Page 44 of Dance Practice, Marooned: Part 2

Rachel shifts, like she’s uncomfortable. “I’ve never shot anything. What if I miss?”

Aggie ponders it for a second, then pulls us further back into the brush, out of sight, and does a two-minute gun tutorial for Rachel in utter silence. How to take the safety up, line up the scope, squeeze not yank, just like she’s teaching a kid how to tie shoes, except the shoes are guns and the goal is to murder people before they murder you.

“Once you take aim, don’t even tremble,” Aggie whispers. “You simply shoot, pull the trigger and take them out. Then, we all swing our guns to the other three. I’ll focus on the girl, I have shot quite a few guns. You two focus on the other two pirates, they are unarmed so we have a good chance. Rachel, to begin, you shoot the one with the machete, we will take the armed ones.”

Rachel’s hands are trembling, her whole face white, but she nods. “Okay.”

Aggie straightens her shoulders, and looks Rachel dead in the eye. “If you freeze, we die. You clear?”

Rachel nods again.

I prepare my gun.

Aggie looks to us. “Are you ready?”

I nod. “Let’s fuck them up.”

Aggie grins. “Yeah, let’s.”

How the hell did we go from dancers to pirate-fighting bad-arses? I don’t know, but I’m here for it.

The world goes very still, then impossibly loud.

We fan out a little, so we don’t bump into each other, and line up our shots. Aggie lifts her hand, giving us the signal that it is time.

My eyes focus back on the pirate in front of me, my scope right on his chest. He is spitting curses at Zeke, in a language I don’t quite understand.

I don’t care to, either.

I pull the trigger.

Three shots split the air, each distinct and bright as a star. My rifle bucks into my shoulder and the man with the pistol jerks, his chest flowering red before he drops. Rachel’s bullet cracks the skull of machete guy; he topples, the blade clattering to the sand. Aggie’s shot hits the last pirate in the knee. There’s a half second where nobody moves, and then the night dissolves into screaming.

The two unarmed pirates bolt for the trees, one reaching for the young girl and hauling her to her feet. I swing my gun in their direction, careful not to hit the girl, and fire, quick and ugly, and the man collapses, screaming and twisting on the sand, blood gushing from his leg. His hand lets go of the younger girl’s braid, and she freezes, reeling back, her eyes wide as her hands go up.

I keep my aim steady, even though my hands are vibrating so hard I almost drop the gun. The other pirate barely gets two steps when he is shot by either Aggie or Rachel. He slams into a tree trunk, slumping but still trying to crawl away. The woman with the gun is firing blindly into the trees, but Aggie is too fast. She fires, a clean shot, right between her shoulder blades.

She pitches forward, gone before she lands. And then it’s silent. Utterly, violently silent except for the wet gasps of the pirates and the frantic sobs of the girl. My ears are ringing so loud I can barely hear my own breath. I stagger out of the trees and make a beeline for Ace. His face is scraped up, but he’s grinning in this wild, reckless way. “You goddamned fuckin’ crazy woman,” he rasps.

One pirate still groans on the ground, but he isn’t getting up anytime soon.

I drop my gun and fumble with the ropes on his wrists. Blood slicks his arms and he’s shivering, but his hands are steady as he pulls me in the very second his arms are free, crushing me so hard to his chest I can feel his heart pounding against my cheek. I let him hold me, mostly for him, a little for me. I close my eyes and just take it in, allowing the moment to truly sink in.

After that, I pull back and help him to his feet as Aggie and Rachel untie Kellen and Zeke.

Now, well, now is our chance to get the hell out of here.

Now, we’ll finally be free.

SHAKING ALL OVER, THE young girl holds her hands up with tears rolling down her face as she stares at us. She’s so scared, it’s actually breaking my heart. Up close I can see that she has the most crystal-clear blue eyes, even under the moonlight, she is beautiful. She’s also terrified of us, and I don’t blame her. We just shot everyone but her.

“It’s okay,” I say carefully, stretching out my hand. “Do you speak English?”

Tears run down her cheeks as she mumbles something in a different language, taking a few steps back.

“We’re not here to hurt you,” I go on. “I promise you that.”

More mumbling.