Page 57 of WITSEC
He chuckled. “The last time I made bets with you, you cheated.”
I grinned an evil little grin. “If you win, I’ll get down on my knees and make it up to you.”
“And if you win?”
“You’ll get down on your knees for me,” I said and pulled the trigger. Through the scope, I saw my can go flying. Lowering the rifle so it pointed to the ground, I turned to face Colt.
He was smiling while staring at the cans. “So I’ll win either way.”
My evil grin turned into a naughty one. “So will I.”
Our little competition had almost been a tie, but in the end, Colt had beaten me and I wasn’t mad about it. I knelt in the snow in front of him and licked, sucked, and made myself gag on him until he was spilling down my throat.
Before I could think to stand up, he pushed me down on the cold snow and warmed me up by burying his head between my legs. By the time I came, the back of my clothes were wet from the snow. I didn’t care. It was worth it.
As we were cleaning up the cans and spent rifle shells by putting them all in the bag I’d brought, we heard the distinct growl of a bear nearby. I picked up my rifle and spun around asI searched for the source. I spotted a black bear walking toward us about thirty yards away.
I didn’t want to shoot it, but I didn’t want it to come any closer. Pointing the barrel of my rifle toward the sky, I fired off a round. The loud noise spooked the bear and it took off in another direction.
Colt came to stand next to me with the cans in his hands. “That could have been bad.”
I scoffed in disbelief. “Yeah.”
“I thought bears hibernated in the winter?”
“Me, too. Let’s get moving,” I said as I grabbed the bag I had dropped.
We finished collecting everything we had brought and began heading back, holding hands. I carried the rifle in my free hand. In his, Colt carried the grocery bag of cans, the box that still had a few bullets inside, and all the shells the rifle had ejected each time we’d fired a round.
“I’m counting that as the date you owed me,” he said to me.
It took me a moment to understand what he was talking about. Then I remembered it was from a bet we’d placed while running the track at school. “I’ll count the snow as the ice cream you promised to take me to get.”
“Or we can eat some ice cream when we get back to the cabin.”
“That’s right! I forgot we picked some up yester?—”
My words were cut off by the distant echo of gunshots.
Colt and I froze. Then another shot went off and it sounded like they were coming from the cabin. We both took off running. I clutched my rifle in both of my hands. There were four rounds loaded in it and I didn’t want to risk dropping it.
We ran as fast as we could, but we were a good distance away from the cabin. As we were about to come out of a cluster of treesinto a large, snowy clearing, we both spotted Knox running and about sixty feet behind him was Sheriff McAllister.
The sheriff stopped running and aimed his gun at the sky before pulling the trigger. Colt and I stopped in our tracks. I quickly brought my rifle up and aimed it at the sheriff. Staring at them through the scope, I saw Knox stop running and slowly turn to face the sheriff.
Sheriff McAllister had his pistol aimed at Knox, which made my heart try to lodge itself in my throat.
“Where is she?” I barely heard the sheriff yell.
Knox didn’t answer and that seemed to piss the sheriff off. I read what the sheriff intended to do, and I saw him curl his finger over the trigger of his gun. I could not hesitate this time.
Don’t miss,I told myself as I aimed for the sheriff’s neck and pulled the trigger.
The sheriff’s hand went to his throat before he fell back into the snow. Knox turned in our direction as I lowered the barrel of the rifle. When I started to walk toward them, so did Colt. As we made our way over, I pulled back the bolt on the rifle to allow another bullet to enter the chamber before sliding the bolt forward and locking it back into place.
I eyed Knox from head to toe, making sure he wasn’t hurt. He looked fine. “Was there anyone else with him?” I asked in a voice that sounded cold and detached even to my own ears.
“He came with two others,” Knox said as he stared at me. “They’re dead.”
