Survival
by Gareth Jones, Sam Kurdynowski, Oliver Dewey and Oliver Harpur.
Chapter 1: "Bravo 2:0"
by Oliver Harpur
12/4/1984
We were checking the final preparations for the mission the next day. The basic plan was to recapture two of our staff from the intelligence unit which knew a lot about a new weapon that could blow up a whole base with one bomb. The enemy were made up of Turkish Rebels that wanted the weapon. Our job was to recapture the prisoners and return to base.
That night in my bunk I lay there thinking about the mission, was everything going to be all right, for instance was it going to be a trap or were the prisoners already dead? All these worries kept coming to me. The whole of the next day we spent checking all of the weapons and testing them in case of any mal-functions. Then that night we were ready to go. The men were fit, the equipment was checked and the transport was fully operational. However there was one problem, the weather. Of all the nights in summer there had to be a storm on this one, so we waited as long as we had to until it stopped. Luckily it only delayed us for about three hours and then we were off.
My group and I were going through the whole plan once more in the helicopter. We landed in a forest then made our way towards the Rebel base. We planned to dodge security, find hte prisoners and then get the hell out of there.
Now we had arrived. Jimmy, Tailor, Rhan and Paul would get out first and secure the surroundings then Henry, Zooker and I, Vince, would advance towards the base checking for guards, mines and other security. Then the rest of the team came out. Platt, Higginson and Edmans followed on and we were all ready for battle. We had made it past the first section of the security searchlights. We were all specialists in this kind of job, and knew what we were doing.
Now we had to go through the base and find the cells that the prisoners were in, then return to the chopper to leave. But it wasn't that easy. There was a computerised soor that we had to get past, this was probably the perfect job for Higginson and after about two minutes we were in. The deeper we went in the more guards there were to kill and to make sure the alarm didn't go off. Finally we found them. Lt. Sam and Sgt. Nick had been severely tortured. You could see that they had been tortured with leather whips! They quickly understood that they had to be qw quiet and as quick as possible. We collected a set of keys from a dead guard and set them free. Now this was the tricky part; getting out. We had discovered ta much quicker way of getting out from the first path we took getting in. After the computerised door we were practically out but it all seemed too easy.
We successfully passed the searchlights and on our way back up to the helicopter we heard a siren go off. The helicopter came over with a ladeer attached to it. Moments later our only means of escape had vanished as the choppper was hit by small arms fire from guards on the perimeter fence. By this time we had all relised not to panic, to stay calm and to get tosafety as quickly as possible. We had also all realised that there was an enemy helicopter over by the hangers so our only hope nw was to get out to it and fly off. We camouflaged ourselves into the tress and bushes knowing that there was likely to be a great gunfight very soon. All the time we were covering each other and gradually moving towards the helicopter.
The first machine guns were fires by the rebels but they couldn't see where we were because of our camouflaged positions. Then suddently four of our men were shot dead. We were very near to the helicopter but another two men were killed. Now all that was left was Paul, Lt. Sam, Sgt. Nick and myself. We clambered onto the helicopter and flew off. It wasn't over yet. The enemy were still shooting at us, so we still had to get away.
Chapter 2: "Survival"
by Gareth Jones
15/4/1984
I woke to the hum of the aircraft engines. My legs were cold and I could hardly stand up. The time was 7:00A.M., it was another quarter of an hour before I had to get up. I took this opportunity to read my army handbook, as I knew the day would be a struggle.
The crew which consists of Paul, Nick, Sam and myself hastily dressed and prepared ourselves for the day ahead. I knew that the day would be hard, our quest to find land and contact base with news of our position.
We sat in our seats for many hours seeing only the sea. The great blueness of which had first seemes to us amazing now bored us.
Our exact position unknown as the GPS was broken, and although the avid Nick and Sam were busy trying to reprogramme and mend the GPS we could only estimate our position. We thought we were somewhere in the Indonesian Islands.
At 11:00 land was sighted on the horizon, and as I had expected my morning reading would come in useful with the decent to land.
As the aircraft neared the land I prepared the team for a parachute jump. I found the parachutes under a seat located near to the cockpit area.
The island, from what I could see before we jumped was small, a mile or two in diameter and hosted a wide variety of plants, trees and suchlike with no inhabitants, or so I thought. We jumped, me first. As I landed, I looked up, to see the rest of the crew above me sailing down, though not as expertly as myself. As I looked up I could see that Sam and Nick had only just jumped out of the plane. When all of us had landed I gave Nick back his laptop which he trusted in my hands because of his novist jumping skills. He seemed very relieved after the jump, whilst I was calm, Paul was shocked, or so it seemed to me as his face was white and his body frozen with fright, although he quickly returned to his normal self. Sam on the other hand was simply mystified by the experience, like me on my first jump back at my Catterick Army base in England when I first joined, aged 16. Later, we found that we had landed on the north beach of this island, and, as my first impressions had pointed out to me the island was only small, with a small fresh water lake in the centre. This small lake was about 100m wide and 150m long. The first job, as the rest of the crew agreed, was to find some form of shelter, a source of food and to explore the island. The time, if I recall correctly at this point in time was about 1:00pm We had all eaten our ration pack lunch earlier and so the afternoon presented itself with a lot of free time to indulge in various activities which needed to be done. First I would need to make some form of shelter. A residency in the trees would not be safe from monkeys. I knew not of the existence of beasts, or of monkeys, apes or such like on these islands. It was decided a search would need to be started for the latter. We each had a gun, 30 rounds and whatever we could find washed up on the shores or on the island. It was decided that we should search the island in pairs and arrange to meet up later, at 6:00pm that day with our findings and to tell each other news. The pairs were to be; Sam and Paul, Nick and Myself. We left each other equipped with our survival packs, backpacks and al we had found. This included a compass which told me we were on the North beach. The exploration of the island then commenced. After two hours of walking through the thick jungle we seemed to have searched the island. We found that there was, at one end of the island a very large log from at tree long dead which would serve very well as a fortress when the enemy