Something struck the jeep. The teachers heard the crack of a bullet a moment later.

Dunwich ran for the house. He wanted cover and he hadn't seen where the bullet had struck the car.

Ashe and Jirel dropped behind the body of the Jeep. Ashe made sure to use one of the tires as cover. A bullet would have to dig through both tires before it could reach him. He liked those odds.

Harris realized she was out in the open. She headed for the nearest trees. She couldn't reach the house, and she didn't want to stay out in the open where the rifleman could just circle the car to shoot at them from a new vantage point.

She liked her chances of being able to blend in with the trees around the property.

“Caught in an ambush,” said Howie. “Does the house look like someone is waiting for us?”

“It looks abandoned,” said Ivan. He rolled a twenty sided dice. “You can't tell if someone is inside as you run for your life.”

“So we're in motion,” said Wade. “Who's got the initiative?”

“The shooter gets to move since all of you have expended your actions,” said Ivan. “I think he would try to wound Harris before she made it to the trees.”

“Full on dodge,” said Quin.

“Roll a twenty,” said Ivan. He rolled his own as he spoke.

Harris went down with a bullet in her leg. She hit the ground and rolled in the grass from momentum. She knew she was going to die when the sniper took his next shot.

“That's almost enough to blow your leg clean off,” said Clark. “We need to stop the blood flow before you die.”

Dunwich decided that getting away from the flying bullets was the best thing. One of them was dead. He didn't want to be next.

“I'm not dead yet,” said Quin. “It's just a scratch.”

“It's a scratch two feet deep,” said Clark. He shook his head. “You're going to die.”

“I got a cunning plan,” said Wade.

Ashe went to the driver's door. He reached inside the jeep and threw it in neutral. He started rolling it back to where Harris lay on the grass.

Jirel threw his shoulder in to help move the vehicle toward their colleague.

The sniper shot one of the tires on the jeep. It exploded on impact. That sank the car in place. The two men weren't rolling it any further.

Ashe ran out and grabbed Harris and pulled her under cover. He ignored the crack of air as he moved. He collapsed behind a tire, pulling Harris behind him.

Jirel checked the leg. He turned his jacket into a bandage and packed the wound, and tied the cloth as tight as he could to stop the blood loss.

“We need to get her to a hospital,” said Jirel. “I've done what I could for her, but if she takes another hit, we could lose her.”

“And the money,” said Howie.

“We're not going anywhere without a car,” said Ashe.

Dunwich tried the door of the house. The locked door resisted his effort. He stepped out of the way as a bullet slammed into the door and punched a hole through the wood. He reached in and unlocked the door so he could get inside and under cover.

“We need to get her out of here, or somewhere safer than behind a shot car,” said Jirel.

Ashe nodded. He got to his feet in a crouch. He hoped they wouldn't get shot and be just as helpless as Harris. He slung the engineer over his shoulder in preparation for running for the house.

“Ready?,” asked Jirel. He couldn't see the shooter. From the shots so far, he hadn't moved around that much.

As soon as they ran for the house, he would get at least one free shot at both of them. If he hit either of them, Dunwich would be stuck on his own in the house.

Jirel ran for the house. He didn't really want to go inside, but it provided the best cover for them. A bullet sliced the air in front of him as he reached the steps. He bounded across the porch to the opened door.

A bullet plucked at the sleeve of Ashe's jacket as he ran under Harris's weight. He handed her off to Jirel as he tried to get inside the house.

The inside of the house was full of trash. Any furniture had long been stripped out. Dirt and mold were everywhere.

“No electricity, no water,” said Dunwich. “I already checked on that while you two were running for the house.”

“Back door?,” asked Jirel. He checked Harris's wound and resealed the bandage.

“Open field behind the house,” said Dunwich. “I can't get a signal for my phone.”

“Expected,” said Ashe. “We're in a trap.”

“Why?,” asked Dunwich. “We're just school teachers. Why would anyone want to kill us?”

