Free Against the Grain by Ian Daniels

shaping up like they sounded, I might need both of my hands free in a very short amount of time. I also didn’t want to be overheard talking aloud by someone close by, especially if I was talking to no one at all on the other end of the radio.
    I slowed my not yet frantic pace as I came over the last rise that hid the main house. Nick and his father-in-law David were in the back yard still pulling their boots and jackets on, and Megan, Sue, and Breanne were all trying to figure out what was going on as they wrangled the two kids back inside.
    When I got closer I could see Breanne’s older brother Paul leaning against a corner of the house, breathing heavily and pointing, trying to relay something to the others. I called out and held my radio up over my head for them to see. Sue disappeared inside and then finally her voice spoke to me over the little FRS.   
    “Paul was out feeding his chickens and saw some people across his yard. They shot at him and he ran here.”
    “How many?” I asked quickly.
    “Four... he thinks.”
    “Is Michelle still there? Is there anyone still at their house?”  
    “No, everyone but Jake and Julie were here for breakfast,” Sue replied. I could tell she was scared, but she was holding up well to the stress, I had to give her that.
    “Get Nick up here with me and get Bre and Drew moving across the road. You stay on the radio. Dave and Paul stay with you at the house… and get those kids in the basement!” I directed into the radio.  
    Soon I saw Sue’s head come back out from the doorway and everyone started moving. Paul and his wife Michelle’s house was on the far end of the three houses, less than a half mile away, Sue and David’s sat in the middle, then down the road just a few hundred yards sat the old farm house that Andrew and Cary now “owned” with their friends Julie and Jake.
    I’d try to get more information out of Nick once he caught up to me. We needed to know if the people Paul had seen followed him or stopped at his house. I also wanted to know if anyone on my side had any radios... or were even armed. What a cluster this was turning out to be.
    Another shot rang out.  
    They were a lot closer than half a mile, that much was for sure. Nick hadn’t yet caught up to me but I had to start moving. Picking my way through the trees and rocks, I was going slow and stopping to listen every few feet. I felt plenty of urgency, but moving fast was not a great technique when you knew someone was out hunting you, and you want to see them before they see you.
    More firing broke out in our direction, this time it was a different sound than before; higher pitched and faster. At least two guns , I thought to myself. They were close, but I still hadn’t spotted anyone yet. They were shooting at something though, and from the sounds of it, the actual house was now their intended target. I could hear the slap of the bullets hitting the wood siding.  
    To my right and in front of me I finally spotted was what I was looking for; a flash of movement. Two people down in the middle of the draw that led to the side of the house. More movement, this time up nearly level with me on the side of the hill I was traversing.  
    I keyed in on the single one up here with me. It was one guy wearing a green jacket, he had a scoped hunting type rifle, and if he knew what he was doing, he was doing a poor job of over-watch on his buddy’s movements. Well maybe not so poor, he saw me about the same time I caught sight of him. That long, scoped gun came up incredibly fast in my direction.  
    I all but dove into a prone position, slamming the stock of my gun not quite perfectly into my shoulder. He was too close to find quickly in the magnified scope so I looked under it to the iron sights beneath.  I made a small shift and the front sight post was on his chest. Smoothly pressing the trigger, the first retaliatory shot was on its way.
    Oh damn, big mistake. I hadn’t yet had time to screw on