War Photographer's Notebook

On the second night after the moose died, a heavy rain filled everyone's water bottles, and also urged Hawkes and the young pilot to work together to lift the thermal bucket tied to the rafters back to the traffic boat.

As quickly as possible, put the weapons that were originally placed in the thermal barrel into the sailor bag, and when Wei Ran was busy hanging them on the simple mast made of oars, behind him, the young ghost pilot He and Hawkes were braving the rain, standing on both sides of the thermal insulation bucket one after the other, using the cleaned helmet shell, busy scooping the rainwater accumulated on the top of the front and rear awnings into the half-filled thermal insulation bucket. bucket.

In the umbrella cloth awning at the stern that was stretched by paracords and oars, the two captains, Evans and Sterling, each held a helmet liner, and feebly scooped out the rainwater accumulated in the cabin.At the bow, Devil Akira was doing the same job with his flight hat.

Tightening the canvas bag full of weapons, Wei Ran alone dragged the three body armors in the cabin to the life raft with ropes, using the excuse of fearing that the moose's body would be thrown out by the waves, and by the way, the awning of the life raft would not be damaged. The rain overwhelmed these two excuses, supported his weak body, swam over with difficulty while leaning on the rafters, and fell into the life raft.

Under the cover of night, he first filled the three oil barrels with cold and fresh rainwater as quickly as possible, and then put the three body armors on the moose one by one, and tied them tightly with paracords.

Sitting down against the moose's corpse and resting for a while, Wei Ran, whose eyes were blackened by hunger, gulped a few mouthfuls of rainwater, then took out the British army kettle, dug a large lump of fat into his mouth, and then hugged the rafters With a strong support, he swam back.

After just this back and forth effort, the insulated bucket under the mast has been filled, and the two of Hawks also returned to the awning at the bow and stern.

Smelling the smell of tobacco coming out of the awnings on both sides, when Wei Ran was about to say something, Akila turned on the flashlight with a hoarse exclamation, aiming the dim yellow beam at the bottom of the traffic boat Fix the damage that was repaired with wooden boards and basketball skins!

Subconsciously following the beam of light to look over, Wei Ran felt a chill in his heart. The hole that Hawkes patched at the beginning is now like a spring, rushing into the cabin with seawater that can kill everyone!
Almost subconsciously, he, Hawkes, and the two captains behind him began to look for the shell casing that was placed somewhere, while Akira, who was closer to the damage, kicked his ass without even thinking about it. Hiding in the hole at the bottom of the cabin, he panicked and said something loudly in Japanese that everyone couldn't understand.

Soon, the young pilot also reacted, picked up the helmet he had just dropped, and desperately scooped water out of the cabin!
"found it!"

Turning around with difficulty, he finally saw the traffic boat that was supposed to be tied together, but at this time, the traffic boat was on the beach tens of meters away. The bow of the boat was almost submerged in the reflecting water.

After preparing these materials, Hawks and the young devil pilot didn't stop at all, and immediately began to punch holes around the holes stuffed with shell casings with the tip of their knives, comparing to the holes on the wooden board.

If you look down from the top, this ring-shaped beach looks like a necklace, and the small island is the biggest emerald on the necklace.

Contemptuously glanced at the two pilots in the awning at the bow, Wei Ran shook his head, turned over and disembarked with the help of Hawkes, and swam over little by little while holding on to the rafters on the left and right sides.

Captain Evans immediately thought of a way, "There is a long enough screw rod on the engine! Use the screw rod and the inner lining of the helmet!"

However, just as he left the wreckage of the life raft and really touched the delicate and soft white sand that was scorched by the sun with his hands, an indescribable sense of brain shutdown followed.

"Drink"

Moving to the upwind port and sitting on the buoy bag, Wei Ran took a last look at the awning on the bow of the traffic boat, and Captain Evans and others who kept a distance from them, and finally fished out tremblingly from his pocket. He put on the toad mirror, held the small pistol and closed his eyes.