“Maybe this is a guy who hates school teachers,” said Jirel. “We can't worry about why right now. We have to get out of here without getting ourselves or Harris killed. Suggestions for that?”

“Everything depends on how many guys we have out front, and if they thought about having to cut us off from trying to sneak out the back and trying to get through the trees to the next property over,” said Ashe. “If there is more than one guy shooting at us, someone could be waiting in the back to try to shoot at us as we head for the trees.”

“And if he's fast enough, he could be moving to cover both doors so he can shoot us in the back while we run for it,” said Jirel.

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“So we either sit here until we run out of resources to keep going, or run in front of the gun and hope that he misses,” said Dunwich.

“It'll be night soon,” said Ashe. “That will give us cover. It also give him cover too.”

“And Harris could die while we're trying to figure out how to get out of this,” said Jirel.

Ashe went to the back of the house. He paused in the stripped kitchen long enough to note the stripped appliances. He looked out the back of the house. A field of grass ran to the trees. It would take more than a minute to cross that space. The guy would be able to shoot at them the whole time they were running. He was bound to hit one of them like he had hit Harris.

The ground sloped down from the house. If they had some way to use that to their advantage, it might change things for them.

He walked back to where the group waited.

“The yard is wide open,” Ashe said. “If someone is covering the back, they would be able to take free shots at us until we hit the tree line. I'm going to say he will be able to shoot at us maybe four times before we hit the tree line.”

“If we drop Harris, she'll be dead,” said Jirel. “And she'll slow us down while we're running for our lives.”

“If we wait in here, she'll bleed to death before we do anything,” said Ashe. “It doesn't look good for her no matter what we do. She does need a hospital.”

“We could burn the house down,” said Harris. “That might give us enough cover to get to the trees.”

“It's risky,” said Dunwich. “If we burn down our only shield, we'll be sitting ducks if he is expecting a move like that.”

“If we don't, he'll come in and get us if he waits long enough,” said Jirel. “And Harris will die if we don't do something in a hurry.”

“We need something to carry Harris across that field in the back if we are going to use that,” said Ashe.

“We can use one of the doors from one of the rooms,” said Dunwich. “We set the fire, put her on one of the doors, run when the fire is big enough to act as a smokescreen.”

“Do you think we can use it as a sled?,” asked Jirel.

“The ground isn't wet enough,” said Ashe. “There's a real danger of trying to use it and it stalls out. We would be sitting ducks.”

“Let's take down a door,” said Jirel. He pulled a swiss army knife from his pocket. “Any preference?”

“Let's take down a bedroom door,” said Dunwich. “I'll want some privacy if I have to go before we're ready.”

“That's too much information,” said Harris.

“Some people need time to do their business,” said Dunwich. “I'm not ashamed of it.”

“You should be,” said Harris.

“We don't have a lot of time,” said Jirel. “We have to make our move before the shooter gets wise and comes down here to make sure none of us will be able to escape out of here alive.”

“We can burn this trash,” said Ashe. “There's a gas line where the oven used to be. There might still be some gas in the line we can use for fuel.”

“So we set the house on fire, carry Harris to the trees, then try to get to the house to the west before we get killed,” said Jirel. “Sound okay to you guys?”

“I think so,” said Dunwich. “It's too bad this place doesn't have a cellar, or a basement. We could set the top part on fire and hide down there.”

“The floor would probably collapse on top of us,” said Jirel. “And we would have to worry about smoke.”

“I know, but I was thinking of using the house as a screen,” said Dunwich. “I couldn't find another door other than the one out the back.”

“Let's get our fuel together,” said Jirel. “We don't know how long it will take for our guy to lose his patience and come in after us.”

“Probably start shooting at the house to make us desperate,” said Ashe. He walked into the kitchen. He started pushing the trash into a pile next to the gas line sticking out of the wall.

Dunwich and Jirel took the bedroom door down and moved that to the kitchen. Dunwich opened the back door so Jirel could put the door outside.

