Page 118 of Ozzie

Okay, maybe I wasn’t as subtle as I thought.

“Two minutes,” he says, sounding defeated. He takes a few steps backward toward the church.

At this point, I’ll say anything to get him to turn the damn thing off. “Yes! Yes, I’ll willingly go back to Montana with you.”

He smiles and walks to me with his arms out.

“Wait, you said you’d stop it.”

He keeps walking toward me as I back up. “I can’t. The timer was designed not to stop.” He keeps coming for me.

“You can’t stop it?” Glass shatters in the distance, but my eyes remain focused on the timer as it counts down.

“Stop!” Ozzie yells. He has a gun aimed at John.

John turns to face Ozzie and Durango, who both have managed to make their way outside just in time. Durango has a cut on his forehead that is bleeding. Ozzie’s arm is also bleeding.

“Turn off the bomb!” Ozzie commands.

John doesn’t move.

“You have less than a minute. Shut it off!”

John grins and takes a few steps back toward me. I step back, too, but I’m stopped by a fence.

“I will shoot you if you don’t stop it,” Ozzie says.

“Piper, run!” Durango yells.

I turn to run, but John has his hands on me, not letting me go. He spins me around, and my eyes go to the timer. Twenty seconds.

“John, you don’t want to do this!” I yell.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” he says. “The bomb isn’t real.”

Isn’t real? I have no idea if I can believe him or not. Either way, I need to get away from him.

Ten seconds. I try to swing at him, but he anticipates my every move. A gunshot rings out, and John’s grip weakens.

“Run, Piper, Run!” Durango yells.

Now free of John, I run as fast as I can toward Durango and Ozzie. Once I catch up to them, they turn and run too. Ozzie grabs my hand and pulls me onto the other side of the church, and we wait.

But there’s no blast. No sound. Nothing.

Durango peers around the corner of the building. “He’s on the ground, not moving. The bomb didn’t go off.”

“He told me right before I broke away it wasn’t real. But I wasn’t sure if he was lying.”

Durango steps out to get a better view. “John?”

We step out behind Durango.

“Still alive!” he yells out.

“Did you stop the bomb?” Durango asks.

“It’s not real!” John yells. “You shot me for nothing, asshole!”

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