Local Surfer-sufing with heavy weaponry.

Surfing with a gun.

The distinctive click of an AK47 being cocked was the only sound to cut through Jon with a loaded AK47. Jolly good fun what? the sound of the ocean and mindless heat of the desert. That and a barely stifled giggle as the gunman brought the rifle to his shoulder. The figure on the ground was motionless, lying stretched out in the sand. Eyes closed. Either resigned or oblivious to his fate

The gunman was bare chested and pouring with sweat in the glare of the desert sun. 50degrees and near 100% humidity for days, all of which spent in the open. Eating and sleeping in the furnace of the empty quarter of Yemen. Surfing in bath temperature water, where the only respite from the heat could be found by diving down as deep as possible, to hide from the cauldron for the precous few seconds available from a lung full of air. It changes you. The accessiblity of heavy weaponry and the mind warping heat were a dangerous combination. The gunman had considered first either pistol or grenade for the task at hand, but had decided on Mr Kalashnikov's most lethal son.

The gunman levelled the weapon and pulled the trigger and braced himself against the explosion to come, only to hear the anti-climax of a metallic click. The AK47 was badly maintained and was rusting in the sea air. Cursing, the gunman released the magazine and checked a round was chambered. A couple of hard thumps and he slammed the magazine home again. This time there would be no mistake.

The figure on the ground remained motionless. This had to be done right. The gunman giggled again and grinned to his compatriots. We were all in on this. We knew what would happen. No-one would ever know, we were in the most remote part of one of the most remote countries. No-one knew who we were or where we were. This would be easy.

The gunman looked at his victim on the ground and crouched down, weapon pulled back hard into his shoulder. That distinctinve click again broke through the heat as he pulled back the bolt. It felt right this time. No mistakes. He levelled the weapon and again braced himself against the recoil.

The bang was far louder than we expected. Frigtening in it's suddeness and ferocity. The echo counced off the cliffs and flew across the desert. We looked again at the figure on the ground, our ears ringing.

The figure on the ground opened his eyes.
'You twat, I was asleep.' said Rob, rubbing his ears.

By JON

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