Any War but This One
three: Gunshots in the basement.
Hobbes eased himself down the wooden basement steps, cursing the noises the rickety boards made under his feet. The shooting had ceased and the basement was eerily silent, devoid even of the rumbling of the furnace, and pitch dark. The power had been cut, probably during his argument with Sarah, and in the daylight lit kitchen, he hadn't noticed. Hobbes swore silently.
His eyes were just beginning to adjust to the darkness when he saw it lunging at him, a knife in one hand. He got off one useless shot, before the soldier knocked his gun away and slashed its blade at him. Hobbes made a grab for the soldier's wrist, nearly losing a finger for his efforts, then jumped back out of the way of the next slice. He hit the stair rail and heard the splintering of wood right before he went through, crashing onto a pile of cardboard boxes.
The soldier jumped down after him, knocking the breath out of him when it landed astride him. Hobbes managed a solid two handed hold on the soldier's forearm this time and struggled to force the weapon away from his throat.
Off in another corner of the basement he could hear shouting and toppling furniture. Then, much closer, the basement door slammed open.
"Kyle!" BANG!
The bullet grazed the soldier's shoulder and pinged off the floor a few inches from Hobbes' head. The soldier lurched off of him and stalked around the staircase to take out the more immediate threat of the human with a gun.
Hobbes scrambled to his feet and fumbled around in the dark to find his gun.
"Sarah!" he shouted, hands still skimming the concrete floor searching for his weapon. "Sarah! For fuck's sake, shoot it!" Why hadn't he heard any more shots? "Goddammit, shoot it already!"
Sarah unloaded the rest of the clip. The soldier toppled backwards down the stairs, nearly landing on Hobbes, who'd finally located his gun. He shot two more bullets into the soldier's head for good measure before rushing up to meet Sarah.
Her silhouette was hunched. One arm was extended to grasp the railing; the other was wrapped around her middle. Her breathing was labored.
Hobbes grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. "The hell did you think you were doing?" he shouted. "I told you to go!"
At first, Sarah said nothing. Then she made a low whining noise and pitched forward into Hobbes. "Kyle," she murmured, "I think I'm bleeding… it got me… even though I shot it… Kyle…"
Hobbes caught her. Blood was seeping through her t-shirt.
"Jack!" Hobbes hollered into the dark. He wasn't even sure the priest was alive. "Jack! Little help up here!"
"Hobbes?" The laundry room door opened and the narrow tunnel of light created by a flashlight peered out. "Hobbes, is everything alright?" The beam from the flashlight darted around the basement, trying to find him.
"Erica, where's Jack?" Hobbes grunted and shifted Sarah's weight so he could carry her up the stairs.
"In here with me. We barricaded the door… and then it got stuck. Are you all right? Is the soldier gone?"
"It's dead."
A/N: see you next week!