Pat Kelleher - Black Hand Gang

“Some think we’re dead, yes,” continued the Padre. “Some men have been saying it’s Africa.”

“Well, something, I have no idea what, has brought us here, wherever here is,” said Everson. “There’s no reason to think it might not snap us back to the Somme at any moment, like an Indian Rubber band.”

“And if not?” asked Grantham. “What then? We have no line of communication, our supply line ends several hundred yards to our rear. If Tulliver is to be believed you can’t ring up Battalion and ask for another truck load of Maconochies and Plum and Apple to be sent up. We can expect no replacements and no relief. What on earth do you suggest we do?”

“Survive,” said Everson. “Survive until we return home.”

“An admirable sentiment, Everson,” said Jeffries. “but what if we don’t return home?”

“We’ll find a way. That’s what hope is all about. ‘If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, then Mohammed will go to the mountain.’ Isn’t that how the saying goes?”

“Very prosaic,” said Jeffries. “But platitudes won’t save us. What if there isn’t a way? What if this,” he said, gesturing at the foreign landscape beyond the tarpaulin, “is it?”

The discussion degenerated into a babble of voices and opinions, each seeking to be heard. Jeffries stood back and smiled to himself as if pleased with the discord he had sown.

“Gentlemen, please!” cried Grantham, but he was unable to bring any kind of order to the debate.

Jeffries leaned forward and began whispering quietly into his ear. Grantham pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. For a moment Everson thought the man had found an ounce of gumption.

“Mr. Jeffries, what is your opinion?”

Jeffries drew himself up and glanced at the men one by one. They fell silent. He took a moment before he spoke, to make sure he held their attention. “It is my belief that we are no longer on Earth at all.”

Over in the corner CQS Slacke barely stifled a snort of derision. Jeffries ignored it and pressed on. “One, the sun is slightly larger than we know our sun to be. Also, we attacked Harcourt Wood at dawn mere hours ago. The sun is now sinking towards the horizon. Two; the temperature here owes more to the tropics than to winter in France. Thirdly, those creatures that attacked us exist in no bestiary I’m aware of. And fourthly, my compass.” He shoved his brass compass onto the table. The needle swung round and round indecisively. “North seems to be everywhere.”

“Then where the deuce are we?” said Lippett.

“I have no more idea than you, Captain,” said Jeffries, “but Everson is right in one respect…”

Startled by his name, Everson looked up and found Jeffries regarding him curiously.

“Something, it seems, has snatched us up and delivered us here. As to how and why, well, I wonder if we’ll ever know,” mused Jeffries. “However you may be sure that there are things in this universe, gentlemen, of which you have no conception, no conception at all.”

“So what do we do now?” asked Grantham.

“I suggest an inventory of all rations, supplies and equipment,” said Slacke.

“For the moment we should keep to Standing Orders, sir,” said Palmer. “Confine the men to the trenches just in case, as Everson says, we should be returned as abruptly as we arrived.”

“So that’s your answer? We stay on this charnel pit on the off-chance we should be catapulted back to France?” Lippett said.

“Which is fine in the short term,” said Everson. “But if supplies start running low we shall have to find water and food. We need to find out about this world if we are to survive it. We should think about sending out scouting parties.”

“And what happens should we get snapped back to the Somme while they’re out? What will happened to the those left behind?” said Padre Rand.

The men around the table fell silent as they ruminated on the possibility of their being marooned under such circumstances. It was a fate nobody wanted to contemplate.

“Padre,” said Grantham. “I think it would be a good idea to arrange a church parade for tomorrow. I think the men could use your moral guidance and faith right now.”

The Chaplain looked startled. “Er, certainly Captain.”

“Captain,” Jeffries urged Grantham. “ You should address the men. They need to be told something . We must keep up morale and quell any thought of desertion or mutiny. A few words from you, sir, would help.”

Grantham slumped into a chair, completely overwhelmed by the situation. His eyes searched the floor of the dugout as if they might find the answer there. “I don’t know. What the hell can I say?”

Everson swore under his breath. Grantham was funking it. And what was Jeffries’ game? He seemed to have made a good job of undermining Grantham while appearing to support him. After Grantham, as the next senior officer left in line, command would fall to Jeffries himself. If something wasn’t done this whole situation would turn into a bigger disaster than it already was. The men needed leadership. Now.

“Sir!” said Everson, rather more sharply than he had intended. Grantham started. “Whatever you’re going to tell the men, tell them quickly. The sun is setting and we’ll need them to Stand To. God alone knows what else is out there.”

Grantham looked up and nodded wearily. “Of course,” he said. “Order the men on parade.”

“MEN!” BEGAN CAPTAIN Grantham. He was stood on an old ammo box, Everson Jeffries, Lippett and the Padre standing in the mud behind him as a show of unity. “As you know from our current troubles we face a predicament the like of which the Pennines have never faced before. There is a rumour that this is some kind of hallucination or afterlife and that your fighting days are over. I am here to tell you that they are not. You took the King’s shilling, made the oath and signed up for the duration, the duration , gentlemen, and as such you are still soldiers in the King’s Army. We are still at war. Any insubordination under the present circumstances will be dealt with severely. Standing Orders are still in effect and all men are confined to the trenches. If we are to get through this we must all pull together. I am informed that the world around us may not even be Earth, but we have faced adversity in foreign climes before and triumphed and we shall do so again. We do anticipate an eventual return to Blighty but, as the Pennines, we know that there’s always a long hard climb before we reach the top. But reach it we will, so we must bear our current troubles with fortitude. Onward and Upwards, the Pennines!”

The men cheered and waved their helmets in the air. It was half-hearted, but, nevertheless, Grantham seemed pleased with the response. It wasn’t the most rousing speech Everson had heard, but nobody expected much of Grantham. It would be left to the subalterns and NCOs to pick up the pieces. Oblivious, Grantham smiled magnanimously. Enjoying the brief moment, he spoke out of the corner of his mouth to his poker-faced staff. “Come on, smile boys, that’s the style.”

THE SUN BEGAN to set. The fact that perhaps it wasn’t their sun was only just beginning to dawn on the soldiers. 2 Platoon were stood to on the fire-steps of their trench as they had stood dozens of times before; rifles, bayonets fixed, resting on the parapets, one in the spout, ready to repel any attack. Though from what, they had no idea. If the hell hounds earlier were a taste of what this place had to offer, it was going to be a long night.