Too Far Gone

91

The detective with the rifle passed by where he was lying in the brush, and had moved into the foliage before Leland saw him, and by then it was too late to shoot him. Leland moved as soon as he could do so without the rifleman hearing him. He’d gone around through the cover behind the cabin, sneaking up easily on the woman cop. Surprisingly, the man he’d shot in the head was very much alive, but hurt bad enough not to be a threat.

Leland had moved in close to them and had aimed at the woman before she knew he was there. He’d deliberately stepped on the dry branch so she would turn and see it coming. Surprised, she hadn’t immediately raised her shotgun, and he had her nailed. He pulled the trigger, and nothing. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t worked the bolt, but what with being hit, he’d forgotten all about it. And he had left the pistol he’d gotten off the cop behind. Now he was unarmed, and running like a wild animal.

He was halfway to the point where he would have to swim to get away when he ran right past something that stopped him. A pump-gun was propped against a tree. He grabbed it up. Resting the butt on his leg, he pushed back the slide. A spent shell popped out. Putting the stock between his feet to hold it, he pulled the slide forward, feeding a shell into the chamber. He knelt and aimed at the sound of the cop coming, right toward him. In his mind he saw exactly how her severed head would hit the ground before her corpse collapsed beside it.