The wrapped person tilted its head. Like a bird looking at something dead.
"This place is claimed," it said. "Leave now."
"Nah," the man said. Still sounding like someone had woken him up from a nap.
I saw him looking though. Quick glances. Counting. Two of the wrapped people had guns. Black guns. Real guns. The others had knives or sticks or just hands.
The man's gun stayed loose in his hand. Like he was just holding it to look at it.
"Or we make you leave," the wrapped person said.
"Alright then," the man said.
Everything went fast after that.
BANG.
First gun-person dropped. Just like that. Red spreading through the cloth wrappings.
The second gun-person started moving their weapon up. But another wrapped guy stepped right in front of them. Maybe trying to help. Maybe just confused.
BANG.
Wrong target. The helper-person went down screaming and bleeding. But the real gun-person was still standing. Still dangerous.
"Tsk," the man said. Like he'd spilled coffee on his shirt.
The falling person kicked up dust and made confusion. The man moved through it. Not rushing. Just walking fast like he had somewhere to be.
Sounds of hitting. Choking sounds. Then the gun-person fell down too. Breathing but sleeping.
"Echo, get down," Lily whispered, pulling on my arm.
We crouched behind the table. My brain was trying to count what was happening but everything moved too fast. Numbers got confused.
Two wrapped people grabbed the man from behind. Tried to hold his arms.
He moved his elbows back. Sharp movements. Both people let go and made hurt noises.
While that was happening, another wrapped person crawled over to the sleeping gun-person. Took their weapon.
BANG.
The man said "Huh" and touched his shoulder. Red started showing through his black coat.
But he didn't stop. Turned around and hit the two people who had grabbed him. Fast punches. They went to sleep on the floor.
More wrapped people coming through the back door. Two of them. With knives. Moving toward where me and Lily were hiding.
"Kids," the man called. His voice was still flat but louder. "Floor. Now."
We pressed ourselves down against the dusty wood.
The man dove for the gun on the floor. Rolled over like he was playing. Came up with the weapon pointed at the knife-people.
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
The gun made clicking sounds after that. Empty sounds.
The two knife-people weren't moving anymore. Red pools spreading under them.
My ears felt broken. Like someone had put cotton in them but the cotton was made of noise. Lily was shaking next to me. Making small sounds.
The room smelled like fireworks and metal and something warm and bad.
The man stood up. Looked at the empty gun. Looked at his bleeding shoulder. Shrugged and dropped the weapon.
That's when the new ones came.
Three more wrapped people through the front door. But different wrapped people. Bigger ones. The one in the middle was huge. Tall like a tree and wide like a wall.
No more guns anywhere. Just people and anger.
The man wiped blood from his shoulder on his coat. Left a dark smear.
The big wrapped person stepped forward. When it talked, its voice was like rocks rolling down a hill.
"Enough games," it said. "Now we do this properly."
The man looked around the room. At all the people on the floor. At his bloody shoulder. At us hiding behind the table.
"Yeah," he said. Like he was agreeing about the weather. "Figured we might."
The big wrapped person made fist-cracking sounds. Like breaking sticks.
Two smaller wrapped people spread out on either side. Making a triangle with us in the middle.
Everything got quiet except for my heart beating too loud and Lily's scared breathing and the man's blood going drip drip drip on the floor.
The big wrapped person took a step forward.
The man rolled his hurt shoulder. Tested it. Made a small annoyed sound.
"Well," he said. "This should be interesting."