I blinked in shock as the blood landed in my eyes and on my lips. Suddenly the air was filled thunder and a strange whistling sound. I ducked out of sheer reflex and Molly threw herself on top of Jason, toppling him to the ground.
I piled myself on top of her and we lay there for at least thirty-seven million years while bullets whizzed through the air in a heavy rain all around us. Molly’s face reminded me of a deer caught in the headlights, and I wondered if that was exactly what we were. Prey, caught in a trap.
As soon as my stunned mind accepted that pleasant little idea, I was able to act and move again. I nudged Molly’s leg with my foot and jerked my head towards the door of the pottery store. She nodded and together we sort of inch-wormed Jason through the door. It took longer than I thought it would, and once something slapped my side with a sharp little sting, but we eventually managed.
Thank god for winter coats, otherwise we’d have no skin left, squirming across the pavement like that. We made it inside and I kicked the door shut. Bullets were still flying outside and leaving holes through the walls, all the windows were already broken. Which was a bit of a mercy actually, the several hundred corpses in there were not exactly spring flower scented.
Molly fretted over Jason while I concentrated on building us a little fort, just like when we were kids. Of course, the forts back then had been made of pillows, not the mutilated and formerly undead bodies of my friends and neighbors. You’d be surprised at the difference that will make. I dubbed my gruesome creation “the pit o’ death” in my mind and tried not to think too hard about whose body was absorbing what bullet.
I occupied myself by helping Molly with Jason’s wound. It actually didn’t look all that bad at first. It went all the way through his left arm. I helped bandage and re-bandage it several times before I realized that Molly was weeping and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.
None of us even noticed when the shooting stopped; we were too absorbed in trying to save Jason. When we finally got the bleeding stopped it was full dark. Oddly, we didn’t have a problem seeing though. The soldiers pointing guns at us had thoughtfully taped flashlights to them.
I blinked. Twice. Soldiers? Where the hell had they come from? How freaking long had they been standing there pointing guns at us? And why hadn’t I noticed? I stared up at the men with a frown furrowing my brows until the one pointing his gun at me blushed and lowered it. The other two followed suit and we were left staring at each other uncertainly.
I didn’t want to just kneel on the ground at their feet so I stood up, slowly and with audible pops and creaks of my knees. The uniformed figure in front of me couldn’t have been more than fourteen years old. He looked thin, dirty and scared.
“Just who the fuck are you and what are doing in my town.” I demanded, voice flat and cold. The boy snapped upright and saluted me. I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.
“Ma’am, we are the 16th Bravo Company Ma’am!” He certainly sounded earnest as he practically shouted in my face. I ignored the slight pain in my side and extended my hand to shake his.
“That’s nice.” I replied when he took my hand “We’re the residents of this town. Care to tell us why the fuck you were shooting at us?” I tried to stay calm, and oddly it was pretty easy. Everything seemed distant and sort of floaty.
The boy gave some garbled, long winded explanation of why there was a firefight. Apparently the bikers had already found us, and these boys had been chasing them. Or chasing bees. Or chasing fish. They were definitely chasing something, I thought to myself.
After explanations and introductions we all moved out to the truck. We got Jason bundled up and comfy in the bed of the truck. I sat back in the passenger side listening to Molly question the three boys who claimed they’d been trying to protect us. I found their poor aim rather funny and was chuckling to myself about it when I abruptly fell asleep.