by Eric Vall
“Now,” I said as I leaned out and pulled the trigger. I aimed for the largest cluster of guys but didn’t worry about hitting anything. Instead I just let loose with what was left in my magazine meanwhile to force the group down while the blonde zipped across the street.
Bailey got to the other side, took up position, and kept the guys pinned down as I rushed across to the other side. My arm throbbed from the knife cut, but I pushed the pain aside and kept running.
I got to the other side, ejected my empty magazine, slid it into my vest, and pulled out a full one. I only had two left including the one in my gun so I needed to make every shot count until I had a chance to fill my empties.
“How you going on ammo?” I asked Bailey as she pulled back around the corner.
“I’m getting kinda low,” she replied.
“Well then pick your targets carefully,” I said before I slid around to check the back of the house. I saw Anna and Tara slip out of the back door of Windchime about four houses down. They looked around, noticed me, and headed my way. Behind me I heard the bark of Bailey’s rifle as she took a shot.
“Are you okay?” I asked Anna as she and Tara got close.
“Mostly,” Anna said with a nod. “Caught a bit of shrapnel to the chest, but it’s nothing serious.”
I frowned, but nodded. If she said she was okay, I had to believe her.
“And you?” I asked Tara.
“Great!” she said. “I don’t have much ammo left though.”
“You have some loose stuff in your bag, yeah?” I asked.
Tara nodded.
“Good, then get back to the campus and take up positions in the sniper's nests,” I instructed. “Refill your magazines and get ready for any of them who make it up the hill.”
“Paige is still out there,” Anna said.
“Where?” I asked.
“Across the street in Iron Gate, behind the bikers,” the redhead said.
“We’ll get her out of there,” I said. “Just get up the hill.”
“Be careful,” Tara said. “Both of you.”
“We will,” I said. “I promise.”
Tara gave me a small smile as Anna tugged at her arm, then she blew me a kiss then snuck off towards the woods with her redheaded friend.
I returned to Bailey and put a hand on her shoulder so she knew I was there.
“See the white building there behind those four guys?” I asked as I leaned out around the corner.
“Yeah,” Bailey agreed before she took another shot.
Down the street one of the bad guys cried out and fell backwards.
“That’s where Paige is, we need to get her out of there,” I said.
“I’ll hold them off,” Bailey said. “You go get her out of there.”
“I won’t be gone long,” I said.
“I know,” Bailey said as she set her sights back towards our enemies.
I gave her a peck on the cheek, then headed out. Instead of just crossing the street I moved around behind the houses until I could cross out of sight of the enemies. Then I used the backyards to travel without being seen.
Most of the area was empty, but as I closed in on the white house, I saw two guys having a smoke out in the backyard. These two appeared casual despite the gunfire and shouting that came from the other side of the house, and I almost couldn’t believe my eyes.
What a bunch of fucking idiots. It was in the middle of a firefight, my girls were killing their friends off like cockroaches, and these two morons were just taking a break? Hell, if they were going to flee, they could have just jumped on their bikes and rode off, but they were still here as if they were taking their fifteen minute break from their minimum wage job.
I could take them out easily with my gun, but that would draw far too much attention to myself. So I drew my knife instead and waited for an opening.
I actually felt a little angry that these guys were so dumb, so I imagined killing them would make me feel better.
“How do you think it’s going out there?” The first biker, a short dirty man with a red bandana and dark sunglasses, asked.
“Who the fuck cares,” the second man, a chubby man with a full scraggley beard, replied.
“We should probably get back out there at some point,” the short one sighed.
“I’m not doing anything till I finish my smoke,” the bearded man said as he puffed on the last half of his lit cigarette.
“Boss will get mad at us.”
“I don’t care. Fuck him.”
“Fine, I’ll cover for you till you finish,” the short one said. Then he sighed, checked his rifle, and headed back towards the street.
“About time he left me alone,” The chubby man said. He then leaned against the house, closed his eyes, and took a long slow drag from his smoke.
I rushed from where I was hiding one yard over, hopped the waist high chain fence, and reached the man before he even opened his eyes. Then I drove my blade in through the front of his face and up into his brain. He never even had time to speak. HIs body slid down the side of the house as smoke curled from his mouth as he slumped onto the ground.
I smiled, wiped my blade on his jacket, and quickly slipped in through the back of the white house.
“Paige,” I whispered into the dark house as I gently closed the door behind me.
I waited for a moment, but there was no response.
“Shit,” I whispered as I started to sneak through the dark hallways. I moved quietly so as not to alert the bikers that I could hear right outside. It wasn’t hard to find the stairs, but there was a very real chance Paige waited at the top with a shotgun. In the dark it would be hard to see who was coming for her, and I could easily end up with a gut full of buckshot.
“Paige,” I whispered again. “It’s me, Tav. I’m going to come up the stairs now.”
I took a deep breath and moved to make my way upstairs. Thankfully I was able to ascend unhindered. As I reached the top and headed down the hallway, the door at the end creaked open just slightly.
