The Kokoda Track

With Our Lives

We sat there in the sludge, just waiting for hours. It was late afternoon and the sun was low in the sky. Then of cause if decides to rain. This was not uncommon and the downpours usually didn't last long but now I had to sit in thick murky water filled with god knows what with uncomfortably damp clothes in muggy weather. Not what I would call fun. I'm glad that Billy was to young to join up with me. He shouldn't have to deal with this, being sent out here with no training to fight as Australia's only line of defence till the AIF finally joined us and relieved us of our duty. We all knew that most of us would die before they got here however, and we all just hoped it wouldn't be ourselves.

I squinted, trying to see through the thick undergrowth. Gently I nudged Jim and nodded in the direction I thought I saw movement in. We both looked around, trying to see in the orange glow of the setting sun.

'thwp'

A bullet passed dangerously close to my head and hit the dirt behind me. Jim and myself quickly returned fire, desperately trying to find our enemies. I herd bullets being fired and yelling from others in the trenches. Another bullet flew past me and hit the embankment behind. I ducked down to reload my rifle and felt a small twinge in my left arm. Ignoring it I continued to fire, we couldn't let them get behind us.

"Quick, fall back." Someone yelled. Jim started to move back and was about to follow him when I saw one of the Japs. I shot at him several times before scrambling away. They were everywhere. The Japs had stuck leaves and twigs onto their uniforms to blend in with their surrounding and it worked. We were sitting ducks. I made it up to the others. Jim, Max, Sam, Luke, Ben and I were all that was left. The rest of our small platoon was dead or as good as. Our small group ran up and took shelter behind a fallen tree. We all looked out ready and Luke tried to get the communicator working. It did work for a bit then promptly died on us.

"Bastard." Luke swore. Now that the initially adrenaline rush was over and I was stationary again I felt a sharp pain in my left arm. Looking down I saw my arm covered in blood from a bullet wound. Leaning back against a tree I breathed heavily. "Jack what is it?" Luke turned and saw my bloodied arm. "Quick, wrap it up."

"Sorry. I didn't know it was this bad." I chuckled, Luke and Jim rushed to create a tourniquet and pressing on the wound to staunch the flow of blood.

"We need to find a way back to camp." Max said. We all saw the unsaid message, there was no hope for anyone that wasn't here.

Once I had my arm in a makeshift sling, we got moving. As we fought our way through this godforsaken jungle I think the reality of what had just happened hit home. Non of us could dwell on it though our bodies were only moving because of left over adrenaline and the constant threat of the Japanese soldiers lurking in the bushed. It was night now and I could barely see in the dull glow of moonlight. I wanted to just sleep so badly. My arm was starting to ache and I was hungry and like most of the boys suffering from dysentery. As the sun started to rise Max who was leading stopped.

"We'll rest for a bit here. Eat something and get some sleep if you can. I'll be on watch." He said.

"Who made you the boss." Ben said snidely.

"All in favour." Jim joked. I just nodded in agreement.

"What about the others?" Sam said slightly hysterical and started to hyperventilate. I felt sorry for the poor bloke he was the youngest out of us all, probably got into the army with a fake birth certificate.

I hushed him quickly, "We can only hope that others made it out alive but we can't know 'till we get back to camp. It'll be okay if we just stay hopeful and keep fighting back." I tried to comfort him but I was also slipping into the stage of losing all hope. "We all need to eat something and get some rest."

Pulling out a can of bully beef the others followed my example and all pulled out something to eat. After a short rest we all hauled ourselves to out feet.

"Hey Max, you eat anything?" Luke called. Max just nodded. "Common then lets go."

We spent all day walking through the jungle, trying to find camp. By night we were all exhausted but kept moving knowing if we stopped for a rest we might never get back up again. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something move. Turning my head sharply in that direction I gently elbowed Jim and nodded in the direction I thought I saw movement. This is playing out scarily similar to before. I heard a rustle and stopped. Max stopped to and I think he heard it as well. We all stood still, silent and waiting. Jim nervously fingered the trigger on his gun, looking around. Something moved to my right and Jim swung around firing a single bullet in the direction of the movement. There was a thud and then silence. I glanced around at everyone nervously. Max looked around before motioning for us to keep moving. Everyone was tense. That was the first Japanese soldier we had seen since we escaped with our lives.