Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

weak. “I’m up, I’m up. What the hell? What are those explosions?” I got slowly to my feet, using Peter’s strong grip for support.
    “We need to go. You have to get on the top of the truck and hold on.”
    “What?” I said, wondering if I was still in la-la land and not completely understanding.
    Peter sighed heavily. “We don’t have room in the truck with all the injured people. Able-bodied kids on top. Hold onto the luggage rack. Go! Scoot!”
    I ignored his orders and squinted at some movement I saw in the distance, at the far southeast section of the canner house.
    It was Paci. He was running around the corner of the yard, coming from the oceanside entrance of the mansion, yelling as he went. “Go! Go! Get out of here!”
    A shot rang out and he stumbled, falling into the high weeds at his feet.
    I gasped and Winky screamed. She jumped off the roof of the truck, and both of us took off sprinting in his direction, heedless of the source of the gunfire. My lungs were burning with the effort as the distance seemed to stretch out in front of me. I had lost a lot of blood and my energy was at an all-time low.
    Paci got up, glancing back over his shoulder, his hand gripping his right thigh while blood ran down the side of his pants. He looked towards us again and yelled, “No! Get back! They’re coming!” He half-limped, half-ran his way to the truck.
    Winky reached him first, throwing her shoulder under his armpit to help him along. I kept going, stopping once I was at their backs, facing the direction of the corner from where he’d come. A split second later, a gun came around the corner, in advance of the person holding it.
    “Get down!” I yelled.
    Winky and Paci dove to the ground. I crouched down, waiting for the approach of the canner. I knew I didn’t have enough time to get there and confront him in hand-to-hand combat, so chances were I was going to be shot any second. All I could think about was how I wished my dad had been able to teach me how to dodge a speeding bullet.
    The canner came flying out into the open, tackled from behind by someone he obviously wasn’t expecting. His gun left his hands, launched into the air by the unanticipated attack, quickly coming down to earth to be lost in the weeds.
    I ran again towards the canner, realizing as I got closer it was Rob who had done the tackling and was now facing off against him. I was still too far away to get there to help, and the loss of blood and earlier fight with Dave had made it hard for me to go as fast as I wanted. My vision blurred and I saw two of each of them. I fell to the ground and scrambled in the weeds to get back on my feet.
    I saw Rob being choked and then nearly burst with pride when his hands come up and blasted the canner’s grip away. He smashed the guy with palm thrusts and then an elbow to the face, blasting him over and over. The guy bent in half to try and duck the blows, and Rob took easy advantage of it, kneeing him in the chest four times before kicking him in the balls. He finished him off with an upper cut and then stomped him mercilessly into the ground with the heel of his foot.
    I jogged over and was soon close enough to see that Rob had kicked the animal into unconsciousness. I recognized him from his battered, slack-jawed profile - it was Brick, the butcher of children. I wished I had a gun with me right then to end his miserable existence on this earth, but I didn’t - and we had no time to try and find the one in the weeds nearby. I grabbed Rob’s arm and pulled on it. “Come on, Rob. We have to go.”
    He spun around, his hands up in ready fighting stance. It took a couple seconds for him to recognize me and realize I wasn’t a threat. He dropped his arms and his eyes fell on my arm. “Nokosi, you’re hurt,” he said, taking a step towards me with his hand out, as if to take my arm for me.
    “Yeah. But we’re going to be worse if we don’t get the hell out of here.” I turned westward, back towards our vehicle. “Truck’s waiting. Let’s go.” Another explosion came from the front of the house, not far from where we were standing, causing me to duck involuntarily. Fire was coming from the former front entrance of the mansion, and black smoke was billowing out and rising up into the sky. Even the heavy rain that was falling now wasn’t going to be enough to stop this inferno.
    Rob and I held hands and ran back to the truck together, Rob holding me up under my shoulder the last