green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
I wondered if there really were green pastures and still waters in the afterlife. That sounded better than constant warfare, swarms of flesh-eating monsters, and old age in a world that spared no pity for the infirm.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake .
Leaving Allison behind would be the hardest part. I had only told her once that I loved her, and I wished that I had said it more often. It seemed silly now, holding back because I was worried she wouldn’t feel the same.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me.
I could see them now, thickly clothed figures making their way through the close stands of trees and underbrush as they climbed the hill. Before I could recite any more of my prayer, gunshots rang out to my right, probably from Flannigan. A scream of pain echoed from down the embankment, and I grinned.
Attagirl. Give ’em hell .
The raiders over on the far ridgeline opened fire again, forcing us to keep our heads down while their comrades moved in and tightened the noose. Suppression fire made its way up toward us, but nothing accurate. Just people spraying and praying. I settled in behind cover with as little of my body exposed as possible, and waited for someone to come within range. The only advantage we had was that we held the high ground, and I intended utilize that strength for all it was worth.
A brown and green shadow moved from one tree to another, and I managed to fire a burst at it before it disappeared behind cover. Luck smiled on me, and the figure went down with an agonized yelp. I hit it with three more shots just to make sure, and then started looking for another target.
Several more gunmen began to resolve from the brush, leapfrogging with short bursts of fire as they worked their way up higher to my left. I caught one of them in the leg and then put two in his chest when he fell, forcing the others to stop advancing and take cover. To their right, more raiders emerged to back them up.
While they were busy yelling back and forth to one another, I stayed low and moved to another spot a short distance farther up the hill. It wasn’t as good a spot as the one I was leaving, but I didn’t want to stay in one place for too long. If they concentrated fire on my position, I was done for.
Being careful to stay low, I put my cheek to the stock, my eye an inch or so from the scope, and settled the crosshairs on a knee jutting out from one side of a thick maple. Two quick trigger pulls turned that knee into a flapping, bleeding clump of meat. When the raider fell down, rather than finish him off, I waited for someone to go to his aid. Sure enough, some brave, dumb bastard broke cover firing an AK-47 at the place I had just vacated and ran to help. He got three rounds in the stomach for his effort. Now it was his turn to scream.
The men behind him halted, probably realizing that they were facing a sharpshooter, and not just some yahoo with a gun. Good. It would buy me some time. Behind me, I heard more rifle fire from Flannigan’s and Sanchez’s M-4s, and the heavier report of Gabriel’s SCAR. Judging from the shouts coming from the Legion’s direction, my friends were making their shots count.
A volley of bullets hit the trees below me and brought my attention back to the problem at hand. I could see five more of them in my lane, hunkered behind cover and peppering bullets at anything that looked like somewhere a man might take cover. Unfortunately for them, that was a lot of places, and none of them were anywhere near where I stood. I risked two more shots at a head poking out over a rifle obscured by a tree, missed him on the first try, and then dropped him like a sack of bricks with the second.
Hot damn, score one for the good guys .
Not wanting to push my luck, and well aware that if I tried to run now they would
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
I wondered if there really were green pastures and still waters in the afterlife. That sounded better than constant warfare, swarms of flesh-eating monsters, and old age in a world that spared no pity for the infirm.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake .
Leaving Allison behind would be the hardest part. I had only told her once that I loved her, and I wished that I had said it more often. It seemed silly now, holding back because I was worried she wouldn’t feel the same.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me.
I could see them now, thickly clothed figures making their way through the close stands of trees and underbrush as they climbed the hill. Before I could recite any more of my prayer, gunshots rang out to my right, probably from Flannigan. A scream of pain echoed from down the embankment, and I grinned.
Attagirl. Give ’em hell .
The raiders over on the far ridgeline opened fire again, forcing us to keep our heads down while their comrades moved in and tightened the noose. Suppression fire made its way up toward us, but nothing accurate. Just people spraying and praying. I settled in behind cover with as little of my body exposed as possible, and waited for someone to come within range. The only advantage we had was that we held the high ground, and I intended utilize that strength for all it was worth.
A brown and green shadow moved from one tree to another, and I managed to fire a burst at it before it disappeared behind cover. Luck smiled on me, and the figure went down with an agonized yelp. I hit it with three more shots just to make sure, and then started looking for another target.
Several more gunmen began to resolve from the brush, leapfrogging with short bursts of fire as they worked their way up higher to my left. I caught one of them in the leg and then put two in his chest when he fell, forcing the others to stop advancing and take cover. To their right, more raiders emerged to back them up.
While they were busy yelling back and forth to one another, I stayed low and moved to another spot a short distance farther up the hill. It wasn’t as good a spot as the one I was leaving, but I didn’t want to stay in one place for too long. If they concentrated fire on my position, I was done for.
Being careful to stay low, I put my cheek to the stock, my eye an inch or so from the scope, and settled the crosshairs on a knee jutting out from one side of a thick maple. Two quick trigger pulls turned that knee into a flapping, bleeding clump of meat. When the raider fell down, rather than finish him off, I waited for someone to go to his aid. Sure enough, some brave, dumb bastard broke cover firing an AK-47 at the place I had just vacated and ran to help. He got three rounds in the stomach for his effort. Now it was his turn to scream.
The men behind him halted, probably realizing that they were facing a sharpshooter, and not just some yahoo with a gun. Good. It would buy me some time. Behind me, I heard more rifle fire from Flannigan’s and Sanchez’s M-4s, and the heavier report of Gabriel’s SCAR. Judging from the shouts coming from the Legion’s direction, my friends were making their shots count.
A volley of bullets hit the trees below me and brought my attention back to the problem at hand. I could see five more of them in my lane, hunkered behind cover and peppering bullets at anything that looked like somewhere a man might take cover. Unfortunately for them, that was a lot of places, and none of them were anywhere near where I stood. I risked two more shots at a head poking out over a rifle obscured by a tree, missed him on the first try, and then dropped him like a sack of bricks with the second.
Hot damn, score one for the good guys .
Not wanting to push my luck, and well aware that if I tried to run now they would
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