When the back door flies open, Ariel jumps to her feet, drawing her four-inch knife, set to cut the enemy to pieces. She must have had the blade beside her, ready to go. I know the shotgun is lying on the floor next to the sofa, but I don't know if the weapon will work if I pull the trigger. Two men storm inside, one in his twenties, the other probably nearing forty. It's their eyes that send a cold wave shuddering through my bones to the core. They aren't red, but crazed and full of barbaric terror.

"What do we have here?" the older man says in a gravelly voice, wielding a long-crooked piece of rebar. "A couple playing house." He sneers, passing through the kitchen to the edge of the living room.

The younger man grins like a wolf. He jabs a metal stake at the air, which looks like it came from a construction site. "Thanks for the smoke signal. Helped us narrow down your location."

I lunge for the shotgun, but the older man, who appears grimy from head-to-toe races to cut me off. When I raise the weapon, he swings at me with the rebar. The jagged metal end whips around and strikes the gun barrel. The impact knocks the shotgun from my grasp; the end of the rebar continues around and slashes through by bicep, drawing blood. Before I can do anything else, the older man moves in and jabs the rebar up to my throat, bringing my resistance to an abrupt end. For now.

I grit my teeth at the man, wanting to counterattack badly but finding no outcome that doesn't end with a piece of rebar in the throat.

Behind me and to my left, in my peripheral, I see Ariel leap over the sofa with her knife reared back, but the younger man swings his metal stake around and nails her in the stomach. She catches the side of the stake and not the point, but the impact blows the breath out of her lungs. She collapses to the floor on the back side of the sofa, racked with painful moans. The man in his twenties bends over and pries the knife from her hand. Then he strides around to the other side of the sofa and picks up the shotgun too. Just like that, they have the upper hand.

"Give me the gun," the older man says. "And get her up on her feet."

I can only imagine how this will play out. It doesn't take much to visualize a sick scenario in my mind... and I know the only way it will happen is over my dead body.

I have to move now.

As soon as the metal bar backs away from my neck, and the shotgun passes hands, I launch into action, snatching the end of the rebar and yanking it from the older man's grasp. His eyes spring wide open right before I bring the rebar back up and across the side of his face. He drops the gun, and hits the floor, out cold.

But the younger man gets to the shotgun first. He levels the barrel at me." Get your girlfriend up. And both of you, turn around and don't face me."

I step over the unconscious man and touch Ariel on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'll make it." She peers up at me with a grunt, a look of determination in her eyes. "We have to do something before the other one comes to."

I nod in agreement.

The shotgun barrel stabs the back of my neck. "That's enough talking. Get her up, now."

Gingerly, I help Ariel to stand, and we turn our backs to the guy with our hands up like he demanded. He drops the metal stake and puts all his cards into the gun.

I glance back at the man. "Guns don't work anymore. Don't you know that?"

"Then why are you following my orders? If it didn't work, you wouldn't hesitate to try something."

Neither me nor Ariel reply, only keep our necks turned, sizing up the guy's intentions.

"And why did you have the gun in the first place? It's fully loaded and ready to shoot." He inches closer to us and sticks the muzzle into my cheek, sneers at me. "I say I pull the trigger and see what happens. If this thing does work, it'll paint your face all over the living room and leave your girl for me."

"I would rather die," Ariel says.

"Shut up!" he says to Ariel but jams the gun harder into my cheek.

"Okay. Okay." A tear trickles down her face.

"I think you two found a gun that works, or else you wouldn't have it."

I swallow a lump of nerves, hoping he's wrong. I know guns haven't worked since some point during the first horseman's ride around the Earth. I believe it was somewhere around the end of that four-month period. It's entirely possible that firearms have begun to function again. Maybe now that we're nearing the end of the second horseman, they might start working again. Who knew? But do I want to take that chance?

"You might want to cover your ears and close your eyes." He grins and nods at Ariel. "Even if he was your soulmate, not even true love will save him now."

My heart thuds in my chest like a bass drum going berserk. Why of all the things to say, would he say that? It feels like a proclamation of judgement coming from someone who doesn't know what love is. How could he know? How could he possibly know what's in my heart?

"Say goodbye." His voice has a haunting ring to it as he pulls the trigger, the shotgun blast exploding with a sound like thunder.