“Who’s in charge here?”

The crowd parted, and a Captain, whom Andrew hadn’t even noticed until then, stepped forward.

“Captain Wilson, sir.” The man said, saluting the General.

“Ah, Paul, there you are. We’re one mentalist down for the moment, so I want you to get your men dug in along the river line but deployed along the edge of the built-up area so they have to cross the open ground to get to us if they come across the river. I need your mentalist.”

“Okay, general.” He looked around and spotted Andrew, whom he gave a jerk of his head. “Here he is, sir.” He jerked his head, causing Andrew to step forward. “He did a damn fine job, sir.”

“Glad to hear it.” The general said, frowning at Andrew. “What’s your name, soldier?”

Andrew came to attention and saluted. “Andrew Harris, sir.”

“I don’t think much of you people, Harris, but you’re all we’ve got to stop these bastards. Climb in. You’re needed down in the center of the army.”

Andrew piled in the back of the 4×4 while the general took the front seat. As soon as they were both the board, the driver took off racing back along Gisborne Street and then down towards the main part of town. They turned left onto Main Street before pulling up outside the shopping center, where an obvious command post was positioned in the car park. Several officers came racing over as the General got out of the ute.

“How far have they advanced?” He demanded.

“They’re just about at the tennis courts, sir.”

“Right. Harris, wasn’t it?” But before Andrew could answer, the general continued. “There’ve got a mentalist and some tank things. They’re not real tanks, sort of tracked gun carriers, or something. Get down there and see what you can do about stopping them. Take the ute.”

Andrew mentally shrugged and saluted. He really needed a rest before engaging another mentalist, but from the look on the General’s face, he didn’t think the General would welcome him asking for a rest first. He hopped into the front seat of the ute this time, and the driver gave him a nod and then concentrated on a quick U-turn before racing back to the corner and then heading south to where the fighting was taking place. Ahead of them, Andrew could see explosions taking place, and plenty of smoke rose from burning buildings. They crossed the river, and the driver screeched to a halt as a couple of men jumped out in front of them, flagging them down.

“You’ll have to back it up.” One of the men said loudly. “The Japs are advancing up Taverner Street and Station Street. They’ve got these tracked gun things.”

“Righto, I’ll hop out here,” he said to the driver. “You can head back to the General.” The driver obviously thought this was a good idea because he wasted no time in chucking a U-turn and heading up the road at a great rate to get out of the danger zone as quickly as possible. Andrew ran over to the building on the left-hand side of the road that the two soldiers had appeared out of and joined them in taking cover behind a hedge as the house on the corner of the next block blew up.

NOTE:
for those of you reading along – first the good news. I finished the story and submitted it to Pam. She is happy for it ot go ahead.
Bad news: she wants me to change a few things… at least 2 and probably 3 chapters will be heavily revised and 1 or more chapters possibly added. I won’t know until I sit down and do it. So the published book will have some differences to what you have read here.