Fifty Falling Stars

by Wesley Higginbotham

  Scott dropped to the floor and crawled his way to the kitchen area several feet behind the serving line. He took cover behind a stainless steel island cabinet as shots rang out and bullets tore into the serving line counter and the walls behind him. The room erupted into chaos. The refugees and Seneca residents not shooting or pinned down by the bullets flying around the room scrambled for cover.

  Several refugees ran around the serving counter and made their way to the kitchen area in search of cover. Scott watched in horror as a bullet stuck one of these refugees high in the back. The man stumbled, lost his balance, and fell into one of the deep fat fryers, knocking it over. The heated oil splashed over the burner flame and ignited. The resulting flash of fire pressed a wave of unbearable heat over Scott. The refugees and Seneca residents closest to the burner caught on fire. Without thinking, Scott got to his feet and ran for the door. He prayed that the fire would distract the gunfight long enough for him to make it. He had to get out before the fire spread to the other fryers and the propane tanks that fueled them. He dove under the thick black smoke collecting around the ceiling and lunged for the door. He slipped out of the cafeteria building seconds before the first explosion. Scott fell to his knees and rolled as the fireball erupted from the closing doors and blew out the cafeteria windows. He regained his feet to see several people engulfed in flames run from the building.

  Scott stood paralyzed by the sight. Seconds dragged on like hours. A second blast from the cafeteria staggered him. He realized that there were ten other fryers in the kitchen area and a couple of spare propane tanks. He turned to run, knowing these would explode as well. A large crowd of people gathered around the burning building. The town’s lone serviceable fire truck pulled up to the building. With no running water, the men began fighting the fire with the water in the fire truck’s tank. Once that ran out, they would need leave the scene and refill. The rest of the propane tanks began exploding. How much food had been lost? How much equipment ruined? They would have to go back to cooking over fires. That would be much less efficient and more labor intensive because they would have to cut trees and gather any other source of fuel.

  Several gunshots jolted Scott out of his stupor. The gunshots sounded muffled. For the first time, he realized blast that knocked him to the ground had hit him harder than he thought. He was dazed. He had failed to keep focus on the immediate situation. He looked down at his hands, watching them shake. Blood dripped from the fingers on his right hand. He didn’t feel hurt or register any injuries. He shook his head. The group of onlookers had grown bigger. That’s where the gunshots had come from. He thought to himself. The men guarding the north barricade must have come to help with the fire because hundreds of the refugees had moved close to the building.

  Scott noticed some of the refugees running away with food from the storage area of the cafeteria which was now engulfed in flames. One man had a fifty pound bag of grain and was pulling it away from the burning building. Scott didn’t know if the man was trying to rescue the food or steal it. It didn’t matter. Another gunshot rang out and the man fell clutching his leg. A Seneca guardsman ran up to the man and aimed down at him before another boom produced a hole in his right breast. Another firefight broke out in the street. “What the hell is wrong with you people?” Scott shouted at everyone and no one in particular.

  Shit! This is it! He said to himself. This is the sign to get the hell out of town. He prayed that the rest of the family recognized it. He ran to their housing area. Luckily, the cafeteria and the academic building that housed them weren’t connected. The fire hadn’t spread past the cafeteria, yet. He ran in to find Tara, Sherry, and Lucy gathering their backpacks.

  “Stop, mom! I have to get out there and help these people! That’s my job!” Lucy screamed.

  Sherry tried to make a response, but Lucy cut her off with a resounding “No!” As she turned to leave, Tara reached out and grabbed her arm with her left hand. Her right hand flew in a blur and produced a loud crack as it slapped Lucy across the face. “You get your damn pack and go to the bridge like we said!” Tara said. Lucy began crying but did as she was told.

  “Grab as many of the bags as you can!” Scott ordered as he reached behind his bunk. He reached behind the bed and found the bag that contained their spare weapons. People screamed and ran from gunshots outside the classroom window. The battle grew further and further out of control outside. “Hurry up!” Scott said as he grabbed the weapons and three backpacks. “We need to get out of here now!”

  Within minutes the four family members ran out of the emergency exit that led to the south of town. “What about the others?” Sherry asked.

