Keryn sat across the table from him, her pistol free from its holster and smoke rolling from its barrel. He turned his head, opening his other eye, and watched Cardax’s crewman stagger as red blood flowed freely from a bullet hole in his chest. He finally collapsed into a chair at a nearby table, which broke under his weight. His body floundering, he finally came to rest on the floor amid the wreckage of the wooden seat and lay still. Complete silence permeated the room as the patrons looked back and forth from the body to the two armed soldiers in the booth, Adam finally getting his rifle free from his coat. In unison, the bar erupted into chaos as patrons stampeded for the door as Cardax and his men drew their weapons.
“Get out of the booth, now!” Keryn screamed as gunfire erupted and the back of the booth above her head disappeared under a volley of bullets and shattering wood.
Keryn leapt from the bench, skidding across the dirty floor until she found herself partially concealed behind a table. Kicking the closest table legs, she flipped it down until it was able to provide some cover to the incoming volley of rounds. She had taken a quick inventory of the room as she was moving to better cover and knew that she and Adam were outnumbered nearly six to one. She didn’t like the odds, but she’d been in worse situations.
Adam leaned around the destroyed booth wall and fired his rifle. Flames jumped from the front of the barrel as its slugs tore into one of Cardax’s men who had jumped down from one of the stools. The force of the blast sent him tumbling over the bar, smashing through the discarded glasses and bottles. Adam quickly returned to what remained of the booth as they started firing again.
“What happened to stealth?” Adam yelled to Keryn as he fired a couple more rounds at the bar.
“Shut up and keep firing!” she yelled back as she reloaded her pistol. The table that she was behind was quickly being torn to pieces. She recoiled as a large hole appeared near her head and she was pelted with shards of destroyed wood. Someone at the bar had a large caliber rifle and was using it to demolish the poorly crafted furniture in the middle of the room.
“Shoot them,” Cardax screamed angrily as he flipped over a table of his own and took cover.
Keryn bolted from behind her table and ran for the booths on the far side of the room, firing wildly at the bar as she did. After the first couple crewmen had died, the others had wisely joined Cardax behind tables and the bar itself, using the furniture for cover. Most of her rounds went wide anyway as she ran, striking the wall and shattering liquor bottles, but it kept her enemies suppressed behind their tables while she was exposed. Diving into one of the booths, the gunfire quickly returned.
She could hear the roar of Adam’s modified rifle and knew that he was still fighting, though she knew that things were about to get worse for the two of them. Neither one had been in a good position to start a gunfight nor had their defensive positions improved after they became separated. If they didn’t find a way out of the bar soon, neither of them would walk out of the bar alive. To emphasize her concern, the large caliber rifle fired again, this time removing a significant section of the booth wall behind which she had taken cover.
Counting the bursts of gunfire, Keryn waited until the automatic rifles stopped firing as they reloaded, then leaned back around the booth. Her first round struck one of the riflemen as he reloaded, her shot hitting him in his shoulder and sending him spinning. Her second shot struck the same rifleman in the spine as he turned around, dropping him limply to the floor. As the other rifleman brought his machine gun to bear, she jerked back behind cover.
“Kill them both,” Cardax yelled through the din of gunfire. “If you want on my crew, you will bring me both their heads!”
Keryn dropped the magazine from her pistol and counted the bullets she had left. She grimaced as she realized she only had five shots left in this magazine and only one more full magazine on her belt. At the rate they were going, she would be out of ammo long before they were out of enemies. She glanced across the room at Adam. Through the haze of smoke and gunfire, she could see him huddled against what remained of the booth, crouched down under cover as he reloaded his rifle. His sneer reflected her feelings: they were in trouble.
Behind the bar, the bartender stood with his large caliber rifle; the other three men crouched near the liquor cabinet quietly cheered him on as they reloaded. He took aim at the rightmost booth, the one behind which the woman was hiding. Though the man with the rifle on the left had done more damage to the building, it was the accuracy of the woman’s pistol that had killed more of the men. He tucked the stock of the rifle firmly beneath his arm and took aim. Motion from the corner of his eye made him hesitate and he spun to the end of the bar. Standing there, looking worn and tired, stood an Avalon, his wings tattered and dingy. The bartender vaguely remembered the Avalon drinking at the bar before the gunfight began and was surprised that he hadn’t fled with the rest of the patrons.
“Get your ass down unless you want it shot off,” he growled at the Avalon, who looked up him with an emotionless face. “Are you deaf?” the bartender snarled, leaning toward the Avalon who stood rigid beside the bar. “I told you to get down!”
The Avalon’s hand shot out. The pale anemic fingers elongated as he struck, transforming into a jet black hand ending in razor sharp claws. His clawed fingers pierced through the bartender’s throat and severed the artery in the man’s neck. Blue blood poured from the bartender’s neck, spraying the bottles behind him and pooling on the floor at his feet. With a gurgle, he stumbled into the liquor cabinet behind him, pulling down bottles as he fell. Collapsing onto the floor, the three surprised gunmen behind the bar turned toward the new threat.
With his other hand, the Avalon pulled free his automatic pistol and began firing at the crewmen. The three crewmen who had chosen to hide with the bartender tried to run for cover, but the bullets tore through their surprised bodies and shredded through the wooden bar. Their bodies danced under the assault of rounds until the Avalon stopped firing and dropping for cover on the far side of the crescent bar.
Cardax turned as his men were executed behind the bar. Howling in rage, he turned and began firing at the hiding Avalon, his bullets gouging the top of the bar above the tips of the dingy wings. “They’re behind us, too,” Cardax yelled in frustration. “Kill that one too!”
Keryn watched from around the booth as Cardax’s men turned and began firing at the stooped Avalon who had taken cover once again. While the Avalon remained trapped by a hail of gunfire, two of Cardax’s men moved around the edge of the bar in order to trap the new assailant. The Avalon caught Keryn’s eye and he smiled wickedly.
“Now!” the Avalon yelled in a gravelly, familiar voice.
Keryn stepped out from behind the booth and opened fire on the two men moving toward Penchant. The first of the two men dropped, a round striking him firmly between the shoulder blades. Her second shot struck the other man in the small of the back, tearing through his body and leaving an exit wound the size of a fist in his stomach. He stared in horror as blood and organs began seeping from the gaping wound. The man tried taking a step forward, but slipped in his own blood and tumbled from his feet. He didn’t get back up.
Adam ran from behind his booth and launched himself over the closest overturned table, landing next to a surprised Uligart who had been using it for cover. He swung the barrel of his rifle down like a hammer, striking the Uligart’s face with the smoldering hot metal. The man dropped his pistol and collapsed to the floor, clutching his burned face. Adam continued the momentum of his swing until the barrel pointed ahead once more, aiming at a man who had leapt from behind a nearby booth. Pulling the trigger, the large caliber bullet tore into the side of the man’s head, spraying the wall behind him with blood and fragments of skull. The man dropped quickly to the ground and twitched violently; his motor controls destroyed by the explosive round.