"Ambush!" he heard the shout and jolted upright, back behind his gun again.

"Son of a bitch!" Captain Onuh swore as another barrage landed repeatedly on the side. Jang could see the shadowy figures materialize from their hiding.

A click of metal confirmed that the cocked weapon was off safety, he scanned the surrounding bush, all he could see was sporadic sparks over the distance and throngs of bullets inching past, some denting the metal case of the side of the vehicle. Jang hastily pressed the protection over his ear and reacted by a wild exchange from his gun, feeling the recoil against his chest as he fired at his first target, one of the insurgent that was now jumping out of the far bush and running towards the convoy, taking cover behind the trunk and shadows of trees. He released three more shots and could almost trace the ammunition inching through the air as if thrown at his target, another man, who twitched as he fell then curl on the floor, twitch again and remained still.

"First platoon over! Ambush assault, We are in contact! I repeat we are in contact!" the commander was saying. Then came the muffled reply that made Commander AY, turn to the other trucks. "Fox four, five, and six go hot on the main guns." He ordered the groups in the trucks, through the com. The men were already shooting at the approaching hoards of insurgents. And Jang could guess that the platoon up front was also engaged.

"We have contact! Assault through the damn ambush, over!" the commander was shouting on the receiver and giving orders at the same time. Whatever the reply was, he still wasn't happy. He grabbed his M60 and began to shoot too through the window.

He could only imagine the dissonance of sound that throng the air, he was partly glad he got to wear his ear protection. Still it was a sense overload, the air was smoky, sparks scintillation on both sides and dust swirling from nowhere in particular.

"Enemy position 9 and 3 o' clock! Over!" the commander shouted at the receiver, "second platoon is in contact. I repeat_" he went quiet as an explosive rolled underneath the truck that have moved ahead of them, sending the hunk of a metal tilting to the side till it was pointing at the sky, then finally crashing on the ground on its side, it's heavy wheels still rolling in the air.

"Four is down, I repeat, four is down, five, give us cover!

"Running out of ammo!" Sergeant Jang thought he heard someone in the next truck shouting to the phone, he knew they were done for. The truck rolled over to the side of the lying tank, and Jang opened fire on the approaching hoards, yet they approached with more stamina than they had, more men were taking the place of the fallen.

The soldiers in the downed truck struggle to get over head towards the other side, but the insurgence were attacking on both sides now, one of the men rolled on the ground clasping his shank with a shout, though he could hardly guess who the figure was, it wasn't hard to guess that he was already shot. A lieutenant crouched by him, placed the injures soldier's hand over his neck and moved him between the two trucks that now served as some sort of parapet for the team as they engaged the ambush from both sides.

More men struggled to extract the wounded while at the same time trying to fight the approaching men.

Fire for fire, it rang through the still night in a cacophony of deafening salvos with the sound of shattering glass and denting metal.

The farther they moved through the road the more intense the assault became. Though Jang had no visual of the convoy behind him as smoke screen took to the air blinding them to just a few feet view. Jang was sure that this planned assault had them all at the enemy's red zone.

Few of the lieutenants in the armoured tank ran from the line of fire to join the open truck while Jang shot blindly around, just as each of the soldiers did, for bullets were still inching through smoke, and men in the formations were getting wounded.

"We've lost visual proceed with caution copy!"

A soldier on the open truck fell backwards towards the floor his eye wide, and for a moment, Jang saw the moon reflect on his dilated eye, a volley had pierced through the bridge of his nose, the wound bled profusely. The two trucks were both congested by the road, it was hard for either to move still they've still been able to keep the approaching militant at grossly three meters distance. Another soldier not too far away was clutching to his shoulder, collapsing behind a lieutenant that took his place to the left. He shouldered his cocked MK 4 and began firing.

Bullets seem to bolt sporadically from every direction, all converging at them, Jang clutched to the trigger like his life depended on it, pushing, pressing and aiming at the enemy fire line. The road cleared soon and there were faced with rows of flipped trucks and soldiers taking refuge behind them to defend their lives. The road was blocked.