found., us. For the first night though, we decided to stay put near to the centre of the island. The space we chose to set up our part time camp was in a clearing. There were two large trees which had fallen over and created a triangle fortress with some sharp thorny bushes. Nick informed me that, according to the army computer database these were completely harmless and could easily be covered with plastic sheeting. This would resist the pressure of the thorns as they would not be able to break through and we would be safe. There. was an immense amount of an 'Ivy-like' plant which covered the trunk. I found a pick axe in my backpack which proved very useful. Although, at first I admit to thinking of Sam and Nick as computer nerds, they really do know their stuff and are a great hand. By the end of our time alone we had hollowed out four small hollows in the trunks which we used for sleeping areas. Also, a minor addition on which Nick had insisted, a flat tree trunk base on which he or Sam could rest their laptops whilst working out a number of calculations and planning the day. At this point 1 was informed that most of the plants on the island had been recorded and we had found out what they were. I forget all but one of the facts which Sam informed me of The large tree trunk which I had so avidly axed away at was actually a rare, and very large breed of oak. It is much like the typical English oak, but grows to up to five times the size. The time on my watch was fast approaching 6:00pm and, as promised we had to be back by that time. I did not want to be late and so, Nick and myself set off in good time only to find when we arrived Paul and Sam were nowhere to be seen and running quite late. When, at 6:30 we had all gathered Nick led us all back to where we had been working all day to discuss the days events. It seemed to have worked very well and all were most pleased with the results of the day. Paul complimented Nick and myself on our handy work in making such a lovely home. Paul and Sam had been exploring a southern area of the island and, although having seen similar things, Paul had sighted Banana trees which grew around the lake in the centre of the island and brought back bananas to show us, whilst having also made a boat from a hollow tree stump which had presented itself to them by the edge of the lake. After a reasonably rough supper of bananas I decided, along with Paul to make our way to the lake. The route we took was direct, but slow as we were constantly having to stop for the cartographers, Sam and Nick to draw out a map of the surroundings and measure how far we were above sea level. The island was, even at it's highest point only about 7m above sea level. Many trees poked and showed themselves much above this with the tallest of the oaks being at least 200m tall. I am sure the rest of the team were staggered by their incredible height. I found it hard to picture such immense trees and wondered how I could have missed them on my first impressions. When, at last we reached the lake, a mere five minute walk from our camp, at-our usual pace, I decided to find our water flasks. These I found to be in our survival pack which was tied on to my backpack. I planned to leave our survival pack back in our residency after it had been fully developed and food and water sources found. I decided that it would be best if we went nearer to the centre of the lake to collect water, so that it would be cleaner and not so muddy. As the boat was launched there was a moan of disappointment as I could see Sam thought all his hard days work was going to sink. The maximum capacity of the boat, I decided was two as it seemed a bit unstable. As we reached the centre Paul, who had accompanied me whilst Sam and Nick were busy on their computers finally confessed to having doubts about his swimming capability, as although he could swim he was not confident This normally, would have no implication on an exercise which might involve swimming, but as the water was unknown and looked deep I thought of taking the easier option. Also, I did not like the idea of having to hoist Paul, a well built and fully grown man out of the lake, so with time on my side I decided that it would be wise, as Paul agreed to turn back and let either Sam or Nick accompany me as the task was hard to carry out alone. Sam who had finished analysing the land around the lake decided that it would be best if he accompanied me because Nick was not in the same position as Sam, he was still working busily away on his laptop. I asked "What are you doing there Nick?" with no reply, I decided simply to take Sam and leave Paul and Nick alone. As, for the second time we approached the centre I saw ripples appearing from about three metres away. I was hoping fish of some kind of life would exist, but I was wary. My inquisitive nature told me to advance whilst the other side of me told me to back away. Nick instructed me to move nearer as he wanted to have a look; the publicity of this island could bring himself and Nick so e 'recognition, an extra find being a great bonus. As we approached I had expected the ripples to stop or for the ripples from our own vessel to drown them out. We found that the ripples continued. They were of no even force with some being very large whilst others quite small. I reached in to that water after finding my gloves on the floor of the boat. I grabbed the source of the ripples. It was long, grey, shiny wet and ugly, and in its mouth it had a smaller fish, just as ugly and seemingly of the same kind. "A cannibal fish?" Sam blurted out. It was silent for a moment. Nick grabbed the fish with his free hand, the other holding on the boat and helped me to draw the fish in. On the bank of the lake I could see Paul and Nick, now obviously looking at us and mystified yb what was happening. I instructed Sam to keep the fis, or that is what it seemed like under control until we reached shore. When the vessel on which we were reached within ten metres of the shore I called for help from Nick and Paul in brining the fish to shore. As the time now was almost 8:30 and it was getting dark Paul suggested heading back to the sleeping quarters which we had made earlier that day. As we arrived all were tired and it was decided that we should all rest for that day in our individual sleeping quarters. *** 16/5/1984 The first morning on the island seemed very calm and quiet compared to recent awakenings and I enjoyed it a lot. My watch told me I had woken at 5:30. A bright and early start for what I knew would be a long day. The enemy could know our position and be just over the horizon. Whilst I was the only crew member awake, I decided not to venture out and scare any awakening member with my disappearance, so, instead I sat and thought over in my mind what would need to be done. After about half an hours thought I decided that, when all the crew members were ready and had eaten breakfast it would be time to build ourselves a fortress. As for the next day or two we could survive on fish, bananas and water we needed not to find another source of food as that had a decided place of origin. The question I then faced was which of the many areas to choose for our fortress. The large logs on the beaches, I thought would make a great defence for the flimsy and weak guns which I knew as being the enemies best defence weapon. These, I thought could be rolled into a triangle in which we could hide and shoot from. I was sure also that some