Fuzzy Navel

11:53 P.M.
KORK

I’VE GOT HARRY in my sights. He engaged in a brief tussle with the remaining sniper, the sniper shot at him, and Harry fell onto his back, right on top of Mom. I can’t tell if either of them got hit or not. He’s still moving, but doesn’t seem to be in any particular hurry, which might indicate an injury.

Let’s make it worse.

I consider where the first bullet should go. Foot? Knee? Balls.

No. His other hand.

I’m such a little stinker.

I aim, adjusting for the wind, visualizing the shot like I learned in basic training.

Then a patch of grass explodes just a few feet to my left, accompanied by a BANG!

Phin found himself a rifle.

He obviously can’t shoot for shit. I’m less than a hundred yards away. Hell, with these guns a blind preschooler could shoot the shine off a penny from three quarters of a mile. I switch position, sight his blond head in the rear window of the Bronco, and squeeze the trigger a fraction of a second after I see him ducking down.

Crap. Miss.

No problem. He got lucky. And luck doesn’t last forever. Jack has learned that particular lesson well to night. Phin will learn it too.

I eject the round, seek out the backpack full of clips that the snipers have so graciously left me. Without taking my eyes off of Phin I select one, my fingers feeling to make sure it’s loaded. It’s empty. I try another. Also empty.

The whole bag is filled with empty clips.

Phin fires again, and it kicks up a clod of dirt only a few inches from my hip.

Rather than dwell on the misfortune of unfolding events, I decide to get proactive. I detach the night scope and stick it in my pocket. Staying on my elbows and toes, I inch backward down the slope of the small hill I’m perched on, stopping periodically to tuck down and roll left or right. Phin keeps shooting at me, keeps missing, and then I’m out of his line of fire, on my feet, and sprinting toward the woods adjacent to the road.

Shooting isn’t the only thing the marines taught me. I can also sneak like a cat.

I cut right, make my way through a hundred yards of trees, then circle back and head for the Bronco, slow and low, silent as death.