Get a Load of This

by James Hadley Chase

Holtz felt the rush of air as bits of wood and shrapnel flicked past him, and the violence of the explosion threw him on his knees.

He heard the Lewis gun crash over on its side and Castra rolled over on his back, his face a spongy mass of blood. He lay there moaning.

Holtz crawled over to him, feeling horribly sick. Castra had received the full force of the splinters from the shutters as well as bits of shrapnel from the grenade. His face looked as if it had been crushed by a heavy weight.

Holtz knew that he couldn’t do anything, but he took Castra’s hand in his. “I am here, Sergeant,” he said, “have courage. I am with you.” Futile words, but what else could he say?

Castra drew in a shuddering breath and gripped Holtz’s hand hard. “The gun,” he whispered. “Watch out they don’t throw again. Those grenades are very good, Lieutenant.”

Holtz pulled off his white tunic and made a little pillow of it for Castra’s head. “I am quite near to you,” he said. “But I must right the gun.”

Castra released his hand. “I have lost my eyes,” he said, “I can’t help you any more, Lieutenant. I have lost my eyes.”

“No, no, don’t say that,” Holtz said, jerking the gun upright. The grenade had torn a large hole in the wooden shutters, and as Holtz stood up to put the gun into position he heard a rifle crack and a bullet whizzed very close to him, flattening itself against the wall behind him. He ducked down, swearing softly. No wonder Pablo was winning this revolution if all his soldiers were as good as these, he thought.

Keeping flat, he manoeuvred the gun into position and then ran back to Castra. He knelt by his side. “Can I do anything for you, Sergeant?” he asked, taking his hand again.

Castra showed his teeth in a horrible effort to smile, which made Holtz feel very bad. The big, even teeth were bright red from the blood that filled Castra’s mouth, and as he lifted his lips, blood ran out of the side of his mouth on to his soiled white tunic. “Don’t let these bastards beat you, Lieutenant,” he said in a thick, choked whisper. “Avenge me.”