action rifle tore Maisie from her thoughts. From this distance, Maisie was too far away to hit anything with her pistol, but that hunting rifle that Fay had just shouldered would have no problem reaching the Splinters on the rocks. Bracing herself against the trunk of the giant tree she had chosen for cover, Fay exhaled heavily twice in a row, racked the bolt to load a round into the empty chamber and fired.
High up on the rocks, a Splinter recoiled and dropped. Maisie glanced back at Fay who was now rapidly sighting and firing. She was like a machine as she picked off the Splinters with her weapon. Rack. Eject. Load. Fire. Her accuracy proved Maisie’s instincts about her new friend were correct. The girl could shoot.
Terror and his comrades looked back at the woods and then back at the Splinters dropping to their deaths. Fay had reached the end of the cartridges already loaded into her rifle and started single loading from her belt and firing with the ease of a woman who had spent countless hours practicing. She shouted something at the men and then her dogs. Both Clove and Pepper started to bark and howl.
Terror and his fellow soldiers exchanged hand signals for covering fire. The man who was wounded and the biggest of the soldiers left their cover first. The bigger man had one hand on his wounded friend and the other popped off continuous fire as they ran to the trees. When they had nearly made it to cover, the third man took his turn and dashed toward the forest.
Maisie hitched the straps of her pack high on her shoulders and checked that the safety of the pistol was still in place. Getting shot accidentally while running wasn’t high on her list of to-dos. She stuffed the extra magazine in her pocket and waited for any of the targets to get close enough to hit. From her spot behind the towering tree, Fay continued firing, picking off three more of the Splinters and bringing her total to eight.
The wounded man and the big soldier rushed into the trees. The wounded soldier stumbled on an exposed tree root and fell forward at Fay’s feet. Fay reached out and grabbed his belt and the back of his pants and dragged him a few inches, just enough for her to get in front of him. She knelt down, blocking his body with her own, and lifted her weapon. She fired two rounds in hasty succession while the wounded man scrambled for cover. She shouted something at the bigger man, and he took hold of his friend and started running down the mountain trail with Pepper leading the way.
Maisie turned back to the rocks and breathed out a sigh of relief as Terror finally left his hiding place. The third man had taken up a position near Fay and fired his more powerful weapon to give Terror cover. Maisie sucked in a sharp breath when a burst of plasma hit dangerously close to Terror, but he didn’t even flinch. He kept running, his focus on the woods and the promise of protection.
For some reason, he was running almost straight to her. There was no way he could see her, not the way she was hidden behind the tree and brush. It was as if there was some invisible beacon beckoning him this way, as if she were holding the other end of a lifeline.
Here, she silently urged. I’m right here.
He was only inches away when a burst of plasma was fired from the remaining Splinters who were sliding down the rocks to give chase. It hit a tree trunk, splitting it clean in two. The tree started to fall—right toward Terror.
Without a thought for her own safety, she raced out of her hiding spot, head down and shoulder angled, and tackled him to the ground. They slid across the leaves, mud and rocks, barely clearing the massive tree as it crashed to the ground only feet from them. The tree kicked up a cloud of dirt and leaves and began to burn, sending up smoke and ash as the plasma ignited the bark and pulp. The haze of smoke obscured her face and his, making it impossible for Terror to see that it was her who had tackled him from behind.
In a flash, Terror grabbed hold of her jacket and flipped her roughly onto her back, pinning her to the ground with his knees on either side of