then the muzzle flash died and the house went pitch dark again and reacher vaulted out of his clamped position , his right foot landing on the top stair , his left foot on the second , balanced , ready , using the bright fragment of visual memory his eyes had retained , leaning down to where he knew the shotgun must be , grabbing it two-handed , tearing it away from the guy holding it , backhanding it hard into where he knew the guy 's face must be , achieving two results in one , making the guy disappear backward and recycling the shotgun 's pump action both at once , loudly , crunch-crunch , and then shouldering the swinging door away and feeling it crash against the second guy , and bursting out of the stairwell and firing into the floor , not really seeking to hit anyone but needing the brief light from the muzzle flash , seeing one guy down on his left and the other still up on his right , launching himself at that new target , clubbing the gun at the guy , cycling the action again against his face , crunch-crunch , bringing him down , kicking hard against his fallen form , head , ribs , arms , legs , whatever he could find , then dancing back and kicking and stamping on the first guy in the dark , head , stomach , hands , then back to the second guy , then the first again , all unaimed and wild , overwhelming force indiscriminately applied , not giving up on it until well after he was sure no more was required .