Breakout (Road to the Breaking Book 4) by Chris Bennett

Author:Chris Bennett [Bennett, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CPB Publishing, LLC
Published: 2021-04-20T04:00:00+00:00

Tony trotted down the road directly behind Sergeant Jim, followed by a row of more than thirty men. To his left, Cobb led the other column, directly behind Mr. Georgie. The pre-dawn sky was light enough to see the road in front of them. Despite the intensive training they’d had in the past week, the rifle slung on his back still felt awkward, uncomfortably bouncing up and down on his back as he ran.

And the bayonet dangled behind his back, held in place by a thin rope wrapped around his waist. The rope belt also held a small cloth sack with a gunpowder flask and a handful of lead bullets. The Captain insisted they keep the bayonets hidden behind their backs until called for … ‘our secret weapon’ he’d called them. Tony knew he’d not want to be on the receiving end of the thing! For safety’s sake each man had embedded the tip of the weapon into a piece of corn cob, or a chunk of wood—something to cover the point as he jogged along. Otherwise he’d risk a serious gash from the sharp end as it bounced around.

They’d formed up and started their run above the upper pinch point, the place from which they’d watched the enemy for more than a week now. He was nervous about trotting out into the open road beyond; it’d been a place they’d avoided at extreme peril ever since the present standoff started. But the officers assured them there’d be no response from the enemy this time, that the Captain “would see to it,” whatever that meant. From stories he’d heard the white soldiers tell, the Captain somehow always had his way on a battlefield. Maybe God really was on his side, or he was more than an ordinary man after all.

They kept a steady pace as they jogged toward the lower pinch point, and as promised, there was nothing but darkness and silence to greet them. As they passed through, he saw two wagons, one on each side of the road. Something resembling sacks of potatoes lay on the ground near the wagons and out in the middle of the road. As he got closer, he realized they were bodies. Arrows stuck out of several. He shuddered. Clearly the Indian Billy had killed them with his frightful, ancient weapon.

The officers led them past several other bodies lying in the road. As he passed the first one, he couldn’t tell what had felled him in the dim light. But as he trotted past the next, he noticed a deep gash at the point where the neck joined the body. The man’s head lay at an odd angle, as if he’d been struck by an ax. Tony felt bile rising in his mouth, but he forced it back down. Not going to be sick … not now!

He nearly jumped at a gunshot ahead in the distance. An eruption of noise followed the single shot. He imagined a furious battle raging just out of sight down the hill.

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