where in the survival kit was a very powerful gun. This would though only work from a stand and recently, it had been faulty. That must also be tested today. It was not until about 7:00 when I was gifted with the presence of humane life. Before this I had seen some living creatures, lizards coming out to bathe in the first rays of the sun, however, I saw of no movement in the camp and was worried, especially about Paul. For, Paul is one of the most punctual people I know and was never late up back in Catterick. Like my dear self. he second up was Paul, as I had expected. He was drowsy, but awake. I briefly informed him that I was going to go and get everyone their banana. breakfast. When I returned I found that, Paul had dressed himself and was talking to Nick, pointing at areas on the computer monitor. I can only assume that a map of the island was on display. Sam meanwhile was still getting dressed whilst e-mailing messages to base and re-informing them of our position. I assumed that there was also a lot of talk about the enemies position. As far as anyone knew we would have a v more days of bananas before even a trace of the enemy entered our island. We doubted very much that combat between enemy forces and ourselves would commence today and so I decided to continue with my plan for the day. It was suggested that we set up a second fortress, the idea of which I liked very much: that though would have to take a second position over the other tasks of the day. If tomorrow when we contacted base and there was still going to be no probable encounters with the enemy that would be a good use of our time. Maybe this second fortress should be built on the Southern beach; an area unseen by myself. It was at around 10:00am when I gave the signal to move. By this stage Paul was bored stiff, Sam finally dressed, Nick finished going over the plan with all of us, five times showing off on his computer every time and myself raring to go because of everyone elses feelings! As the journey commenced I attached all that was in my possession on to my back. It was decided that Paul would carry the survival pack as I had done so the day before. The journey was much quicker this time, a mere minute or two and we were there, although many plants and interfering growth got in the way whilst we were there. I was amazed at the speed and wondered if we were going the same way. I was informed that we were and could have no abjection to the map that Nick and Sam had carefully drawn. I was informed the reason for this rapid growth was the brilliant climate which these plants lived in. What was in our way was only new growth and even in Catterick I remembered plants growing quickly and out of control, especially where they were not wanted. Everything just seemed to happen a lot faster on this island because of the superb conditions. A few minutes later as we arrived via the guidance of Sam and Nick's map I was pleased to see the large trunks which were to form the basis of our fortress or-defence line. started by calling all and asked for the force of our pushing to be combined into moving one of these logs, a matter on which I doubted possibility. There were moans, I am sure from people such as Nick and Sam and a whoop of delight from Paul at the challenge. A great heave could be heard as the huge trunk moved slowly, but surely forward I was worried that Nick of Sam may have been put off by the idea of vast insect colony living underneath, however it seemed they had not thought of the possibility. I had, but had not told them because of wanting to keep them as having an active roll. At the end of our slaughtering work the log had moved a fair 10m and the other log needed no moving. The area of the camp and how to position different logs etc. had been planned very carefully moved so, that when this log had been moved we had a complete triangle, the other side made by this undergrowth, but no protection this side was really necessary as we really wanted to shoot at the enemy whilst on the shore or running up the beach. If it did come to a man to man fight our idea was to be rescued, by another team member. If this failed there was a chance we would be taken captive, tortured or killed. This was not a promising reward and so we would have to win. Paul and myself were armed; with machine guns pistols, the lot. It was unsure on weather we would be able to defeat the enemy with just the two of us. We had a choice; throw a gun into the hands of Sam and Nick at the last minute and hope they got some shots on target or teach them, however that would waste our precious and very limited ammunition. Even when the first set of enemy troops had been defeated this did not mean the end of the fight and if supplies did not reach us we may have to go more than one battle with our ammunition It was a hard choice to make. We gave Nick and Sam 10 bullets to practise with. I was amazed. For the first two bullets I make a mark on a tree with my penknife, and although they both missed both times they only missed by 2-3cm which really astounded me!, Now as I look back I wish that I had not thought of them as such inferior gunners. When, some minutes later all of the rationed rounds had been used I felt amazed, as though a godly presence was around us. I was shocked. As Sam and Nick were shooting I had, without true meaning, 'knowing' that it would be impossible for either to accomplish the set target was, simply for the means of improving accuracy, for the first, either Sam of Nick to fire a shot. This would be followed by a shot from the second, in the hope of hitting the first shot. I was astounded when both completed the task. When, in my days at Catterick it had taken me three weeks to master the immense skill needed to perform this. I was staggered. I stood in awe for a few seconds whilst, still in shock I found to my surprise a lizard or such like taking 'look-out' post. I laughed. The others thought that I was mad! It was then time to complete the fortress, but before the completion was commence a meal was needed, as my watch indicated it was lunch time and it was going to be a very physically demanding afternoon if all plans went well. I then, instructed Nick to journey back with Paul to the lake area and to leave Sam and myself where we were. They were to fetch some bananas, fresh water, and if feeling incredibly adventurous, some fish. They were to be no longer than half an hour, as I knew it would take a mere five minutes to walk to and back from the lake, and less than three to pick bananas and fill our pouches and flasks with water. This would give plenty of time for them to, if they wished, go fishing. Whilst they were gone I instructed Sam to find me a log, which was not quite as long as the ones we were currently using, (up to twenty metres) I wanted one about five metres long so that we could have a walkway to the look out point which was to be at the front of the triangle, facing the sea. There was an incredibly large pile of sand here, about three to four metres above a very low and flat beach. There was, or course a sand gathering around the fortress which sealed off most of the area around and, the height of some of these elevate must have been 10m from the surrounding sand. These though, were nearer to the back of the area chosen and so were obscured slightly from view in some areas. After inspecting the surrounding area and the fortress in general I was then greeted with the arrival of Sam. He had scoured the