Free Landfall by Dawn Lee McKenna Page B

enervated by the promise of the new arrival. He had been walking around the main room without purpose, occasionally stopping to check his phone, get a drink of water, or watch the storm out the kitchen window.
    Maggie purposefully and with great effort kept her breathing slow and even, and kept her butt in her chair and her arms back, though every instinct but the smart ones pushed her to leap from her chair.
    What she wished was for the man to go to the bathroom, go anywhere that would give her half a chance at getting to one of her guns on the kitchen counter. But she knew that she would be unlikely to have enough time to get there, reload one of the guns he’d emptied, and be ready before he shot her in the back.
    The man walked over to the front door and laid his ear against it, listening. Maggie heard nothing but the incessant wind and rain.
    Her focus changed to the gun that was already loaded, the one tucked into the front of his waistband. She needed that gun.
    She was taking slow, deep breaths, trying to slow her thoughts so that she could come up with something viable, when Sky got up out of her chair, wobbling a little unsteadily on cramped legs.
    “I need to pee,” she said boldly.
    The man straightened up and snarled at her. “No, you don’t. Sit back down.”
    “Sky!” Kyle croaked.
    “No! You wanna kill me, you ignorant redneck, then you go ahead and do it, but they’re not gonna find me with piss running down my leg,” Sky snapped. “Take me to the freaking bathroom.”
    Maggie’s heart pounded with hope as the man shot over to the table, but he pulled out the .22 and pointed it at Sky’s face. “Sit down now,” he said through his teeth. Maggie’s eyes zoomed in on the safety, expecting him to flick it off at any moment.
    Sky’s eyes blinked several times, but when she opened her mouth, all she said was, “No.”
    “Sky!” Kyle yelled again, and Coco started barking furiously from the bedroom.
    The man kipped the gun sideways and pulled his arm back a bit to strike Sky with it, and Maggie stopped thinking.
    She grabbed the loose rope in her right hand and whipped the remaining knot off of her left wrist as she got to her feet. She had been planning on slapping at the gun with it, but as she got up, she changed her angle. It was unplanned and awkward, and she was slower than she had been when she’d envisioned it in her mind.
    She slung it underhand, hitting him where his wrist met his hand. She was unsteady on her feet and her head spun a little, so she didn’t have the momentum she’d hoped she would, but it was enough to knock the gun from his hand. It clattered to the table, then skidded off the table and onto the wood floor, where it slid under the kitchen island.
    Sky sat down hard in surprise as the man whipped his head to follow the trajectory of his gun, then spun back to face Maggie. Maggie got one kick to the back of his thigh, but she had to use her left leg and wasn’t really positioned for good leverage. The kick was slightly weak and put her off balance, but it was hard enough and well placed enough to make him slump a bit.
    As he did, Maggie stepped forward and got him in the throat with the side of her left hand. It was a hit, but a weaker hit than she needed it to be. The pain registered on his face, but when she went for an upper cut with her right fist, he caught it.
    She twisted out of it before he could break her wrist, but his free hand popped straight at her and he slammed her broken nose with his palm. Pain exploded in every part of her face and head, and her vision swam. It gave him the precious few seconds he needed to wrap both hands around her throat.
    Maggie heard both Kyle and Sky screaming behind her as the man bent her backwards over the table. She thrust her arms between his and outward against his elbows in an attempt to break his hold, but she didn’t have the speed or power behind it that she needed.
    He actually lifted her by her neck, stronger than