Blinded by the Mines

Chapter 5

"Get off 'er me ya' mangy dog"
An old soldier shouts at a boy that sounds around 14 years old, the boy has been tending to the older mans wounds very carefully for what has felt like days. I fell asleep a few times so I now have really no concept of how long I have been inside this tank; bumping and rumbling along a road to who knows where. My non-leg is aching but I can't bear to look down at the stump, even if I wanted to I wouldn't be able to see anything. It's pitch black and smells musty, from what I can hear there's the older man, the 14 year old medic, a middle aged man, a kid about my age who keeps praying, and someone who snores in the small, dark tank with me.

I wonder exactly how many tracks there were, how many people are in each, are there some that are more crowded than this?

A rather large bump in the road sends me flying, I land hard on my behind as I hear a loud outburst from the old soldier. He then begins to swear at the boy trying to help him, something hard and jagged scrapes along above my eyebrow and I feel blood seep down, I wipe it away not wanting and infection.

"Please stop throwing things sir, here I'll wrap it in a bandage."

The young boy cries out obviously afraid of the enraged, injured soldier.

"Here see, my cut has healed, I don't need this bandage anymore."

The man obviously can't see the boy's, but to me it sounds as though the boy is talking through gritted teeth, enduring the pain of his 'healed cut as he wraps the old soldier's injuries.

I again wipe the blood from above my eyebrow and close my eyes, it would be easier to fall asleep than to listen to the five other people in this area all making conflicting noises and sounds.  I feel myself drifting off to sleep, not wanting to move my body. I'm almost fully unconscious when the rumbling and jolting of the war tank slows. I open my eyes; wide awake. I feel the constant, slow motion of wheels on a road cease to exist as the tank comes to a halt.