This is a work of fiction loosely based on the character of Terry Thorne established and defined in the movie Proof of Life. It is strictly for entertainment purposes. Please do not copy, publish or alter this work in any way without the written permission of the author.

Basic Training - Chapter Four

By: Thorne's Rose

Jake was in his element. He’d forgotten how much he’d enjoyed the jungle training the first time around. He knew the lads were hating every minute of it, especially the fact that the humidity was so great that their gear was constantly damp.

After the first few days, they seemed to have resigned themselves to the fact that they would be covered in leeches every time they tramped through any standing water, and even Jamie Bedford had stopped wanting to chunder every time he dropped his kaks revealing the disgusting creatures sucking away at his legs. Now he managed to stand stoically whilst the others helped rid him of his uninvited hitchhikers.

Jake was proud of them all. Robbie Davies was still the loner of the pack, but he knew he could be relied upon when needed. Pete Edwards had become a little more serious. Marcus Gordon was still the life and soul, and winding everyone up by telling them it would be so much easier to fly over the jungle instead of yomping through it. Dazza Hill was still a cocky bastard, but now that he had come to know him a bit better, Jake knew it was mostly an act and underneath all the bravado there was a fine young man there, and officer material to boot. Jake knew he could count on all of them if needed, and would trust them with his life in action.

The lads were still treating the exercise like a boy scouts’ outing, but they took notice when Jake pointed out the edible from the inedible, even though they knew they had enough rations to last them until they reached the pickup point at the end of their trip. They learnt to make safe dry bedding platforms in the mid tree level. They eventually even learnt to move silently through the undergrowth, not easy for ‘boy scouts’ prone to fits of giggles at the least provocation.

Jake decided that it was time to take the training up a level, so he began formulating a plan of action. He decided to take first watch while the others got some well earned sleep. By the time Pete Edwards woke to relieve him, Jake had gone. He alerted the others, and Darren Hill quickly took command of the situation.

Finding no signs of a struggle, they realised that Jake was giving them a test, so they began to look around for clues, not realising that in fact Jake wasn’t too far away, and was taking note of the way they immediately began working together to track him down.

Jake headed off again, making sure to leave just enough disturbance around his trail to give them a slight chance of following him. He realised that if anything had really happened to him out there, no tracks would have been left by the people who used to use the area. As it was, the local rebels had been cleared out by the military months ago, making the area safe for the government to offer its use for a training ground to foreign powers once more.

Jake reached his goal, a small crack in the side of a steep incline just big enough for a one man shelter, settled himself in, and waited for his ‘rescue’ to take place.

Unknown to any of the group, they were being watched. It seemed that the rebels had regrouped in the north and had decided to claim their territory back from the military. These foreign soldiers would make good bargaining chips.

Jake had been dozing in the warm sunshine when something attracted his attention. He didn’t move a muscle but his eyes were busy scanning the area. He saw nothing untoward and settled back against the rock again to wait for the lads to find him. Suddenly a pebble landed on his head and he looked up….straight into five excellent impressions of Cheshire cats grinning from ear to ear.

“G’day Sleeping Beauty, enjoy your kip?” asked Dazza Hill.

“How long have you hoons been there?” Jake replied.

“About half an hour mate, we were getting a bit pissed off just hanging here waiting for you to wake up.” they all laughed.

“Okay, you got me. Top marks for stealth mode. I didn’t hear a thing. Let’s get outta here shall we?”

Ten minutes later they were all at the top of the rise, and deciding where to make camp for the evening. They walked further along the top of the rise to a clearing where the slope down to the valley wasn’t quite so steep, thinking that would be a nice quick route out of there in the morning. They set up camp and settled down for their evening meal and a well deserved rest.

They were up and packed away early the next morning ready for the trek down into the valley towards the river below.

They all heard it at the same time and stopped in their tracks. It wasn’t too loud, but it was definitely a snapping twig in the trees surrounding the north end of the clearing.

“Okay guys,” said Jake, “Slowly and calmly let’s head off for that slope shall we?”

The men gathered up the gear and headed towards the edge of the slope. Then all hell broke loose. Gun fire rang out from the trees and at Jake’s shout of *RUN* they all headed towards the drop down the valley.

Jamie Bedford tripped over a rock and went down as the rest ran past him. Jake was bringing up the rear and stopped to help him up. Darren Hill was standing on the edge of the drop doing a passable impression of airline cabin crew evacuating after a crash, telling the guys to cross their arms over their chests and jump. He had seen that the ground was loose on the slope and would help the guys slide down safely.

He looked back to see Jake trying to get Jamie up and moving, so when the last bloke had jumped down the slope, he went back to lend a hand. The shooting was getting closer and both men decided the quickest bet was to grab Jamie by both arms and drag him to the slope.

Bullets whizzed past them as they made the edge. Jake turned to see the rebels make the clearing. He turned back and gave Dazza and Jamie an almighty shove over the edge, quickly following them as a hail of bullets rained across the clearing at them.

It was a bumpy slide down to the trees at the bottom of the slope and they were all a bit winded when they landed in a heap. They quickly scrambled into the trees and were as quiet as they could be, trying to listen for any sounds that they were being followed.

They risked waiting ten minutes before they made any move at all. Jake crawled over to Jamie to ask how he felt and was told that it was just a twisted ankle. They removed Jamie’s boot and strapped his ankle tight, replacing the boot quickly to give him some support. Then they helped him to his feet. It was painful, but he could walk on it with a little help.

