"No, it's okay. I can go through with the pain!" Rosemary winced again as she shifted to the left, looking up and down the road. "We need to get over there to the other side. Cody, Rebecca, and Ian are trapped by gunfire up there to the northwest."
Abby looks over the hills which were a still lit up by gunfire, some of the bullets skipping across the brown dirt while other bullets were skimming overhead. "Where is Monica!?"
Rosemary's eyes widened as she traced the grass in front of her and looks around at the three people beside her. Looking down at the ground, she shook her head." I don't know. She could've left with the carriages, lead them to the next village, or she could be..."
"Don't even say that," Marcus shouted. "Let's rescue our friends first and then let's find Monica. After this I need a cold beer! I'm going to cover you guys while you run across the road. Just give me cover. Fire when it's my time to run across the road and all will be well." Marcus bows to everyone's astonishment, he didn't put another toothpick in his mouth. "Get going now, cross the road to find where our friends are." Marcus pulled two grenades from his pouch on the right side of his hip and loaded them in his launcher. "I'm going to pop the first one off at 5 seconds and then at 10 seconds. Rosemary, are you sure you will make it?" Marcus's eyes had a warmness to them that hadn't been there before.
"Yeah, I can make it no problem!" Rosemary gripped her rifle and perched herself as if ready to run around the track.
"All right! The first volley is going now." Marcus shot up as he put his grenade launcher towards the other side of the road at a 45° angle. Placing his finger on the trigger he squeezed it intensely. Boom!
Rosemary stood up, sprinting across the road and putting her rifle in the general direction of gunfire. Boom! Boom! Boom! Three semi-automatic shots rang out from the rifle as she leapt across the road into the tall grass with Luna and Abby beside her.
"You okay?" Abby insisted, looking down at Rosemary's ankle which was streaming blood.
"Yeah, just residual. Nothing new!" Rosemary winced in pain as she looks over at Marcus who was across the street waving his hand wildly to get their attention. "Does anybody have any grenades on them?"
Luna reached into her sack as she pulled out a green grenade with the letters LS. "I've got one spark grenade that may cause him some confusion. Abby, what do you see?"
Abby was right above the grass, perched trying to keep her head down with her binoculars scanning the hills in front of them. "They're peeking out a little bit, firing to the west of us. That must be where everyone else is."
Whiz!
Abby bit down, holding her ears as it rained out for a moment as if something distorted her senses. "Augh!"
"You okay?" Luna inquiries, pulling Abby down towards the grass.
"Yeah, I take it I just lost one of my nine lives. That was close." Abby's eyes winced close. She put her hands on her ears, shaking her head left and the right slowly. "It didn't feel like a normal bullet. Is there some sort of new technology?"
Abby couldn't get her brain to slow down. It felt like everything inside of her was rattling from the very core of her soul down to the soles of her feet.
"Abby, Abby! You okay?" Rosemary put her hands on Abby's back, trying to settle her. "Just breathe!"
Abby placed her hands on her head, took a deep breath, and rested her head on the dirt beneath her. Her lungs contracted, attempting to orchestrate a soothing symphony of breath to calm her inner turmoil. "I'm okay!" Her eyes met Luna who was holding her sniper rifle closely.
Rosemary leaned forward. "I have an idea! Since I'm injured though, I know I can't move quickly. Why don't I crawl up through the tall grass, up to the top of the hill? I can crawl up and save my energy to stay below the grass line. Marcus can lay down grenade cover. Abby and Luna, you can go northwest of me and crawl as well. What do you think?"
Abby glanced over at Luna, then at Marcus and back at Rosemary. "We need to send a messenger to them!"
"I get what you're saying," Marcus implied. "We have to take action while they are pinned down. This is a perfect idea for flank attack. For all we know they could be filled with lead."
"Don't say that," Luna insisted. "We don't know what's going on, but I hate leaving them out there without a messenger being sent."
"I need to find them." Abby pulled out her revolver from her hip, loaded six bullets in it and closed the cylinder back. Luna will keep low to the ground until we split off. You can keep crawling up to the north and I'll go to the west where they are pinned down." Abby's eyes were red with fury as she turned around, grabbing Luna on the shoulder. "Let's go. See you guys over on the other side of the hill," Abby shouted as she looks back at Rosemary and Marcus, who nodded without saying a word.
"How did you convince them to not go with you?" Luna inquired. She followed Abby beneath the tall grass, walking slowly away from their comrades.
"I always remember my grandfather telling me that the best way to solve a situation is to look for in betweenness." Abby shifted to the left, avoiding the rock that was near her ankle and trying not to trip.
Luna turned her gaze to the right, her eyes widening as she beheld a man standing there, clutching a knife in his hand. Time seemed to freeze as she sat there, paralyzed, her trembling hand inching towards her hip. "Abby," she shrieked.
The man lunged forward with the knife, swinging towards Luna's neck and narrowly missing it.