The Tribe

by Jon Gerrard

  * * *

  In the center aisle, the guards suddenly halted their advance as loud disturbances erupted simultaneously from the aisles on both sides of them. A moment later a man in the middle of their own group went flying. As a second, third and fourth man came under attack by some unseen enemy in their midst, the guards began frantically searching for the source of the savage assault. Instead of forcing the teens into a corner it suddenly seemed that it was the guards who had been maneuvered into a trap. As they searched for the source of the attacks, the men in the center of their formation saw a blurred silhouette moving within their ranks just before they came under attack themselves. Something that moved almost too fast for the human eye to follow was taking out their men one by one.

  Paige had been crouching on a bottom shelf waiting for her chance to attack. She had pried the lid from a crate and had held it propped up beside her to conceal her presence. When the last of the guards had moved past her hiding place she made her move. Slipping into the aisle she sprang into their midst and began attacking the guards, hitting and moving on to the next man before they knew what was happening.

  While Paige battled the guards, another attack came at them from a different direction. Moving silently on padded feet, Apollo darted in and out among the guards legs and began to yank their feet out from under them. As they fell to the floor the dog leapt on them, tearing their weapons from their hands, along with the occasional finger.

  As the guards turned to see what was happening in their midst, Paige dove over one of the downed guards to go after the man leading the group. The two men on either side of the team leader swung their rifles in her direction as they caught sight of a something coming toward them. But before they could bring their weapons to bear she blocked the guns, keeping the muzzles pointed away from her as she delivered powerful kicks to knees, shins, and groins. Then, as the guards went down, she pulled the guns from their grasp and hurtled them toward the front of the aisle.

  Crouched at the end of the aisle, Shay and Magda had hidden themselves around the corner of the shelves on either side. As the pair of rifles skittered to a stop within their reach, the girls looked at each other and grinned. While Paige kept the guards busy they each darted out and snatched up one of the rifles. They checked the weapons quickly. Each of the guns had high-capacity ammunition magazines, which carried nearly than twice the normal load, with a second magazine taped upside down to primary one to allow for a quick reload. As soon as they had assured themselves that the weapons were functional, they looked up, caught each other’s eyes again, and nodded. They were in the perfect positions to set up a cross-fire of their own.

  “Olly olly oxen free!” Magda shouted.

  Within moments Paige appeared, bounding into view as she performed a backward flip in midair to land well past the end of the aisle. Right behind her Apollo appeared as well, racing away from the guards and skidding to a stop beside Shay. As soon as both of them were clear, Shay and Magda leaned around the edges of their respective shelves and started shooting.