Sentence
The Fourhundredth
Captain Dick Turpin
squatted beside the prone figure, checked that the stranger was
breathing ok, loosened his tie and collar and laid him in the
recovery position, then turned to his squad: “ok boys,
he's in an
ignominious state, but better than the others, so when he comes to,
escort him to the Hold, I know it's kinda ramshackle which hasn't
mattered till now, but we've had word, maybe a furphy, maybe not,
that there could be an attack in the next few days, so make the place
secure – Alfalfa, draw up a roster for guard duty, and Mitch, you
were a carpenter, yeah?” the bearded ogry nodded,
“okay, choose
whoever you want and make the hold secure, and the bewhiskered man
saluted, “okeydokey, Cap'n, Sir,” and bustled off to grab his
tools, while Turpin looked down at the unconscious man; there were
already four men in the hold, they'd been there for a couple of
weeks, since the Platoon had arrived and found them, with the medic
keeping them alive, but for how much longer he couldn't say, and now
this guy had appeared – unless there was still a crevice somewhere
that they'd missed: “Jim!” and his corporal, Jim Ladd, stood,
“Jim, just in case there is anywhere we haven't checked, use the
map we made and go over every inch – start at the right wall there
and work
along every inch until you get back there again, okay, maybe
PFC Sloan could help, I think he was a miner before, this should be
right up his street, ok, report back as soon as you've done it,”
and with a quick salute, Ladd was off and now Kidd had time for a
smoke, so moved over to the entrance, hidden behind a net covered in
branches, and pulled out a pack of Luckys,” this was Friday,
another supply delivery due tonight, so before first light he'd send
a couple of guys to the heap of stones, the one with the door, to
haul the sacks in, and then continue the wait for orders, and that
could be a long wait.




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