Midnight Luck

It was late on a Thursday night. Ralph had driven all the way to Santa Rosa earlier to buy this extra special rifle because he liked the gun shop. Well, and it was one of the very few left in the Bay Area, anti-gun buying capital of the world. The Bay Area had it’s share of random killings and had even started the trend of mass killings back in the early ‘70s when some lunatic took is automatic weapon into a law firm and start killing people. The firm was in tall, modern building in downtown San Francisco and the world was shocked. People just couldn’t imagine what has now become common place.

As he sat behind the wheel, driving north, Ralph started thinking again. Bad habit. He knew they were coming but he didn’t know why or when. They were coming. So, he arrived at the gunship and started talking to one of the owners. He didn’t want an automatic weapon but he did want a semi-automatic rifle that was extremely reliable and extremely accurate and he didn’t care what it cost. He got what he wanted and drove home.

It wo days later, late in the evening when they came. At first, there were three of them and his dog starting barking as they were running through the courtyard. Ralph had the gun loaded and standing next to his chair at the dining room table. He signaled Mary to move to the bedroom and picked up the rifle. He moved to a position a few feet away, behind the door. The stairs rattled as the three men bounded carelessly up them. They thought the had an easy kill and they were excited. Stupidly, the burst into the living room, guns are the ready. But, Ralph was more than ready. Before they could even orient to the room, Ralph had shot all three of them. He had been an expert shot years ago in the US Army and the skill just stayed with him. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be enough. Knowing that more were coming, he went outside and down the stairs. They were coming.

Back up stairs he went and called to Mary. “Come help me.” She came into the living room and groaned when she saw the three bodies. It was very puzzling what was going on. She helped Ralph drag the bodies out the door and roll them down the stairs. Then the went to the bottom landing and stacked the bodies up as a little barrier to hide behind when the other came. Mary then ran back upstairs. Ralph settled in behind the stack of bodies and waited. The stack of bodies was sort of directed at the southern entrance into the courtyard. There was a northern entrance as well, but Ralph counted on them coming from the south. There were actually to entrances from the South, one on each side of the laundry room.

Here they came, six of them, three on each side. Ralph picked off the fist two quickly. The others took position behind a tree, behind a staircase and on the ground. Behind the staircase wasn’t much protection and Ralph finished off that guy. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder and took a deep breath. Whoa! That really hurts. Thinking that the shot had come from the guy on the ground to the left side, in the flower bed, he focussed on that guy. It took three shots, but he hit his mark. Still, lots of bullets were flying his way. There were only two guys left in the south and they were firing like mad. A tall man that had been using the tree, stepped out from the tree aggressively to try to finish off Ralph. He was quickly finished leaving only on shooter.

Suddenly a shooter popped up from the entrance on the right and had a good angle on Ralph. He shot Ralph in the right side, a flesh would that passed on the edge of his waste. Ralph gunned him down and waited for the next guy to appear. The next shooter bounced into view eagerly from the right and Ralph took him out.

Seven bad guys dead, but one had edged to Ralph’ exposed side while he was dealing with the two gunmen from the right. Ralph realized that he was expose and foolishly stood up to get a better position. He took a bullet that ripped through the left side of his stomach. He fell to his knees, but in a better position behind the stack of dead bodies. The shooter saw that Ralph was down and rushed forward. Ralph was still functional and took him out with two shots as the gunman charged his position. 

Body count: 11 gunmen dead and Ralph with three bullet wounds, one very serious.

Mary came running down the stairs. “Ralph, let’s get to the car.”

Ralph winced as he stood. He was in great pain, a little shaky, but able to run. The ran into the courtyard. Mary saw two guns on the sidewalk that looked especially nasty. She didn’t know much about guns but her instincts told her to grab one. She grabbed them both and gave one to Ralph. He noticed that they each had lengthy belts of bullets attached. Dropping his beautiful new rifle, he took the gun from Mary and they run into the parking lot, As they turned left to get to Ralph’s car which was parked to the left in the next drive, a squad of six men came running around the corner ahead of them. There were eager and unprepared like the fist three men. Ralph and Mary shot all six men with their new automatic weapons. Mary was in shock. She had never fired a gun in her life. Standing there staring at the dead men, two gunmen came from the drive on the right firing. One of them hit Mary in her right thigh. Ralph took them both out but Mary was wounded.

“C’mon,” he said. “Let’s get to the car. They started running.

Body count: 19 dead, Ralph and Mary both wounded.

As they ran by the dead bodies in the parking lot, Ralph noticed that they all wore black jackets. On the backs, in big white letters, were the words, “Alternate Lives.”

“What the hell,” he thought.

Four more guys came running in from the street. They seemed uncertain, but Ralph and Mary were not. The dropped to their knees and each took down two of the men.

Mary ran to the passenger side of the car. Ralph had unlocked the car when two bullets ripped through his body. He turned and another flew into his chest knocking him backward onto the asphalt. Mary screamed and shot one of them who came in from the other side of the car. She ran around to Ralph and two of the men shot her multiple times. Mary fell on top of Ralph, who opened his eyes slightly. He said, “I love you, Mary.” Then just before he moved on to his next life with Mary following right behind. Body count: 25 dead including Ralph and Mary. It was midnight, He looked up at Mary and kissed her and said, 'I think our luck has run out. Sorry I got you involved but, nice shooting."