Read The Forge of Darkness (Darkness After Series Book 3) for Free Online Page B

diving for cover with him and David. They had run there from where he’d left them, Lisa with her 10/22 carbine in her hands and Stacy still carrying the axe.
    “What are you two doing? I told you to stay put!”
    “We couldn’t stay back there with all this shooting going on,” Lisa said. “It sounded like you needed help.” She looked at David. “Where’s Tommy?”
    “He’s been shot, Lisa!” Benny said. “I’ve got to get him over here without getting shot myself in the process.”
    Lisa looked to where Benny pointed and saw Tommy lying there. As she did, gasping in shock, Benny glanced at her little 10/22 and got an idea. It had a 30-round magazine and it was a semi-automatic. It might have only a fraction of the stopping power of their adversary’s weapon, but rapid firepower would come in handy for what he had in mind.
    “Listen here, Lisa. If you want to help, here’s what you can do. When David and I get ready to go and I give the word, you open up with your rifle and keep up a steady rate of fire against that hillside; not too fast, but just steady. We don’t know exactly where that feller is, but if you just keep shooting that way maybe you can keep his head down so he can’t shoot us. We’ll run out there and drag Tommy back over here just as fast as we can. Do you think you can do that?”
    “Of course I can, Uncle Benny. But wouldn’t it be better if you did the shooting and the three of us went to get Tommy?”
    “I might be old, young lady, but I’m plenty fast enough when I need to be. And besides, if anyone else is gonna get shot trying to get my boy back, it ought to be me. I hate for David to take the risk too but I am not going to put you two in that kind of danger. I ain’t planning to get shot though because I’ve got to get Tommy and then I got a feller to hunt down just as soon as I do! Now let’s not waste anymore time! David, I’m ready to go when you are!”

    * * *

    Lisa Henley tried to spot anything that looked like a person hiding on the wooded slope across the road, but nothing moved. She aimed her rifle at a stump for the first round and figured she would just shoot randomly all around the area and hope she was getting close. Like Uncle Benny said, at least if whoever it was over there thought he was under fire, maybe he would keep his head down and not try to shoot back at the same time.  
    When Benny said ‘Go!’ Lisa pulled the trigger and methodically fired round after round as she saw him and David out of the corner of her eye, scrambling low until they got to either side of Tommy and reached down to grab him under his arms. Lisa knew it was up to her to keep them covered, so she kept firing, trying to pace it so that she wouldn’t empty the magazine before they had Tommy back. The two of them worked quickly so it only took a few seconds. When they were back behind the trees, Lisa stopped shooting and turned to look at Tommy.
    What she saw was horrible. Poor Tommy’s wool shirt was completely soaked with blood and he was trying to say something but couldn’t seem to even breathe well, much less talk. Uncle Benny was bent over him, trying to wipe away the blood to find his wound and stop him from bleeding to death. David was looking on, wide-eyed and confused, completely at a loss as to what to do. He and Uncle Benny both had bloody hands from moving Tommy, and it looked to Lisa like there was so much blood poor Tommy was bound to die. She glanced back at the empty woods across the road, wondering where the awful person who shot him was now. She wished she could see him to get a clear shot, but there had been no return fire either during or after her fusillade of bullets. She glanced at the clear plastic magazine and saw that she still had two rounds left. She had fired 23 in all then. She removed the magazine and began reloading it from the stash of loose rounds she carried in the pocket of her jeans.  
    “Lisa, you and Stacy need to get back to the