Page 45 of Powerless
"Jandro, I'm scared," I confessed, my teeth chattering like I was freezing.
"I know, baby. Just do what I say and you'll be fine, I promise. Take this." He shoved a pistol in my hand.
"I don't know how to use it!"
"Point it at a bad guy and pull the trigger." In his other hand, he cocked an assault rifle of his own. "Tell me when you're out of ammo. And whatever you do, do not put your hands on my back. I'm shielding you, do you understand?"
"But that leaves you exposed!"
"Exactly. I'm going to draw them away from the gate so the others can pick them off." He cupped my face and kissed me too quickly for either of us to enjoy it. "We're going to make it through this, trust me."
"Jandro," my hands shook so hard, I was in serious danger of dropping my gun, "I can’t—“
"Youcan.Hold on, we've gotta move."
Everyone else was gone. Only we were left between the two lines of hostile bikers converging in on us. Jandro weaved his bike in a wide, lazy figure-eight pattern.
"Keep your arms tucked in and hold tight onto my shirt," he instructed. "I'm gonna zig-zag like hell. Only point your gun when you have a clear shot. Got it?"
I nodded, despite feeling nowhere near like I had it.
"Jandro..."
"I know, I know. Trust me."
The roars of at least twenty bikes filled my ears. I could make out their faces now—hard, angry, and ready to kill.
I only hoped the Steel Demons were more ready.
Jandro looped the bike around back the way we came and accelerated hard. Our enemies picked up speed to give chase.
"Tuck in! Stay close!" Jandro yelled.
I curled into him just as his rifle hand pulled away to point behind him. Seconds later came therat-tat-tat-tat-tatof his rapid firing.
The air grew thick with dust kicked up from all the bikes. My eyes burned and I thought I might fall at any moment with Jandro weaving back and forth at such high speed.
He kept looking back to shoot behind us while I clung to him with my tiny silver weapon in my hand.
"Watch out!" I screamed.
One of the riders broke off from his pack and was coming straight for us. We were going to collide head-on, but Jandro was dealing with the dozen or so chasers on our tail.
I shakily aimed my gun and waited. The biker smiled cruelly and let go of his handlebars to aim his shotgun with both hands.
Somehow, I fired first.
"Fuck!" He clutched at his side. I barely grazed him, but it was enough to surprise him and throw his balance to send him tumbling off of his bike. Jandro maneuvered us out of the way at the last second.
"Nice, Mari!" he praised.
Unseating one of their riders seemed to piss of our chasers even more. They returned Jandro's fire even more rapidly. Bullets whizzed by us and madeplinksounds as they hit the frame of his bike.
"Ah!" Jandro's torso jolted forward, his face a grimace of pain and his knuckles white on the grips.
I touched his shoulder, my palm coming away red and sticky. "You're hit!" I cried.
"Keep your hands in front!" he bellowed.
