The Calling of Time

Meeting Manda

I dove for the gun, picking it up and pointing it at the soldiers, hands shaking. The man who had dropped it laughed at me. “Safety’s on, girl. But I bet you don’t know how to turn it off. Why don’t you just put it down now? Give it here.”

He was right, I had no clue how to turn the safety off. Hell, I didn’t even know where the safety was. My gaze flicked from the cold metal gun in my hand to the sight of Jai sprawled out on the dirty cement floor. He was so still. Why wasn’t he moving? He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t drive us here in the middle of the town and then just die, leaving me here with these people.

It was a selfish though, but I couldn’t help it.  “There’s no way I’m giving this back to you.” I tossed the gun onto one of the shelves behind me and stooped down to pick the scythe up. “You’ll have to come get it.” My hands were shaking, so I wrapped them more tightly around the handle of the blade. They had to have more guns, right? They were soldiers. Was I being really stupid challenging them like this?

“Just shoot her,” the gunless soldier glared at hawk-faced man. “Pull out your gun and…” he reached for his companion’s hip and grunted when hawk face elbowed him away.

“Get off me. She’s just a little girl. Thanatos…”

“He can deal with her later. And she's not a little girl. He’ll understand…” the soldier gestured at me, “she’s dangerous.”

I wasn’t listening to them anymore. They weren’t aware of it, but there was someone approaching the gas station, walking at a slow, careful pace towards us. The soldiers had their backs to the windows, obviously totally confident that no one would challange them.

I got a good look at the new person while they were arguing.

It was a woman. She had short, stringy brown hair and sharp, pale features. Her face was set in determination. She was dressed in dirty blue jeans and a leather jacket. She stepped through the door of the gas station, and even though she was wearing combat boots, she was very very quiet. She carried something in both hands, and when she got closer I could see it was a shot gun.

I was still staring at her when she shook her head at me, and I flicked my gaze away from her quickly, suddenly scared I would give away her position. She was coming to help me, wasn’t she? She had to be.

“Alright,” Hawk-face was saying patiently. Just put down the blade, okay? Thanatos really isn’t that bad of a guy, you’ll like him.”

The stocky red-headed soldier snorted, and Hawk-face shot him a look. “You’re not helping things.”

I couldn’t help it, my eyes were drawn back to the woman as she got closer. I don’t know what I expected her to do. Maybe warn them to stand back, or tell them to leave before she shot them. She didn’t do either. She stopped several feet away from them, leveled the shot gun and squeezed the trigger.

A thunderous crack echoed around the room. Hawk-face’s body jerked, and he looked down at himself in shock. There was a fist sized, bloody hole in his stomach, and dark liquid began to leach into the rest of his shirt. He clutched at the wound and then slumped over sideways, face white and slack.

The soldiers turned around just as the woman pumped the shotgun again and leveled the barrel at them. One soldier dove for Hawk-face’s gun, grabbing it from his friend’s holster. To my shock the red-headed soldier went for me.

Later, when I thought about it, I realized he could have been going for the gun on the shelf behind me. Either way, it didn’t matter. Panic moved me, and I brought the scythe up, flailing wildly at him. There was a meaty sounding thunk as the blade bit into the soldier’s shoulder, and the vibration went up both my arms. He fell back screaming, clutching his arm, blood bubbling from between his fingers.