have a lot to learn. What happened to the guns?”
“They were stored in a cave along the shore but a storm flooded it. Whatever made the guns operate was destroyed by the salt water from the flood. We had a thousand in our possession but after a hundred years, they lost their power. We started learning to use wooden bows and arrows that weren’t damaged by the flood. Our bows are nothing like the one you’re carrying.”
Suddenly Harmony’s eyes turned to slits and she started shaking her head, “Oh my God!”
• • •
“What?”
She spun around and looked behind her and started talking fast, “I didn’t think we’d get this far so quickly.”
“What’s going on, Harmony?”
“We’re in the middle of a huge Raptor Colony. We lost most of our group here and Singer and I were lucky to have gotten away.”
Andy raised both hands and Dinah lifted her head. Andy noticed that the wind was blowing out of the north from straight behind them. Dinah went to her back legs and looked in all directions. Andy saw the first Raptors moving out of the tree line behind them. There were more moving out from in front and on the sides. Andy lifted the whistle and blew it. There were more than a hundred Raptors moving in on them but half of them stopped and fled back into the tree lines. “It looks like those remaining haven’t gone to school.”
“What are we going to do?”
Andy saw that running was not an option. He looked at Dinah and started removing the saddle and pouches. She was trembling and knew that Andy was not going to ride her out. He put the gear on the ground and put both hands out palms down. Dinah immediately went to her belly and lowered her head. Andy walked to one side and said, “I hope you know how to use that thing.”
“It makes a loud noise. Put your hand on Dinah and don’t let her panic. I’ll take a couple of shots now so she can get used to the noise.” Andy put his hand on Dinah’s head and rubbed it as Harmony raised the thing called a rifle and aimed it at a Raptor more than a hundred and fifty yards away. There was a sudden explosion and Andy had to fight to keep Dinah on the ground. Another explosion and Dinah jerked but stayed down. Three more explosions and Dinah flinched but didn’t get up. Andy took his bow off his shoulder and turned to the north. He stared firing at the Raptors moving in and they began falling. He saw five Raptors lying in the dirt to the south twitching. She was good with that thing. The Raptors started their charge and Andy took out eight moving in from the south. He saw the majority of the others were coming from the north. He yelled, “UP!” Dinah jumped to her feet and Andy grabbed Harmony and threw her on Dinah’s back. “Hold on to the rope!”
“I CAN’T LEAVE YOU!!”
“I can’t fight them with you here.” Andy hit Dinah on the back and yelled, “Go!”
Dinah sprinted away and Harmony barely had time to sling the rifle over her shoulder before Dinah was at full speed. She blew by the five Raptors to the south and Andy smiled. He continued to fire his bow but the Raptors were closing in quickly.
Andy threw the bow down and pulled both cutters off his belt and activated their fifteen-foot blades. The brilliant blue beams extended and Andy whipped them around in a full circle as the first Raptors arrived. Six of them had their heads cut off and three more lost their legs to the bright atomic blades. The other Raptors slid to a stop and surrounded Andy. He stood in the center of the flock with both blades over his head and saw the huge female that was leading them standing to his right. He turned and started walking her way and five Raptors charged him from behind. He lowered the blades to waist level and did a three hundred and sixty degree spin. All three Raptors fell to the ground cut in two pieces. Andy came out of his spin and continued to walk toward the huge leader. He had his whistle in his mouth and he noticed that every time
Learning to Kill: Stories