Read Online Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers - Free Book Online Page A

speeding toward us. The Humvee came to a hard stop; I heard the squad guns as they sent bursts of fire toward the oncoming vehicle. The car skidded to a halt and fishtailed slightly; the front wheels ended up on the sidewalk. The doors opened and a group of civilians climbed out, keeping their hands in sight.
    â€œWatch ‘em!” Captain Coles’s voice came over the radio.
    â€œContact right! Contact right!” Sergeant Harris.
    Panic. We were situated at the end of a long street. On the left the car had stopped. On the right dark figures skirted along the shadows.
    The flash of the rocket launcher spread out in a puff and Icould see the rocket trail headed toward the middle of the street. It hit two-thirds short and sent flame first in the air and then rolling toward us. I couldn’t see anyone, but I knew where they had been and started firing.
    Somebody shot off some grenades and they exploded, lighting up the area they hit for the split second needed to produce eerie silhouettes.
    Whack! Whack! Bullets hit the side of the Humvee. I couldn’t tell who was shooting at us, but I knew they were coming close. We sprayed the street in front of us and the nearby windows.
    There was an explosion behind us and the Humvee lifted off the ground for a second.
    â€œMortar, right corner!”
    I looked toward the right corner and saw two figures. They were carrying a house fan on a stand, not a mortar.
    Silence.
    â€œCheck the buildings!” Coles’s voice was urgent and higher than usual.
    My eyes were everywhere, jerking around as I pointed my piece from area to area. “Marla, you okay?” I called to her.
    â€œI think so.” Her voice was whispery.
    â€œYou sure?” Jonesy asked.
    â€œI’m not shot, so I guess I’m okay,” Marla said.
    We lit up the area and saw two bodies lying in the street on my side of the vehicle. The car that had been speeding toward us still rested with its wheels on the sidewalk.
    â€œEverybody okay?” asked Captain Miller in the medical truck.
    Everybody checked in. When it was my turn my voice cracked badly.
    One of the medics had a head injury from his vehicle being rocked by an explosion, but it didn’t seem too serious.
    â€œWhat do we do about them?” a voice came over the radio. “One of them is still alive out there. I see him moving.”
    He was on my side of the street. Jonesy got back behind the wheel, backed the vehicle up, and moved slowly toward the guy.
    â€œMarla!”
    â€œI’m on him!” she said.
    Harris was out of his Humvee, moving toward the guy. He crouched low with his rifle ahead of him.
    I remembered Ahmed and was about to ask Captain Coles to get him to talk Arabic to the wounded man when the guy swung his arm up. There was a pistol in it.
    The gunman shot wildly, almost as if he wasn’t trying to hit us, just making one last defiant statement. Harris shot him more times than necessary. The body had stopped moving with the first shot.
    Second squad policed the long end of the street, collecting some weapons from the smashed car. I watched them search the dead dudes. Yuk. We got back in what amounted to a little formation and headed on.
    The tension was unbelievable. I couldn’t keep my head still. It was almost daybreak and every shadow looked as if it had a gun.
    Captain Coles put himself on intercom as he tried to contact the unit we were looking for. He gave our position and in minutes a Bradley appeared to pick us up and lead us to their medical setup.
    We reached a café being used as a makeshift hospital for wounded Iraqi civilians. The medics came out and I saw that Owens, who was with the medics, had a bandage on her forehead. A sergeant from the 3 rd ID came over and asked if she was all right.
    â€œJust a helluva bump,” she said.
    â€œThen get your damned Kevlar back on,” he said. “And do it now!”
    The medic shot him a dirty look, and then