beach and, whilst looking for the log he had found a wealth of milk crates, washed up on the shore. Although, in places these were damaged, the general outlook on these was that there was hope. They were put to use straight away and I was quick to find a use. They were, found as very good supports when covered, and filled with sand, so the milk crates were used in the walls, and one placed in the lookout tower so that whoever was on guard could lean back. The arrival of Nick and Paul was the next event to take place. This marked the commencing of lunch. The rather rough meal, as I remembered it before was even rougher and I drank all my water. It turned out that Nick had found a stick, sharpened it with Paul's pocket knife and used it as a harpoon as on a fish which was in the very shallow area near to the edge of the lake. This told us of the inhabitants of the island. There could be no large animals which were fishing from land as surely it would be easier to catch nearer to the shore, so fish would swim near to the centre. he fish was a much better meal than I ever remember, probably because of the bananas. After this short break it was back to work again on the fortress. Over lunch Sam and myself had informed Nick and Paul of the happenings with the milk crates and they were very excited with more possible discoveries on the coast. We did though all agree very much with the view expressed by Nick that, although by chance we had found this litter and it had come in useful it simply showed how bad pollution was getting in our seas. It was because of decided to be a point that we were to put across in our next contact with base. The work that was to be carried out varied, first 1 decided we needed to position guns and check that all were in working order. We knew that Sam and Nick's guns were working as we had tested them earlier that morning. Paul and myself fired a shot into the distance to check our weapons. They were working. The spare weapons then were tested. All worked fine first time apart from the large machine gun. This seemed faulty, but it was decided that since it had the longest range and could not be carried and shot from it would be worth a : Throwing away a weapon with such power was a mindless waste, and it was positioned on the look out tower, as it was deemed the most risible place by all. There was time, before night began about two hours working. This allowed time for getting back to camp, and eating before going to bed. These hours were wisely spent. I instructed all to fetch water and bring it back, pouring it onto the walls of our dwelling. This made them solid and the sand stick together. Then more sand was added and the process repeated until the walls were high, I reckoned at least 5 metres and there were firing holes specially made for our guns etc. The walls, by the end were about two metres thick, I assume. There were parts wider and parts specially narrower so that it would be possible to get nearer to the wall when shooting. This is how the remainder of the day was spent and although we were mucky, wet and some miserable afterwards it was deemed well worth while as the walls were muck thicker and stronger. When the time reached about 6:00pm twilight was setting in and I decided to move before it got dark. It just so happened. that there was enough fish left over for a quick snack, we all had our water and then made our way back along the now seemingly well trodden path, as all had been cut back only that morning. As we arrived at camp I was so tired that I went off to sleep like a log. I think that similar was true of the rest of the team. *** 17/4/1984 As I woke I heard the morning calls of birds. It was 6:07am and I was very tempted to continue lying and listening, however I knew that I needed another few minutes sleep and I needed to brush up on some skills in my army handbook. I could not get to sleep because of the humidity that seemed to have suddenly set in, I so, followed my instinct to lay there. I lay for a while just listening, wondering what the creator of these sounds looked like. There was a great variety of calls, I can only assume that this showed a large number of bird species present on the island. After reading chapter four of my army survival guide, all about survival in different areas and overcoming problems that may be faced by us today. Today the sky was much more blue than before, not a cloud on sight and I could see this was going to be a very hot day. Whilst we were on the island it had not rained, but I had been warned in that mornings reading that rains in the area where we were are short, and infrequent, but very powerful and you need to be prepared! This I decided would prove as our task for the day. First we would find a suitable area and develop it. I thought that I had a good idea of island now, but the best thing that I could do would be to ask either Sam or Nick to choose a site from their research. I decided, today to wake the team as, I thought it more practical to sleep in the immense heat of the day than at a time when we could be working. It also seemed a good idea to erect our rain canopy as a very hot sun is a sign of the coming rain. As I woke the others it seemed obvious that they were unhappy with being awaken so early, but, after explaining to them my reasons my proposed idea was quickly favoured and all were swift in preparing for the day. I one corner of our dwelling there was a large leafy branch which would serve as a part time canopy whilst we evaluated different areas on the screen of the laptops. Unknown to me, Sam and Nick had been taking pictures of different areas with a camera built into Nick's laptop, Sam's instead, I found out later was equipped with some other piece of incredibly sophisticated equipment so that both could share the benefits. This, at first staggered me, as I had not expected anything like this to appear on to the screen. The sites which were eventually narrowed down to two were on out daily path to the fortress or there about. Before we made our way there though we decided to contact base, hoping to get the all clear for that day as we did not want to have to fight in such hot conditions, We would have liked to have built the shelter, but only with the all clear from base. We made a quick contact with base via an e-mail. I instructed some of the pictures of the island to be sent as attachments with the e-mail and for the litter problem to be mentioned. This worried all of us. The conditions must have been like this on all the islands around here, uninhabited by humans, with the animals that lived there having to bear with the consequences of the mindless littering of humans. I asked Nick if he had taken a picture of the beach and the litter, the milk crates we found and the coke bottle top which we had placed near to the look out post. It looked really stupid up there, but at least Sam was pleased when it was there. When we, eventually made our way to the two chosen sites to view them the time must have been reaching 10:00, our nap planed for 12:00. Before our nap there may only be time for us to view the sites. Whilst walking an idea was suggested by Paul, that to make these sites really effective we would have to spend the night in them, not just the day. The current dwelling had no capability of having a roof placed over so we would have to move the logs, a few hundred metres. I think the distance five hundred to six hundred metres. Not a long distance as all in the army