Story & Characters © 2010 by Peter W. Mitsopoulos  

                Illustrations by Jana Pivkova

                      Chapter Nine of Ten

                     Nemesis in the Night

     Throwing herself to the ground, Linda lay as flat as she could.  An instant later, another bullet sliced through the space where she had just been standing.  Dozens of shots were now whizzing overhead.  To her right, Hanover and Samantha were lying beside her, Sam’s fingers digging into the soil in fright.

     To the left, Linda saw that one of the young men with a rifle hadn’t gotten down fast enough.  A bullet had caught him in the temple.  He lay limply on his face, his weapon beside him.

     “Shut off the flashlights!” shouted the Dauntless. “Return fire!”

     Grabbing the rifle, Linda worked the bolt and pointed the muzzle into the darkness.  She remembered that her father had always said to hold your breath and squeeze the trigger.  Don’t jerk on it.

     With nothing to aim at, she let a round fly into the jungle.  Hanover was pumping shots in the same direction with his pistol.  The men with rifles were blasting away on the other side.  The idea was no different from their enemy’s.  Throw out as much lead as they could and hope they got lucky.  After her next shot, she heard a scream and immediately fired two more toward the sound.  Hanover followed her example with his pistol and a different voice bellowed in pain.

     “Think we bloody well nailed a pair,” said the Englishman.  “I also think it’s time to cease fire.”

     “Why?” demanded Linda.  “If we just killed a couple, we may have the advantage.”

     “Because B.D. is out among them now and we don’t want to hit him.”