L Akers - Fight Like a Man

More walking…

She couldn’t take it anymore though. They wouldn’t all be leaving here.

She’d let them have their peaceful breakfast, and she’d eaten her fill and then some. Why not? She was hungry. But the repeated blast of the shotgun had her nerves jumping. She sat with her hand and her stump over her ears, flinching each time the gun roared.

Gabby and Olivia had handled the shotgun without a hitch, both shooting toward the stack of hay that Elmer had attached a huge target to. The target was now scraps of paper, blowing in the wind and the hay had a large hole blasted in it. It was Olivia’s turn. Mei almost felt sorry for her.

Almost .

It was clear that Olivia’s twin sister, Gabby, was head and shoulders above her twin in nearly every way. She was stronger, braver, smarter, not as whiney, and knew how to survive in the woods without a man—or at least she did okay as long as she had the bug-out bag, as Gabby ridiculously kept calling it. And her husband had packed that. However, she had to give full credit to Gabby for getting her out of the clutches of the motorcycle gang and getting them this far.

But had Gabby really done her a favor? Maybe she would have been better off trading her body for food and water and at least having someone take care of her. After hearing the girls talking earlier, she knew she wouldn’t have a home with them. She couldn’t fight the demons inside of her. These women would eventually throw her away, just as everyone else in her life had done.

It wasn’t fair. Why should they all be blessed, and not her? She wasn’t always like this. She could be either one of them. A mother. A wife. A sister.

But she wasn’t.

Not anymore.

She’d always drawn the short straw in life.

It’s time to even up the straws.

She watched as Gabby stood shoulder to shoulder with Emma, encouraging Olivia to just give it a try. She had her hip cocked out, thinking she was all that. The pistol she hoarded and lorded over them stuck out from the waistband of her shapely pants. A real Annie Oakley there , she thought. Gabby acted as though it didn’t bother her at all it was back there.

Maybe it should’ve.

“Come on, now girl. You can do this,” Elmer grunted. He was getting irritated. “Your sisters did it. They’re still alive and kicking.”

Olivia stuck her hands in her pockets and smiled shyly. “We already have a gun, Elmer. And Gabby knows how to shoot it. We don’t need another one. I don’t need to shoot,” she insisted.

Elmer snorted. “Can’t depend on your sister to get you out of every scrap. What if someone takes her gun? Come on up here. You’re stronger than you think you are.”

Gabby took Olivia’s hand and dragged her forward a few steps. “He’s right, Olivia. Anything could happen out there. Emma and I will trade off carrying the shotty,” she winked at Elmer, having adopted his nickname for the gun. “You only need to know how to shoot it in case of an emergency.”

Mei rolled her eyes at Gabby. Clearly, Olivia didn’t want to. Why was it okay to force her sister to do something she didn’t want to do?

Olivia adamantly refused. Good for her.

Elmer caught Mei’s eye. “How ‘bout you? Want to learn to shoot it?”

“No,” Mei answered.

Elmer gave her a stern look. “Why not? Step up here, I’ll show you how.”

Gabby ran a hand over her face and turned her back to Mei, and said something. It was clear she didn’t want Mei to hear what she was saying, but Mei wasn’t stupid. Either Gabby didn’t trust her, or she thought she couldn’t shoot with one hand.

She was wrong.

Mei stood up, fire boiling in her veins. She wasn’t a bad person. She was just like Gabby, except she’d made the mistake of trusting her doctor. Two years ago, she’d been normal. A botched abortion and an even worse hysterectomy had led her to pain pills—pills that she was legally prescribed. She’d had no idea they’d trap her in a never-ending cycle of grief and need and more pain. When she couldn’t get the prescriptions anymore, she’d been left alone to deal with the withdrawals.

To relieve her pain, she’d turned to other drugs that she could find out on the street.

Then they took her little girl from her and she had more pain—more pain needed more drugs.

When she ran out of money, she’d stolen drugs—a lot of drugs—from the wrong person.

She’d paid heavily for that, and ended up with only one hand.

And then, she’d never stolen again. But she kept paying with what was left of her body.

And her soul.

She had to feed the need.

And now she was here.

But that didn’t mean Gabby was any better than she was.

She bit down on her lip and stomped over as though she were going to take a lesson from Elmer, but walked past him straight to Gabby, who still had her back turned to her.

Mei jerked the pistol from the back of her pants and jumped back, holding it in the air with her one shaky hand.

Gabby gasped and whipped around. “What are you doing?”

Emma put her hands up and stepped back.

“Young lady, put that gun down!” Elmer roared, stepping toward Mei.

Mei pointed the gun at him. “Stop. I’ll shoot.”

“What in tarnation’s going on with ya? Have you done lost your mind?” he yelled. He tore his hat off his head and slapped his leg with it. Tufts of his cottony-white hair danced in the wind.

Olivia stood frozen. Emma stood still and silent, her hands in the air beginning to shake.

Gabby stood defiant, not stepping back or holding her hands up.

Mei waved the pistol, pointing it at Gabby, then back again at Elmer. “Maybe I have lost my mind. If I have, it’s your fault. All of you . People just like you. You all think you’re so much better than me. I heard you talking. I listened to you sleep so soundly. I see you. But no one sees me. No one knows my pain. No one cares,” Mei screamed at them, tears running down her face. “I had a daughter . I was a mother. I was a good person, too.”

Olivia took a step forward, “You are a good person. Of course you are! We know that.”

“Stop,” Mei screamed, whipping the gun around to point at Olivia. “You don’t know. You know nothing!” Her skinny arm shook in an effort to keep the gun up. Hot tears streamed down her face.

Olivia visibly cringed and backed up another step.

“Put that damn gun down, girl,” Elmer yelled. “Before you hurt someone.”

Mei turned the gun on him again. He stood stock still. “There’s only one person I want to hurt.” Then she waved it around to aim at Gabby. Her finger moved into the trigger-guard as the gun shook violently. She stared at Gabby with hatred in her eyes, and firmed her jaw.

“No,” Emma screamed while Olivia dropped to her knees with her hands up and begged, “Please. Please don’t shoot her,” she said. She clenched her hands together as though in prayer while her knees sunk into the soft ground.

Gabby took another step toward Mei, watching her carefully. “Get up, Olivia. You and Emma go into the house. Hurry.”

“No! I’m not leaving you!” she yelled at Gabby, and looked to Mei. “Listen to me. We saved you. Gabby saved you. Please don’t do this,” Olivia begged through tears. “We’ll help you, I promise.”

“There’s no help for me.”

Before anyone could answer she squeezed the trigger.

Time stood still as the bullet ripped through the air, silencing everyone and everything as it cut through flesh and bone, sending a spray of crimson out the backside of the beautiful, dark hair.