll, blanket or sleeping bag wrapped in a waterproof canvas
Walkabout – aboriginals would 'go bush' to get back to their roots, sometimes it involved spiritual works as well as for a vacation
Wallaby – small kind of kangaroo
Whacked – hit, smacked
Willy-willy – dust devil, mini desert tornado, whirlwind
Yabbies – fresh water crayfish
Characters in Book 3 - Sundown Apocalypse: Homeland Defense
Revelationists: Marree Stosstruppen: Major Daniels, Captain Burgess, Lieutenant Donata, Corporal Normy, Nancy, Corporal Beade
Revelationists: Mt Isa Raven's Claws: Private Brinley
Bikies Mt Isa – Iceman Ed, Smiley
Flinders Ranges: General Russell Himmler, Colonel Rommel
Wilson's of Flinders Ranges: Kelvin, Jack, Greg, Joey
Alice Springs Command
General Hughes, Major Vic Thompson, Captain 'Louie' Lewis, Sergeants Tobi, Ahmet and Doff, Corporal Hassam, Captain 'Johnny' Walker, Noddy, Parsons, Lance Corporal Poole, Slimmy Lahotski, Gunner Wilmott, Driver Julian
Sundown's Commando
Sundown, Pinkie, Andrew, Wilma, Pellino, Mel, Harry, Jeda, Lenny, Danielle, Liam, Donna, Lulu, Danni, Wiram (Wirrie), Halo, Assassin (also called Creed), Beamy, John, Chan, Cambra, Shadow, McFly (also called Matty)
Scouts: Roo, Bongo,
Arkaroola: Riley, Katie, Elle, Harry
Adelaide: Nulla, Glenda, Luke, Simon, Charlene, Heidi, Lucy, Annie, Arthur (Arty), Phil, Fatima (Fati)
Tajna Služba - Lance Corporal Jaina, Private Jason Little, Blondie, Fat Boy
You can find the Sundown Apocalypse Series at:
www.leo-nix.com
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Regards
Leo Nix - March 2017
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