  “We’ll just have to pray that they got the message and will meet us there like we planned.” Scott said. He looked around for threats as the ringing in his ears faded. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go two at a time to that building over there to the south. Once we all get there, we’re going to cross the street and continue in pairs, taking cover behind the buildings until we get to the edge of town. Then we’re going to run for the barricade and take cover behind the cars. Got it? Lucy, you and grandma up first.”

  Scott looked back at the town as they crossed the street. A large group of refugees fought with the Seneca residents. A couple of the refugees had stolen some of Seneca’s working automobiles and were driving into crowds of residents as they banded together to defend their homes. Chaos reigned as it was difficult to tell the refugees from the Seneca residents. People fought as small groups against one another rather than as large coordinated teams. At least fighting will keep everyone distracted while we get the hell out of here. Scott thought.

  As Scott led the run to the next house, he saw JJ and Clay running down the street toward the town. “JJ! Clay! Over here!” He motioned for the men to come over to the house where Scott and the ladies had taken cover.

  “Thank god you guys are ok.” JJ said as he ran behind the house. He embraced Sherry and Lucy. “Where’s Jimmy and Leesha?” He asked.

  “We don’t know.” Scott said. “Why were you two running toward the town?”

  “I was guarding the south barricade with Terry when JJ brought us lunch.” Clay said. “He had just arrived when we heard the explosion and the smoke started coming up. Terry went to check out the problem while I stayed at the gate. We figured that if it was something bad, you guys would come running. When you didn’t show, we decided to come see if we could find you.”

  “We got your bags for you.” Sherry said.

  “We need to get everyone back to the barricade.” Scott said.

  “No.” JJ said. “I’m going to find James and Leesha!”

  “I’m going too!” Sherry said.

  “No! We can’t get split up! We have to meet at the barricade. That’s where James and Leesha will be headed. We get as secure as we can behind the barricade and wait for them. If they don’t come, then we’ll go back after them!” Scott said.

  “That’s our grandson and Clay’s girlfriend. We can’t just leave them in there!” Tara said.

  “We can’t go searching for them in all of this shit!” Scott said. “We don’t even know where they are. For all we know, they could be waiting on us at the barricade.”

  “Thank, God! Look!” Sherry said pointing back toward the town.

  Jimmy stumbled out from behind the now burning school classroom building. He moved as fast as he could, but the limp in his left leg slowed him. Scott called out to him. Jimmy scrambled across the small schoolyard less than a hundred yards away from the family when the ground by his feet flew up in a small explosion of grass and dirt. A man stood across the street and about fifty yards north of James, cocking the lever on an old lever action rifle. The man broke into a run chasing Jimmy. Clay didn’t know why the man would shoot at Jimmy. Maybe the man thought Jimmy was a refugee? Maybe the man was one of the refugees? It didn’t matter. Clay unslung the scoped, bolt action thirty-thirty that he had been issued to guard the
barricade and took aim. The man aimed at Jimmy again. Clay got the man in the crosshairs. This would be a challenging shot, rushed, with no rest, and a hundred and thirty yards away. Clay pulled the trigger as the man turned to his left. “Fuck!” Clay murmured as he saw that he missed. He caught movement out of his peripheral vision as Jimmy fell and tried to get back up. Clay then saw the reason why the man had turned. The man fired the rifle at Rocks as he barked, growled, and jumped around getting closer and closer to the man who had attacked Jimmy. Clay fired again. This time the bullet struck the man in the hip. He yelled as he fell. Rocks took advantage of the man’s fall and attached himself to the man’s forearm.

  JJ ran to Jimmy as he stumbled toward the group. Tara held Sherry back as she rose to follow. JJ caught his son about fifty yards from the family. He took one shoulder and helped his son to the cover. Sherry embraced her son and began to cry. Scott looked Jimmy over. Blood seeped from a three inch tear in the boy’s blue jeans on his left thigh. Otherwise, he looked ok.

  “What happened, baby?” Sherry asked.

