Starfish_ A Novel - James Crowley [61]
Lionel moved further into the crevice and inched himself toward the light. The space was cramped, but he pulled himself along on his belly, quietly moving small piles of debris as he went. He sensed movement above him as he crawled, and when he reached the light of the small opening, he stopped.
The rock above seemed to be alive, moving almost as if it were breathing. Lionel’s eyes adjusted to the light and he realized that it wasn’t the chimney that was moving but a swarm of daddy longlegs dangling in a tight bunch just inches above his head. Lionel wasn’t afraid of spiders, but this was a lot of them. He quickly moved forward until he was in a position to push his head out the crevice at the back of the chimney and make a break for the tree line that stood ten paces from where he was hiding.
Lionel could see the soldiers readying themselves from his new hiding place. He tried to get a count for Mr. Hawkins, but with all the movement and his limited view, he had trouble keeping track of the men. He thought that there must have been at least twelve, but that there could be as many as twenty. All this in pursuit of Beatrice, Lionel, and Ulysses; Lionel figured that the captain must really miss his horse.
He crawled out as far as he dared and eyed a break in the trees. He took another look at the soldiers and saw that Brother Finn was bringing Barney up from the stream. Barney’s clothes were torn and bloody, and his face was battered, cut, and bruised, just like Tom Gunn’s. Lionel didn’t feel particularly friendly toward Barney—or Tom Gunn, for that matter. After all, they had been the ones who had joined up with the government to collect money at his and Beatrice’s expense. But he still felt sorry for them. Barney looked scared despite now being untied, and Lionel noticed that he stuck as close as he could to Brother Finn’s and the captain’s sides.
Lionel looked back toward the woods and decided that it was now or never—he had to make a break for it. He pulled himself forward out of the hole and into the high grass that stretched up the back side of the exterior chimney. There, out of the corner of his eye, Lionel saw a soldier coming toward him. He felt a leaping in his throat. This wasn’t just any soldier. It was Jenkins’s buddy from the water trough, Private Samuel Lumpkin.
He thought about pulling himself back into the safety of the chimney, but a moment later, without thinking, sprang to his feet and ran to the trees. Lionel heard a rough, grumbled burst of surprise from Lumpkin as he ran across the open section of the meadow. Lionel looked over his shoulder as he burst into the shade of the wood to see Lumpkin raise his rifle and aim toward the thick foliage. He aimed it at Lionel.
“Stop!” Private Lumpkin yelled, but Lionel kept running.
Lionel heard the first bullet whiz wildly over his head, followed by the echoing crack of the rifle. Lumpkin fired again, prompting shots from other soldiers, but Lionel kept running. In the distance, he could hear the captain calling for the men to stop firing, but another volley hurtled past him and he watched the bullets bite into the soft bark flesh of the trees that stood before him.
Lionel continued to run. He could hear the men enter the woods behind him and then heard men on horses. The horsemen had trouble following Lionel directly as he ran, jumped, slid, and climbed his way across the Great wood, but he couldn’t shake them. He dropped, stumbling down into a gully, and then scrambled up the other side. He saw the men drop into the gully, so he quickly changed direction by climbing up the exposed roots of a toppled