Free Sunspire (The Reach, Book 4) by Mark R. Healy

someone else.  I can’t tell.  They’re behind a blockade.”
    “Whoever they are, they aren’t friendly,” Zoe said.  “That’s all that we need to know.”
    “Can we get past them somehow?” Talia said.
    “Not with them dug in like that, and not with the numbers we have.”
    “What about there?” Duran said, pointing.  Talia looked and saw another corridor past where the refugees had been gunned down , across the other side of the concourse.
    “Where does it lead?” Silvestri said.
    “Away from here,” Duran said.  His head whipped around in the direction from which they’d just come.  “Away from them .”
    At the end of the corridor, Talia could see a group of silhouettes appearing through the smoke.  From here, she could make out very few specific details, apart from the fact that they were wearing bulky armour and bore glowing red emblems on their chests.
    She felt a chill down her spine.
    “Redmen,” she breathed.
    The others turned as one to watch, their faces a mixture of fear, loathing, and outright dread.  They seemed to come to the same conclusion as Talia – that they had been trapped with nowhere left to go, and nowhere to find cover.  They were about to be crushed between two opposing forces, caught in the crossfire of a conflict of which they desired no part.
    Zoe’s face hardened.  “Screw this,” she muttered, walking toward the place at the end of the corridor that Silvestri had just vacated.  “Get ready,” she called over her shoulder.
    “What are you doing?” Duran said.
    “Laying down suppressing fire,” she said.  “And when I do, you guys run like hell to the next corridor.”
    “What about you?” Duran said.
    “I’ll make it.”
    “Listen,” Duran said, reaching for her shoulder, but she slapped his hand away.
    “Goddammit, Alec, there’s no time for this!  Just fucking go!”
    With that, she swung out into the corridor and fired off a burst from her assault rifle, then another.  Silvestri reacted first, scrambling past her and then turning to strafe the militia as he moved toward the next corridor, unleashing bursts from his own rifle as he went.  Talia stood rooted to the spot, the fear of stepping into a hail of bullets making her limbs feel like lead.  Those around her seemed to be similarly affected, remaining where they were, paralysed by fear.
    “Go!” Duran roared, giving her a shove.  She stumbled, then managed to regather her wits, finding her stride as she moved past Zoe.  As she entered the killzone, she saw the flash of rifles from the gloomy recesses of the barricades, and waited to feel the searing pain of ballistics tearing through her flesh at any moment.  Peripherally, she was aware that Silvestri had reached the far corridor and had assumed a position at its edge, laying down more suppressing fire.  Each step toward him seemed to take forever, the mad dash between corridors lasting minutes instead of seconds as bullets whizzed around her.
    Then she was through, passing Silvestri into the relative safety of the next corridor.  She turned to see refugees and her companions alike dashing madly across the space as she had done, and two of the refugees were hit and went down.  As Duran reached Silvestri, he too pulled out his handgun and began to open fire on the barricades.  As the last of the refugees crossed, Talia turned to see Zoe sprinting across the gap, her head down as she barrelled toward them.  Duran shouted something above the din, and Zoe stumbled.  For a split second, Talia feared the worst, but Zoe regained her balance and covered the intervening distance a few moments later.
    “That’s everyone!” Duran called out, tapping Silvestri on the shoulder.  The two of them peeled back and retreated into the corridor.  Across the way, Talia could see the Redmen had arrived at the killzone, and were now readying themselves for an assault.
    Duran holstered his handgun again.  “Let’s get the fuck out of