"Where did you get it?" Evans, who had already drank the oily water in the cup, asked in surprise.

Wei Ran said, took the water bottle from the other party, poured half a pot of water into the British army water bottle filled with grease again, and after shaking it violently, poured it into a steel cup and handed it to Hawkes.

"Sterling, give me the cup." Wei Ran said while unscrewing the lid.

Holding the coconut and climbing back to the beach with difficulty, Wei Ran broke open the dry coconut shell with a sharp spatula, followed by taking out the gravity knife immediately, and using the steel needle originally designed to untie the rope, he easily tore through the hard coconut shell. A small crater was found in the shell, and a hole was easily pierced.

"Clang clang clang!"

He even sat in the flame-breathing tank driven by Marshall in his dream, and he could clearly see and hear the wailing and rolling of the devils who were burned all over the ground by the flames.

"Eat it?"

After taking the axe, Captain Evans nodded, looked at Wei Ran and asked seriously, "Do you need a weapon?"

Almost before and after, Hawks also took a screw rod from Wei Ran's hand, and at the same time let Evans and Akila help each of them with a paracord around their waists.

"I just saw a fish jump onto a life raft"

Soon, the young pilot, Sterling, and Captain Evans all came together, and everyone worked together to lift the thermos bucket filled with fresh water and move it to the damaged area, pressing the thermos bucket filled with water Shell casings pressed into the damage.

Touching the hot sea water under his buttocks again, and the fine sand under the sea water, Wei Ran tried to stand up several times in a row, but felt that the whole beach under his feet was shaking. He fell down involuntarily and knelt on the shriveled life raft.

"It's blocked, it's blocked!" Wei Ran responded hoarsely.

After a moment of hesitation, he stuffed the small pistol into his trouser pocket again, and immediately after, a Type 50 engineer shovel appeared in his left hand that should never have appeared in this era.

But at this time, not only the central mast of the traffic boat and the canvas sailor bag with weapons on the mast were gone, but even the thermos bucket filled with fresh water went to nowhere.

"And the umbrella cloth and the survival bag!" Sterling added aside, "The survival bag is waterproof!

Squinting his eyes and looking at the dazzling sunlight above his head, Wei Ran tried to stand up again and failed like a baby who hadn't learned to walk. He crawled to the place less than 10 meters away from him, and was floating on the water at this time. the coconut on it.

This time, Wei Ran, who was almost starving to death, didn't realize it himself, his eyes went dark, and he fell on the beach and passed out.But within two seconds, he woke up subconsciously taking a deep breath.

"You'll know when you drink it." Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already poured half a pot of the newly made oil-water mixture into the opponent's steel cup.

And the almost oval area enclosed by this natural necklace, even the short axis has a length of more than 8 kilometers, and the long axis is more than 20 kilometers!

At the same time, he also felt very clearly the bumps when the tank rolled over the tree trunk, as well as the painful touch of the buttocks and back of the tree trunk stuck under the chassis through the floor of the tank, and the sea breeze blowing through the tropical jungle. When the leaves shake, there is a white noise of rattling.

'I'm worried about moose carcasses being found'

Hearing this, Wei Ran, the two captains, and even the young pilot immediately dropped what was in their hands, grabbed the tight parachute rope, and worked together to pull the exhausted Hawks up.

"What good thing?" Sterling tremblingly took out his steel cup and asked in a low voice.

"I'm coming!" Hawkes said, already wearing the breathing tool he had modified with a gas mask.

"Why do I feel like I've eaten melted ice cream?" Hawkes asked tremblingly while wiping the remaining grease in the cup with his fingers.

It took a full 5 minutes for Akila to climb into the cabin with difficulty stepping on the rafters, but immediately after, a slightly rusty ax was attached to his neck.

"Pfft!"

Squinting his eyes and looking at the fiery Chaoyang beside him and the sleeping people around him, Wei Ran habitually took out his camera bag and prepared to finish his daily secret photography work.

