Free A New World: Return by John O'Brien Page B

runners adjacent to it and more following.   I immediately open fire on the closest one.   The solid thuds of high speed steel impacting flesh and bone are subdued beneath the echoing crack of the rounds being fired.   I catch the one in mid-leap across the chest causing it to somersault in mid-air, crashing heavily into the shelf in front of it from its forward momentum.   Strobes flash behind me as Robert opens up on others.   I flinch as his barrel fires close to my ears causing them to ring loudly.
    “They’re on the shelves!”   I yell out.
    The night runners are converging on Horace’s group in the aisle who are quickly making their way to the entrance end but the night runners are going to be on them before they make it.   Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement down the lane towards the back of the store coming into the cones of light from Gonzalez and McCafferty.   More emerge from the hallway entrance on the left side, crossing the lane and light quickly before heading down the aisle across.   More shots ring out as both women engage an increasing number of emerging night runners.   Temporal distortion sets in.
    Gonzalez and McCafferty kneel on the floor on opposite sides of the lane.   Night runners fall as they run into the light painted towards them but more replace those fallen.   Rounds strike some of those coming out of the hallway entrance and they pitch forward headlong, disappearing down the aisle behind the shelves.   Some fall there with only their feet extending into the lane.   I notice some continue to move slowly, crawling down the aisle, signifying they are only injured.   The sound of gunfire is continuous as we fight back the sudden rush of the horde.   Robert and I are concentrating on the ones leaping across the shelves, Gonzalez and McCafferty focus on the ones on the ground.
    Steel fills the air as we attempt to hold them back.   Gray bodies seem a solid mass as our light picks them up.   Blood sprays from many and they fall or are driven backwards but they are quickly over-trodden by many more behind them.   As we reload, magazines clatter across the linoleum where once only shopping carts rolled.   The rapid and constant sound of spent cartridge rounds clink as the floor quickly fills with brass.   Strobes fill the air, momentarily outshining the light from our flashlights.   My hearing is now completely gone on the left side but I don’t notice the ringing.   Adrenaline and focus have taken over.
    The night runners quickly close the gap on Horace’s team and on us because of their numbers and how close they were to us when they started.   Blue Team is running with their rifles pointed left, unable to see anything over the shelf beside them.   Anxious and knowing they are about to be beset upon yet unable to do anything about it.   I know that feeling.   It is a feeling that makes you sick at heart; a very desperate, lonely and out of control feeling.   The first night runner leaps on the shelf next to them and slams into the trailing member.
    With the strong smell of gunpowder hanging in the air, I see a night runner leap from the shelf and hit a Blue Team member from behind, both of them falling to the ground.   He lets out a surprised shout as he falls face forward with the night runner on his back.   The light from his flashlight spins as his rifle hits the ground with a clatter, coming to rest ahead of him against the shelf.   My light illuminates the night runner’s back as it bends forward and its hands flail wildly as it begins clawing at the fallen soldier.   I would take the shot but I don’t want to risk hitting the team member, and other members of Corporal Horace’s team are in my line of fire should a bullet go all of the way through.   The Blue member screams again as fingernails and teeth begin to find their mark.   He twists and turns in an attempt to throw the night runner off his back but the creature is too well situated for