“We should use the door as a shield,” said Ashe. “I can carry Harris on my shoulder until we hit the treeline.”

“It's better than nothing,” said Jirel. “He'll still be able to drop us if he can shoot fast enough.”

“Maybe we can use it for a sled,” said Dunwich. “We would have to depend on the grass being slick enough to carry all four of us.”

“It's not that slick,” said Jirel. “Let's do what we can with our plan. We'll adjust if this guy keeps after us.”

Ashe nodded. He bent down to take the gas cap off the line. They didn't really need it, but it couldn't hurt either.

“No gas?,” said Wade. He frowned at his dice.

“No,” said Ivan. “There's some kind of paper in the hose.”

He took the cap off the line. Nothing came out of the line. He noted the rolled up papers in the line. He took them out and put them in his pocket. He would look at them later.

“Looks like we have to make do with just the debris,” he said. He put the cap back on the line.

“We're ready,” said Jirel.

Dunwich nodded in agreement.

“All right,” said Ashe. “Get ready to run.”

He took out a lighter and set the debris on fire. He stepped back. He kicked more trash on the pile to keep it going longer.

“It's not burning enough,” said Ashe. “It won't eat up the house unless we spread it around a bit.”

“Let me see what I can do,” said Dunwich. He took off his suit jacket. He held a sleeve in the fire until it started burning. “It's too bad we can't get the gas out of the jeep. That would be perfect for this.”

“Wait, give me that jacket,” said Jirel. “I'm going to cause a distraction. When you guys hear the signal, run out the back.”

“What signal?,” said Dunwich.

“You'll hear it,” said Jirel. He took the burning jacket and went to the front of the house.

Jirel took a breath. He hoped the shooter hadn't changed his spot that much. If he had, this could be the worse mistake of his life.

He ran for the jeep. A bullet slid by. He was going to make it, A bullet hit him in the leg. He went down short of the jeep.

“Man, we're going to die before we even get started on the adventure,” said Clark.

“I'm rolling some kind of spy the next adventure we do,” said Quin.

“Your sacrifice won't be in vain,” said Howie. “I'm out.

“I'll carry Quin down to the trees,” said Wade. “We'll send someone to get your body, Clark.”

“Thanks,” said Clark.

“The sniper has the initiative,” said Ivan. “Going to dodge, Clark?”

“Sure, why not?,” said Clark.

A bullet snapped by Jirel as he lay on the ground. He crawled behind the jeep and looked underneath. He could see fluid still dripping underneath the car. He couldn't tell what it was. He put part of the sleeve under some of it. The flame went out in that part of the sleeve. He moved the jacket sleeve down and a trail of flame ran up into the engine.

He crawled directly away from the jeep as it started burning. He needed to do something about the blood pouring out of his leg, but he wanted distance from the car in case the gas in the tank exploded. He didn't think he could take another hit.

Hopefully the guy couldn't see from the other side of the burning car. The car blew up. The blast washed over Jirel, singing his hair as he kept going.

Ashe and Dunwich ran for the tree line, trying to keep the house between them and the shooter's position. They reached the trees without getting shot. Dunwich laughed in relief.

“Keep going,” said Ashe. He handed Harris to Dunwich. “I'm going to see if Jirel is still alive. Follow the sun to get to the next property.”

“We're meeting there?,” said Dunwich.

“Yeah,” said Ashe. “Call for help as soon as you can.”

“You don't have to tell me twice,” said Dunwich. “Come on, Harris. The faster we deal with this, the better I'll like it.”

“I know,” said Harris. “I wish we could get a crack at the guy who shot me.”

“As long as he doesn't catch up with us, I'm good,” said Dunwich. He picked Harris up and carried her deeper into the tiny forest.

Ashe made his way along the tree line toward where he thought the jeep would be. He just needed to make sure Jirel was dead before he joined Dunwich and Harris.

He found the history professor working on his leg behind a tree within sight of the shooting field.

“I ain't dead,” said Clark.