Apocalypse Aftermath (43 page)

“Okay.”

Austin nodded and moved off down the line to talk to the others.  Lori was doing the same from the opposite side.  They seemed to be demonstrating how to hold the MP5s properly.  Jessica turned to her daughter.  “Candice, I want you standing over there.  Don’t wander around and don’t come any closer.”  She pointed at a spot about fifteen feet back from the firing line.

“I want to watch.”

“You can watch.  From over there.”

Candice bobbed her head obediently and moved to the spot her mother had indicated.  Jessica considered the girl for a moment with a heavy dose of ‘Mom Eye’, then nodded.  She leaned her cane against the table and opened one of the boxes marked nine millimeter.

By the time she finished getting bullets into the new magazines, Austin and Lori had finished talking and demonstrating to everyone else one-on-one.  Lori moved to the far side of the firing line and raised her voice in a shout.  “You may load and unsafe your weapons.  Keep them pointed down range.  You are aiming for the top left target in front of you.  That’s top left, in front of you.”  She waited while a series of metallic clicks and scrapes sounded along the firing line.

“Range is hot.  Fire when ready.”

Jessica drew the Taurus and raised it in front of her in the two-handed grip the manual had described after jerking the slide back to load the first bullet.  She found the safety with her thumb, then laid her finger lightly on the trigger as she aimed the weapon.  The little dots of the sights wavered as she lined them up; putting the one at the end of the barrel between the two at the back.  She flinched when gunshots went off next to her, but she got the gun aimed properly and tried to ignore the noise.

She jumped when the gun went off.  As before, when it fired it startled her, even though she
was the one pulling the trigger.  She brought the pistol back down and aimed and fired again.  She knew the MP5s the others were shooting had thirty round magazines, but it seemed to take her just as long to fire off the eight in her pistol.  It was a shock each time it fired.  The recoil kicked against her hands and wrists and forearms, and the gun rose in her hands each time it went off.

She didn’t notice when the slide locked back on the empty magazine until she squeezed the trigger and nothing happened.  Rotating the gun a little to the right so she had a bit of a profile view, she saw the slide was back just as the manual had said it was supposed to be
when it was empty.  Hitting the magazine release, she almost dropped the magazine as it fell out, but she managed to hang on and put it on the table.

She looked at her target as she pulled another magazine out of her back pocket.  There
were four circular bull’s-eyes on it, and she was supposed to be shooting at the one in the upper left.  She thought she saw two spots where she’d hit sort of close, but she wasn’t sure. 
“That’s what practice is for.”
she told herself as she got the new magazine in.  She fumbled for the slide release and flinched when it triggered and let the slide snap forward.  Supposedly that meant it had just loaded the first bullet in the magazine.

Raising it again, she resumed shooting, still trying to get used to the heavy pushback when it went off.  She’d fired five more rounds when she heard Lori shouting.  “Cease fire.  Range is cold. Cease fire.  Range is cold.”

Jessica put the safety on and laid the gun down on the table quickly before looking at Lori.  The instructor was glaring daggers at everyone on the firing line as they slowly complied with her order.  Some of them were a little slow in getting their MP5s unlooped from where they hung on the slings so they could put them down, but eventually everyone was standing waiting.

“Range is cold.” Lori repeated, still shouting.  “Mr. Carter and myself are going to go examine your targets so we can discuss how to improve with each of you. 
Do not
touch a weapon while we are down range.  If you do, you’d better hope you kill me, because you’re going to wish you had when I get done with you.”

Jessica looked behind her, but Candice was right where she was supposed to be.  Jessica nodded at her daughter approvingly, then faced front and opened the box of forty-five caliber bullets.  She loaded the empty magazine and replaced it in her pocket, then stood waiting while Lori and Austin checked the targets.  They were doing something with markers that left little circles on the paper.  It didn’t take the two of them very long to examine the targets, then they came back to the firing line.

