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Tyler’s finger jerked against the trigger, but the shot slammed into the wooden floor of the passage, fragments of fibre bursting from the corner of the coconut mat at the kitchen doorway. His target didn’t falter and marched steadily towards him, swinging the sledge to shoulder height in readiness.
Tyler’s hand gripped the bolt but he estimated the sledgehammer would be arcing down on him before he’d ejected the spent case. He tore up the stairs and felt heavy footfalls behind him. He didn’t look back, just had to get the gun to his mother. Get back to the room and safety so he could reload.
He saw her terrified face at the gap in the door.
“Tyler!” She pulled herself out of the way so he could squeeze back in.
Halfway through, he could feel fingers on his tee shirt collar dragging him back. A hot, solid fist bunched the material on his bare shoulder to secure its grip, and he could hear it stretching as he tried to tug his body clear. Mom and Beth were digging their nails into him, gripping and yanking on him as the fist wrenched Tyler back towards the landing.
“Kevin!” he shouted to his brother who was lying with his hands over his head next to the bed. Tyler lobbed the rifle at him. He looked down at it as it skidded to a halt in front of him. “You know how to load it!”
But Kevin didn’t move from his position.
“Kevin!”
Beth hooked her fingers over his belt and yanked him at the waist.
“Let go of him!” Mom screamed as she frantically jabbed at the man’s hand with a pair of nail scissors.
Tyler heard the tee shirt rip and grunted to propel himself forward. He heard a male howl and the hot fist briefly lost its grip. But the fingers quickly reattached themselves, first to the knot of his bandana and then, when that was dragged off, the few curls he had left at the nape of his neck. His head was bent backwards as Tyler gripped the edge of the chest and attempted to use its weight to lever himself inside.
“Mom!”
She was still lunging at the hand holding him.
Tyler could hear the hairs being torn from the roots. He heaved his shoulders forward so he couldn’t snap his neck all the way back, and his whole body shook with the exertion.
“Let him go!” Mom’s hand flashed past him again and again.
Another growl from the landing and Tyler was released. He staggered a few paces into the room and then fell onto his knees in front of Kevin. The door slammed.
Without exchanging eye contact with his brother, Tyler scooped up the rifle and cycled the bolt as he turned. The spent case was ejected and pinged across the floor, and a new one was locked in the chamber. Mom and Beth were pushing the chest of drawers up against the door again and he ran to their aid, leaning against it as they all anticipated a further assault.
For a few seconds, their panting was the only sound. Tyler looked at his mother’s hands against the chest. Her right was a fist of blood. The pair of bent nail scissors blades poked out of her grip.
The room shook with the impact of something heavy. The two women put their shoulders against the chest to hold it in place.
“He’s got a sledgehammer.” Tyler stood back and aimed the rifle at the door. “I’ve got a full magazine! I’ll fucking shoot you if you come in here!”
Another impact; a picture fell from the wall beside the door and smashed.
Beth yanked Mom back from the door. “If he punches a hole in the door, we’d better take cover. Sure you know how to fire that thing?”
Tyler nodded but didn’t take his eyes off the panel. “Might take him some time to work through that. It’s solid.”
“But that’s not.” Beth pointed to a fissure that had appeared in the plaster beside the door. With the next swing, the head of the hammer poked through the wall.
