Read Online Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers - Free Book Online
Authors: Walter Dean Myers
Tags: Fiction
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Iraq. I was defending America from its enemies, removing weapons of mass destruction from Iraq, and building democracy. If the jerks drinking tea didnât appreciate that, I didnât care.
We drove with as much speed as we could. I was really sorry that I had volunteered to relieve Marla on the squad gun becauseit was uncomfortable as anything I could imagine. My legs were aching as we drove north along the Euphrates River. The 3 rd had set up roadblocks along the way and I was glad to see them. They had put MPs, military police, at some of the places on the roads: It was reassuring to know we were at least going in the right direction.
Occasionally we hit traffic, mostly supply trucks headed in the same direction we were or empty trucks headed south to pick up more supplies. The traffic worried me because I didnât want to get separated from our convoy.
I expected we would pull into An Najaf, find something to eat, and sit around for the rest of the night in whatever facilities they had set up. But as we approached the city, I knew that wasnât going to happen.
The noise from the fighting was unbelievable. If you listened you could tell what was firing. AK-47s, M-16s, mortars, tanks, grenades. All kinds of ways to die in a hurry.
âWeâre holding up here!â Coles yelled into the radio.
We pulled the Humvee off the road. We were less than a half mile from town. Black smoke billowed up above the buildings and then flattened out and drifted sharply to the east. Bursts of automatic fire came and went, as if there were some dialogue between them that nobody understood. In training I used to like the night exercises. We used tracer bullets along with our regular ammo and you could see them streaking across the darkness toward their targets. But here, so many miles from home, in the gatheringdarkness, the explosions were terrifying. From where I sat, I could sometimes feel the impact of a shell, feel the shock of an explosion as it traveled through the still night air. I was holding my breath.
Beneath me, in the cab of the Humvee, the radio crackled. We were picking up the communications from the battlefield. Men spoke with a quiet urgency. Tracer fire crisscrossed the city. Brilliant flashes of light illuminated buildings for mere seconds before dying out. I could smell what seemed like oil burning and a sickly sweet odor I couldnât identify.
âBirdy!â Marla pulled on my pants leg.
âWhat?â
âIf you go into town, bring back a sausage pizza and two Diet Cokes,â she said.
âI donât think Iâm going in any time soon,â I said. âYou think theyâll deliver?â
Coles confirmed it. He told us to hunker down and stay alert. âAnd keep your body armor on!â
We stayed put all night, taking turns sleeping, or trying to sleep. Jonesy conked out first. Marla worked on eating an MRE in the dark. She said she could smell the whole meal, dry and cold, through the packing.
âMarla, you canât smell it through the packing,â I said. âWhat is it?â
âI can even tell you what kind of cookies they have for dessert,â she said.
âI donât believe you,â I said.
She shrugged me off and told me to stay alert. I asked her who made her the squadâs mama and she laughed. It was a nice laugh.
At ten oâclock in the morning, 1000 hours military time, Captain Coles called to say we were moving out. Marla was outside of the Humvee stretching her legs and had to scramble back in.
âIâm back on the gun,â she said.
As we rolled toward the city we could still hear sporadic gunfire. There were lots of our guys around, and down the street a tank stood guard on the corner. Coles called back to us and asked if our map had street names and Jonesy told him that it didnât. I could hear Coles cursing into the radio.
âContact left!â Marla called out.
I turned left and saw a green car
We drove with as much speed as we could. I was really sorry that I had volunteered to relieve Marla on the squad gun becauseit was uncomfortable as anything I could imagine. My legs were aching as we drove north along the Euphrates River. The 3 rd had set up roadblocks along the way and I was glad to see them. They had put MPs, military police, at some of the places on the roads: It was reassuring to know we were at least going in the right direction.
Occasionally we hit traffic, mostly supply trucks headed in the same direction we were or empty trucks headed south to pick up more supplies. The traffic worried me because I didnât want to get separated from our convoy.
I expected we would pull into An Najaf, find something to eat, and sit around for the rest of the night in whatever facilities they had set up. But as we approached the city, I knew that wasnât going to happen.
The noise from the fighting was unbelievable. If you listened you could tell what was firing. AK-47s, M-16s, mortars, tanks, grenades. All kinds of ways to die in a hurry.
âWeâre holding up here!â Coles yelled into the radio.
We pulled the Humvee off the road. We were less than a half mile from town. Black smoke billowed up above the buildings and then flattened out and drifted sharply to the east. Bursts of automatic fire came and went, as if there were some dialogue between them that nobody understood. In training I used to like the night exercises. We used tracer bullets along with our regular ammo and you could see them streaking across the darkness toward their targets. But here, so many miles from home, in the gatheringdarkness, the explosions were terrifying. From where I sat, I could sometimes feel the impact of a shell, feel the shock of an explosion as it traveled through the still night air. I was holding my breath.
Beneath me, in the cab of the Humvee, the radio crackled. We were picking up the communications from the battlefield. Men spoke with a quiet urgency. Tracer fire crisscrossed the city. Brilliant flashes of light illuminated buildings for mere seconds before dying out. I could smell what seemed like oil burning and a sickly sweet odor I couldnât identify.
âBirdy!â Marla pulled on my pants leg.
âWhat?â
âIf you go into town, bring back a sausage pizza and two Diet Cokes,â she said.
âI donât think Iâm going in any time soon,â I said. âYou think theyâll deliver?â
Coles confirmed it. He told us to hunker down and stay alert. âAnd keep your body armor on!â
We stayed put all night, taking turns sleeping, or trying to sleep. Jonesy conked out first. Marla worked on eating an MRE in the dark. She said she could smell the whole meal, dry and cold, through the packing.
âMarla, you canât smell it through the packing,â I said. âWhat is it?â
âI can even tell you what kind of cookies they have for dessert,â she said.
âI donât believe you,â I said.
She shrugged me off and told me to stay alert. I asked her who made her the squadâs mama and she laughed. It was a nice laugh.
At ten oâclock in the morning, 1000 hours military time, Captain Coles called to say we were moving out. Marla was outside of the Humvee stretching her legs and had to scramble back in.
âIâm back on the gun,â she said.
As we rolled toward the city we could still hear sporadic gunfire. There were lots of our guys around, and down the street a tank stood guard on the corner. Coles called back to us and asked if our map had street names and Jonesy told him that it didnât. I could hear Coles cursing into the radio.
âContact left!â Marla called out.
I turned left and saw a green car
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