Hunter Sniper

He had been doing his best to hide just how weak he was from the lieutenant. He had no desire to be sent back to the hospital area on the beach, perhaps to be deemed unfit for duty and sent to one of the hospital ships offshore. The last thing that he wanted to do was let down the lieutenant and the rest of the patrol.

“Goddammit, you’re still sick, aren’t you? I should have made sure those doctors kept you back on the beach.” The lieutenant shook his head. “Make sure you drink plenty of water and eat something. You’re getting so damn skinny that somebody is going to mistake you for a stick before too long.”

Deke nodded in acknowledgment, the effort of speaking suddenly too much. He knew that the lieutenant was right about eating. The last real food that he’d eaten was the meal that Danilo had cooked on the trail. Fresh chicken and rice — couldn’t ask for better. He doubted there would be more of that anytime soon.

The trouble was, the thought of a cold tin of stew made his stomach knot up. The only food items that sounded good were the hot buttered biscuits that his ma used to make. That and some hot coffee would have gone down good right about now. However, he had about as much chance of getting a buttered biscuit as he did of being promoted to general.

Deke’s thoughts of food evaporated when he heard the crack of a rifle from the scrubby trees nearby. Deke and the lieutenant ducked just as someone yelled, “Sniper!”

Ducking was a reflex that wouldn’t have done them any good if they’d been in the sniper’s sights. A soldier about fifty feet away crumpled and fell.

Apparently not all the Japanese had retreated. There was at least one sniper lurking out there. A trio of soldiers ran toward the trees, intending to take care of the problem. They soon returned, the sniper evidently having slipped away.

“All right, everybody keep your eyes open. We know the Japanese aren’t done with us yet,” Steele said to the men within earshot.

Captain Merrick was at the other end of the village, shouting orders that they couldn’t quite hear above the pop and crackle of the flames from the burning huts.

The lieutenant moved off in Captain Merrick’s direction, but not before giving Deke a long, doubtful look. Steele had a lot more men to worry about now than his handful of snipers, Deke included. Ostensibly, he had been put in charge of a platoon, but he had quickly become Captain Merrick’s de facto second-in-command. He was now doing his best to get the men organized and moving, especially those who wanted to search the bodies of the dead Japanese for souvenirs.

It seemed as if even these combat veterans couldn’t get enough Japanese gear and remained hopeful that they would pick up a coveted pistol or sword.

“Knock it off,” Steele ordered the souvenir hunters. “For all you know, those bodies might be booby-trapped.”

A kind of greed made one of the soldiers overly bold. He was not a big man, but he had a cockiness about him, like a bantam rooster. Wearing an insolent grin, he said, “You think they booby-trapped themselves in between running from those huts and us shooting them, Lieutenant?”

“Don’t be a smart aleck,” Steele said. “And if you call me by my rank again when there might be Jap snipers around, you won’t have to worry about the Japanese, because I’ll shoot you myself. Now get your asses ready to move out.”

There was some grumbling about officers spoiling their fun. It was likely that some of them saw Steele as the new guy and he hadn’t yet earned their respect. He might be a combat veteran, but he hadn’t been in combat with them. Or not much combat, anyway. Also, some of the soldiers had reached that point where they were tired of being told by an officer what to do, or didn’t much care about the consequences if they didn’t.

But Lieutenant Steele could be an intimidating presence with his eye patch and shotgun. He was no butter bar fresh from Officer Training School. The soldiers did as they were told, even if they took their time about it.

Maybe this was why Steele had dodged any kind of promotion or command — Deke could see that being in charge was all one big headache.

However, the soldiers couldn’t resist searching one more body. The man appeared to be an officer, which might prove to be rich pickings. The dead Japanese officer lay on his belly in the dirt. The soldiers could see a sword hilt half concealed under him. Whooping with excitement, they descended upon him like buzzards.

The soldier who had confronted Lieutenant Steele bent down to roll the dead Japanese over.

But they soon discovered that the officer was not dead. He was clutching a hand grenade to his chest. In a flash, he raised the grenade in his right hand. In his final act on earth, he planned to take out a few of the hated Charlies with him.

Taken by surprise, the soldiers did not have time to react before the grenade exploded. Two did manage to turn away quickly enough that the shrapnel caught them in the legs and buttocks. They rolled away, screaming in pain.