“Okay, you hit three out of twelve.” Austin said when he rejoined her.  “Which isn’t bad for a first timer.  I think you’re flinching in anticipation of the gun going off.  I’ll help you with it before we’re done.  Just try to take your time aiming.  You want to breathe in, then out, then squeeze the trigger back slowly.  Don’t hold your breath, but fire before you breathe in again.  The idea is to hold the weapon steady while you aim and fire.  If you’re moving it around, you’re probably going to miss.”

Jessica nodded, and he patted her lightly on the shoulder.  “Alright.”

She waited while he and Lori spoke to each of the others, then Lori called for another round of shooting at one of the other bull’s-eyes.  Jessica tried to keep the pistol steady like Austin had said, but she knew she was still not shooting very well.  The target didn’t seem that far away until she aimed at it, and then it was suddenly quite small and hard to line up.

She managed to shoot her way into her third and final magazine this time before Lori called cease fire.  This time she ejected the magazine before putting the pistol down, and was done reloading by the time Austin came back from checking the targets.

“Better, eight out of twenty with one in the center ring.  Remember to keep your aim steady.  The gun’s going to move when you shoot, so just aim and fire.  Let it move, don’t move it.  Got it?”

“I’ll try.”

“You’re getting the hang of it.” he assured her, then moved off to the next station.  She eyed her target as the others on the line talked with Austin or Lori.  The little circles Austin had made were scattered around the bull’s-eye she had been aiming at.  A look at some of the other targets on the range showed her how far she had to go before she was going to be reasonably competent; some of the targets had a lot of tight clusters of marker circles that covered the target.

“Alright, let’s go again.” Lori called.  “Range is hot.  Fire when ready.”

Jessica’s wrists were starting to really feel the recoil by the time she finished firing off the third round of shooting, but this time she thought she was definitely improving.  Austin agreed when he got done checking and told her how she’d done.

“Twelve for twenty-four, with three in the center.  We’ll try a primary/secondary sequence for the next one, and I’ll stay with you, okay?”

“What?”

He grinned.  “I’ll explain when I get back.  The others are about as good as they’re going to get today, so I can leave them alone without being accused of shirking my responsibilities.”  Jessica waited while he updated the other shooters, then had a quick word with Lori before coming back over to her.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Jessica told him.

“It’s simple.” he said.  “The reason you carry more than one weapon is because one is your primary, and the other is your secondary.  Follow?”

“Okaaay.” she said, drawing the word out a little uncertainly.

“The secondary is your backup.  It’s for when you’re empty or if something happens to your primary. 
For when you
need
a gun without delay.  If you can’t take the time to reload or to fix what’s wrong, you switch to your secondary and keep firing.”

“Oh.” Jessica said, feeling a little stupid.  “That makes sense.”

“We’re going to finish up with some more instruction on how to deal with weapon malfunctions, but trust me, inexperienced shooters are going to make mistakes and forget things when they shoot for real.  If you have to shoot when it counts, I don’t want you to panic.  Just remember you’ve got the secondary.  That’s what we’re going to practice now.  And I’ll help you with your aim.”

“Got it.”

“Now, I know this might sound like a line, but I’m going to stand behind you.  Don’t worry, I’m a professional.”

Jessica couldn’t help chuckling, but she nodded.  “I trust you.”

She could hear the grin in his voice as he spoke again.  “Good.  Now, load both weapons, and safe and holster them.”

“Uh . . . Lori said—” she began, but Austin broke in.

“It’s okay if I’m here, but otherwise you’re correct.  Go ahead, it’s fine.”

Jessica slid a loaded magazine into the Taurus, dropped the slide and double checked
that she’d put the safety on before putting the pistol into the holster on her side.  She put one of the nine millimeter magazines into the Shield, but Austin reached over her shoulder and stopped her when she started to pull the slide back.  “No, leave it empty.  Unless you’re going to carry it live, and I don’t think that’s what you’ve generally been doing.”

