With that, he took himself off, heading for a group of officers who had gathered nearby, clearly waiting for him. Whatever it was, he said to them it was over with pretty quickly as they split up and headed off in various directions. Troops began relaxing and setting up tents, except for the ones on patrol out towards the Japanese lines. For their part, the Japanese seemed content to just sit in their defensive positions and wait rather than do anything aggressive. Andrew could hear a considerable artillery barrage happening off in the distance somewhere to the north, but their part of the front went quiet now that they’d knocked down the Japanese drone.

In the morning, the night-time patrols reported no sign of the Japanese, so they mounted up and resumed the advance up the main road into the built-up area to see if the Japanese had indeed pulled out. They encountered little resistance, just the occasional sniper. Andrew was riding in the front of the lead APC with his shield out as before, and he quickly took care of any snipers after their shots hit his shield. The buildings all looked like they had been ransacked as the Japanese retreated, or perhaps when they’d originally advanced, as it was hard to tell without stopping. The first serious resistance came when they reached a retail area where several roads intersected. Numerous signs referenced Belmont, so he assumed that was the suburb they were in.

They drove up Corio Street and turned right into High Street. The Japs had one of the AGCs hiding off the road with just the edge of the body and the gun sticking around a building, and it fired as they rounded the corner. Andrew wasn’t expecting the blast from a large caliber shell, and he was knocked off the front of the APC and onto the ground, where he landed heavily.

“You all right?” Simpson called.

“Back up, back up quick!” he yelled at her, and she quickly passed the message on to the driver.

He had done something to his left knee, and his arm felt like he’d come off a motorbike at speed. He scrambled over toward the shop on the righthand corner even as the APC growled backward, just in time too, as the next shot from the AGC just missed and hit a tree on the far side of the corner. He couldn’t put any real pressure on his knee, but he could hop and managed to get behind the cover the shop on the corner presented. The door had been smashed open, and the inside looked a mess, although, with no lights on, it was hard to see in the gloom. The Nuzeeland troops were deploying and beginning to advance down the side street. Simpson came running over, cradling her massive gun and carrying a first aid kit.

“Shit! Your arm’s all grazed. Let me get some stuff on it. You’re going to need a new tunic.”

She proceeded to start undoing the buttons on his tunic and then stripped it off him. He was having trouble moving his arm, so he sat and let her tend to the grazed section of his elbow and arm that he couldn’t get a proper look at because it hurt too much to twist his arm around. She was finishing wrapping it up when a proper medic arrived and watched her finish.