Chapter Forty-Seven

My not stopping to think undoubtedly saves me valuable action time. But T.V is so much faster to react with his eyes, and even with the brief window of hesitation that flashes through them, Neil is not subject to such and even worse, my impaired limb has me moving and firing at a much irregular rate than I would otherwise.

The result is an immediate scattering of the hostages, as though they know instinctively that we barely have any of this under control, that it's now or never. 

Neil's spray of bullets meets mine in the chaos and many, including myself, do not come out unscathed. The confusion of the patron has them crossing our fire and dropping like dolls more than I'd like, but to Neil's sadistic pleasure it's all he could want, that and the new bullet lodged in my thigh.

In less than a quarter of a second the deck is stained red with bodies twitching and people screaming and my rifle out of bullets.