  “Leesha and I had been at the co-op helping sort the seeds and fertilizers and other garden stuff into the garden packs. We were heading in to get lunch when the cafeteria blew up. We didn’t know what happened. Glass and trash and little bits of burning stuff flew all around us. I got up and saw Leesha. She had a cut on her head. People started shooting everywhere. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to grab Leesha and drag her to the south gate like Grandpa had said.” With tears in his eyes, he tuned to Clay. “I’m sorry Mr. Tomin, I couldn’t help her.”

  Clay’s face had gone stony. “Is she dead, Jimmy?”

  “No, sir. I don’t think so. I think she was breathing. I drug her under some bushes and decided I had to get one of you guys to help.”

  “You did good, son.” JJ said. “Where exactly is she?”

  “She’s behind the bushes behind the back door to the cafeteria.”

  “JJ, Scott, you guys get to the barricade. I’m going back for Leesha.” Clay said.

  “I’m going with you.” JJ said. “Scott, can you get everyone to the barricade?”

  “Yeah. We’ll be fine.” Scott said as he put an arm around Jimmy. “You boys hurry up. We’re going to cut across the softball field there and get in that patch of trees. We’re only about a half mile away. You guys catch up when you can. If we don’t see you in twenty minutes, I’ll come back”

  JJ leaned over and kissed Sherry and Lucy on the forehead before the two men took off. Jimmy yelled out for Rocks and the dog let go of the man he had been attacking and ran toward the group. Scott led the family across the softball field and made it to the trees. When they reached the dead cars that made up the barricade on the north side of the south bridge, they unloaded their bags and used the barricade as cover.

  Clay and JJ ran up the side of the street. The fighting had moved further and further away from their area of town. JJ had his pistol out while Clay covered him with his rifle. JJ approached the man who had shot at Jimmy. The man looked up with glazed eyes. He was fading fast. Rocks hadn’t done much damage to the man’s arm, but Clay’s bullet had ruined his hip. Bone jutted out of the man’s pants like a small iceberg in a sea of blood and torn flesh. JJ put his pistol away and grabbed the man’s gun. It was an old cowboy gun that shot thirty-eight specials. The gun looked like it would hold ten, maybe twelve rounds. JJ had no way of knowing how many were left in the tube magazine. He opened the lever just enough to see that here were at least two rounds left. He looked down to see the man trying to speak. JJ thought about shooting the bastard again, but decided not to waste the bullet. By the time JJ stood up, the man had passed.

  JJ and Clay ran toward the cafeteria. Smoke drifted into the street from the burning buildings. The fire, left to burn in the chaos, had spread to the academic building as well as some of the nearby houses. Gunshots, muffled by the smoke in the air and distorted from echoing around buildings, rang out from the other side of town. No one paid any attention to the two men as they made their way behind the burning cafeteria. JJ took watch as Clay searched the bushes for Leesha. He found her seconds later. Jimmy had hidden her well. “JJ, I got her!” Clay yelled.

  JJ rushed over to where Clay leaned over Leesha. “Is she ok?” JJ asked.

  “I don’t know, man. She’s breathing, but she won’t wake up.”

  JJ looked around. “We need to get the hell out of here and get back with the rest of the family. Grab her around the shoulders. I’ll take her legs, and we’ll carry her.” Clay reached down and ran his hands underneath Leesha’s underarms while JJ slung his gun and grabbed her behind her knees.

  They trotted, side-by-side, carrying the unconscious woman in between them. Gunfire continued from the other side of town but seemed to have slowed. They passed the last of the Seneca neighborhoods and entered the open stretch to the bridge some two hundred yards away. Clay felt all of Leesha’s weight shift to him. Clay turned to see JJ lying on the ground, clutching the back of his right leg. JJ pulled his hand from his leg and saw that it was covered in blood. He started to scream. “Shit! I’m hit, Clay! They got me!”

  Clay glanced up and noticed the three men and one woman who had come into the road from the neighborhood a block behind them. They yelled and raised their guns to fire again. Clay grabbed JJ by the collar and dragged both him and Leesha to an abandoned car parked on the side of the street. He pulled them behind the car as bullets shattered one of the passenger side windows and the back glass.

  “Can you walk?” Clay asked.