Jang saw it before it happened but his cultured reflex responded, though seconds late. The man knelt before a tree and had released a volley from the bazooka. The explosion behind the truck left shrapnel flying all around and few men set afire, waving in thin air and shouting, some rolling on the grass by the road only to be met by enemy fire.

Taking the risk of stepping on land mines, the commander ordered them to skirt round the upturned trucks, calling on the soldiers to carry their comrades along to the other side.

"We need backup, I repeat we need backup. Red platoon is engaged copy?" the commander was shouting at the receiver, the momentary blinding light of another explosion revealed his phantom expression, his wide eye staring in disbelief, his mouth agape.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked over the window.

"Some men are wounded sir."

"Keep moving, Keep firing!" he shouted back.

Jang was out of ammo in no time and needed to reload, he unlocked the bolt while the other hand reached for the cartridge in the rucksack, that he'd heaved over the truck, while ejecting the expended belt. He groped blindly slipping his hand over paraphernalia, there, he felt the box and on flipping open the realization struck with so much force it was as if he never knew before, there was only one belt left, only one box left.

He nevertheless plucked the ejected cartridge case from the chamber, fed, chambered and locked in the new belt to the barrel extension. Jang hysterically open fire on the adjacent enemy front, hitting any target on the way as men hastily mount larger truck behind, with little space to step over the bleeding and dead men. They were getting over crowded which made it even the more hard to fire and the easier for them to be hit. The order still remained: Assault through ambush. It wasn't as if there was any more choice left.

Once again, his M2. 50 cal was spewing and discharging round and rounds of bullets; searing hot shell casings falling and bouncing everywhere.

"Misfire! Misfire!" a soldier shouted thrice, informing his team of stoppage malfunction. He was promptly replaced at the end of the truck as he dropped his gun, dismantling it for remedial action.

Jang hoped such happenstance would not occur tonight, that would be a disaster he was not hoping for. Adrenaline was high and any faculty that had nothing in sync with the life and death situation was far off his mind. They seem to be winning on one side and loosing on the other, the insurgence were getting so close on the right that men are beginning to manually throw grenades and taking covers behind blown trucks. Missiles kept flying from the enemy side and leaving their marks, disbanding the army completely as men ran for safety. The insurgence were apparently more equipped than they.

The M2 jammed, the moment he dreaded. He felt like asking if any of his team mate had any sort of prick or screw driver, but all were busy with their piece of action to even spare him a glance. He searched his pouched, it wasn't there, he then groped for his bag, he felt the cold steel and stub it into a gap between the magazine and the gun, he pressed down and it snapped.

Without a second to loose, He stubbed his gloved fingers into the sizzling hot chambers, and felt around for possible obstruction, his hand touched what felt like a steel rod, quite out of place, he pushed it down wondering how it got there. There was no sufficient light to ascertain what it was, and everyone else was busy. Jang clamped the belt back feeling his hand tremble as he cocked the barrel mentally hearing the firing pin extension engage with the sear. "Here goes nothing," He depressed the bolt latch release and it fired automatically, he resumed, not feeling the better. This was his last.

More were still coming and there was no way to move, then a truck behind gave a crank and slowly skidded to a halt. "Wheel is hit!"

"Come with me." A lieutenant suggested and the appointed men went down, using the debris of exploded trucks as cover as they tried to hold their ground while waiting for the equally assaulted platoon behind, they were losing fighting elements real fast and running out of ammunition.

Jang aimed at yet another hot headed zealot and click, it sounded, or so he thought because there was no release. He looked down to realize that he was out of ammunition. He bent into the interior of the truck; the commander who was out already was gesticulating wildly, ordering the men to clear the way as some others engage. Jang's boot hit the same metal that he stubbed his feet on earlier. He didn't' need a second glance to inform him what it was. He grabbed the rifle, as useless as it was, he had no choice though he shouted, "out of ammo!" at the commander who squatted behind a burning vehicle to engage, he jumped off the truck and shouldered the barrel.

