Райан Уэстфилд - Finding Shelter

Shit. What should she do?

She started to turn around, getting ready to run off, but before she’d turned ninety degrees, she saw Terry himself turning around.

There was something in his hands. What was it?

Rope.

There was rope in his hands.

Why was there rope in his hands?

There was a strange look on his face. A strange look in his eyes.

He was moving fast. Long strides. Headed right towards Sadie.

He hadn’t closed the door behind him, and in the doorway, his wife stood and looked out, watching Terry, and glancing up at Sadie. Her expression was inscrutable. Something was going on, but it was impossible to tell what.

Sadie raised her gun.

“What’s up, Sadie?” said Terry, not ceasing to continue walking towards her.

“You tell me what’s up. What’s that rope for?”

“The rope? Oh, nothing.”

Sadie said nothing. Just gritted her teeth. Finger pressing ever so slightly against the trigger. Muzzle of the gun aimed squarely at Terry’s chest.

“Why don’t you put the gun down, Sadie?”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Well, that makes sense. We just met. But I thought we were getting along.”

“Tell me what the rope’s for, and maybe I’ll put the gun down. If you wanted to attack me, you’re going to need more than rope, anyway.”

“Attack you?” Terry let out a weary little laugh that sounded a little less than genuine.

Maybe Sadie was overreacting to all this. Maybe she was just paranoid. Maybe she had spent too long cooped up in the woods trying to survive with the others. Maybe all her normal social impulses had been inverted, completely changed around.

“My wife just wanted me to tie it up in the tree over there, so that you and Lilly can swing on it. I’ll stay outside with you two and make sure everything’s OK.”

Sadie didn’t know what to say. The idea of playing on a tree, swinging on a rope, was too strange, too foreign, and too tempting.

“Where’s Lilly?”

“Oh, she’ll be right out. She just wanted to change into some better clothes in order to meet you. She hasn’t been able to wear her favorite stuff, since it all gets worn out.”

Sadie looked down at her own clothes, which were dirty, stained, and worn out. She felt embarrassed about them.

Terry was close to her now. There hadn’t been much space between them to cross, and he had talked through most of it.

Slowly, Sadie had lowered her gun. Lowered her defenses. After all, Terry wasn’t trying to hurt her? He would have done it earlier. There’d been endless opportunities. Sadie had just been working herself up into a panic.

“Lilly will be right out,” said Terry, with a single glance back towards his wife in the doorway.

Then, suddenly, his strong adult hands had grabbed Sadie’s arms.

What was going on? He was attacking her?

Sadie struggled, pushing back against him. But he was too strong, and she was strong, but she was just a kid. She was no match for him.

Terry moved, shifted so that one of his hands grabbed both her wrists. He was strong enough and his hand was big enough that he could do it.

His other free hand, dropping the rope, went to grab the handgun that was still in her hand. It was pointing harmlessly towards the sky.

No words were spoken. But Sadie glanced at his eyes, which hadn’t changed. There was no evil glimmer that had come on all of a sudden. There was just the same look as there had always been. He was the same man as before; he’d just tricked her. The only thing new in his expression was determination.

Sadie wasn’t going to let him take the gun. Without it, she had no chance.

She gritted her teeth, and, with all her strength, pushed her one arm back against his hand. She did it suddenly, her force catching Terry somewhat off guard. He let the push shift his own arms, and now her handgun was pointed at Terry.

He wouldn’t let it point at him long.

It was just one instant. The barrel almost against his stomach, due to how much shorter Sadie was.

There wasn’t going to be time to try to get a different shot. And, why did she need one? The stomach was fine.

Sadie didn’t hesitate at all. She pulled the trigger.

The gun kicked.

Her ears rang.

Terry grunted strangely, an odd look appearing on his face. A look of surprise. Of something else. Something she couldn’t read.

His hands let go of Sadie, and she pulled herself free.

But she didn’t move much. She only took one step back, and stood there, stunned, looking at Terry.

“What have you done?” Terry’s wife’s voice rose to a high pitch, in terror and shock, with the noise barely rising above the intense ringing in Sadie’s ears. She was rushing from the doorway towards Terry, who was slowly sinking to his knees, clutching his stomach.

A spot of blood was growing on his dingy and tattered shirt, over his emaciated abdominal area.

Sadie knew that a wound like that to the stomach meant death. A slow, painful death.

Terry’s wife had nearly reached Terry and Sadie. It was a toss-up, whether she’d go to comfort Terry, or whether she’d attack Sadie. There was no reason in Sadie’s mind that she should trust Terry’s wife.

Sadie pointed her gun at Terry’s wife. “Stop!” she shouted.

Sadie didn’t want to shoot someone else. She didn’t want to kill this woman.

But, then again, she didn’t want any of this life.

This was what she had.

And she, like her mother, knew that she was going to survive. No matter what. No matter how many people she had to kill.

“Don’t shoot!” The woman raised her hands above her hand. A look of terror on her face, and in her eyes, which darted between Sadie and Terry.

Terry had sunk down completely to the ground, lying on his side, his eyes staring up to the sky.

The woman’s eyes kept bouncing back and forth between Sadie and Terry. And, then, all of a sudden, they flitted back to the house that she’d come out of.

Sadie’s eyes followed too. She wanted to see what the woman was looking at. Was there someone else in the house? Another threat.

That’s when Sadie saw the girl, about her age, standing in the doorway where, not long before, her mother had been.

The sight was strange. Unexpected. So there really was a girl her age. A girl she could have been friends with, had things been different.

But they weren’t different.

Sadie’s eyes lingered on the girl for too long.

Suddenly, something smacked into her head. Something hard. Her vision went momentarily black. She lost her balance, started to fall, but caught herself at the last moment.

Sadie’s eyes, turning back, saw the woman. Terry’s wife was standing over her, a piece of hardwood in one hand. Her eyes glared at Sadie.

“You shot my husband,” she snarled. “You’ll pay for this.”

Sadie was dizzy. It was hard to concentrate on the gun. But she started to raise it.

But before she could get the gun aimed again, the woman swung the wood again.

This time, the wood hit Sadie’s shoulder. Hard. Felt harder than the blow to her head.

Sadie lurched from the blow. After all, she didn’t weigh much. Not nearly as much as an adult. She was no match for the adult woman. Unless she could get the gun straight.

“The gun,” groaned Terry. “Get the gun.”

Strong adult hands on the gun. Female hands. Sadie felt it being wrenched from her own hands.

Now she was helpless. No gun.

Now the strong female hands were at her neck. Squeezing. Hard.

Sadie tried to gasp. But she couldn’t.

There was no air.

She couldn’t breathe.

Was this going to be how it ended?

For a long time, she’d thought she’d go down from a bullet. And then, for a time, it seemed as if starvation would do her and her family in.