Like Toy Soldiers

Like Toy Soldiers

by

Rhonnel Ferry

'They're hopeless,' Charles Lucas thought to himself as he looked over the members of the Armed Forces Rescue division. 'I can see it in their eyes. These people don't care about duty. They only care about self preservation. When trouble comes knocking, I guarantee they'll do two things. Run and hide. And no amount of training is going to change that.'

After a botched rescue operation that resulted in the deaths of twenty five tourists, the government decided to bring in an expert to train their troops. They went with retired Drill Instructor Charles Lucas. He wasn't the best. Maybe once, a long time ago, he was. But he was the only one the small third world country could afford.

Not that it mattered. They didn't have high expectations of him. And these so called soldiers were too lazy to change. It was all just a show the politicians were putting on to make the public think they actually gave a damn. Lucas knew it. And he was just a toy soldier.

As the mostly overweight and out of shape trainees stumbled across his obstacle course, Lucas could only wince. He considered giving them one of his trademark tough, legendary, shaming motivational speeches that he was known for back when he was in the service.

But instead he just sighed and thought, 'What's the point? Why make the effort? Just coast through the whole damn week, and collect your paycheck. That's what everybody else in this poor excuse of a boot camp is doing.'

And then the relatively dull, quiet morning is interrupted by the clamor of sustained automatic fire from an M16 rifle!

It wasn't one of theirs. They hadn't begun firearms training. Lucas immediately reached for his M1911 pistol. His trainees froze and started moving their heads around like frightened herd animals, sniffing the air for danger.

“Take cover, you dumb shits!” Lucas screamed at them.

But it was too late. The rebel forces swarmed on them like locusts. Several of the trainees were gunned down immediately. And yet, even as their comrades died around them, many of the others were still paralyzed with fear.

Lucas took cover behind a low wall, and returned fire. He picked his shots. All lethal. Aimed at vital organs. Not a single bullet was wasted!

Then the Armed Forces soldiers did exactly what Lucas expected them to do. They ran and hid. Well,...they screamed like little girls, also.

Lucas reloaded, and shot down several more of the rebels. The rebel attack was both unprovoked and unexpected. While the country was indeed in the middle of a civil war, the training ground was nowhere near any of the rebel territories. He was assured that it would be safe!

Finally, the M1911 pistol ran out of ammo.

“Shit!” Lucas exclaimed.

He quickly looked around, and saw a young, dark skinned soldier hiding behind another low wall several feet away. The soldier had an M4 carbine. He wasn't using it. He was just crying, and hugging the weapon like it was a body pillow.

“Hey!” Lucas yelled at him. “Throw me that weapon!”

The young soldier looked over at the veteran drill instructor,...and continued sobbing.

“Throw me the goddamn weapon!” Lucas yelled again.

The young soldier shook his head, and wailed.

“You motherfucking faggot!” Lucas screamed. Then he started looking for an opportunity to rush towards the coward, and take the weapon himself!

A rebel appeared, and swung his assault rifle at Lucas' direction. Lucas grabbed the rifle by the barrel, and then pistol whipped the rebel on the side of the head with the empty M1911. The rebel collapsed. Lucas dropped the pistol, and took the M16. But before he could use it, he was struck in the head from behind with a rifle butt.

He never even felt the hard concrete when he fell.

End of Chapter 1