Jake looked around at his men. They were nervous. The boy scout trip had turned into a nightmare for them. He knew that after the initial shock their training would kick in, and hopefully they should make it to the river in one piece. Once across, they should be in safer territory.

They all got up quietly. Jake felt a twinge in his lower back and realised that he must have hit a rock on the way down the slope. As long as he didn’t take too deep a breath he felt okay though, so he herded the guys together and headed off down into the valley.

Three hours later, Jamie asked if he could stop for a while. Jake agreed and walked off into the undergrowth for a scout around. He was sure he remembered this area from years ago, and if he was right… Covered in vines and fallen branches he saw the remains of the old longhouse. It looked like no-one had been there for an age, so they should be safe there for a while. He went back and got the rest of the men.

They sat with their backs against the wall, watching for any sign of movement. They didn’t dare risk a fire, so made do with water and cold rations. Jake was tired and sore so let Gordon take first watch. Hill sat down beside him and asked in a low voice,

“Are we gonna make it, Mitch?”

“No worries, mate. Just give them about an hour to rest up, then we’ll head out again, see how far down the valley we can get before dark.”

“I think it might be better to stay here the night, it doesn’t look like the bad guys know about this place.”

“You could be right,” Jake said after a few moments thought. “Jamie needs to rest that ankle , but we leave before first light.”

“Got it. I’ll let the others know.”

Jake rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. He would have to keep alert tonight. The rebels may not use this place, but sure as hell they knew it was there. He leaned back against the wall and shut his eyes, just for a minute.

The next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake. His hand went for his knife, but Pete Edwards whispered in his ear.

“It’s okay, Mitch, it’s me. Just letting you know it’s your watch.”

“Okie dokie, mate, I’m on it.”

Pete went to sit down with the rest of the guys, and Jake began to get up to go to the entrance. As he got to his feet, a sharp pain ripped through his lower back. He put his hand to the painful spot and stopped dead. His hand came away wet, warm and sticky.

He went out of the hut into the moonlight to look at his hand. Blood!! He slowly opened his camo top and felt his back again. What he discovered wasn’t a gouge from a rock as he’d first suspected, it was a neat round hole. A gunshot wound.

“Shit.” he exclaimed. “That’s all I bloody well need.”

He turned back to the hut, swaying slightly. He needed to find something to bind round the wound. He needed to do it on the quiet too, no point letting the men know until and unless they had to. It wasn’t bleeding too much, he could make it.

Most of the bandages had been used to strap Jamie’s ankle, but Jake struck lucky and found a pressure bandage at the bottom of the emergency kit. He went back outside and carefully wrapped it round the wound on his lower back, sending a silent prayer to his ancestors that the damage wasn’t too great, they still had a way to go before reaching the comparative safety of the river.

He sat down with his back resting against a fallen tree and scanned the area for any movement. The only sounds to be heard were those of the night creatures. A good sign, Jake thought.

Four hours later, the men were up and ready to go. They went outside the hut and spied Jake, still resting against the tree stump, apparently asleep. They looked at each other in surprise. He was the last one they would suspect of falling asleep on watch. Before they had a chance to move he spoke.

“Wondering whether or not you can sneak up on me, eh? No worries, I’m not sleeping.”

He slowly raised himself off the ground, trying to bite down the slight moan as the pain kicked in. Hill was the only one in the group to notice.

“You okay, Mitch?”

“Yeah mate, why?”

“You looked like you were hurting a bit there.”

“Lesson #401: don’t sit in the damp grass for too long, your bones set.”

“Ah right, we don’t have that problem, us being so much younger than you.” Hill replied, turning and grinning at the others. His smile didn’t reach his eyes though, he was worried.

They headed off down further into the thick undergrowth, trying to be as silent as they could. Jamie was doing okay, the rest had done wonders for his ankle, and he was managing to keep up with the group.

They all took a turn at point, with Mitch for the most part taking the rear. He noticed that Hill continually checked over his shoulder at him.

“You got a problem Dazza?” he whispered.

“Nah, just making sure we don’t lose our favourite old is all,” Hill replied, smiling.

“Cheeky bastard.” Jake hissed under his breath, grinning back.

By the time the sun came up they could hear running water and the mood lightened. They picked up their pace, still remaining as silent as they could. Then all of a sudden they found themselves on the edge of a slight rise, and about ten feet below they saw the welcome sight of the river.

One by one they slid down the slope until they were on the bank. It was quite fast flowing and looked pretty deep. They decided to find a better place to attempt the crossing. The next question was…upstream or down?

Jake spotted a depression in the slope where they would be out of sight from anyone on their side of the river. He thought it was a safe bet that the rebels hadn’t had time to cross over to the other side. They could sit a while and decide what their next move should be. His head was spinning and he felt sick and very tired. Maybe he would feel better after a bit of a rest.

“So, what’s the plan, Mitch?” Davies asked.

“I know what I would do next,” replied Jake. “How about you blokes put your heads together and tell me what you would do?”

“Don’t tell me you set all this up as part of the exercise?” asked Gordon. “A bit realistic, but eh?”

Hill looked over at Jake. He looked grey, as if all the colour was leaching out of his face. *This was not part of the plan,* he thought.

Chapter Five

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