“Paige, it’s me,” I whispered again.
The door swung wide open and Paige let out a relieved sigh. She waved me over and closed the door once I entered the room.
“Once the bikers closed in, I didn’t want to risk giving myself away so I went dark,” she whispered. “Then I tried to sneak out the back, but there were some guys out there so I figured it was better to stay put.”
“It’s alright, I’ll get you out of here,” I assured her. “Bailey is keeping the guys out front busy while Tara and Anna fall back.”
“What about the guys who were out back?” Paige asked.
“I took care of them on the way in,” I explained.
“Well thanks,” Paige said. “Sounds like we should get moving then.”
“I’ll lead the way, you just stay behind me.”
The brunette nodded and followed me out of the room. Then we made our way down the stairs, through the first floor, and out the back door into the yard.
I took us back the same way I arrived to minimize the chance of conflict and a minute later we arrived back over where Bailey was settled in. She had shifted some garbage cans around to provide a little extra cover, and she took careful shots to keep the bikers pinned down.
“We’re all clear,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Bailey nodded, looked over her shoulder to smile at Paige, and took one last shot before she pulled back.
“You two go first,” I said. “I’ll cover the rear while you get into the trees.”
“See you at the top,” Paige said with a smile.
Then the two girls looked at each other, nodded, and ran for the treeline.
“Where’d they go?” I heard one of the bikers ask in the distance.
“It doesn’t matter, let’s just get up that hill,” another said.
I was certain that the second voice was the bikers’ leader. Part of me had hoped one of the girls had managed to take him out a
lready. Though the goons were not exactly brave, and if he died, they might have run away long before now, and I was not looking to leave survivors. I needed to end this today.
The air filled with the rumble of engines as the motorcycles roared to life.
I glanced around the corner just in time to watch them start up the hill. Then I broke for the trees as the girls disappeared into them.
The soft light of the full moon didn’t do much to light up the dense forest, but we had done this so much recently that I had no issue navigating through the trees and thickets.
I could hear the motorcycles rumbling up the hill as I reached the campus. The girls were nowhere in sight but I trusted them to follow the plan.
The sound of a rifle rang out through the air followed by a tremendous metal screech as a motorcycle scraped along the pavement. It sounded like we took another one down.
I bolted for the closest sniper's nest, found it occupied by Anna, and ran for the next. Then I climbed up the tree onto the empty platform and watched as the last of the bikers, a group of ten, drove into the parking lot.
The cloudless sky and the full moon made keeping an eye on the last of the gang easy as they circled around the courtyard and fired wildly into the buildings and trees.
I lined up a shot and caught one of the bikers in the top of the head. The bullet tore off part of his skull and sprayed gore into the air as he lost control of the bike and crashed into the forest.
Two more bikers went down as the rest of the team did their job. The first took a bullet to the chest and flipped his bike with him on top of it. The second one caught a shot to the throat and fell off his bike before it careened into the treeline.
Five of the remaining bikers peeled off and headed back towards the town
They were trying to run away, but they were in the middle of our fire lanes, and the girls cut them down before they could get very far. The sound of our gunfire echoed through the courtyard as one by one the five bikers fell to our combined might.
Meanwhile the sixth biker pulled over and dove into the empty fountain for cover. He looked pointedly towards a section of the trees and opened fire with his automatic rifle.
The muzzle flash illuminated the man long enough for me to recognize the familiar face of the biker’s leader. He appeared to be laughing as he emptied all thirty rounds towards one of my sniper's nests.
Right as I lined up a shot the man took cover to reload his weapon, and the fountain’s jutting stone centerpiece hid almost all of him from me.
I growled and kept my sights on the area.
For a moment the entire courtyard went silent. It seemed the leader had picked the right place to take cover.
“You made a mistake coming here!” I shouted out, “Your only hope of maybe getting out of here would have been to try and run like the last of your men.”
“Yeah, but I’m not a coward!” He shouted as he stood up and started to spray bullets into the same area of the forest once more.
I held my breath and lined up a perfect shot in the middle of his crazed face, but as I went to squeeze the trigger part of his head exploded outward in a spray of hot blood.
The leader’s weapon went silent as he swayed for a second and then slumped into the fountain. A dull crack sounded throughout the courtyard as what remained of his head smacked against the edge of the old fountain.
It was over.
I waited a beat just to be sure, but then quickly climbed down the tree. I let my gun swing freely from my sling as I jogged into the courtyard.
A moment later the girls started to emerge as well, and a cheer rose up from them they realized they had all made it through alive.
I threw my fist into the air and cheered with them as my heart pounded with adrenaline fueled excitement.
“We did it!” Anna said as she rushed over to me.
“Yes we did,” I laughed. My breathing was rapid and shallow and the cut on my arm felt like it was on fire. I planted my ass on the ground and took a deep breath as the others continued to approach. Then I frowned as I looked to Paige and noticed her limping towards us.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I forced myself back to my feet and ran over to her.
