Citizens shall have the right to bear weapons for the purpose of self-defense, regardless of the degree of lethality. Citizens shall retain this right as long as they have a demonstrated ability to use it safely and are not themselves an active risk to other citizens. Each citizen may draw a minimal, functional weapon or ammunition from the government as part of their annual basic living allotment.
-- Cascadia Constitution
***
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she said, then her firing stopped, and I heard her running. A few seconds later, I sent Kaitlyn after her. I took her place at the door jamb, concentrating fire on the Anti’s queued up behind the Six on the walkway. The massive M-6 had difficulties negotiating the tight turn, leaving me free to slaughter its followers for several seconds. As it finally completed the turn, I pulled back through the door.
--On it. That should slow them down. You don’t want to block the door entirely?
As I answered her, I turned and sprinted down the hallway and through the slalom of boxes. Along the way, I noticed that someone had cleared out the bodies and that several of the boxes had been stuck to the floor with sealant. I took a knee behind the second-to-last box, then turned to check on Kaitlyn and Ginny. Kaitlyn was standing in an open doorway, braced against the jamb again. Opposite her was a tall stack of crates, over which poked the barrel of a rifle. However, behind the rifle was not Ginny but one of the ex-prisoners. Further down, I could see Ginny leading the last few evacuees away.
At the end of the hall, I could see the spiked barricade poking into the hallway from the door. It moved a little, probably from the M-6 poking at it. I looked again at the new person. Her light blue eyes held a firm resolution despite the slight tremble of fear in her hands. “I take it that you can use that?” I asked her. Something about her seemed familiar.
“After giving me a rifle for my birthday, my ex insisted I get my BSS and learn to shoot it. He took me to the range every week. A couple months later, I found him and the ammo girl in the head going at it like rabbits. I’d enjoyed the time on the range enough to keep it up. I had to change shooting ranges, though. It was a shame. They had a great bar attached.”
With that clue, it clicked. I’d seen her at the range where I worked. She’d only attended the basic safety class we required to supplement the government mandated Basis Safety Standards certification. She’d graduated with high enough scores to catch the attention of the instructors, and I’d heard she was good. If I remembered right, she usually used a lighter rifle. “Watch the kick, and keep your elbow tucked in.” I turned back to the hallway, reassured that we had good support.
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She chuckled. “Yes, Samurai sensei.” The barricade flipped onto its side. But it still blocked the way.
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name. I’m Marcus.” A screech of metal on metal echoed down the hall as the barricade moved again.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Haruka. And yes, I don’t have a drop of Japanese in me. My parents are anime nerds.”
“Ginny had to go herd cats again. It made more sense for someone else to use the rifle.” Kaitlyn explained the switch.
“Is Haruka on the conference call? If not, let’s get her in it.” The snout of the M-6 poked around the corner. “Let them into the hall before you start shooting. Corie can make sure you have ammo, but don’t blow it all at once, please. It’s expensive.” I switched to the conference call. “Ginny, we’re about to get loud here. If you have anyone, we could use an ammo loader like Tara used to do. They will be the first to retreat, but they need to be strong enough to handle the weight of the ammo.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Ginny replied.
“I’ll also need some brave people with strong backs in the storage room when we get there.” I was already thinking ahead about how to prepare for the next choke point.
The Six was now fully in the hallway, and I fired a burst of flechettes at it. I guided the rounds low, under the chin, to curve up into what I hoped was a soft underbelly. It jerked, at least, while the heavier rifle shots sparked off its armored head and shoulders. It started lumbering towards us but fell before reaching the first box. Around its falling body came several M-4s with a couple M-5c mixed in.
“I’ll take the Fives while you two concentrate on the M-4s. They aren’t slowed by the boxes like the others.” I concentrated on making sure that any of the ranged M-5cs didn’t have a chance to get a shot off. The crates we were behind were thick, but I doubted if they could stop the spines, plus we had our upper bodies exposed to be able to fire on the aliens.
Kaitlyn and Haruka made a good team. Kaitlyn still relied too much on auto, but her bursts injured the aliens enough that Haruka’s slower, controlled shots could finish them. Despite that, I still had to take down a couple M-4s when too many of them were blocking shots on the M-5cs. Soon, we seemed to reach the end of the wave, and Ginny reported they were ready for us to fall back.
“This next transition is going to be harder. It’s longer to the choke point, for one. And it will need a little setup.” I said both in the room and in the conference call. With all the shooting we’d been doing, I wasn’t sure Kaitlyn or Haruka could hear my voice directly. “Kaitlyn, you will be going first. Run, don’t walk. Stop at the doorway to the room. I’m not sure which door was used, but there are several of them. Use the first one that is open.”
“Okay. Go now?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Yes. When you get in place, tell Haruka, and she will join you.” Kaitlyn’s fire stopped, and I heard the thumps of her steps behind me. I was too busy picking up the slack to turn to look.
“Haruka, I want you to also run and get into the same doorway. We won’t stay in the doorway, though. I want you two to hold it for a minute or two while I stage the room.”
“Okay.”
“I have the people in the storeroom. What do you want us to do?” Ginny interrupted.
“Make a maze. We’ll defend that back corner where the exit is. Leave an open space before it, but we want the Anti's to have to slow down and split up. Give them choices. There shouldn’t be any straight lines between the entry and exit.”
“Haruka, I’m in place.” Kaitlyn interrupted me.
“We’ll see what we can do,” Ginny said.