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.I turned back and saw afigure emerge, and with the faint light of the moon, Icould just make out the form of a man, dressed in armyfatigues, raising his hand toward Maggie.Soundexploded in a hiss from the end of his outstretchedhand, and there was a distinct thwack as Maggie wasspun around and slammed to the ground.The figureraced toward her and was about to fall upon her when Ileaped.Still in midair, I caught him squarely on the chin with my foot, and I heard his neck snap back.His eyes werewild with surprise.He hadn't seen me coming.I tookmy revolver from the holster and grabbing the barrel, Iswung as hard as I could.The metal handle of my gunmet his skull with a sickening thud, and he fell to theground.Maggie's shirt was already soaked through with red, thesticky ooze spreading across her chest.Her eyes werewide with terror, and she held her hand to her chestwhere she'd been struck.It was very close to her heart.I heard myself choke back a sob and leaned over towhisper in her ear."I'll get you out of here.Don'tworry." I was fighting tears."Let me carry you.""I think I can walk," she said, her voice trembling."Don't be silly," I whispered.I got my arms underneathher and started to lift."I'm serious," she said, sounding puzzled."It hurts likehell, but I don't think it broke the skin." "Hell, you've got blood all over you!" I hissed.ButMaggie, resisting my attempts to pick her up, wasstruggling to show me something.She finally managedto lift her shirt, exposing her lovely breasts in the palemoonlight.They too were soaked with red, but whenshe wiped at them, there was no hole to be seen.Justan angry red and white welt.My mouth hung openstupidly."I think I was hit with a paint gun," she said, starting togiggle."A what?" I said, stunned.I rubbed some of the redwith my fingers and sniffed them, verifying her guess.The relief washed over me with such force that I nearlycollapsed.I'd thought Maggie was as good as dead.Ilooked at the form lying on the ground beside us.Hewasn't moving.His eyes had rolled back in his head andhis mouth hung open at a lopsided angle.I placed myfinger to his neck and was relieved to find a faint butsteady pulse.At least I hadn't killed him.And thankGod I hadn't shot him! I wondered suddenly how many others were out here inthe dark, shooting at each other with paint guns.Thatthwack we'd heard earlier must have been another hit.Even as we sat there, I thought I heard a dull pop in thedistance.We were smack in the middle of some stupidwar game.Our chances of getting caught had justmagnified tenfold."Come on," I said, helping Maggie to her feet.Despiteher insistence that she was okay, I could tell she wasshaken."Let's get out of here," I said."Follow me, and staylow."I started back the way we had come, but it soonbecame evident that we'd have to change course.Thedull popping of paint bullets was growing louder, andwe could hear people running all around us.Now andthen, dark figures darted in and out from behind thetrees, and at one point someone came so close to usthat Maggie grabbed my hand and pulled me back. "Maybe we should just stay here, wait for morning," shewhispered.Yeah, right, I thought.And at one o'clock Townewould call Martha and Booker, and everyone would bein a panic.Better to keep moving quietly and get ourbutts down the mountain as soon as possible."We'll be out of this soon," I told Maggie."We'realmost to the other side." I flashed her what I hopedwas a confident, no-need-to-worry smile and headedoff for the next tree, hoping I was right.The truth was, Ihad no idea where we were.The sounds of the firing were growing more distant andwe began to breathe easier.Another noise, like a fainthumming, had been increasing, but I couldn't tell if itwas made by insects or something mechanical.Thetrees were big enough and close enough together thatwe were under good cover, but at the same time therewas very little light from the moon, so it was difficult tosee.The ground had leveled out, and I suspected we were at the apex of the ridge.I wasn't entirely sure thatwe weren't going in circles.Suddenly, a shape loomedin front of us, and it took me a moment to realize thatwe had stumbled onto one of the canvas Quonset huts.We pulled back, hiding behind a tree and studied thestructure.It was different from the ones I'd seen earlier.It seemed to be smaller but it had a look ofpermanence.There was a rubber mat in front of thedoorway, and with a start I realized there was a thinbeam of light coming from inside.There was no waythey could have strung electricity up this ridge
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