How could the chassis of the tank be destroyed
At a certain moment, Wei Ran finally realized that he was dreaming, and then he slowly opened his eyes and woke up.

"Is it blocked?" Hawkes, with the help of Wei Ran, tore off the gas mask and asked heavily.

In the clattering rain, Wei Ran and the two captains swallowed together, but no one dared to answer the topic of this greedy stomachache.

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he didn't explain, but secretly put away the British army kettle that was about to be emptied, and then wrapped himself completely with an umbrella cloth.

"I, I'll go back now." Akira took a deep breath, leaned on the rafters with difficulty, and moved back little by little.

"me and you togather"

However, compared to the mutual help last night when they worked together to repair the hole in the hull, no one was willing to drag him up at this time.

Hearing this, Hawks immediately breathed a sigh of relief, relaxed and lay on his back in the traffic boat full of stagnant water.

"I'm going to get the tools!"

Tightening the lid and shaking it vigorously, Wei Ran took out a steel cup, poured out all the rainwater mixed with grease, and handed it to Evans in the night, "Drink it, finish it."

"Come help!" Akira yelled hoarsely, "He's sinking!"

Before the young devil pilot finished speaking, he had already dropped the sailor knife in his hand for punching holes, took a screw rod from Sterling's hand, put a metal washer on it, and put it on again. A helmet liner and a tarpaulin folded in half.

"Pfft!"

Wei Ran didn't give Evans a chance to ask, he stuffed the steel cup into the opponent's hand, then poured half of the water into the British army kettle and shook it vigorously.

Not daring to waste time at all, Wei Ran and Sterling immediately threaded the tarpaulin, the wooden board, and the American lunch box with the same hole on the screw rod to cover the shell casing at the bottom that blocked the hole.

Speaking of which, Xia Shushi had taught him this little skill when he followed Xia Shushi to Kashima as a guest, but he didn't expect to be able to use it here.

Akira panicked and explained, "I'm worried that some fish will eat the carcass of the moose under the load-bearing net, yes, I'm just."

With the help of the telescope, he could clearly see that Hawkes and the others seemed to be still hiding in the awning of the traffic boat.

"This won't last long!" Hawks shouted hoarsely, "We need to repair the damage as soon as possible!"

"I"

Immediately afterwards, the waterproof survival bag that was also punched, as well as the fragments of the helmet liner that was chopped into pieces and a hole was punched, and an American lunch box were thrown over one by one.

Moving the line of sight horizontally, the sandy beach where the traffic boat and life raft ran aground was longer than he expected, and it seemed to form a scary ring with a large enclosure area together with the coral reef.

These two people plunged into the water in no particular order, and passed the screw rod through the holes drilled by themselves on both sides of the shell casing from underwater.

But what frightened him the most was that the inflatable life raft deflated after holding on for so long!
Sitting up abruptly, Wei Ran only felt blackening in front of his eyes, but even so, he clearly felt a solid touch with his palm!
Taking off the toad mirror that was still on the bridge of his nose and looking around, Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, but then he swayed excitedly!
Green, he saw a faint green in the distance!Looking outside the shriveled life raft, there is a slender sandy beach extending far away, but between this sandy beach and the green, there is an exceptionally calm water surface!But on this piece of water, there are actually a few dark brown and blackened coconuts floating!

Kneeling on the beach and weeping bitterly, he ate the flesh of an entire old coconut. After looking around, Wei Ran climbed to the second coconut not far away with both hands and feet.

While the two of them used paddles to make gaskets to block the holes, Wei Ran also followed Sterling to the stern, using the simple tools on the transport boat to dismantle anything that seemed usable.

While Wei Ran was speaking, he pointed his ax at the startled young pilot on the bow of the ship, "Who was eaten? By you and your companions?"

Bracing their spirits, everyone worked together to scoop out all the accumulated water in the cabin that submerged their ankles, and then hung the canvas bag containing weapons on the mast, and then sat down with black eyes.

