Whumptober+ Short Stories - Volume 2

Prompt 4 - Human Shield

Running across the field with the others not far behind him, Saige focused on keeping an eye on the man ahead of them. For some reason, the guy had stopped moving a few seconds back, and was now standing still. Hopefully that didn't mean he had a plan.

"Elek!" Came Cove's voice from behind, yelling at their target. "Come on, man! This is crazy!" Saige shook his head; the kid didn't really get what was going on yet, apparently. As they got closer, however, he could see that Cove's words had been heard, as Elek turned and looked at them over his shoulder.

He also saw the gun in the guy's hand, and immediately wished with everything in him that they hadn't run out so far into the open.

"Get down! He's armed!" Saige yelled to his comrades. As he spoke, Elek turned around and raised the weapon in front of him, taking careful aim. A split second later, the gun went off with a bang. Saige had already hit the ground by this point, but he looked up at the sound of a sharp cry from somewhere behind him. Looking back, he barely saw the look of shock on Cove's face as the bullet hit before the kid collapsed.

"Cove!"

Glancing back briefly at Elek, Saige began making his way over to his fallen comrade, inching across the ground on his stomach to avoid posing a target. Ahead of him, Danica was already there. "It's his leg!" She said as Saige reached them. "The bullet went clean through it!" Saige was about to answer when he was interrupted by Gavriel's urgent voice. "Here he comes!"

Back across the field, Elek had started toward the small group, gun still in hand. Saige frowned, then glanced over at Rever. "D'you still have your handgun?" He asked. Rever nodded, drawing the aforementioned weapon from its holster. The others, seeing this, followed suit. Saige glanced around briefly, then back at Cove. They only really had one option here.

He took it.

Gesturing for his comrades to follow him, the young leader scrambled to his feet, running towards Elek with his own weapon at the ready. On either side of him, Rever, Gavriel, and Danica kept pace, all of them having somehow fully understood the entire situation in a second. As Elek stopped and raised his gun again, Saige nodded. "Take him out!" He yelled.

Back in the centre of the field, Cove had never seen so many people go down so quickly before.