were meant to be able to run twenty miles with a ten kilo rucksack on ion good time, surely we were fit enough for this? The first site which had been chosen had a tree with many branches and leaves overlooking the small area beneath where we could sit or stand. On further inspection by Paul, this was not such a good idea. As he tried to climb it which he did very successfully the branch was bending and we were afraid for our safety at such times. In the stormy weather this was meant to protect us from we were worried that it would come down and hurt us. A small sapling was very close to one of these trees which much amused Sam, I will never know why but it did. He requested, from Nick a picture to be taken of him standing between the small sapling and the large tree. When, after about five minutes Sam had the picture on his display, not Nick's and he was joking about it. He entitled it "small, medium and large." What was so funny about this? None apart from Sam understood this joke, I think that it must be that strange workings of his mind again, strange man. The second site which had to, almost certainly be chosen as the other was ruled out completely seemed to have great possibility. There were, I think five of the tree stumps which made a hut and there were about three branches covering the other sides. There was some light inside although it was quite dark inside. Sam and Nick said that they may be able to supply us with light from a light in their laptops, and so as not to war down their battery they could probably find a solar panel which they could find somewhere in our survival pack. The search took a lot longer than expected, and before time to complete this had passed, it was time for our nap. We were aware of no predator on our island and so we happily went for a nap on the ground. I felt that two hours would be a good nap time. As I then awoke I found that the sun was baking the earth to a cinder and that it was incredibly hot. I was thirsty and I had drunk all my water earlier that day. I turned on Nicks laptop, wrote a quick message on the screen to say that I would be back soon and had just gone to go and get some water. Whilst writing this message though, Nick was awaken and so 1 added his name to the note and we quickly set off on our journey. As we reached the pool I felt in to the water with my hand, the water here was as hot as the soil around it. I then sighted our boat. Nick did not want to accompany me and so, I only went out a small way, say fifteen metres and I then filed up our flasks with nice refreshingly cold water. When I returned we both drunk a complete flask full of water. I remembered to fill up Paul and Sam's flask as well. This I did on my second trip, I did only want to drink on the first as I was incredibly thirsty. Although the new area was only a few minutes walk away it took quarter of an hour to walk in the heat of the day, and with heavy flasks the task was near impossible. When we returned Sam and Paul were just stirring and under the very humid and hot conditions they did not want to get up at all. Eventually though they did get up and we decided to go inside what we had of the den already built and cool off. Paul had obviously been thinking about the problem of moving g the logs. This was solved by the simple idea of cutting into the trunks which made up our dwelling as we had before and sleep in our own areas. This proved to work well, I still though hoped that we would return to our other sleeping system in the uncovered bedding area. I liked it better there. Here it was hot, stuffy and there was no wind to blow away heat. We were all very close I did not like this. After Sam and Nick had the light working we could start on final preparations for the wet weather to come. At about 6:00 than night you could se it was going to rain, the sky was black. I found some plastic sheeting on the beach amongst other rubbish. This all came in really useful as we had to cover and insulate the place so that any damp that came through the natural and the wooden defences we had made, we would be dry inside there. This was vital and the wals, after getting covered in sand much like our fortress were about a metre or so thick. The security of this was I thought good, but just because of this and the fact that it was completely water proof did not make me happy. When it had started to cool down I got out a spade and pile up sand around the area so that it was more like a mound, hopefully a dry mound than a sleeping quarters for four fully grown men. The secret was in how deep it was. When we had first started the area had been about a metre or two below the rest of the sand, and I had tunnelled out certain areas so that we could walk in and out and go to each others sleeping areas where the wet sand partitions separated us. It was now drying out but it was cooler, but there were no birds. As we had taken a break in the middle of the day and it was still cool and at a workable temperature Nick, Paul, Sam and myself all ventured out to the fortress to finish work n it. The walls were so incredibly thick by the end of work that I declared, in fact ordered work to stop on the walls as they were not needed any higher or thicker. At seven or ten metres high and two or three wide I "s staggered at the strength of" them, The sand at the bottom was squashed so much by that on top of it I could not indent it! The last half an hour I treated the team, giving them time to do what ever they wanted. I suggested walking along the beach or something. That is what I did. I found loads of seaweed, most of which I picked up and slung on my back. I took this back to where we were spending the night and placed it on the floor as a kind of carpet. Walking of seaweed is a really strange sensation. I found it amazingly coarse in places and yet silky in others. The time was approaching when it would be impossible to see outside and would be hard to find our way back so we quickly retreated to the area on which we had worked that day. We went to sleep all like logs and all thinking about plans for the next day, were ..we prepared`? Did we have enough forces`? Would the fight take place tomorrow? - We did not know. There was to be a long wait that night. Paul was on look out tonight, I am on look out tomorrow. *** 18/4/1984 The rude awakening I got today from Paul was an awful start to the day. He thought he had heard gunshot. It was thunder. The promised storm was approaching. We gathered all our belongings inside the covered area and sat. Waiting we sat. Nick and Sam gave Paul and myself a pour of their computers, a look at their programmes, a go on their games. We were still nervous. Our defences might give way. Nothing could take our mind off of that. It was about two hours we sat there and then, as suddenly as the storm had started it vanished. The noise was gone. Being wary we sat for a minute, we sat motionless. So relieved. The rain had stopped. The storm had gone. I went outside. What we thought of the storm as having gone was only half of it. The first storm had gone. We could see another on the horizon. There would, according to the mathematical calculations of Nick be about an hour before the second storm hit us. This would mean we would, to get all we wanted to one have to split up. Paul suggested the original teams; Himself and Sam, Nick and me. This was agreed on. The first move for Nick and myself was to search the beach for anything that had been washed up. WE found