The Pigs in the hall

The emergency lights in the hall came on.

They were green.

...Unfortunate.

Officer Kaida Hofferson raised her Glock, and pointed it at the door. It was locked, but there was a frosted window.

Which meant she could see the flashes on the other side. Hear the screams, the gunfire. Once something green splattered on the far side, made her jump.

Behind her, Wyatt and Hoshi frantically tried to get the armory door open. She could hear them arguing.

Her sights wobbled a little.

...Her hands were shaking.

Was it fatigue? Or was it fear?

Who wouldn't be scared? With those things out there?

Her gun wobbled a little more.

Would the door even stop them?

"Kai."

Bullets bounced off. Maybe they could rip right through.

"Kai!"

Maybe they'd break the door down, and flood into the hallway in a wave of darkness and green like those dreams where you can't run away fast enough-

Something touched her shoulder. She nearly hit the roof, and snapped her head to her left-

It was Deon.

Shemar Moore as "Hondo" Harrellson, SWAT 2017.

He was squeezing her shoulder. With his right hand, because of course he was ambidextrous.

"Kai?"

"...Yeah?"

"Breathe."

Right. That thing she needed to do.

She took a deep breath. The shaking - didn't stop, exactly, but there was less of it.

"Better?"

She nodded.

"Good," he said, and went back to pointing his gun at the door.

"Carr!" Wyatt called. "This green crap keeps melting through the gloves! Even double gloves!"

The other two cops couldn't see Deon roll his eyes. "Then use your pens. Or batons. Nine-mil if you have to."

Hoshi swallowed. "Right," he said.

Kaida murmured, "Ever seen anything like this?"

"What," Deon said, "over there?"

"Yeah," Kai said. "In 'the sandbox'."

Deon snorted, and semi-shrugged. "Nah. Never met any sex monsters. Unless you count what happens to most dudes around...four months away from a woman."

This time, Kai snorted.

Deon smiled.

"Course, back then we had night vision."

And then his eyes went someplace far away.

"There were...there were some nights. When we were just sitting there. Watching the dark. And you have to wonder...if there's a bullet out there with your name on it."

Kai wasn't smiling anymore.

"Had a battle buddy. Grunberg. We made a promise. If the enemy got one of us, the other would take care of him."

"Take care of...?"

Deon gave her a look.

...Oh. Take care of.

"We could get away with saying it was friendly fire. Probably. But that wasn't the point. We knew what those animals did if they had you."

Kai swallowed. "...And you're thinking about this because...?"

He gave her another look.

"Oh."

He didn't look away. Why didn't he-

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

He didn't ask the question.

He didn't need to.

And she didn't answer.

She just held out her left fist.

He bumped it with his right.

...He wouldn't be the first cop she shot that night.

"Sarge?"

"Yo."

"Code's not working."

Deon frowned, lowered his gun, and joined the other two cops. Wyatt stepped aside, and Deon walked past her.

"You used the area code, right?"

"Oh, Triple-Five, that's right."

And said, "Eyes front, soldier."

Kaida snapped her head forward. And blushed.

Maybe the flashing green lights would hide her blush.

Something hit the door. Deon said something he definitely didn't learn in basic. unless it was from the drill Sergeant.

And Kaida asked, "What's wrong?"

"Take a look," Hoshi growled, and stepped back.

So Kaida could see the broken wires behind the keypad.

And the world tilted a little, under her feet.

"What-I- don't understand. What does this mean?"

And, for a second, it looked like Deon's shoulders slumped.

And then his back was straight again.

Must've been the light.

"It means we split up," he said. "Wyatt, Hoshi, take the side door, head outside. Check the patrol car trunks for-"

Hoshi was already nodding. "-heavy artillery. Got it. C'mon, Reyna."

As he and Hoshi vanished, Deon said, "Hofferson?"

"Dee?"

"You're with me."

"Okay. And we're...?"

He started walking. Kaida followed.

"We're going to Dispatch. Shannon needs to tell everyone on the streets to link up at an alternate rally point."

"Alternate - We're abandoning the station?"

"Yes."

"No!"

Deon stopped, turned around, and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Kai, look at me."

She looked at him.

The green lights flashed off his shaved head, his brown skin, his goatee.

She'd never seen him look so serious.

"We've got four guns," he said. "Five if Shannon can shoot. And those things have a whole station full of cops and prisoners. Even if the stick is big enough, we don't have enough of them."

"So," Kaida said, with a certain amount of bitterness, "we're running away."

"...Call it what you like." Dee let go of her, and resumed walking towards Dispatch.

Kaida stewed for two more corners, then asked, "What happened to your last partner?"

"Transfer."

"No, not Ansel. I mean, overseas."

"...Funny story. Funny strange, not funny, funny. Turned out there wasn't a bullet with his name on it."

His voice got a little rougher.

"Turned out it was buckshot. His."

Kaida didn't know what to say.

"We're here," Deon said.

He knocked on the door that said DISPATCH. "Shannon, it's Carr. We're coming in!"

The door wasn't locked. Deon opened the door, with his gun up-

And froze.

"Well," he said, in a tight voice. "Looks like it's four guns after all."

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