"I'll go on the life raft"

"Come and help!" Wei Ran yelled, and at the same time, he had already cut the paracord that tied the thermos bucket with a gravity knife.

Trying to take a bite of the hard coconut shell with his teeth, Wei Ran tremblingly took out the small PPK pistol from his trousers pocket, and stuck the muzzle on the dry coconut shell .

Wei Ran glanced at Hawkes who had already picked up the machete and Sterling who was ready to take off the bag of weapons hanging on the mast at any time, looked away and continued, "How about I help you kill this boy? He Much fresher than moose."

In this dream, he dreamed of those friends in Guam, and dreamed of the ghosts that Marshall cooked alive in oil drums.

After a hard fight against hunger, Wei Ran finally fell asleep. He dreamed about the New Year's Eve dinner at his grandma's house, dreamed about the braised pork that he is best at, and also dreamed that he was with the girls in the sugar maple forest. The eaten moose offal skewers are fragrant.

Looking blankly around, and then at the sun above his head, Wei Ran gritted his teeth, and crawled towards the coconut floating on the water with hands and feet.

and many more!

"If you do anything to the corpse, I'm sure I'll chop off your limbs before you die, hear me?"

With difficulty grabbing the handle of the life raft, Wei Ran, whose eyes were blackened, slowed down, and then turned into the life raft with all his strength.

Seeing that Akila was about to touch the life raft, Wei Ran knocked hard on the lid of the thermos bucket with an axe.

And at the bow, Captain Evans and Akila also picked up their helmets, one by one, and scooped out the seawater pouring into the cabin.

Under the threat of death, the excessive secretion of adrenaline successfully made everyone on the transport boat Johnston forget the weakness and exhaustion caused by hunger, and everyone gritted their teeth and was busy with their assigned work.

Soon, a piece of wood pulp thirty centimeters long was chopped off, and two small holes the size of fingers were drilled into it.

However, at the same time he took out his camera, he suddenly saw that the captive Akila was holding the sailor knife that belonged to Hawkes, and was holding the rafter between the two boats towards the life raft. Move in a little bit!
Pressing the shutter towards Akila's back at the fastest speed, Wei Ran finally took out the small PPK pistol that has never been used from the camera bag after putting away the camera this time!
Using the umbrella cloth covering his body to cover and put away his camera bag, he leaned on the simple mast, picked up the Indian pipe axe, and stood up unsteadily.

When the warm but sweet coconut water was sucked into his mouth along the small hole, tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, and he even trembled uncontrollably and even choked.

With the help of Hawks underwater, Wei Ran and Sterling tightened the two crucial screws as quickly as possible.

It was only the third day, and even though the moose's body was wrapped in layers of umbrella cloth and three pieces of bulletproof vests, it still started to stink, and even the white umbrella cloth was covered. Dyed a brownish-yellow color.

Akila nodded with difficulty, and waited until the blade of the ax left his neck, then moved back into the shadow of the awning at the bow.

After receiving the wrench, it immediately handed over the bellows to Akila, while it dived into the bottom of the boat again, handed the wrench to Hawks, and then emerged from the water again, and tumbled into the boat with difficulty. , collapsed in the stagnant water that almost submerged the ears, while panting heavily, picked up the helmet to help scoop out the sea water.

Hawkes asked muttering to himself, "I just thought I was back in the kitchen of the Hall, and I saw the steak that Brut had just fried and the bread that William had baked. They even specially gave me Got a steel cup of ice cream and invited me to sneak in the laundry room, if it wasn't for that damn rope pulling me back, I would have eaten that cup of ice cream."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already pulled out the cannonball casing from under a pile of umbrella cloth and handed it to Hawks. The latter took the cannonball casing and ran over immediately, pushed Akila away, and used the cannonball casing Block the breakage.

The young devil pilot emerged from the water first, panting heavily while shaking the bellows used by Hawkes for ventilation, "Wrench the wrench! Give me the wrench!"

