The Glass Kingdom Read Online Free PDF

fists opening and closing reflexively with the shock of it.
    I slipped my arm under one of his thighs and used my momentum to flip him off me. As we pivoted I drove my knee into the small of his back, just above the third vertebrae. He flung his arms out over his head, letting out four short gasps. I went to one knee and stood up, shaking my head to clear it as he rolled over.
    He had one hand on his spine as if he was trying to hold it together. He raised the other in deference.
    â€˜Wait, stop, stop, that’s enough—Christ, my fucken back, you’ve broke me fucken back.’
    He shuffled away from me, terrified he was paralysed. In the back of my mind I was thinking, Fuuuck, this is not good. I held off, dropping my hands to my knees and bending over to catch a breath. The other two blokes weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
    Three big blokes. I’d been lucky. They could’ve been toting a shiv, or worse. I composed myself, tapping into the adrenaline rush.
    â€˜You better not have hurt the young fella,’ I warned the last one, who stopped writhing around after he worked out his back was not permanently damaged.
    Still holding his hands outwards in a placatory gesture, he rose haltingly to one knee, wincing and closing his eyes tight with the pain.
    I waited to see what he was going to do next. Eventually he opened his eyes and breathed out.
    â€˜Fuck me, mate. That was a Muay Thai move. You could’ve fucken killed me.’
    â€˜Didn’t see you holding back.’
    My shirt was hanging in tatters from one arm. He took in my infantry tattoo, then the burn scars on my chest and neck. He looked down and swore under his breath.
    â€˜I don’t fucken believe it. You serve?’
    I nodded. ‘Uruzgan.’
    â€˜For fuck sake. We’re at the logistics base in Wodonga. You in the Bluedog?’
    I shrugged apologetically.
    â€˜Christ all fucken mighty. Your prick of a mate there’s lucky to have you on his side.’
    He was in good shape but I knew if he was at the logistics base he’d never seen any action. I clocked him swallowing the fear that had suddenly formed in his throat, his surprise at its unfamiliar taste.
    â€˜We done here?’ he said.
    â€˜I am if you are. Best see to the chubby guy. He doesn’t look too good.’
    â€˜Fat prick. Almost got my back broke over nothing.’
    I stared at him a little longer, taking note of his stance, waiting to see if he was bluffing. The only sounds came from the man with the smashed mouth, who was in the foetal position, whimpering a woman’s name over and over.
    â€˜I’m sorry, May. I’m sorry.’
    I stretched my jaw, satisfied the recruit was not going to recommence hostilities now he knew where I’d been.
    â€˜May his missus?’ I asked.
    â€˜Nah, his wife’s called Jess.’ He stood up slowly, bending his back, eyes bulging. ‘Must be his dentist.’

The smoke parted around me to reveal an enormous crater in the road, scattered with debris and the remains of people turned inside out. In the middle of the hole lay the husk of what had once been a camouflaged Humvee. It was scorched black and burning now, upside down on its roof. Oil and blood oozed from the crushed cab, mingling to form a sticky goop.
    Deafened by the explosion, I stumbled down into the crater and immediately regretted it. The first thing I saw was a single boot sitting in the dirt. Jutting up from inside it was a jagged red shinbone. I stared dumbly, knowing what it was yet unable to process the information. My stomach started doing somersaults.
    Next to the boot was the head and upper body of Sergeant Ludowyk. Her right arm and legs were nowhere to be seen, and her lower jawbone was hanging by a gory thread of flesh. I stood there, gawping at the charred corpse of my friend for five uncomprehending seconds and then I was in the air, knocked off my feet by a second impact that I