Parchman, стр. 34
The soldier pounced with his knife in both hands on top of Logan andpinned him to the ground with the knife pointed downwards towardsLogan’s eye. Only Logan’s hands on the man’s wrists served as a barricadebetween the blade making contact. The solider pushed down and Logan’sbiceps felt like they were on fire as he tried to keep him at bay. He couldn’thold on any longer. His arms were giving way.
He tried turning his head to one side to put more space between the knifeand his face, but this only made his position weaker and the tip of the knifetouched the side of the cheek. His arms crumbled and in doing so the fullweight of the man fell on top of him. The knife fell away and Loganrealized he was still alive, and the man was dead.
Logan looked up as McGregor pushed the man’s body off of him andhelpedhim to his feet. ‘Looks like your man there lost his head,’ hechuckled holding a medieval looking axe dripping with blood. ‘Give himhis due that Jackal’s got some great toys,’ he said looking at the axe.‘That’s twice now Logan. Saving your life is becoming a habit.’
Logan was dumbfounded andcouldn’t speak but nodded and garbled something McGregor couldn’t make out. He looked around at the areabetween the prison and the rest of the Commander’s army. Everybody hadcaught him up and were now wearily walking past him with bodies strewnin their wake.
Jackal’s men were whooping and cheering as if the war was already won,but this was only the start. In the not too far distance the rest of the armystill stood to attention moved into an attacking formation. Logan’s ownarmy was vastly undermanned and outnumbered in comparison.
Logan looked to his left and saw his father with Tallulah. Then to his rightand saw the boys. Chuck nodded to him; his face covered in blood andoozing from his head.
Then everyone just stopped in their tracks.
The army in front of them had lined up before them and started marchingstill in formation towards them. Then the front row stopped and knelt downraising their guns with the back line of soldiers also aiming their rifles.‘Get ready. Aim’, came the Lieutenant’s orders. ‘Fire!’
Everyone dropped to the floor to avoid the gunfire, but those who weretoo slow or too far advanced took the brunt of the initial attack. Thesoldiers then stood and both lines retreated. ‘Machine guns, front andforward,’ came the next order.
Logan screamed ‘Fire, fire, fire,’ to everyone holding a gun on his side ofthe battlefield to preemptanother strike by the soldiers. Bullet’s rang outand with the lack of cover a few of the soldiers fell wounded and werepulled to the back of the ranks. Most howeverstood firm. ‘Keep firing,’shouted Logan.
‘
It’s not enough
,’ he thought to himself. ‘
It’s like shooting fish in a barrelfor them with that armory. We need to retreat.
’
‘Retreat,’ he called to the others, although some had already startedrunning. Most of the others were slowly backing away, still facing thearmy, but with no cover if the soldiers started shooting again.
‘Hold. Hold,’ came the call along the soldiers ranks. ‘Fire.’
Machine guns resonated for what felt like ages but must have been onlyseconds in reality. The guns fired over and over until the last gun was outof bullets. Not one person remained upright from the prison. Most had hitthe ground and covered themselves with whatever they could find to useas defense against the bullets. The space between the two groups waspretty open and other than some trees they were sitting ducks. Many hadeven used dead bodies as a shield.
One by one Logan’s band of warriors stood up astonished they were stillalive and then looking around to see who else was still alive from theirside. Logan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Tallulah. He could seethat Scott was badly injured. He had been shot in the leg, but his brotherSeth was holding him upright and gave Logan the thumbs up.Jackal was dancing around like a lunatic singing ‘You missed me, youmissed me,’ even to the point that the majority of his gang werequestioning his sanity. Logandidn’t see his father anywhere.
McGregor saw Logan looking around. ‘Over here,’ he shouted. Loganrushed over. Buried under a mass of bodies he could just make out hisfather’s arm sticking out with his wedding ring shining in the sun.
‘It’s him,’ he said out loud. WithMcGregor’s help they pulled away thebodies and Logan put a hand to Nathaniel’s chest to check he wasbreathing. ‘He’s alive,’ he said.
‘We need to get out of here son,’ said McGregor. ‘Get everyone stillstanding backinto that prison. It’s the only chance we’ve got.’
Logan looked around. The army had gone silent and were preparing theirnext attack. The second wave of infantry would undoubtably be next andno-one had the strength to withstand another conflict. ‘Help me get himup.’
He assessed that they were down to around one hundred and fifty people,with a few remaining others back at the prison. The army however had hadminimal losses and were undoubtedly still double the numbers Logan had. Retreat would only prolong the inevitable.
They could surrender, but at this point and with the Commander Generaldead the rest of the Lieutenants would be fighting it out for governanceand no quarter would be given. Besides which, surrender was not an optionLogan would consider or even allow