yet more milk crates and some fishing net. There was plenty of seaweed which we would pick up on our return along with the net and the other litter to use as a form of entertainment. The milk crates though were more important than that. We needed o take them to the fortress, our destination. How had it coped? We knew nothing of weather it would still exist and the enemy were said to be on their way; that was to be confirmed later, when we were to have the time during the storm. The fortress was just round the corner. There was on the beach a large whale, washed up in the storm. Ho did it get this far off course? hundreds of mile away would be the rest of the whales natural breeding area how had it got there`? I thought to check if it was alive. It was not. The creature had passed away, being in the full rage of the storm was too much for an old whale such as that. I instructed Nick to take photos of it for a minute or two whilst I went to the fortress and began to inspect any damage which had occurred on the fortress. It seemed that the fortress had got through unscaved, much like our shelter, on a brief look, although that was a job allocated to Paul and Sam. The incredibly thick and high walls seemed to have, because of their strength only have been weakened slightly by the force of the sea against them on the side facing the sea. They were slightly worn away at the bottom, but were still a good three quarters of a metre thick and had lost only a few centimetres in height from the wind. This was repaired in a short time, and the gun which we had, by a complete accident left was packed up along with other guns and equipment and we returned back to the shelter with quarter of an hour to spare. We used this time wisely, collecting various pieces of litter, rubbish, the net and seaweed to keep us amused and to put to use for tomorrow, or whenever the enemy showed up. Whilst collecting this on the north beach I felt a drizzle on me left hand and knew the storm was here. I ran back to the shelter, to find all already there Paul poking his head out hoping to see me and inform the rest of the group I was ok. When we were all gathered in the shelter and I had regained my breath talk grew about the damage to the shelter. `There was hardly any' seemed the general outlook, I was not really surprised by this fact as I knew it was well built and if there were a storm harsh enough to have penetrated the shelter there would have been many of the trees knocked down and so there, for Paul and Sam had not been much work to be done on this. So they had decided to take a trip to the first den site to see how good our choice had really been, We had chosen the best one, as, just like we had predicted the large branch, in fact the entire tree had fallen over! When Nick showed the others the photos that he had taken of the whale they wished that they could have gone there and seen it. We all hoped it would be there after the storm so that we could examine it. It seemed a great find, a whale here in Indonesia, or so we thought. It could be that we were anywhere in the world. All we knew was that, there was no land for as far as the eye could see and, our sense of direction and our minds informed us we must be in this region. It was then time, as Paul and Sam had no exciting news, we decided to contact base with all we had done and found. There was much to be said; what we had found on the beach, the fact we were still alive, where we were and to check up on the enemies position. We found that the enemy would be with us in the next few days, probably tomorrow sometime, but maybe even the day after. Tomorrow would be spent at the fortress looking for the enemy. Would luck be on our side and us be spared another day? About an hour or two later the storm, as the one before ended. As we exited our sheltered dwelling I led the others to where we had found the whale. It had gone. Disappeared. It is amazing how a colossal an animal, an animal such as that can disappear, and go without trace. Only a few skid marks were left on the beach where it had been. It had gone, from human sight for ever and was now probably resting on the ocean floor, as it would for ever. I was disappointed and I think that Paul and Sam suspected us of having a joke. It was not though. The only proof we had were the ski marks, how were they to be explained? I then chose to take the group to the fortress. This would tomorrow be our place of dwelling, and possibly even for the night is the enemy did not find us. How were we to resist an attack by night? this problem was solved by a simple idea. The light which we had been using in the shelter was taken out and a survival mirror, found in the survival pack found along with pieces of mirror found on the beach top make a rough dome shape. We placed the dome of the mirrors into the sandy wall at the front. When the light was turned on, even in the twilight a very bright light was given off. It would be best if we turned off the light, apart from a small one to keep whoever was on guard behind the wall awake. The large light could be turned on when needed if the enemy attacked at night whilst we were asleep and `unprepared' we could turn on the light and fire at the visible targets. None of the guns the enemy had were strong enough to break through the thick sand walls as they were, now so dense and strong. The fortress, with it's firing holes and large light must have looked a very formidable force, and hopefully, like the Viking boats, it would scare the enemy. We were at this stage in no position to give the enemies or or our our own position, but we assumed we were close. Could we be beaten after forces we had shown against the storm. Our underground shelter would only be used again if we spent tomorrow night on the island, otherwise we would be off the island. Tonight I was to spend the night on look out, as Paul had last night. I do not trust weather Paul had been awake all night as he told me; I was though, planning on doing the very same. The enemy was near. For the last half and hour of so before we went our separate ways, I went to go and find something interesting to look at on the beach. As I combed the beach I found many small stones on the beach. I pressed these into the walls of the fortress and Nick helped. I was bored, we were all waiting for the enemy. The stones we found on the beach were of many different colours and it was amazing how shiny and smooth some were. Whilst doing this I decorated the floor with my trademark seaweed, and whilst looking for pebbles I found money. About ten pence or so, a staggering amount, just imagine what I will be able to buy when I go back to Catterick. I also, amongst others found a ring, and a buggy wheel, the kind you push toddlers around in. Amazing. The rest of the team went back to the original dwelling whilst I remained, on the look out for the enemy all that night. Chapter 3: The Arrival by Oliver Dewey I awoke clinging to my machine gun like a young monkey to it's mother. I had been chosen by the rest of the group to stay up all night as look-out But like I always do, I fell asleep. I just thank my lucky stars. I grabbed my flask and took off the lid and began to drink the warm water that remained after the moist night. I turned and looked at my watch. It read "06:30". I sat up holding my feet. I stayed there for about five minutes thinking over to myself of why I and Paul were chosen to protect two maniac scientists that were to compile