I kept my shotgun close, trying stay calm, but looking down the dark trail into the woods it was worrisome to know there were bears lurking in the trees. Bill seemed nervous, too. "I'm going to light a cigarette," he said. "If this bastard's coming to rob us, we can't do much about it. I might as well light up." That one cigarette in the dark was enough to shed light on trees and tall grass beside us. "You know he's bringing people, and guns, right?"
"We've got guns," I said.
"Yeah, we do. Still."
Not far from us something in the dark squealed its death call. I stiffened my grip on the shotgun. Down the trail I thought I saw a blue light flicker. "You see it?" I asked.
"Yup." Bill got to one knee and looked through his infared scope. "It's them alright. Maybe four of them."
More blue flickering lights started to appear in the distance. I moved in towards the brush and crouched behind a stone, holding my gun to the ground. "They're coming up the trail. I count four so far. Less than a hundred yards." He got down into a prone position. Just then we heard a short burst from an automatic rifle go off. It sounded like fabric being ripped apart. "Holy Shit! They're shooting!"