When Joel woke up this morning he was hopeful that today would be a quiet day. Or at least quieter than it had been recently.
He at least expected to be alone.
That was before the shouted threats.
And the gunshots.
And the explosion.
As the dust settled around him, Joel tried to shake his fuzzy head clear. The blast had knocked him onto his front; he now turned and lay on his back. He breathed deeply, trying to get as much oxygen into his lungs as possible. He looked up and could see the sky in between the slowly clearing dust and debris where previously there had been a roof. It took him a second or two to process what had just happened. He lay still for a moment to do a mental check of his body - there were no broken bones although his normal hearing had been replaced by a steady white noise tone.
As he came to his senses he sat up and looked intently at the door in front of him - it was still bolted shut.
Good.
He then looked around for his rifle. Spotting the barrel sticking out from under some wood that had came down from roof when it had exploded moments earlier. He dragged himself on his knees and over to it as quickly as he could. With each second that passed his head cleared more and he realised that his hearing had started to return to normal.
The first muffled noise he heard was a shout from outside.
"You still alive in there stranger?"
I knew these guys were going to be trouble. He thought to himself.
Outwardly he didn't answer. What would be the point ? He had already tried talking. Nothing good had come out of it and now that time had most definitely passed. Besides, if they didn't know if he was alive or dead he might buy himself a few precious seconds.