maps of a few oil stations. I pause and listened. I heard a rustle in the green and very natural surrounding It couldn't have been any of the crew as they were all laying their sleeping quarters that we had cut out of the fallen trees that had been chopped by the crashed aeroplane on impact. I remained very quiet. I heard the noise again. Suddenly, a hare shot out and ran quickly past me. I sighed with relief Paul the army soldier who I had been paired up with, awoke and appeared from under his sleeping bag with a huge yawn. He asked me: "Any disturbances ?". "None whatsoever" I replied. He rubbed away the sleep from his eyes and stood up stretching the muscles in his arms and legs. We had been introduced back at the MoD (Ministry of Defence) base in Catterick. We both had a good idea on each other. "You stay here, I'm just going to find us some grub" I said swiftly Paul as I pulled myself up and walked off through the bushes from out of the opening. I strode through the weedy and long grass and came to a banana tree I reached up and grabbed the 4 bunches of banana's. I slung them over my shoulder and walked back to the `camp' as we would put it. When I got back, Paul was trying to reach 100 press ups, while Nick and Sam were awake and downloading stuff from each others computers. "Hiya Vince" they both said in turn. "O right" I replied. I threw them a bunch of Banana's that landed in between the two. I sat down next to Paul watching him. I could see that he was a very determined and energetic man. He stopped and sat up. I handed him a banana. "Cheers," he said. The rest of the Banana's I attached to my backpack. It was all very quiet as all four off us were chewing on our banana's. I said to them that we would have to be on our guard as the enemy were sure to be looking for us. They nodded. "The island is very small, we are in an insecure position from marine attack. But we will hear any danger from the air," I said aloud so everyone could here. "We should leave this area as soon as possible, if we set up near the shore we will be a lot safer from both kinds of attack," Paul added. Nick and Sam didn't take to much notice but we were sure that they heard. Later on around 10:00am we packed up our temporary camp to move from our current position to the beachy area we had chosen. Only myself and Paul had seen the newly acquired position, but as we were the considered leaders we made the final decisions. As we were just completing the packing up of our gear, I heard a buzzing sound. It sounded like a propellor-powered aircraft. But as it got closer I realised there were o. I looked round at Paul,he had heard it aswell. Nick and Sam hadn't yet noticed the echoing drone's flying around above them as they were both playing a quick game of `Minesweeper' on their laptops, quite appropriate really. I shouted,"Get DOWN !!".Paul was already down when I jumped on to the two others to get them down. As I laid their I realised that we would stand out like sore thumbs while Sam was wearing bright orange and blue clothing, so 1 quickly grabbed the ca.mo netting (camoflage netting) and covered all four of us with it just as the unknown aircraft flew over. This netting turned out to be a saviour as without it we would have been seen. e layed there still, like lags, waiting for the horrible drone to At went on for a long time, about eight minutes. It suddenly disappeared. We realised it had gone. It had just been circling over the island, obviously a search aircraft... -looking for us. I got up knowing there was now nothing in the sky, and lifted all of the huge netting back up into the bag. Paul sat up and finished up is belt kit. "Can, can we get up now?" Nick said nervously. "Yes I ",replied Paul. Sam and Nick stood up and finished up their game of minesweeper We left the original camp at around 10:00am carrying our heavy load about one thousand metres north to the beach, leaving behind the wrecked aeroplane that was sure to be written off. It seemed that walking a thousand metres was about two miles. But that was just the shock of an aeroplane crashing and having to jump out of it. Nick and Sam were ,A-few feet in front of us so we didn't lose sight of them, they were just enjoying the wildlife. We arrived at the new site at around fifteen past ten. We stumbled around just searching for anything that may be of use like information and tree's that could provide us food. While we did this the two cartographers had immediately linked up their PG's. Paul and I didn't really say much to much to Nick and Sam as we just knew our mission and got on and done it. Also we had adjusted to have certain views on the civilians by being in the military forces. We went back to Nick and Sam. "Told 'ya this was a good spot," I said triumphantly. "So you did" Nick replied. I sat down and opened up a banana. The sky above was a beautiful blue with just one cloud in sight. I looked at my watch, '12:04' came up on the display. I looked back and finished thinking out a plan on my sketch pad, while Paul continued to bath in the deep blue- sea water. "Arrrghh!" I shouted. "What's wrong?" Sam asked. "I've just completley cocked up the whole plan!". "I'm going for a swim! I added. Sam looked back at his screen. As I walked down to the waters edge, I saw a heap of something far out at sea, it was moving as it sat on the horizon. The first thing That came into my head was that the enemy was approaching. " PAUL !!"j shouted. "Get out of the water!! ". He didn't hesitate and ask me why as he must have had good idea . As he swam back to shore, I ran back to get my telescope. I looked through, and focused in on the unknown object. As I focused I began to notice on `destroyer' attack boat, three large speed boats and jet-ski's "The enemy! !",I shouted as I passed the scope to Paul. "That's them alright," he said. "They'll most probably arrive onshore in about an hour, we better get ready for them". Paul pulled the telescope away from his eye and we turned and walked back to the others. "They're here," I said. "What?" Nick replied. "There here, look for yourself," Paul added. Nick took the scope from out of Paul's hand, he looked through and began to shiver. "What do we do know then?" he asked. "Well, we wait.... and then fight!" I said. I picked up my SA-80 machine gun, cocked it up and then loaded. Paul had just done the same. I never dreamed of applying the safety catch. "Take this," I said. I passed Sam one of my pistols. "Don't worry, it's loaded," added. Paul passed one of his to Nick and also added:"It's loaded." Although we thought they both had no clue whatsoever on how to fire a gun. They proved us wrong. "Move the kit back to the bushes, about 5 feet in," I said. They followed my given instruction, doing it quickly. We didn't know of what kind of equipment these people had. They might be using bird spotting binoculars to look at the stars for all. we knew! But we could clearly see them coming this way so should have explained it all. I sat there thinking of defeating them that when I get home I'll see Julie and the two kids. Paul had family as well, but they disappeared up to Sheffield because of him being away so much. This was the same story for many military sonnel espeeially during the longer postings. A 'posting' to someone of the military is when someone is sent somewhere on military duties. The enemy were now very, very close. We had all of our ammunition ready and waiting. "Paul, If we open fire on them as soon as they land on shore, we can take as much as possible, anything we miss the pistols can handle," I said quietly. "Yeah, did you hear that you two?" he added. "Sure did." said Nick. We positioned ourselves up in the prone position for more accurate firing. As they landed about twenty five troops jumped of a collection of three speed boats. "On the count of three, fire Paul, just let rip" I said. "I .....2 .... 