“No.” Jessica confirmed.  She knew the safety was just that, but she still didn’t like the idea of carrying a pistol around that was so close to being ready to going off.  Especially not two of them.

“Safe and holster.”

She put the Shield into the holster at the back of her belt then looked over her shoulder at him.  And up, where his face was.  He was standing pretty close, but far enough behind her that she’d have to step back to come into contact with him.

“Ready?” he asked her.

“I guess.”

“Range is hot.  Fire when ready.” Lori shouted.

Austin leaned down and spoke right into her ear as gunshots started going off.  “Draw and fire the Taurus until it’s empty.  Then drop the slide and holster it, and draw the Shield and resume firing.  Take your time about it.  Safety stays on until you’ve got the gun out in front of you, and finger always off the trigger until you’re aiming and ready to fire.”

Jessica nodded and faced forward.  She drew the silver pistol and lined it up on the last bull’s-eye before touching the safety.  She got the first round off smoothly enough, but flinched as she fired the next two, sending them wild.  Austin’s hands reached past her and cupped around her wrists, hovering just out of contact with her skin.

“Let the gun move, just aim and fire.” he said loudly.

She lined up again, then felt her wrists bump into him just before she fired.

“See, you’re anticipating.  Let the gun handle the recoil.”  On her next try she still moved, but this time it was almost as she fired.  “Little better.  Don’t let my hands touch you until you’ve fired.”

Jessica drew a breath and let it out, then aimed and squeezed the trigger.  The gun kicked and her wrists hit his hands.  “Good, good.” he said.  “Again.”  She fired twice more, managing to earn another pair of approving comments from him.  She squeezed the trigger again, but the gun clicked without going off.

“Empty, you’re empty.” Austin said.  “Switch, switch.”

Jessica started to holster the Taurus, then remembered the slide and fumbled for the control.  She finally got it and felt the slide snap forward on the empty chamber.  Her thumb rolled the safety on, and she jammed the pistol into the holster.  Reaching around behind her, she found the Shield and pulled it out.

She brought it around and up in front of her, and began to raise it into a firing position before she remembered the slide.  Her fingers slipped as she tried to grasp it the first
time, then she got a grip and racked it back.  It felt like she’d taken a long time as she finally got the gun up and aimed as she felt for the safety and clicked it off.

The dots on the sights of the Shield were green, not white, but they were arranged the same as on the Taurus.  She got them lined up, then squeezed the trigger back.  When the nine millimeter went off, it was quieter and less punishing as it kicked against her hands.  She was able to bring it back into line without as much effort, and she fired again.  And she was managing to keep herself from anticipating the recoil, which she could feel was letting her aim more effectively.

When the Shield clicked empty, she started to turn, but Austin’s voice was in her ear again.  “Reload it, reload it before you holster.”

She picked up the other nine millimeter magazine, then realized she hadn’t taken the empty one out yet.   As she started to put the fresh magazine down, Austin stopped her.  “If that happens, just drop the empty out.  Just drop it out.  Use the magazine release.”

Jessica thumbed the proper control and watched the spent magazine fall to the ground.  Now she could load the full one in, then she hit the slide release, safed it, and reached back to put it in the holster.  She almost forgot the Taurus was empty as she pulled it back out, but caught herself before she tried to aim.  She got the ‘primary’ loaded, and raised it back into position to resume firing.

She was part way through emptying the Shield again when she heard Lori calling cease fire.  She put the safety on and laid the pistol down on the table in front of her.

“Good job.” Austin said, stepping up beside her.

“You sure coach?”

He grinned at her.  “I’ll go find out then.”  He looked down the line to make sure no one had a weapon in hand, then walked down range to the targets.  Jessica started reloading her magazines.  There wasn’t much forty-five ammunition left.  She blinked at that.  She’d only ever fired at all Saturday night, and even then only a few times.  Now she’d almost gone through sixty rounds, plus some of the nine millimeter as well.