short story — “Patrol”

The squad reformed on the street and prepared to move on. Privates Jackson and Cooper had stood watch under cloudless sky and its baking sun, yet despite the oppressive heat it was the rest of their fire team who were caked it sweat. Four troopers exited a house through its broken front door to rejoin Jackson, Cooper and their Jackal support vehicle. Each of the four was clearly drained by the search they had just conducted, but now that it was completed their patrol continued without rest. As a pair of soldiers mounted the Jackal to take the driver and top gunner positions Sergeant Farrell waved the group onwards to the second of their intended targets.

Teddy Bridges, a Corporal in the Duke of Cumberland’s 34th Regiment of Foot took stock of the street they patrolled and the house that was their first target. The house was a simple mid terrace in what was a typical English suburban road, but with the war that had changed with remarkable speed. These days the streets were piled high with bags of rubbish, abandoned or burnt out cars and rubble from damaged buildings. Teddy had seen for himself how quickly the transformation had happened; streets he had walked to work on every day became unrecognisable in mere weeks. The sights and sounds of people’s daily lives, the smell of cooking from shops and homes now replaced with the destruction that made the street an entirely different place. What was once a smooth pavement was now closer to a gravel track, the scratching and grinding of stones under his boots only adding to the separation of a familiar English town and this war wracked land.

Corporal Bridges took one last glance back at the house he had just left before following the rest of his fire team. His eyes became transfixed on the top floor window and the wisps of smoke flowing from the blown out frame, evidence of the engagement that had taken place. Such evidence was also apparent on Teddy’s face; smoke blackened and streaked with sweat, covered in cuts and scratches however he was just thankful it was not worse. The cause of his minor injuries was a Dynamic entry, taught to them by instructors at FOB Kettlewell as a way of creating a new doorway when needed. “Well it could have been a pretty dynamic death too” Teddy thought to himself, save for that surprisingly sturdy old bannister he would have been thrown down two flights of stairs. One of the privates in his fire team had been a little over zealous with the breaching charge as they had attempted to get through a heavy bolted door and into the top room of the house. The resulting explosion had disintegrated most of the wall as well as the door and the concussive wave threw Teddy violently backwards, he knew he would be sore tomorrow. Everything about the house search had gone like clockwork up until that point and all the Pvt was supposed to do was blow the door off. Michael Caine suddenly popped into Teddy’s mind which gave him a little smile and made him chuckle to himself.

Just six weeks of training and four months in this war and already Teddy had seen how propaganda about Parliamentarian Militias got the greener, more ideological recruits all worked up. The smile vanished from Teddy’s face as he remembered that some of those stories were not just stories at all and that some of those acts were not just committed by Parliamentarians. Now firmly back in the solemn and reflective mood he had when leaving the last house Teddy turned on his heels and made to follow his comrades. Teddy tried to push his thoughts to the back of his mind as this was not the time or place to be thinking such things, he had to focus on the mission and the men. Despite his best efforts to concentrate on the task at hand he could not help think if this was his personal tipping point. Looking back in years to come would he see today as the day he fully left his civilian self behind, changing his perceptions and questioning things he had naively believed to be true? He feared his moral, almost chivalrous, reasoning for fighting in this war been taken away from him. Teddy knew he had changed physically since joining to defend his country from useless and corrupt politicians. He no longer had the belly or wheezed when jogging up some stairs, what had seemed like endless weeks of running at basic training had taken care of that. But despite his external metamorphosis he still believed when this was over he would return to being the office idiot. Turning up late every now and again, having slightly longer lunches then was allowed but generally liked by everyone as a bit of a clown. Was this hope now gone, left up in that room to die and rot with the other bodies?

A shout of “CORPORAL” from Pvt Cooper pulled Teddy from his morose thoughts. Cpl Bridges looked to Cooper immediately, the private’s outstretched arm pointing across the road to the patrol’s second target. A window had blown out of the house they were heading towards, smoke following a small explosion that sent glass tumbling onto the street. Men’s panicked shouts could be heard between what must be destruction of secrets or equipment. The squad double timed it to the front door and prepared to put an end to their work. Corporal Bridges looked between his men and assessed their readiness for the coming assault. Each man looked steady and resolved, the tempered aggression in the faces of the younger troopers shocked Teddy to his core. He had expected to see nerves, fear or some haunting mark from the act they had just committed, he seemed to be the only one affected. As the Enforcer battering ram was brought up to break the door down Teddy became increasingly unsettled. He flinched and had to close his eyes tight as the ram struck the door for the first time. The ram was swung again, Teddy flinched for a second time and now caught a fleeting vision of the aftermath in the last house which made him want to turn away in disgust. As the ram hit the door for a third time the note of the impact changed as the door gave way, multiple locks shattering and wood splintering. This time the impact of the ram made Teddy tense his entire body and with his eyes shut he saw clearly the image of that room burnt into his mind.

Teddy looked around the top room from the last house now frozen in time, smoke unmoving, blood paused in its descent from fresh wounds and cries of pain from gaping mouths all muted. As Teddy had been picking himself up from the floor he had heard the bark of gunfire and felt the energy being discharged next to him. The three other soldiers on the top floor of the house were all unmoving; the memory caught them reloading their weapons, spent magazines in mid freefall as new ones were being loaded. Through the stationary smoke he eyed the carnage of the room but never thought he would see the horror that was inside. Corporal Bridges counted three fighting aged males draped over desk and chairs, military grade radio equipment and several small arms strewn around the room. Teddy’s eye was caught by a flash of green, a bright summer green out of place in the drab military surroundings he had expected to see. To his disgust he saw the green was part of a dress, a small dress belonging to a small girl, a child no more than 12. Parts of the dress were not green anymore, wet and red from multiple wounds. His face drained and he felt sick deep in the pit of his stomach as his eyes began to well up with tears. Teddy noticed other colours and the clothes they belonged to, a blue dress, a purple dress, a white football kit, now stained red where they had fallen all huddled together in fear.

Teddy remembered hearing a woman’s screaming although it sounded muffled and far away as if he was dreaming. He remembers seeing her trying to push past the Sergeant to get to the children’s bodies. He remembers turning away seconds before the bark of a pistol stopped her screams and struggles all together.

Corporal Teddy Bridges had left the last house a different person then when he entered it, sick to his stomach again now as he stiffened before this next action. Teddy was tapped on the shoulder as a sign to push on into their second target and start the assault. He wondered what he would be when he left.