ZIINNG!
"Bloody hell!" Strongbow rolls over the wet concrete, the sting of ricoche shards on her face. 'At least he's a lousy shot,' she thinks, lying flat and going still.
Ahead of her, she watches as the group appraises her, from a distance. The rifleman, (if he were old enough to be considered one,)talks rapidly to the others, a second teenage boy and two..no three girls.
Strongbow watches as he pulls the action on his rifle, hears faintly the chambering of another round. The sound of gently falling rain seemingly amplified with her face so close to the ground, she slowly begins reaching for her beretta, buried under her military style parka. Her eyes never leave the group, who seem unsure of whether she is dead or alive.
The shooter raises the rifle to his shoulder, beading on Strongbows position, pauses, then lowers it a bit. He motions to the group, who after a moment, begin slowly walking toward her prostrate form.
Her hand creeps so slowly under her parka, feeling the holster, unsnapping the holsterguard.
The group begins to spread out, working slowly to her. Strongbow notices the group in detail as they get closer to her.
One girl, obviously a young teen, wearing a "hello kitty" t-shirt and jeans, is holding a slightly bent aluminum baseball bat. Near her is another girl, slightly older with long dark hair, torn leather skirt and black t-shirt. She carries a long steel pipe, nervously two-handing it. The second boy she noticed before is also young, large thick glasses, wet hair hanging in his eyes. A black backpack hangs loosly from his shoulders and a pistol sits at the ready in both hands.
Strongbows hand slowly begins to pull her pistol from its holster. She feels it moving..moving.. and....her hand wraps solidly around the grip. The group reaches her.
"Is she dead?" hello kitty asks, sniffling a bit.
"hmm...dunno," backpack bends over Strongbow. She feels the poke of his pistol in her back, prodding her.
"Well, I don't see any blood, Matt," hello kitty says matter-of-factly, "and you know there should be blood."
"Not if she were a zombie," backpack retorts. "Remember that zombie we shot the other day? Todd n' me shot it a few times n' it didnt bleed hardly at all." He continues poking.
"Maybe we should turn her over..," hello kitty says cautiously,"...ya know, check 'er n stuff?"
Strongbow grips the pistol tighter. 'If they turn me over,' she thinks, 'I may have to start shooting. Oh God, they're only kids! How can I possi...'
"Wait until Todd gets here," Dark hair says, near Strongbows feet. She waves her pipe toward the bleachers, then squats down on her heels.
Strongbows mind starts racing. 'Two guns verses one,' she thinks grimly, 'NOT very good odds.' She tenses. 'It has to happen now..'
Strongbow sees hello kittys feet near her head. She jerks her free hand out, grabbing hello kittys feet, dropping her to the ground. Hello kitty lets out a squeal of fright.
"F##k, she's ALIVE!" Matt yells, thrusting the gun out in front of him. He fires wildly, the .38 round strikes the pavement near Strongbow. She rolls, hitting dark hair with her body in mid pipeswing, pitching the girl forward over her, the pipe striking the ground with a clang and rolling away.
Strongbow rolls to her feet, 9mm out, facing the group. Hello kitty has dropped the bat, kneeling near dark hairs unconscious form. A small pool of blood mingling with the light rain. Matt is holding the .38, pointed at Strongbow, his eyes wide with fright.
"Look," Strongbow says, "that girl.." she motions to dark hair, "...she needs help. She's bleeding. She needs..."
"Her name is Kayla," shouts hello kitty, "You KILLED Kayla!" She cries, her head laying on Kaylas chest.
Strongbow glances at Matt, still leveling the gun at her. "Look," she says, imploring Matt, "she's not dead, just knocked out. A few stitches from my kit and she'll be good as.." She sees Matts eyes glance behind her.
Strongbow ducks, as a loud shot goes off, the hot bullet tearing by her left ear. Spinning around, she sees the other boy, Todd, working the action of his rifle, the shell ejecting from the chamber. She runs full speed at him, plowing full speed into him. He grunts in suprise, rifle spinning away, as he falls to the ground.
Grabbing the rifle, Strongbow shoulders it, training her pistol on Matt, who still has his gun trained on her.
"Drop it, Mate." She growls, resighting on Todd, who is sitting up, panting.
"Shoot her, Matt," Todd yells. Matt nervously steps forward a bit, gun shaking in his hand. Behind him, hello kitty cries louder, holding Kaylas head in her lap.
Matt shouts behind him, "Shut up, Claire! She ain't dead!"
He focuses again on Strongbow, still trained on Todd.
"What r' you waitin for, Matt?!" Todd yells, exasperated. "Just shoot the bi#ch!" Strongbow pulls back the hammer of her beretta and stares at Todd, "Watch who your'e calling a bi#ch, mate." His eyes go wide.
Back at Matt, "Look Matt, I'm going to put my pistol away...let's get back to Kayla." Carefully, she slides the pistol back in the holster. Unshouldering the rifle, she ejects the round, pulls the clip, puts it in her pocket and hands the rifle back to a visibly astonished Todd. He jumps up and points it at Strongbow.
Ignoring him, she puts her hands up, facing Matt. "See, mate? It's all fine, right?"
Matt glances around. Kayla groans, Claire erupting into fresh tears of relief. With a sigh, he lowers the gun, putting it back in his front pocket.
Nodding, Strongbow walks over to Claire and kneels, checking Kaylas head. Picking her up, she asks Claire to lead her inside. They walk toward the compound.
Todd, grunting, gets up and walks over to Matt who is watching the woman and his sister carry Kayla inside.
"Well, THAT was close, dude." Todd punches Matt in the arm, making him yelp in suprise.
Rubbing his arm, Matt continues to look in the direction of the compound, thinking. "She could've killed us, dude."
"Yeah..." Todd scratches his head. "But you could've killed her, too, right?" Matt says nothing.
"So why didn't you, then...seriously." Todd faces Matt, looking closely at him.
Absently, Matt pulls the dark chrome .38 out of his pocket, pulls the cylinder open and holds it up to Todds face.
Matt sees Todds eyes roll in exasperation through the empty chambers of the pistol. He grins sheepishly as he slaps the cylinder shut again and stuffs it in his pocket.
"Dude...," Todd says, "..you are the WORST zombie killer I have EVER met!"
Matt and Todd laugh as they cross the wet field toward the compound...
