My first shot hit soil.

My second shot hit the side of the van.

But the third shot hit one of the sinister dudes in his right knee.
And this being a 44. Magnum, it pretty much exploded the guy’s kneecap and everything else knee-related about him.

As he fell to the ground, I started to pay attention to my aim and my next shot was aimed squarely at another sinister dude’s kneecap.

I pulled the trigger.

The guy’s knee disintegrated.

That’s when the other 5 sinister dudes with guns (with the exception of the one female of the group, who didn’t have a gun, but had eyes like phaser beams) pulled out their various firearms, and started shooting.

I retreated into the car’s carcass, and grabbed Zoe around the shoulders.

The bullets pinged and PTONG!ed against our car endlessly, like a lethal metal rainstorm.

I struggled to concentrate on getting us out of there.

But, using a trick I learned from a Buddhist monk I befriended two centuries ago, I tuned out the racket, took a deep breath…and we were gone.