The Sky Beneath Us (on hold)

SIXTEEN

Day 28. 05:38.

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It was the rapid gunfire that woke Avery up. He darted out of bed, hurriedly throwing his strewn clothes onto his naked body. Becca jumped up after him.

"What's happening Avery?" she asked groggily as she pulled her sweater over her head.

"I don't know, shit, where's my boots?" he demanded, searching rapidly around the room in the semi-light. More gunfire, and return gunfire. Closer this time. Avery's rifle was in his own shack - the very direction the chaos was coming from.

He grabbed his boots, laced them up as fast as he could. They were on too tight, cutting into his ankles, but Avery didn't care. There were more important things at hand.

"Becca, go...go to the pantry. Hide, find safety, whatever. Just get outta here, ok?" he shouted, voice shaky.

Becca hesitated, her hands on her head in total panic.

"OK, Becca?"

"Ok...ok..." she whispered. Giving him one last pained look, she ran out through the canvas. Avery followed, sprinting in the opposite direction.

The source of the gunfire came from the front gate. Richard, Sid and three other Fighters were firing down the tunnel at unknown assailants. Return fire cut down one man, a middle-aged former civil servant named Liam. His death cry was unheard in all the commotion. Somewhere near Sadie's hospital, the emergency alarm sounded - a droning siren they had recovered from a hurricane shelter. Its wails vibrated throughout the entire Settlement.

Avery ran into his own shack, grabbing his rusted rifle from under the bed and loading it as fast as he could. From a storage crate, he retrieved a blood-red revolver and six bullets - given to him by Joseph as a gift, or bribe, it wasn't important right now.

Leaving his shack and heading at top speed towards the wall, Avery reluctantly launched himself into battle.

***

In the circular meeting area, Joseph stood on the wooden podium, directing people to the council chambers, where they had an emergency exit to the back of The Settlement. In all the noise, some scared citizens headed towards the pantry - whether to hide or to steal food in the mass panic. Joseph stepped down shakily from the podium, hobbling as fast as he could on his walking stick towards them. Agatha tried to run alongside him, her pleas unheard.

Nearby, Clark and Lorcan were attempting to take up arms to defend the town. One of the Fighters, Pam, was recruiting some of the other Builders and Runners that were determined to fight, but simply had no weapons to do so. Ben ran up to Joseph, hammer in hand.

"Dad, what are you doing? Get out the emergency exit, you and mom, now, get out!" he called, waving his arms and shouting into Joseph's face. Joseph pushed him back, almost losing his balance in the process, and ignored Agatha's desperate tugs on his thick cotton sweater.

Ben fell back, face concerned.

"Dad..."

BOOM.

A large explosion tore through The Settlement's jail, sending chunks of rock and debris crashing into fleeing people. The noise of the blast drowned out both the alarm and the gunfire as Joseph's ears rung painfully. Pam and her militia force ran over straight away as multiple men and women climbed in through the massive hole in the wall. It was then in that moment that Joseph saw who they were fighting against.

***

The explosion behind Richard was nothing but bad news. Abandoning the gate, he was forced to fall back as the psychopaths advanced. Some carried handheld weapons like blades, bats and poles. Others, the smarter ones, had the guns. Who knew where they even found the damn things.