  JJ clutched his leg. He pulled his hands away, and blood spurted out in steady beats. He looked up at Clay. His bottom lip quivered too hard to speak. He shook his head. Clay unslung his rifle and popped up from behind the hood of the car. Bullets struck the other side of the car as Clay shot at the group coming down the street towards them. The pressure of the oncoming fire and adrenalin rushing in his veins didn’t allow for aimed shots. His hand blurred, racking back the bolt action as he fired off two more quick shots before ducking back behind the car. He knew he hadn’t hit any of them, but he hoped that would make them take cover and buy him some time.

  “We have to get outta here.” Clay said as he leaned back against the car.

  JJ mustered enough composure to talk. “I….I can’t make it, man.”

  “Sure you can.” Clay said as another volley of bullets tore into the car.

  JJ shook his head. “I…I…just can’t.” He paused and stared ahead at nothing in particular. He nodded to himself as if he had made some sort of decision. “Can you... damn this is starting to hurt…can you take Leesha by yourself?” He asked Clay.

  “Yeah, but I’m not…”

  JJ cut him off. “You take her to the barricade while I keep these assholes busy.” Clay started to interrupt him, but JJ kept talking. “You get her back to the barricade, get Scott, and come back for me. Ok?”

  Clay didn’t like it but saw the sense in JJ’s plan. He and Leesha had a chance to make it to the barricade. They may even be able to come back and get JJ. If they did nothing, they would end up dead. Clay looked down at JJ and nodded. “Ok.”

  JJ began to get up, but his leg was useless. “Help me up.” Clay helped him prop up of the knee of his good leg. “Now you get Leesha and let me know when you’re ready.”

  Clay bent down and picked up his unconscious girlfriend. He draped her onto his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. He held her arm and leg with one hand while holding his rifle in the other, using it to balance himself. “Ready!” He shouted over his shoulder at JJ.

  “Go!” JJ said. He pivoted on his good knee and braced himself on the car’s hood just above the bumper. Clay lurched to his feet and began running down the road. Gunshots rang out and more holes appeared in the car. This time JJ answered with a shot from the lever action cowboy rifle. He started to cycle the action but found he had braced himself too far on the hood. He couldn’t work the lever action against the hood of the car.
He spun back behind the car cursing as several bullets ricocheted off the hood. He pivoted again, this time leaving enough room to work the action of the gun, and began firing at the four attackers.

  Scott and the family watched Clay sprint down the middle of the road towards them. Scott wished he could help; but in this position, he couldn’t provide cover fire for fear of hitting Clay. Even if he could shoot past Clay, he couldn’t see the attackers on the other side of the car. If Clay would just move over and run down the side of the street instead of the damned middle of the road, maybe he could provide cover fire. Scott stood up from behind the barricade and waved his arm at Clay, trying to get him to move over. Clay didn’t get the message.

  Scott began yelling and motioning with both arms. JJ and the attackers continued to exchange fire. Clay was less than a hundred yards away when he got Scott’s message and moved over to the side of the street. Scott saw one of the attackers made his way behind the car to flank JJ.

  JJ thought he had a good sight on the woman by the tree. He pulled the trigger. Click. The rifle had run out. How could so many people shoot so much and not hit shit? He thought as he reached down and pulled out his pistol. He caught movement from his right side. He began to turn as the boom erupted and a sudden pressure in his right side helped spin him. A numb wetness appeared on his lower back, opposite of where the pressure had been. The man who had come behind the car worked the bolt of his rifle for another shot. JJ threw up his hand, pistol in it and jerked the trigger. His first shot missed. The second took the man in his side, just above his crotch. His third impacted the man’s face as he doubled over from the second shot.

  As soon as the man fell, another shot rang out from behind him. “Shit!” JJ yelled as he backed away from the second attacker who had been covering the first. He scrambled away, dragging his worthless leg as he went. A sudden spray of asphalt from his left let him know that he had retreated from the cover of the car. He couldn’t go back toward the car. He rolled away from the new attack and found himself exposed in the road. Absolute panic stuck him. He sat up and began firing his pistol in the general direction of the attackers. After a few shots, the gunshots stopped. The sound of him yelling and the click, click of the empty gun filled the street.