"Move back," Ace yelled over the gunfire."Stay low." They crab-walked to the back of the building, all exceptfor Slick who was flat on the ground, blood spilling from his throat andpooling on the concrete floor. Ace giggled a bit at the sight, shrugged his shouldersand said, "A four-piece band is better than a five-piece anyway." Inthe back hall of the club, they reassembled and reloaded.
"What the hell are we doing?" Pudge asked.
Ace clapped him on the shoulder and said, "We'refighting for our rights." The sentiment did not assuage Pudge, and hisface had the look of one who is given the news that they are about to die.
"What's the plan?" Slutty asked.
Ace thought for a second. There were maybe five soldiersoutside, with hundreds of dead closing in. But Ace didn't want the dead to haveall the fun. "Pudge, you stay here. Fire a shot out the window every fewseconds. Slutty Rivets, Spider, you come with me."
They ran through the graffiti-scarred corridor, and Acepounded out the emergency exit to the back of the building, Spider and SluttyRivets on his heels. They could hear Pudge's gunfire. It was answered by moregunfire from the streets. Ace reached the corner of the building and pressedhis back to the bricks, enjoying their coolness in the heat. Sweat covered hisbody, and the sound of gunfire masked their booted footsteps.
Ace cautiously leaned out, surveying the situation. Therewere four men, two behind their commandeered jeep and two behind the armoredvehicle. That was good, or at least he thought so until he spotted the mansitting behind the mounted machine gun of the armored vehicle. He slowly pulledhis head back and looked at Slutty Rivets and Spider.
"Five guys," he said. "Two behind thejeep, two behind that giant thingy, and one on the gun."
"The fifty caliber?" Slutty asked.
"I don't know what you call it. The big gun on thethingy," Ace replied.
"That's a fifty caliber machine gun," Sluttysaid. "That thing will turn your body to hamburger and mist with just oneround."
Hamburger. Yum. Ace was hungry again. "You guysworry about the guys on the ground. I'll kill the guy on the machine gun."
Ace didn't wait for the guys to react. He ran out to thestreet, his eye already sighting down the rifle. He pulled the trigger, and thesound of automatic fire rang through the streets. Sparks bounced off the metalguards around the machine gun, and he saw the man duck his head down. Theturret turned towards them, and Ace aimed again. Out of the corner of his eye,he saw Spider and Slutty Rivets gun down the men behind the vehicles. Theydidn't have a chance.
The machine gun was almost dead on with him, so he dancedto the side, firing his rifle at the tiny square between the metal guards. Morebullets bounced off the guards, and Ace thought, This is it. This is how Idie.
Then he saw Pudge climbing up the side of the vehicle, ahandgun gripped in his fist. There was a light pop and a puff of red mist, andthen Pudge was jumping off the top of the vehicle, a huge smile on his face.Ace had never been so glad to see the man's forgettable face framed by hisscruffy goatee. Ace laughed out loud and raised his gun over his head, firingrounds into the sky like a primal ape who had just discovered fire.
The dead were closing in quickly, so they scavenged whatthey could, rifles, cigarettes and cash off the dead men's bodies. Ace wasdigging through the pockets of the dead soldier in the turret when he heard thenoise. Echoing off the buildings was a thumping. It was getting closer. Hescanned the skies with his eyes, trying to pinpoint where the sound was comingfrom. It was a helicopter. His boys looked around as well. They climbed intothe armored vehicle, slamming the doors behind them and looking up at the skythrough the armored windows.
As Ace was looking up at the sky, he felt a movementbeneath him, and the soldier whose pockets he had been rifling through spranginto action. The soldier gripped his arm, and the grip was so strong that Acethought the bones in his arm were going to snap. He yelled for help, but the chopperhovering over their heads prevented anyone from hearing him. Ace pushed thesoldier as far back from him as he could, which wasn't very far in the confinesof the turret. With his forearm locked under the soldier's chin, he pushed hishead up, and with his free arm, he reached behind and pulled his revolver free.He placed it underneath the chin and squeezed his eyes shut as he pulled thetrigger. The dead soldier slumped in the turret, and Ace pushed the corpse outof the turret and onto the floor of the vehicle.
Ace turned his eyes back to the sky in time to see thehelicopter hovering over them. Without thinking, Ace guided the machine gun inits direction. He pulled the trigger on the gun, and rounds began pouring outof the weapon. A belt to his left slid through the machine gun, and thick brassshells fell to the floor of the turret, clattering metallically before fallinginside the vehicle. His initial spray was off target, but it was only a secondbefore he peppered the side of the hovering helicopter with rounds, his earsringing from the noise.
Holes erupted in the windows of the helicopter, and itbegan to swerve off course, spinning out of control. The helicopter hit theground hard, pieces of metal flying off of the chopper. It did not explode asAce had hoped, so he continued firing the machine gun, until the belt ofammunition was gone. Still no explosion. He cursed in his head, as he hoppedout of the turret.
"Holy shit, man! You just took down a chopper,"Spider yelled. At least, that's what Ace thought he yelled. His ears weren'tcurrently functioning at that moment. After years of playing concerts withoutearplugs, his hearing had deteriorated sharply. Now he could hardly hear athing.
Ace ignored the praise of the others and began rootingthrough the back of the vehicle. Two
