When We Shed Civilization

Chapter 6

As the gunfire stopped, Leo focused his attention on Flora, cradling her head on his thighs as he kneeled at her side. She held her hands against her belly. Blood glistened on her shirt.

"We'll take you to the Doc," he said. "She'll fix you."

She looked up at him, her face pale and wet with sweat, and nodded.

"Let me check." He bent forward and grasped her hands, moving them gently away. Then he pulled up her shirt, revealing the wound beneath.

The bullet had ripped a hole into her flesh, not larger than a finger. Blood seeped from it, bathing the skin around the torn tissue.

Too much, too red.

He reached for the hem of his shirt, tore off a strip, rolled it up, and pushed it into Flora's hand. "Take this and press it against the wound."

He had no idea if that would help. He had seen Doc Faith do it once. But back then, it had been a knife wound in a gang member's leg, earned in a fight against the Bikers.

Bellies might be more complicated than legs.

"Leo!" Spike came running. "The old one's dead, but they've still got the gun and won't come out."

Their car stood about twenty steps from Leo. The bearded Gater sat reclined in his seat, with two arrows in him. The younger man and the woman were ducking behind the remains of the windshield. He held the weapon in both hands, pointing it in their general direction.

"Shit!" Leo ignored Flora's groan as he scooped her up with both arms. Following Spike, he made for a rock beside the road. He almost fell as he climbed over the guard rail.

In the safety of the rock's shelter, he lowered his sister to the ground. She said nothing, but the skin of her face was pale bordering on gray.

"I tried to snatch the gun," Spike said, "but that guy was quicker than me."

"I'll kill these jerks." The anger that drove Leo's words was almost physical, like a raven's claw squeezing his heart. "I'm sick of these Gaters."

"So, we don't take any hostages?"

Leo saw his own feelings reflected in the murder behind Spike's gaze. But he shook his head, reigning in his lust for blood. "No. Taking hostages is still the plan. Hammer wants them. We need them alive, at least one of them." Unless they were too much trouble. "Where's Hawk, and Bolt?"

Spike nodded towards another rock down the road.

"Take care of her." Leo pointed at Flora. "I'll go talk to them. We've gotta finish this."

Spike nodded.

Torn between the need to finish this and Flora's plight, Leo hesitated.

"Go," she said. "I can handle this."

"You're sure?"

She nodded.

Checking once more that she held the cloth against the wound as he had told her, he squeezed her hand. Then he let go of her, turned, and ran to the rock where the twins were hiding. He ducked low to avoid any bullets that the Gaters might try to throw at him.

The twins' faces were grim, and they had their bows ready.

"Can you get them with your arrows?" Leo asked.

Hawk shook his greasy dreadlocks. "I don't think so. They're ducking out of sight." Bolt imitated his brother's motion.

"Doesn't matter. Just shoot at them every now and then. I'll run around the trap to the other side and sneak up on them from behind. Keep their attention focused while I do that. We need to end this and get away from here."

And they had to get Flora to Doc Faith. She was the best doc in the whole city.

The only one.

"Okay, boss." Hawk nodded, and they both pulled arrows from their quivers.

"But don't shoot me."

"Sure."

Not waiting for Hawk and Bolt to start their shooting, Leo crouched low and ran down the road towards one of the trees they had felled.

A whooshing sound told him that the twins had released the first arrow. It bounced off the broken windshield.

Leo crossed the road, keeping the felled tree between himself and the car. On the other side, he waited for the next arrow. Once it had scratched along the car's roof, he scaled the guard rail and ran to the rear of the vehicle, hoping the passengers' attention was focused on the bowmen ahead.

He kept his head low as he followed the car's side forward.

"Stop that!" The voice came from the car.

Leo froze.

A shot rang.

For a moment, Leo froze in shock. Then he peered through the window next to him. The boy was an arm's length away, looking ahead. The gun's barrel pointed through the hole in the windshield.

Hawk and Bolt still peeked over the rock they hid behind—the boy must have missed.

Angry and ignoring the risks, Leo took a step forward, to the front of the car, seized the barrel of the weapon. The metal was hot to the touch, but he ignored it and tugged hard.

The boy held on to his weapon, but he let go with a yell when Leo pulled his hand against the jagged rim of the glass.

Lacking ammunition, Leo had never shot one, but Hammer had shown him how they worked. He seized it by its handle, put his finger on the trigger, and pointed it at the two passengers. "Hey, get out, both of you."

The young man glared and nursed his hand.

"Don't give me an excuse to shoot you, asshole." For a moment, Leo wondered if he'd do it. Killing a man with a gun felt so easy—just a twitch of your finger.

The gater glowered at Leo once more, then he opened the door on his side and got out, keeping his eyes on the pistol while doing so. He held his hands away from his body, at chest height.

The woman in the car didn't move. She was staring at the dead man next to her.

"Hey bitch, you too."

The girl's bland face made Leo doubt she had understood. But then she moved out of the car to join her companion.

There they stood, the two Gaters. The people who had killed his wife. And now they had shot Flora.

The guy broad-shouldered, tight-jawed, his hands clenched into fists, moved himself in front of the girl as if to protect her.

His whole stance shouted a challenge. A challenge that Leo would be more than happy to accept.

But this was not the time to fool around. He pointed the gun at the man's stomach, at the point where the bullet had hit Flora. "Listen, and listen carefully, and don't give me no shit. I'll only say this once. If you do what I say, I might not kill you."

He moved the gun's nozzle towards the woman. "That applies to you, too."

She bit her lip and nodded.

"And now, we'll—"

He was interrupted by the guy barreling into him.