Scene 22


Factory Compound of General Ricos


“Move to the other end of the building,” I told him. “Don’t start firing until I do.”

He quickly moved to the other end of the building and readied himself. I glanced around the corner at the advancing guards and picked my target. I checked the pistol to make sure it was ready, then looked across at Coemgen and the other men.

“Fall back!” I yelled and moved to fire. Leaning around the building, I aimed quickly and fired at the lead guard. The shot caught him squarely in the chest and he fell backward.

My shot was quickly answered by the rifles of the other guards, who began shooting in my direction. I ducked back behind the building and looked towards the other men. They were quickly moving away while the guards were occupied with us.

After I had fired, Livingston opened up with the rifle he held. Another guard fell from this unexpected gunfire, but the other guards quickly took up defensive positions.

Just then, a siren began to blow. I knew that someone had raised the alarm.

I leaned out and fired off another couple of shots, then ducked back behind the building. The other men were now no longer in sight, so I could concentrate on Livingston and myself. I quickly moved to his end of the building.

“The others are gone,” I said to him. “We’ve got to keep moving.”

I pointed to the next building. “Cover me.”

Livingston swung the rifle towards the guards and fired off three rounds. As the guards ducked down, I dashed to the next building.

When I was safely behind the building, I looked back to Livingston. I motioned a three count to him and on three I swung the pistol around to fire at the guards. He quickly made his own dash towards my building.

Just as he was almost to safety, one of the guards got off a lucky shot and a round caught Livingston in the leg. Fortunately, he had made it far enough that when he fell it was behind the building. The rifle flew from his hands as he hit the ground.

Quickly grabbing the rifle, I slung it over my shoulder. I bent to help Livingston to his feet. I supported him as we moved as quickly as we could behind the building.

I kept watch behind us as we moved along. Apparently, the guards had noticed the lack of gunfire because one appeared around the corner of the building. I fired the pistol and him and he fell. The pistol locked into the open position and I knew it was out of rounds. I threw it aside and grabbed the rifle.

Just as we neared the end of the building another guard stepped out in front of us. Before the guard could shoot, I fired off a quick burst from the rifle and he fell. This time, the rifle also locked open. We were out of ammunition.

I was going to grab the guard’s rifle but I heard more men rapidly approaching. We couldn’t go forward or back, so the only direction was towards the fence.

Livingston knew that he was slowing me down. “Leave me here,” he said. “Get away while you can.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “We started this together and we’ll end it together.” I continued towards the fence.

Just as we got to the fence, several rounds from an automatic weapon peppered the ground around us. Livingston and I stopped and raised our hands in surrender.