The Final Storm - Jeff Shaara [145]
Adams knelt, tried to catch his breath. The rains had not come all day, and he glanced up, a gray shroud of clouds, thankful. He realized now the fighting all along the higher part of the hill had become more sporadic, brief bursts, single shots and mortar blasts, small firefights. Some of the sounds came far out beyond the hill, the flat muddy ground where the roads led to the city, Naha. But here, on this part of the ridge, the firing had stopped altogether, the thick wet air strangely quiet. Adams heard voices around him, Welty coming up close to him, saying aloud, “We need to spread out, keep tight in this trench, hold our position here until someone tells us what to do.”
Several men seemed to hang on Welty’s words, one man responding, “Ain’t that you?”
Welty shook his head.
“I’m just a private.”
“Well, hell, Private, you seem to have more brains than anybody else on this hill. What you think we oughta do?”
Adams saw more faces turning toward Welty, knew the redhead was sensitive about the glasses, all the old insults from training, hey, Four Eyes. But Adams knew something about Welty’s calm, his experience, thought, that man is probably right. Welty searched the faces, another cluster of men rolling up and over the craggy ridge, grateful for the shallow trench. Welty focused on one man, said, “You! We need you!”
The face was familiar to Adams, the man moving closer, past the others, staring at Welty.
“For what?”
Welty lowered his voice.
“You’re a damn sergeant, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, until somebody says they outrank you, I guess you’re in charge.”
Adams recognized the man now, another of the platoon’s squad leaders, Sergeant Ballard. Ballard glanced around, said, “Where’s the looey?”
Welty seemed frustrated, made no effort to hide it.
“He’s dead! He’s on those rocks down there.”
Ballard nodded slowly, said, “Wow. Who’s your sergeant? He here?”
“Ferucci. He’s dead too. Dammit, this ain’t any time to take roll call.”
Ballard seemed to gather himself, still scanned the men in the trench. Adams felt a new burst of gloom, thought, he doesn’t have the first idea what to do. He moved closer to Welty, perfect earshot of Ballard, said, “Maybe you should take charge, Jack.”
Ballard looked at Welty, seemed to agree with Adams’s suggestion. Welty seemed ready to explode, said to Ballard, “Look, you’re in charge. We should spread out, down both flanks of this trench. There’s two thirties that have made it up so far, we should put one on each flank.” He scanned the others, and Adams saw Gridley, huffing over the rocks, still carrying the BAR. Behind him came Gorman, the older man helmetless, sweating, breathing heavily. Welty pointed, said, “BAR! Right here! Watch that ridgeline! Everybody, pass the word. Stay down along this line. Good cover. Watch for snipers, nobody get careless! They could still be down behind us!”
Gridley seemed puzzled, glanced at the others, said, “If you say so, Redhead. Where’s the Japs at?”
Welty looked again at Ballard, who had clearly abdicated any authority. Welty wiped his glasses with a filthy sleeve, hooked them back over his ears, said, “They skedaddled out of here. But it’ll be dark soon, and they’ll be coming, sure as hell. For now they gave us this cover, so we oughta use it. Keep low, but keep ready. This is a hell of a good place for somebody to toss a grenade. You see one, try to toss it back.”
Adams stared at Ballard, who nodded, said, “Yeah. Good idea.”
Welty was ignoring the sergeant now, said, “I’m going up there, take a peek at the ridge, maybe get a look at the other side. Somebody come with me.” He turned to Adams, then looked past him. “Clay … and you two.”
Welty climbed up past the trench, stayed on his knees, then slipped to his belly. Adams moved out with him, the other two Welty had chosen, and Adams saw the exhausted fear in both of them, mixed with curiosity. Good question, he thought. What’s on the other side? Welty pushed himself farther up what seemed to be the last bit of incline. The mud was deeper, shell holes full of thick brown water,