《The New Community》5. Bullets and shadows
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Maddison poked her head around the corner and gripped a grenade, as if she were about to pull the pin and throw it. Swearing, she ducked back just as a search light swept over where she was. “They see me just before I can see if I get a good hit. I’m wondering if there’s a minor clairvoyant in that group and they’re unaware of it.” Poking her head around again, she moved to throw the grenade, only to dart back again, swearing to herself as the search lights swept over the area again.
“You can see close future events?” Zoe asked, some of the pieces of the Maddison puzzle falling into place. “How far can you see?”
“About ten seconds if I focus, four to five if I’m not. Everything is shadows that get blurrier the further ahead they are. Once an action is set, I can change it if I know the outcome, so I can react ahead of when actions occur.”
“So you can see if your grenade hits and does damage, and if it doesn’t, you can change the throw, etcetera?”
Maddison nodded, gripping the grenade tightly. “But there’s too many people and torches in that group, so I can’t see far enough before they see me. I hate this, I feel fucking blind.”
“They’re not going to move either,” Tyson spoke up. “Their leader is convinced this is our path and is hoping for the patrols behind us to flush us out. Which, by the way, they’re getting closer. We’re running out of time.”
Quickly returning her attention to her visor display, Zoe confirmed that the patrols were moving closer to them, not on a direct intercept course, but one that would definitely put them in direct view of them from their current location. “I’ll get Avi to create a distraction. It has enough weaponry to cause damage to the barrier for us to get over it while distracting the people in the way.”
Tyson nodded to Zoe at the suggestion. "Do it," Maddison said, pulling the pins on two grenades. "Time to do this," she said, bolting from the shelter and throwing the grenades straight away.
"This way," Tyson said, heading the other direction from Maddison as she opened fire with her rifle. Zoe followed Tyson, making sure her stunners were fully charged while sending a signal to Avi to use it's limited ammo to blow several holes along the wall. Zoe got an affirmative reply from the vehicle. Barely a moment later a new set of explosions reached her ears. "Relayed to Mads," Tyson said as they broke cover.
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Gunfire erupted from the truck towards Maddison as she ran for the next bit of cover, heading towards Avi. She saw her shadow ahead of her stumble, so took a half step, seeing if that corrected whatever was the issue. Her shadow changed, avoiding whatever the issue was. As she got close to where she should have stumbled, a bullet whizzed past her knee. A moment later and she was throwing her second grenade before darting behind cover.
Zoe's visor reacted nearly instantly to the lights illuminating them, but not before she was nearly blinded by the light feedback. Cursing her lack of foresight to deactivate the night vision, she followed Tyson as he ran behind cover, a small building.
"Maddison made cover," Tyson said into the silence of the absence of weapons fire. "She only managed to get two of the people on the truck, but one went under it and blew the tyres." He rubbed his forehead. "They're spreading out."
Zoe poked her head around the corner and fired off a stun bolt before ducking back, not even checking to see if it hit. Bullets clattered off the building and ground near her, making her flinch further behind cover.
Pulling the pin on her last grenade, Maddison informed Tyson, who she knew would be listening, and bolted from cover, watching her shadow and where the grenade would fly. Grinning, she threw the grenade, watching it bounce off the side mirror and into the cab. At the same time, Tyson ran with Zoe half a step behind him. The grenade exploded, taking out the window and splattering the occupants, leaving the mini gun and the larger man standing on the back of the truck. The mini gun turned to track Maddison's progress while the larger man leveled his rifle towards Tyson and Zoe.
Maddison glanced at her shadow and dropped to the ground, rolling under a stream of bullets before coming back up and diving for cover. She could now hear shouts from behind her and even saw a flashlight scan where she had just been.
Zoe sent a burst of instructions to Avi as she ran, getting the vehicle to come closer to her and Tyson's potential exit and getting the car to use more explosives to create more chaos, and, hopefully, a hole for them.
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Tyson nodded to her as they broke cover towards a solid looking building that was part of the wall, this time Zoe half a step ahead.
Tyson grabbed Zoe's shoulder just before making cover and over balanced her. As they fell, he cried out, pain searing through his lower back.
Zoe pulled hard on Tyson's arm, dragging him the last foot to cover. Quickly assessing, she saw the mess of his lower back. A bullet had torn through, probably his intestines, maybe his spine, and he was writhing in pain. She felt his mind lashing out, giving her flashes of headache, even giving her snippets of Maddison's horror and rage.
Zoe pulled her small med kit out of one of her cargo pants pockets and administered a sedative and shoving the two bandages into the wounds, hoping to stem the flow of blood for long enough to get them away.
Pain wracked Maddison's brain like none she'd ever felt the instant Tyson was shot. Taking the rifle from her shoulder, she broke cover, spraying bullets at the vehicle. Taking just long enough to aim, she took out the mini gun operator before they could fire back, the last man ducking down to where she couldn't get him. Rage at him, hopelessness at not being there and frustration that she hadn't seen the shot coming so she could have warned Tyson. All her emotions bubbled up as she broke for the hole in the wall, hoping to make her way around and to them.
~ Avi, stretcher, tow line, NOW. ~ Zoe ran through the building and through the gap as the stretcher dropped from the bottom of the trailer and the vehicle started unspooling the cable quickly. As Zoe stood from getting the stretcher, she saw Maddison. "Get the tow line," she called before heading back into the building. Leading with her free arm, stunner out, she ran back, firing off a shot through the open door just beyond Tyson and at a moving figure in the darkness, only visible because of its torch. As she slid to her knees next to Tyson, bullets whizzed over her head from behind as Maddison gave her cover fire.
Maddison watched, rifle in hand as Zoe dragged Tyson onto the stretcher. She saw shadows moving and a line of bullets arc through the door. As she moved to shoot the shooter, she saw her shot connect, but not before the bullets hit her brother. Taking the shot as she ran forward, she lept and rolled over him, taking the bullets for him. Rolling over and looking out the doorway, she used the last of her strength to fire her rifle, taking out the large man from the truck. As she felt the last of her strength fade, a hand squeezed hers.
Silly Mads, Tyson whispered to her as the drugs started to affect him. Don't be sad, we're good.
~ Avi, winch, now, ~ Zoe ordered as she lay on top of Tyson and grabbed Maddison's arms, dragging her behind as the winch started to drag them out. Quickly checking the heat signatures from the satellite feed, it seemed to her that Maddison had gotten rid of their immediate threats.
The stretcher bounced off a wall, shaking Zoe, but she maintained her grip, determined to get them all out. Gravel turned to rubble as they bounced through the opening and out of the compound and out in front of Avi.
The winch stopped and Zoe stood, scooping up Maddison and basically throwing her onto the back seat of Avi. Unhooking the stretcher, she threw the tow line over a roll bar and grabbed the far end of the stretcher. Instructing Avi to winch, the front rose, allowing her to lift him onto the trailer. Strapping him down quickly, she moved back to Maddison, grabbing the larger med kit, stuffing the woman's wounds. "Go," she ordered and away Avi drove, into the night and darkness as Zoe tended to the twins.
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