Redemption - Leon Uris [234]
Chester did what Johnny ordered as I called for Platoon Serjeant Amberson to show his hand. He signaled back that he was in control up front.
“A couple of you grab his legs,” Johnny said, reaching under Subaltern Richards’s remaining shoulder. “All right, lads, heave him over the side.”
I wiped Richards’s blood off my field glasses. The Otago Battalion was moving inland! All morning all I could think of was getting on land, but now I was consumed with a vague notion that time might suddenly stand still and a voice from the sky might order us back to the Wagga Wagga and we would sail away….
Time seemed to flee. 0542.
Johnny jabbed me in the ribs and smiled.
“Rowers! Man your oars!”
Our wave of some fifty boats grunted forward from a half-mile out. Oarsmen rotated, sweated, cursed. The racket of gunfire was so overwhelming we had to depend on hand signals. Come on, get this fucker on land!
“YOOOOWWWW!”
JESUS! SOMETHING LIKE TO TORE MY HEAD OFF! BLOOD AND OTHER STUFF SHOWERED ME! I instinctively felt myself frantically. Nothing hurt, nothing burned. I could move my arms and legs, but I was awash in blood and…and…BRAINS! My face! My face! It was all there. My chest, fine! NO! NO! The top of Johnny Tarbox’s head was gone.
I don’t know what happened to me then…I was almost blacked out…I heard vague distant voices.
“Cut off his pips…get his identification tag….”
“Empty his pockets.”
“All right, lads, heave him over the side.”
I was hurtling down into a hole and very sleepy. Something hurt me. A sharp blow to my face! Someone was shaking me, screaming at me. My eyes crawled open.
Chester stood over me. He had me by the lapels and he came slowly into focus, slapping my face and jostling me with all his might.
“Snap out of it, Rory!” he screamed.
“What…what…?”
“Goddamn you, Rory. Get yourself together. We’ve got work to do.”
I groped for him and hung on to him for dear life, but he shoved me off. A soldier behind him handed him a bucket of seawater, which he poured on me, and then another.
“Johnny!” I screamed, “Johnny! Johnny! Johnny!”
“Johnny Tarbox is dead! What is my name? Tell me my name!”
“Johnny…”
“Fuck, I’m not Johnny. He’s dead, Rory. Tell me my name, you son of a bitch!”
“Chester,” I whimpered. “Chester Targood…”
“That’s not my fucking name!”
I dropped my face into my hands, but he grabbed me by the hair. “What’s my name, you no good asshole? Tell me my name.”
“Subaltern Chester Goodwood, Seventh New Zealand Light Horse.”
“Where are we?”
“Gallipoli.”
“What’s your job!”
“Soon as we get our people ashore and unloaded and join up with Jeremy…he’ll secure a perimeter and we’ll find a paddock and stake it out.”
“Who’s running this half of the platoon?”
“Platoon Serjeant…Amberson…up front…I’m all right now, Chester.”
“Where are we?”
“Heading into Brighton Beach. Jeremy’s boat is a little behind us. Send Johnny’s pips and pistol up front to the Amberson lad.”
“Look at me,” he demanded.
I did and assured him I was on “go.”
“Give me Johnny’s pips and pistol. I’ll take them up front,” I said. “I’m going ashore first with a squad. You take the rest of the lads, unload, and hang out near the beach.”
“Don’t go too far inland,” Chester said.
“Take the semaphore flags out of my pack,” I said. “By the sounds of this racket, we’re not too far from the front lines. You and Jeremy catch up to me as fast as you can.”
I pushed to the front of the boat. Jesus, I was shaky. My head was working but my legs didn’t want to mind. I found the Platoon Serjeant.
“What’s your name, Serj?”
“Chipper Amberson. Call me Chipper. You’re Rory Landers. I saw you destroy the Aussie at Port Albany.”
“Well, he’s on our side now. Chipper, you hang back on the beach with Chester back there, the kid with the glasses. Get the boat unloaded and hold. Now, I need the light machine gun with me. I’m going a little inland.”
“Corporal O’Rourke!”
“Here.”
“Bring your squad in with Lieutenant Landers.”
“Righto.”
The boat banged into land, throwing us awry.
“Over the side!”
Shit, we were waist-deep