The Continental by Tony Roberts

Author:Tony Roberts [Roberts, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-05-23T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

The recollections faded in his mind and he found he was still there in the God-forsaken hulk along with the hundreds of other American prisoners. Coughing and sneezing, muttering and grumbling, farting and swearing. The chamber was full of such sounds. And the smell! Casca recalled his time on the slave galleys of Rome and the sweat of close-pressed humanity was like none other. The odors of piss, shit, vomit, rotting flesh and other unidentifiable smells he didn’t wish to think of.

The place would be hell in high summer. Lucky it was late autumn. He had that delight to look forward to. What did they say to him? He’d be allowed to live longer than expected so they could punish him for being a pain in the ass. Well, they’d have to work a miracle to kill him, so how long would they keep on giving him ‘special attention’ until they got bored or fed up and try their hardest to finish him off? And then surely they’d discover there was something definitely not right with him. Shit. He’d have to work out a way to die fairly quickly.

Maybe the trick he’d pulled on the Inquisition? Feigning his death by hanging. Now there was a trick and a half! Trouble was, he was too restricted to do that and there were too many around who’d stop him taking his own life.

Time would bring an opportunity, he knew. Then once he got away, what would he do? Rejoin the war? He thought it over. He’d hunt down Sir Richard and put him six feet under. No pussy-footing there. Kill him. He deserved to die.

The night ended and the door crashed open. Three soldiers came in, muskets at the ready, swearing loudly and cursing the prisoners. A couple more came in after them carrying a large wooden tub, then another followed holding a large ladle. “Breakfast!” this last man shouted. “Get yer bowls ready!”

“Bowls?” Casca asked, looking around. He looked at the man alongside him who’d spoken when he’d gotten there. “Do all of you have a bowl?”

“Yeah,” the man nodded, “you should have one, too. Not there?”

“No,” Casca said, feeling around the deck by his legs and buttocks. Nothing. He looked at the man on the other side. “You seen a bowl?”

“None of your business,” the man snapped.

Casca could see now he had two bowls. “One of those is mine. Hand it over.”

“What you gonna do about it?” the man snarled. “Screw yourself you dumb no-hoper!”

Casca got to his feet, finding the manacles allowed him to stand but go no further than two feet. It gave him enough space, however. His feet were free and he used them, stamping hard on the man’s knee. The prisoner screamed and clutched his injured limb, dropping both bowls. Casca bent down and grabbed the first.

Footsteps.

A blinding shaft of pain shot through his head, sending him to his knees. A hand grabbed him, pulling him up. As Casca whirled, a fist swinging, the butt

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.