3 fire! !". We let rip with about forty rounds a minute. As we both shot at the troops they retaliated but didn't know where our fire was coming from. We had already nailed about ten of the twenty five. As bullets zoomed out of the barrel the exhilaration came. As we left Nick and Sam we strode forward and carried out the fire. The remaining troops attempted to fire at us but we had already reached the log in the middle of the beach. They could now see us but their AK-47 guns had such a smaller range so the troops using them had to risk their lives to get in a decent position to fire them. So we had a large advantage. We by now had overcome twenty or so of the twenty five. Nick and Sam ran out with all the kit madly from the bushes and set up with us at the log: They dropped the bags and ran to the two remaining rebels and began to beat the hell out of them! For scientists I thought this was pretty cool. But I got up and stopped it. Paul stripped them from any weapons or ammo'. "Right," I said forcing my pistol into his kidney. "Run four hundred metres around the island going that way." I pointed south. The two troops did this. "Pussies!" the shouted back. I grabbed my SA-80 and shot one of them in the leg: "Keep running" Paul shouted as we stood giggling. We picked up our gear and ran to the rebel speed boat that we jumped into. "Anyone know how to drive this thing?" Sam asked. "Yes, I've covered it before", I said proudly. We turned the ignition key and turned the steering wheel, veering the boat right and toward the enemy destroyer. Leaving behind the two other speedboats and the island that was before now, our temporary home. As we approached the enemy destroyer. I told Paul to take control. He did so. "Steer the boat to within thirty feel of the destroyer, that's three, zero feet," I instructed. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Paul asked. "Just do IT!!". He did so and as we got closer I pulled the pin out of a grenade and threw It. A huge explosion grew up: The boat turned a great and terific yellow and orange. I picked up another and pulled out the pin. I threw it to stir in the problems: Men on board the burning boat jumped of on fire in to the deep blue ocean. We sailed on a southerly heading toward the great country of Australia.Chapter 4
by Sam Kurdynowski
21/4/1984 As I went to bed that night, I felt victorious, and that I had achieved something good for my country. We had defeated the enemy and rescued Sam and Nick. Even though, we were the only ones left from a group of twenty, that had left the UK to defeat the enemy. 22/4/1984 I woke up that morning by Nick who was trying to scrub the wooden decks of the boat. He was finding it very hard and he was getting the soap and sea water everywhere. I was having my breakfast, when Paul shouted, "Land ahoyyyyyy" I ran out to the deck to have a look, as I ran I slipped on the soap. I was knocked unconscious. It was about 9pm, when I woke again. We were not moving. I looked through the port-hole window, and I saw, that we had docked in a port. I thought about where I was. I then remembered that I was at the Great Barrier Reef Port. I got out of bed and walked outside to look around. I saw Nick sipping a glass of red wine. Paul was lapping up the evening sun and Sam was doing some complex work on the computer. I was very tired so I went back to bed. 23/4/1984 I woke up at 7am, when Nick bought me my breakfast. I got dressed and walked on to the deck. I went for a quick swim in the warm, shallow, deep blue water. At about l0am, Sam shouted, "Vince, Vince, get your stuff, we're leaving for Sydney in fifteen minutes." I walked back to my room. Along the wooden decks, I saw Sam and Nick frantically putting their computers away. I went back to my room, I got my stuff went to the jeep. I got in the jeep and put the radio on. The presenter said there was lots of traffic along the road we were going to take. I knew we had to be there by 3pm, the time now was 12am. From my experience, I knew it would take about two to three hours to get there. I shouted, "Oh the traffic's really bad" "Nearly ready." Sam shouted. He jumped in the jeep and we were off. As we sped along the road, the DJ said, "Route 45 is getting busier by the minute." Paul said, left here, on to Route 15." I skidded to the left. We zoomed along Route 15 for about 30 minutes. It was now about 2.30pm. We had just half an hour to get to Sydney. I caught sight of a sign, Sydney, 40 miles. I was driving over 100 miles an hour. We got to Sydney, and drove straight into a traffic jam. Paul said, "Right here". I heard a siren, I looked in the wing mirror, to see a police car following us, lights flashing. We were now in a high-speed chase. The C 1 helicopter, that was going to take us back to Britain, was leaving in 5 minutes. Paul said, "Go left, and you'll see the big, black iron gates at the end"" Both the police car and us skidded to the left. As I went along the long winding track, I started to think what would happen, if either, we got caught by the police or we missed the helicopter. As I got near the gates, I breathed a sigh of relief. We weren't going to miss the helicopter or get caught. I stopped at the gates. Paul showed his ID and asked the security guard to explain to the policeman the reason for our speeding --in needing to get on the C 1. We went through the gates and drove towards the C 1. As we got closer, the large propellers started. We screeched to a halt, jumped out and got in the C 1. The C 1 then took off. As we flew over the sea, it looked so inviting. As the sun came out from behind a cloud, the sea reflected its golden colour. I put my head back and thought of my family and friends. I then thought of the family and friends of the other 20, who were not returning with us. I wondered at this point, if there was such a place as heaven, and if it did exist, what would be going on there, right now. I hoped the villagers on the small island were building up their small communities again. 24/4/1984 The pilot, who said "Just coming into Gatwick", waked me that morning. It was a clear, crisp morning. I looked at my watch, it read 6 am. I looked out of the window, and in the distance, I saw the skyline of London, in the beautiful colours of the sun rising. I stared at the fields of Kent, until we landed. As we got out of the C 1, I realized people were everywhere, cheering. Even people from the government. As the propellers stopped and the doors opened, I saw Julie and my two children running towards me. I jumped out and gave them all a big hug, glad to be safely home with my family. 26/4/1984 Paul, Sam, Nick and I were called out to an awards ceremony, where Paul and I got a medal for defeating the enemy and for saving Sam and Nick. Sam and Nick got a medal for producing a set of secret maps. I, then took early retirement, and now live in a big house, with an enormous garden and swimming pool. Paul is now the highest rank in the army, and, as far as I know, Nick and Sam are either making Microsoft Windows 3.1, or still playing 'Minesweeper.'