The brunette, who had a large smile on her face, waved me off. “I’m fine.”
“Clearly that’s not true,” I said as I nodded towards her leg.
“I just twisted my ankle on my trip up the hill,” Paige said, “It’s not a huge deal. I’ll just need to wrap it tonight.”
“Alright,” I said.
“Looks like I’m not the only one who needs patching up,” she said as she looked to my arm.
“It looks worse than it is,” I said.
The group gathered around me. The whole group looked exhausted, Bailey had the bandage on her shoulder, part of Anna’s shirt was stuck to her chest with blood, and Tara had a gash in her arm. We had taken a bit of a beating, but all things considered we had done very well.
“That was really something,” Anna said.
“Yeah, that was kind of awesome,” Paige agreed with a grin.
“Not exactly the words I would use to describe our night,” Tara said.
“Aw, come on, it wasn’t that bad,” Paige said.
“You’re right, I was expecting it to be a lot worse,” Tara said. “Plus, I do like shooting.”
“It was certainly intense,” Anna said.
“Yeah, that was intense, but I wouldn’t call it fun,” Bailey said. “Well, maybe it was a little fun.”
“Well it’s over now,” I said with a small smile.
“Thank god for that,” Bailey said.
“I am just glad it went so well,” Anna said.
“Yeah, our defenses and plan really worked,” Bailey agreed.
Rolly jogged over to us with a rifle still in his hands.
“We won!” he exclaimed as he drew close.
“Damn right we did,” Paige said as she high fived the old man.
“Who took the final shot?” I asked the group.
Bailey slowly raised her hand above her head as her gaze drifted to the dirt.
“Nice job!” Paige cheered as she clapped her friend on the back.
“Yeah, way to go Bailey,” Anna said with a smile.
“That was a damn fine shot,” I said.
“I kept trying to line up a shot but even if I did I doubt I would have hit him,” Tara said.
“We all did our part, and today was a huge victory,” I said. “You did exceptional given the circumstances, and I am proud to have fought alongside each one of you. Now that the bikers are out of the picture, we can turn our attention to the fun stuff.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that,” Tara said
“What did you have in mind?” Rolly asked.
“Well, since the fighting is over we have the pleasure of looting the dead and cleaning up the bodies,” I said with a wide grin.
The group groaned and started to protest, but I held up my hands to silence them.
“Don’t worry, we won’t deal with that tonight,” I said, “It’s late, you all fought hard, and I think we should head inside.”
“Wait, are you actually tired?” Anna asked.
“We did have a pretty long day,” I answered.
“I am way too wired to sleep,” Tara said.
“Yeah, today was awesome, and I am all hyped up,” Paige said.
“Can we stay up and party instead?” Tara asked.
“I’m down for that,” Bailey said.
“Go wild,” I chuckled. “You guys just kicked ass, there is no reason not to celebrate.”
“Awesome, I’m going to go get the booze,” Paige chirped excitedly.
“You sure you don’t want to stay up and drink with us a while, Tav?” Tara asked.
“I’m pretty gassed, but I’d love to celebrate for a little while,” I smiled.
“You have to let me look at that arm anyway,” Paige said.
The group headed
for the firepit. Rolly got the fire going as we all took a seat.
Paige pulled out her medical supplies and started to go around and patch up the group.
Anna returned with the alcohol, and we began to celebrate as the girls swapped stories of the small battle they had just won. Each of them had dozens of close calls, or times where they had saved each other’s asses, and their excited talks reminded me of my first few battles in the army, when I was still green and living through a fight made me feel like I could take on the world.
That feeling had faded fast with the longer I was at war, and while I never suffered from PTSD like some of my brothers, I couldn’t feel the same excitement the girls did anymore.
An hour later my adrenaline had started to wear off, and I was hit by a wave of fatigue. I stifled a yawn and was surprised to see the girls still so awake and excited.
Rolly was the only one who looked as tired as I felt. The old man struggled to keep his eyes open as he sat there with an empty bottle of bourbon in one hand.
“Ladies, it’s been fun, but I need some sleep,” I said.
“Awww, but we’re just getting started,” Tara said.
“Yeah, we are going to swap more stories,” Anna added.
“I’ll be able to remember them better if I hear them after I get some shut eye,” I said with a smile. “I’ll talk to you all tomorrow morning.”
“Alright, fine,” Paige pouted playfully. “I guess we'll just have to have fun without you.”
“For now,” I said. “Come on Rolly, let’s go get some shut eye.”
“Yes please,” the old man said as he struggled to his feet.
Rolly and I started towards the dorms as we listened to the girls talk about the fight behind us.
Chapter 16
When the sun rose the next day, it seemed far brighter than it had been the day before.
I got up, stretched, and winced a little as pain lanced through my forearm. My cut was still tender, but Paige had fixed it up right. It took me a moment to realize that the girls weren’t there, and I wasn’t sure if they had even come to bed the night before.
