The next planes struck farther back along the train, their bombs impacting just behind us as they methodically took the boxcars apart. There were huge explosions of gas, multiple secondary explosions of all sorts of ordnance, and the screeching, crashing sound of boxcars sliding off the tracks and breaking up before the fire and bombs devoured them. By the time the last of the six dive bombers had hit the rear of the train, we were back to where we had crossed the tracks, looking down the rails at the burning wreckage, fire and smoke filling the air, obscuring where the planes were headed next.
I stopped the jeep and took my hands off the wheel. They were shaking so hard I put them right back, to steady them.
'Billy…' Kaz looked at me with wide eyes, his still smoking revolver in his good hand.
'Yes, Kaz, I will teach you how to do that, when your arm is better.'
'Thank you.'
'No problem. But I need a minute here.'
'Thanks to your driving, we have more minutes than we reasonably should have. We would have been incinerated…' He was excited, the thrill of almost dying lighting up his face. I was just about getting my heart back into my chest, and didn't want to hear about how we were nearly blown up.
'Yeah, I know. You hit anything with that?'
Kaz was reloading, still smiling, his grin split by the scar on his cheek.
'I-'
He was cut off by the chatter of a machine gun and a Ju88 flying low out of the smoke. One of them had come back for us. Jesus Christ on the mountain. The bullets chewed up dirt and gravel around us but didn't really come close. If we stayed here we wouldn't be so lucky next time. I pulled a tight turn and headed back for the train, hoping to hide in the smoke until the plane became bored with searching for such a worthless target. I could hear the engines behind us. Since he was flying in the clear, it would be easy for the nose gunner to line us up this time before the smoke concealed us. Kaz kept firing at the airplane with his revolver. I pressed the gas pedal down and didn't let up.
'Stop shooting that thing, you're just making him mad!'
'You use the Thompson, Billy! I can't work it with one hand.'
'Screw that-' I was interrupted by bursts of machine gun fire that hit the road ahead of us. I glanced back and saw the Ju88 off to our left a bit, lining up for a better shot. I swerved, trying to throw his aim off yet stay on the road at the same time. The smoke from the burning train was close, but we weren't going to make it. The nose gunner let go a long burst and I swear I could feel the bullets as they parted the air just above us. The pilot had to pull up. The shadow of the Ju88 spread slowly over us as we raced at top speed and he tried to fly as slowly as he could to give his machine gunner a chance. The shadow faded and I hoped we were home free. Then I saw the rear- facing twin machine guns underneath the fuselage emit bright flashes, like fireworks, as the gunner fired straight down at us. Bullets slammed into the hood of the jeep and I felt the vibrations in the steering wheel as I tried to keep my hands from flying off it. Everything slowed down, and I noticed that the bottom of the airplane was a light blue, just like the sky. It was almost pretty. Kaz had his arm raised and was firing that damn revolver of his again. I heard the pow, pow, pow of Kaz's bullets, but they were up against the hard, ripping sound of the twin machine guns spitting hundreds of slugs at us. Another burst of fire came from the machine guns as the plane pulled up and away and I heard one of our front tires blow out at the same time as the hood flew up with a mix of smoke and steam. The jeep swerved wildly and I fought to hold on, but the wheel rim couldn't take it and we spun around, off the road, into the air.
Chapter Thirty-three
I was on the ground. There were bodies all around me. My head hurt. I tried to sit up, which took all the strength I had. It wasn't enough. I heard voices. It might have been an hour after the crash, or two seconds. The last thing I remembered was the jeep going off the road, into the ditch. No one was around, just me and Kaz. Kaz? Was he one of the bodies? Who were they?
I was about to open one eye when somebody did it for me. Two fingers pulled my eyelids apart and a pair of eyes stared down at me. The sun made a halo behind the figure standing over me and I turned away. I heard the voices again and tried as hard as I could to understand, but there was a ringing sound coming from somewhere. Was somebody talking to me? To Kaz?
I opened both eyes and looked around. Everything was blurry. I tried to get up, used my hands to push myself up an inch. What was that? It wasn't the ground. Cold metal. I heard a door slam and an engine roar to life. Someone was moaning and the ringing sound kept on as I felt the vehicle lurch forward. What the hell was going on? I managed to raise myself onto my elbows, my head pounding. Slats of wood were in my way. Canvas. I was on a stretcher. That made sense, and I lay my head back, wondering about Kaz.
Green and white figures moved around me as I heard the engine stop. They took the stretcher and moved me outside. A big red cross floating on pure white appeared and yells pierced the air. More ambulances. My head throbbed and everything rotated around me in a blur. I wanted nothing more than to lie there, but I had to find Kaz. Rolling onto my side, I tried to lever myself onto one knee. It didn't work out well and I found myself face down on the dry, gritty ground. Where was that ringing coming from?
'Whoa, fella, where do you think you're going?' The voice was close to my ear, but tinny and distant. Who was ringing those damn bells?
I turned my head, squinted, tried to get the face in focus.
'What?' I said, even though I had heard him. I hadn't understood the question.
'Stay right there, you're going to be fine, Mac.' I felt hands under my shoulders lifting me back onto the stretcher. Then they were gone. Okay, I was going to be fine, I had to stay here, but somebody needed to stop ringing that goddamn bell. And I had to find Kaz.
'Where am I?' Nobody answered. They probably couldn't hear me with all that ringing going on. I put my hands over my ears but it got louder as I shut out the other noises. My right hand felt sticky. I pulled it away. Blood. Jesus Christ on that fucking mountain. Bells in my head and I'm bleeding. What happened? Where was Kaz?
'Get this one inside, X-Ray.'
I knew that voice. Hands lifted the stretcher and I went from the hot sun to a cool hallway. X-Ray. Who was that guy? Was he talking about me? I got it.
'Doctor Perrini. Doc!' I tried to yell but it came out a croak. The hospital. This had to be the hospital. I grabbed at the first green leg that walked by me.
'Leggo, Mac! Wait your turn!'
'Is this the 21st? General Hospital?'
'Yeah,' green leg said, impatience battling with pity in his voice. He knelt down. 'You don't look too bad, Lieutenant, but you have to have an X-Ray to see if you cracked your skull. You probably have a concussion at least.'
'Where's the guy I came in with? British uniform.' I tried to keep my eyes focused and to understand what he was telling me. I looked at his sleeve. PFC. Must be an orderly.
'No fucking idea, sir. We got casualties from Medjez el Bab coming in. They ran into beaucoup Germans up there. Plus the air raid. Krauts hit some ships in the harbor and a convoy of GIs on the road. They really plastered us. We got casualties coming in from everywhere. I never expected it to be like this!'
My vision cleared for a second. He was just a skinny kid, nineteen tops. His face was white, and his thin bony fingers gripped his pants leg in a desperate attempt to hang onto something solid. He didn't appear to want to keep going. He looked up and down the hallway, stretcher cases running the full length of it. He had probably not seen this much suffering in his entire life.
'What's your name?' I asked him. He looked startled.
'Uh, Johnston, Lieutenant.'
'No, I mean your first name.'
'John, sir, but everybody calls me Jay because John Johnston sorta sounds silly.'
'Okay, Jay. Now listen, I gotta find the guy I came in with. Help me up.'