After hesitating for a moment, Wei Ran wrapped the canvas around his body tightly, took out the British army water bottle filled with grease under cover, unscrewed the lid in the dark, and then took off the American water bottle on his waist and unscrewed it, pouring the rainwater he received not long ago. went in.

Just when Wei Ran was about to bite into the thick charcoal-grilled deer steak, a clear sound of falling into the water woke him up from his sleep.

"This"

"Aren't we going to starve to death?"

"Here!" Evans immediately threw away the helmet, picked up a simple wrench from Wei Ran's side, and handed it to Wei Ran.

Even the young pilot, because of the ax in Wei Ran's hand that seemed to be coming at any time, shrank in the bow of the boat and didn't dare to move at all.

"Whoa!"

Lying on his back on the beach, Wei Ran brought the coconut shell to his mouth, sucking the small hole he had just made one mouthful at a time.

After gulping and gulping down the coconut water inside, Wei Ran picked up the engineer shovel again and knocked open the coconut shell after a mess.

"Whoa!"

"engine!"

When he finally focused his sight on the green in the far distance, he also saw at a glance that it was a small island with dense vegetation, and between this small island and himself was just connected by a long strip of sandy beach .

"Even a shark can't bite those body armor, so you have to swim back now."

"Listen, listen clearly"

As Hawkes said, he had already turned around and ran to the side of the mast, took off the canvas sailor bag that was hung up not long ago as fast as he could, took out the Indian ax and the machete from it, and distributed them to the young boy. pilot.

"There's nothing on it except the moose's body and three bulletproof vests." Wei Ran reminded with a cold face.

"It's just ice cream, go to sleep after eating, save some energy."

Putting on the gravity knife again, Wei Ran tremblingly plucked off a piece of coconut meat that was as thick as a finger and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing heavily, while busy prying off the second piece of coconut meat.

The first thing I saw was still the stinking carcass of the moose and the sparkling sea in the distance.

Finally, each installed a spacer inside the helmet and a metal spacer and screwed on the screws. Evans immediately began to hit the side of the boat with the helmet, and Akira frantically shook the flashlight into the water while pulling the two tensioners in his hand. Tight paracord.

Wei Ran looked at Captain Evans, and before the other party opened his mouth, he took the initiative to volunteer, and at the same time passed the Indian ax in his hand to the other party.

It wasn't until he ate all the coconut milk and meat of the second coconut that he finally remembered to open the binoculars bag that belonged to Captain Evans at his waist, picked up the heavy binoculars, and first looked at A stranded traffic boat in the distance.

Amid the crisp knocking sound, Akila, who was about to touch the life raft, trembled and lay down on the rafters again, biting the sailor knife and turning his head around in horror.

"thump!"

"hidden"

Using an ax to knock on the lid of the insulation barrel under the mast again, Wei Ran asked hoarsely, "Akila, what are you doing on the life raft with a knife in your mouth?"

Just when they dug two small holes, the engine at the stern fell into the icy sea amid the splashing water. Wei Ran and Sterling each held two screws as long as cigarettes and a few The removed metal gasket stumbled over.

One meter, two meters, three meters, four meters
When he finally touched the scalding husk of the coconut, the warm water had barely covered the elbow of the other arm that supported him.

This huge water area surrounded by sandy beaches is not only exceptionally calm, but also dotted with large and small coral reefs.Even that green island that looks like a gem may be formed by coral reefs.

Naturally, Wei Ran didn't know about these situations. After all, it was impossible to see clearly even with the help of a telescope at such a long distance.

Even, according to his estimation, even the small island is probably two kilometers away from him in a straight line at this time.

Not to mention that the two kilometers are not the beach, but the water surface. Even if the calm water surface does not look deep, it may take a lot of effort to think about it.But if you walk in circles along the beach, who knows how far you need to go.

Putting down the heavy binoculars, Wei Ran took out the camera after thinking for a moment, put the shriveled life raft and the stranded traffic boat in the distance into the viewfinder frame and pressed the shutter.