Human Element
Page 23
Inventorying their guns and ammunition was a direct result of their decision last night. It was both a terrifying and exciting sight at the same time. Hadas had asked the question: “What now?”
They finally had their answer.
They both knew what the eventual outcome of that answer would be, but that was inevitable anyway. Aaran recalled another one of his father’s favorite quotes, “Given a long enough timeline, ten out of ten people will die. Some die young, others die old. But what those people do with the time they have is what counts in the end”. Never before had those words resonated so powerfully with Aaran. Even if history was forgotten, Aaran wanted to go to his grave knowing he had been on the right side of it.
Walking over to the table, he watched as Hadas opened a box of ammunition and pulled out the plastic tray inside. Brass and nickel cartridges shimmied under the dim chandelier light hanging over the walnut table as Hadas pulled a tray out of the next box. Some trays were full, most were not. She counted the boxes of nine-millimeters, adding the total to the notepad. She then did the math on the magazines before crunching the numbers in her head. She wrote down the amount before moving on to the .45-caliber. She tapped each box, muttering a number to herself before writing another figure down.
“How many rounds does that thing carry upstairs?” she asked, referring to Aaran’s USP on the bedside table.
“Twelve, plus one.”
She wrote thirteen down, then added all the figures in that column up. “Two hundred twelve,” she said to herself as she circled the sum.
While she continued to take stock of their munitions, Aaran spoke up. “Hadas…”
She finished writing down her latest tally, then looked up at him.
His next words made him nervous. He wanted to give her an out—an opportunity to walk away—but he didn’t think he could do it without her. He didn’t even want to try. But he wanted her involvement to be her choice, so he spoke. “You do realize, this is a war we will never win. Sooner or later, they’ll catch us,” he said, his grim voice revealing the depths of his fear. He looked into her eyes and said, “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
She stared at him for several long seconds before she stood up, reached across the table and squeezed his hand. The intensity in her eyes emphatically communicated her commitment. “Hey, we’re a team or something, right?” she said with a wink, echoing his own words from the coffeehouse back to him. After a moment, her demeanor shifted, and her tone became more serious. “Of course I’m ready, Aaran. Honestly, I’ve been dreaming about this for months, but was always too chicken to do it by myself. But,” she said as she grabbed one of the ammo trays and slid it back into the box, “there’s one major problem…”
“What’s that?”
“We’re going to need a helluva lot more ammo.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AJ Powers is an artist in the video game industry, working on some of the biggest franchises in the world.
He currently resides in Ohio with his wife Talia and their three children.
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Thank you
Writing fiction is more than just a hobby for me. It’s a passion. I love to craft and share the stories that come to my head, but without you, the reader, I would have no one to share them with. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! I have the greatest readers an author could ask for.