Jang was already saying a prayer within him, there was no way they'd make it in time with assault coming from every direction, he shove his bag open, grabbed a few grenade and threw at the approaching men who had more to replace them even as they were wounded. He looked ahead and trucks bearing no identification was rolling towards them, soon they were being assaulted from every corner!

He couldn't tell if he was breathing or holding his breath, till the air became heavily chocked with smoke and the gravid smell of exploding shrapnel.

The commander grabbed a flare and threw it at the sky, it flamed to signal their position. Before Jang knew what was happening, missiles descended from the sky, flipping an approaching enemy truck over and more bullet assaulted the gathering rank on the right side of the road. The men responded quickly, concentrating more on the left flank as the captain and some more men take on the approaching vehicles on the beaten road.

At the sight of the reinforcement and the next platoon that seem to have made it with more equipment and able man power, the rebels began to retreat. Their mounted vehicles disappearing back the way they came though air raid pelted after them.

Gunshot pervades the atmosphere, Jang removed his ear protection, he was done with the intercom and he could once again hear the receding sounds, and the growling of an aircraft hovering above them. He looked past the Apache helicopter and now was staring at the unconcerned full moon that glistened suavely on the horrible sight.

In the end the rebels were gone and they were left with the consequence of more than ten dead men and scores of wounded soldiers.

A medic was attending to the man with a wound on his shoulder, he wrapped a bandage around, down to his armpit and up again, his hand pressed on the point that stained crimson at an amazing rate, a blood vessel must have been hit.

Another soldier with a grim expression on his face was pressing the chest of a man that once laid prostate after flipping him over. "Wake up!" he shouted at his best friend whose hand slipped from his and landed in the blood covered floor with a dull lifeless thud.

And there he laid, blank eye staring at the cloudy sky, under the full moon.

In the next few hours they were in the state capital at the army base.

While the commander retreated to drafting the mission report after seeing to the affairs of some men who now congregated at gun tables under the bright security lamps, Jang jumped off the vehicle as the medics attended to the wounded, laid his bag onto the tree behind and again clutched to the crucifix around his neck. He reached for a locket in his left pouch just above the gun belt; it held the photograph of his lovely wife and daughter.

Reminiscent of their predicament drove the soldier in him away, his morale was no more and for the first time in a long time Jang wished he could cry, but as it did turn out he had long forgotten how to. Which turret gunner runs out of ammunition in the middle of a cross fire?

******

New item, from Nigeria Today; May 14, 2014

CHIBOK AMBUSH: BOKO HARAM ATTACKED MILITARY CONVOY.

A team of soldiers under the 13 wolf division was last night ambushed by the insurgence after they were given an order to return that night despite their request...

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News excerpt from the Daily Hero, May 17, 2014

MUTINY: ARMY PROTEST OVER CHIBOK AMBUSH.

Tension mounted yesterday at the military base in Maiduguri, Borno state, where aggrieved soldiers which claimed that their superior were sacrificing them like rats to the insurgence took laws into their hands opening fire on the chief commanding officer who came to pay last respect to some of the men who were lost in the ambush. The assault led to the injury of one the bodyguards who accidentally took the shot aimed at the commander.

The soldiers complained of their poor welfare and inadequate supplies. An inside source tells of the appalling case of corruption within the military and urges the economic and financial crime commission (EFCC) would see to the situation.

About 18 military staffs have been arrested over attempted murder and mutiny. They have all been court marshalled and await trial.

******

Audio report from 194fm. 08:00am, May 17, 2014.

REPORTER: ... and news is also reaching us that the chief commanding officer of the aggrieved soldiers in Maiduguri has been replaced. You can find the details of the news in the Daily Hero, page 12. One can only hope that the prompt response of the federal government would go a long way in bringing an end to the insurgence and a solution to the issues that plagued the Nigerian armed forces. Now, on to sports...

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