I moved slightly to the right and ducked my head, letting the blade go past me and bringing up my left hand for an uppercut that snapped his teeth shut and took him to the floor once again. Hodges’ eyes narrowed as he scrambled to his feet again.
I spun my knife on my hand, waiting for him to make another move. He looked at my blade and realized I was playing with him, that I could kill at my leisure. His eyes darted to the rifle on the floor. He suddenly threw the knife at me and dove for the gun. I ducked as the blade went harmlessly past me to clatter against the far wall and struck out with a viscous kick to his ribs just as he bent down to pick up the fallen weapon.
Hodges’ face twisted in pain as one, probably two, ribs snapped from my kick. He hit the wall heavily and sank, holding his side as tears leaked out of his closed eyes.
“Just finish me, you shit. You’ll never get us all. You and your friends are as good as dead.” He was game to the end, I had to give him that. Hodges grabbed the rifle from the floor and as he swung it up to fire, I lunged forward and drove my knife deep into his chest, coming up under the sternum and severing his heart. Hodges’ face twisted in fresh pain, then relaxed as death pulled his soul from him.
I drew my knife out and looked into his lifeless eyes. As I wiped off his blood, I couldn’t help but wonder why I didn’t feel anything about killing this man. Maybe it was because he was trying to kill me. But I felt nothing, not good, not bad, nothing. It was almost like I was just doing a job, something that needed to be done. It was strange and I would have to reflect on it further, but I had two more men to kill.
I checked the hallway to see if anyone had heard our scuffle, but it seemed like no one had. Moving into the hall, I slid along the wall and spared a glance into the next open door. This office was bigger, with three desks and a partition. A man was seated again at the window and another was sitting in an office chair, leaning back and watching the other man fire at the building next door. His rifle was across his lap, waiting its turn to try and kill my friends.
I looked at my knife and considered my options, then sheathed it. I had no more time for theatrics and my side and head still hurt like hell. I pulled my SIG and walked right into the room, coming up behind the reclining man. I aimed at the junction of his neck and shoulder and fired, sending a round down into his chest and obliterating his heart.
As his companion died, the one at the window spun around at the shot, bringing his rifle around to try and get it into play. I didn’t waste time and pumped three rounds into his chest and abdomen, killing him instantly. He slumped down under the window as blood flowed out of his wounds.
I moved back to the hallway and waited, making sure these were the last men in the building. I heard nothing and saw no one new, I wanted to send a message back to the rest of the men still firing on my friends. I could hear the shots and fortunately, I could hear return fire coming from the Post Office. I went down the hall to the furthest office and stepped inside, quickly scanning for threats. The big window on the back wall looked out over the road and across the street. I had a good view of the attacker’s position and as I checked for opposition, I could see two men at an upstairs window. They were using a pretty good method of firing. One would shoot then duck, while the other would wait for return fire and then open up. I’d have to remember that one.
The good news was no one from the other position could see that the men in this building had been taken out. They’d figure it out in a bit when no one from this building fired on the Post Office. The better news was the fools in the far building were hiding behind cinder block walls. They were going to get lively in a hurry.
I opened the big window about three inches and settled down with my back to a desk. From my angle I could just make out the second floor of the opposing building. I was four feet back from the window, so it was going to be difficult to figure out where the shots were coming from. I liked their method, maybe they’d like mine. I lifted my heavy rifle and flicked off the safety, getting a sight picture with the rear peep sight.
As I was about to try my luck I got a weird surprise. Suddenly one of the men yelled something to someone behind him and then there were three men in the window. The new man kept his rifle on the Post Office, while the other two aimed their guns down the street past the building I was in. I had no clue what they were aiming at, but I wasn’t going to ask this gift horse to smile.
Just as they fired, I opened up, pumping two rounds at each man. The heavy bullets thudded through them both, knocking one back and bouncing the other off the window frame, sending him tumbling to the ground below. I didn’t see if he got up, as I was firing at the third man in the window. My aim was off and I hit him in the head instead of the chest where I wanted. A crimson mist spread out behind his head on the far wall as a new hole opened up in his face. He slumped down without firing a single return shot.
I kept my gun on the building, but didn’t see anyone else. By this time I figured Nate and company had their guns at the ready as well, so I decided it was okay to evacuate the premises. I pulled a garbage bag out of one of the cans and quickly stripped the dead men of their ammo and weapons. We didn’t need the guns, but the ammo was useful and maybe we could trade the guns for something later.
I glanced over at the Post Office and quickly jerked my head back as a bullet went screaming past my ear. I shook my head at my stupidity and decided to try another method of communication.
I worked my way back to the front of the building to retrieve Gina, but she was nowhere to be seen. Stepping out into the daylight, I looked around and saw nothing. She must have bugged out when she had the opportunity. Can’t say I blamed her.
I went around the south end of the building and as I turned the corner, there was a renewed burst of firing from the Post Office. Across the street I heard a gasping scream, then a sickening thud, like someone else had dropped out the window. I guess Tommy or Duncan’s patience had been rewarded. Cool.
I stayed behind cover and yelled out. “Don’t shoot, you crazy bastards!” I waited for a minute, then got a reply.
“Step out and keep your hands where I can see them! Twitch and I’ll blow you to hell!”
That would be Tommy. It was nice to see he was still alive. I put my hands around the corner first, then followed them. I couldn’t help but grin like a damn fool when I heard, “John? Jesus H. Christ! John!”
Tommy was leaning out a window with Duncan providing backup when he saw me. Both men ducked inside and a second later came barreling out of the back door of the Post Office. I wrapped the two of them up in a bear hug, glad as all get out to see they were still alive.
Tommy grinned at me with tears in his eyes. “When I saw you go down, I didn’t know what to think. Nate gunned the RV forward to try and protect you, but they were shooting from so many places we had to get away. How in Jesus did you survive?”
I shifted so they could see the pocket and blown magazine. I pointed at my skull as Duncan whistled and shook his head. “Don’t do that again, man. Don’t ever do that again.” His own eyes were wet and he wrapped me up in another hug.
I had to admit, my own eyes were misty, as I thought about not seeing these guys again. They were as much my brothers as my own blood and meant as much to me.
Looking over the two of them, I saw they hadn’t escaped injury. Tommy had a nasty burn on his neck that was going to take some tending to and Duncan had a crude bandage on his forearm.
“Let’s get out of the open. There’s still a couple of these fuckers to deal with,” I said as I went over to the open door.
I walked in and saw Janna seated on some bags of undelivered mail. She smiled when she saw me, but I could see she was still worried for her friend. Maybe she was worried about lying to us and leading us to an ambush that nearly got me killed, but I could be wrong. I went up to the front counter, where Nate was still holding vigil against the other building. There hadn’t been any firing for a while, but it took one oversight to get you killed these days.