A New Type of Realism

(10) This Is The Six

This chapter goes out to someone who's always been there for me whenever I've needed her. She's someone I know I can trust and rely on when times are hard, and she can cheer me up with her strange (and violent) sense of humour. Thanks :)

I hope I can do the same for you through this rough time and I'm sending you all my good wishes. Just remember, no matter how bad you're feeling, it'll pass, and I'll be there to help you through it.

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"Say one more word about that radio and I will shoot, I swear." We heard a sinister and threatening voice say from the shadows behind Cooper.

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I couldn't believe how dumb I'd been! I'd rushed straight into a situation that I knew to be dangerous, like a lamb to the slaughter. I'd ignored all of the signs that had been dancing in front of my very eyes. The broken knuckle. The swollen cheek. The gun! Obviously Cooper had been in a fight, and Kyle had seemed to be completely unhurt. I should've guessed that there was another person in the room. I should've been more cautious. Now, because of my idiocy, the one person who could probably help us, had a gun pointed to the back of his head. If Cooper died, the likelihood that this shrouded figure would shoot Kyle and me too, was incredibly high.

I raised my hands in the air in an effort to calm the man behind Cooper, down. "Why don't we all..." However, my plan backfired. I could see the figure shift to aim the gun straight at me. I gulped.

"You! Don't tell me what to do! I swear I'll fire! I swear, I'll do it! Back down, man!" He couldn't seriously want to kill anyone!

He was probably the one who'd hit Cooper, although I could think of no logical reason why a man would willingly turn on a fellow human when the world had changed it to what it was. The look on the features of his face that I could see, didn't reassure me in any way at all.

The gun, which was still pointing at me, was wavering to and fro, like it was being affected by an earthquake that only made its forces known on the figure's hand. At least I could assume that he had never handled a gun before. In the movies, the gun-wielder's hands never shook, it just didn't happen.

However, there was no way in hell that I was going to chance my death against some hypothesis that I'd made in a high stress situation, based on something that I'd seen on the TV.

I hadn't been aware of how noticeably high my breathing rate had been, as I soon heard Kyle reassuringly telling me to 'calm down'. He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. Kyle seemed to have miraculously healing hands, as every time he'd done that before, he'd completely calmed me down. Before, I would have been a victim to any emotion, and after, I'd be fine! I had to ask him how he did it!

Needless to say, this time was no different. I instantly found my inner peace and released all of the tension that I hadn't realised that I'd been holding on to.

"Calm it, lad, this one isn't violent." Kyle smiled at me. His faith in the human race was a lot greater than mine.

"I said back OFF!" The figure raised his voice as Kyle stepped forwards.

"Come off it Slade, you couldn't even exact revenge on a wasp if it stung you multiple times in a sensitive area." Cooper sighed calmly, with a hint of weariness and sarcasm. He, however, couldn't hide the uncertainty that spread over his features from me. "Besides, that thing's not even loaded."

"I could! Don't say that, man! Don't pretend you know me, 'cause you don't! You aren't the boss of me!" The presumable 'Slade' complained. He pointed to gun to the side and pulled the trigger, proving that Cooper had wrongly assumed that the gun had not been loaded. He pointed the gun back at me.