Page 6 of No Quarter

“Get the kids away from the door and hide behind this,” Charlie threw an old wardrobe on its side.

He and Marvin then piled every piece of furniture they could find in front of the door.

Gunshots sounded. Bullets poked through the barricade, and Marvin leaped to the ground. Charlie kept himself close against the wall by the door.

He listened.

He waited.

The sound of a footfall came.

Charlie knew someone was coming closer. And so, he used that as an opportunity to do some damage. He side-stepped and saw the shadow of someone through one of the bullet holes in the door.

He squeezed the trigger and heard a gasp as his own bullet shot through the small hole. Then, the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor.

“Did you get him?” Marvin asked, his voice laced with anxiety.

“There are at least three or four more,” Charlie whispered.

“What do they want!?” Angela yelled.

Charlie drew a look at his brother. Marvin appeared ashamed and avoided his gaze.

Four more shots sounded from outside the room, but this time the bullets were lower down the door. They splintered through a table propped up as part of the barricade. A piece of splintered wood half an inch in length struck Charlie’s cheek, drawing blood.

He gave it no attention.

Instead, he fired back through the door as he crossed the room. Then, he moved to a small window, the only one there.

Looking out of it, his fears intensified. It was their only escape, if escape were possible, but he could already see another intruder on the path, gun in hand, looking in the windows trying to find out which one was theirs.

Charlie fired another shot at the door and then sunk down behind the window.

“Shoot through the door, Marvin,” Charlie said.

And Marvin did just that. He wasn’t as trained as Charlie, but he had handled a gun or two in his time.

As his brother fired some shots to deter anyone from trying to get through the barricade, Charlie waited.

And waited.

Suddenly, the light from the window dimmed slightly. That was when he knew it was time. One of the attackers was standing in front of it.

Leaping up from beneath the window, Charlie aimed his gun for a shot at the man standing in front of it. But it was too late.

Glass smashed all around, cascading over Charlie like a hailstorm. The man had smashed it with the butt of his gun and grabbed Charlie by the neck.

“Daddy!” Charlie’s kids screamed, almost in unison.

Angela shielded them from the glass with her body.

Marvin stood up to help his brother, but as he did so, two shots sounded at the door, blowing one of the hinges off.

It was only a matter of time, now, before they got in.

The man on the other side of the broken window frame pulled at Charlie, dragging his face toward a large shard of glass sticking out of the wood.

Just as the glass was about to pierce his cheek, Charlie grabbed the man’s thumb, bent it back, and then applied a wrist lock on his hand.

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