The Runners: Positivity

Chapter 6

Chapter 6- Theeny

You slowly open your eyes, the room is filled with eerie silence. Then you realize why.

Everyone is staring at you- the gun in your hand. They stare at the target with a hole, pierced in the exact center of the bullseye- right where the heart of a human would be.

You can still hear the bang reverberating in your head. It's satisfying; finally, you've found something that fits for you.

Turning slowly around to face Heather, you catch a glimpse of Samikah, Jade and their trainers glaring at you through narrowed eyes. Heather's eyes are wide in shock as she pulls the pistol out of your hand and throws it across the floor; it skids to a stop at the target, the two remaining bullets spill out on the ground. Heather grabs your arm and drags you into a separate training room filled with various weapons- some that you've never seen before. You feel stares on your back as you enter the room. Heather shuts the door behind you, and you relax for one of the first times of the day.

"How did you do that?" Heather kneels down, looking you in the eye.

You shrug. "I am honestly not sure. I've never handled a gun. Ever."

Heather walks over to the rack full of guns, and pulls one out that is almost the exact same as the one you used previously. "Try again." She says, handing it over with a pack of bullets.

You remember how Heather had done it for you and try emulating what she did. Feeling on the side of the pistol, you look for the button to open the slot for your bullets. When you press it, a slot opens up and you slide the bullets in the way Heather did. Closing the slot, you set yourself up to try again, trying to get the same position.

You hold the gun out in front of you, close you eyes and squeeze the trigger. Nothing happens. There's no bang like last time. No bullet shells come popping onto the ground. Nothing.

Blinking your eyes open, you realize nothing did happen and groan, "What did I do wrong this time?"

Heather chuckles, "You might want to check your bullets."

"What about them?" You question, " I did it the exact same way that you did."

She holds her hand out and you place the gun in it. "You're wrong though."

You stand aside from the target and Heather takes your place. She pulls back on a slide on the back of the barrel. Did she show me that? I must have missed it. You try to cover the embarrassed look on your face. Focusing her attention on the target, she pulls back the trigger. A loud bang rings through the room and the bullet shell bounces out onto the ground with a ping!

The bullet is fired into the air and before you know it, the bullet is lodged into the outside ring.

Heather smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm kinda out of practice. It's been a long time since I've pulled the trigger on one of these things. You try now!"

She steps over and hands you the weapon. Once again, you plant yourself in position in front of the target. You remember to pull back the slide- the bullet clicks into position in the barrel- and bring the pistol up to aim. After quickly finding your position, you close your eyes like previous times and squeeze the trigger, hoping to hear a bang. You do and open your eyes. The bullet is lodged into the the middle- again.

Behind you, you hear Heather. "Amazing! Let's try keeping your eyes open this time!"

You laugh a little and turn back to the target, listening to Heather walk you through it. "So, keep your previous position. You're going to need to master this once we advance to moving targets. You have very good form. Now, take a deep breath and place your finger on the trigger. Exhale and slowly pull your finger back and squeeze, like you did before. Don't be afraid. This is something you'll have to do- unless of course you want to keep up with weapon hunting."

You sigh, weapon hunting again doesn't sound like fun.

"Okay. Deep breath in; exhale; and go for it!"

With a slow exhale, you pull back the trigger and see the shell pop out of the barrel. Then you see the bullet in the center of the target, again- but this time a little more to the left.

"Try again," Heather instructs.

You repeat the process and the bullet lands in the center ring, like all of the previous times.

"Perfect! Let's take a look at other guns. Then we'll pick out the one you like the most- your weapon of choice in The Labyrinth." She grabs a larger gun off the rack and places it in your hand with a bullet.

It's huge, and you look at it with concern.

Heather just laughs and takes it out of your hand, demonstrating how to use it.

That afternoon, you and Heather walk up to the dining hall, taking the steps two at a time. You're starving after a morning of testing various weapons- mostly made up of guns. You've decided that the original pistol would do well for you.

Later, Heather is taking you to the training center in your cabin village for individual training, then tonight, the head trainers will choose 20 out of those who've been claimed ready for the Labyrinth to go to The Kingdom. There, four of them will be chosen to go into next year's Labyrinth. You remember the Choosing last year- the fours begin so excited to go into The Labyrinth and fives shaking with fear- they'll be going into the maze after the Choosing this year.

You shiver in the seat on the balcony. So far, you've done as a +3 would do in a year, meaning you might go into the games before most of the other Positives.

But you still have to keep your promise.

I will go home- no matter what.

Author's Notes:

Hi.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry for how short it was but, I won't be able to update next week because I will be at sleepaway camp. And they don't let you have phones. :( But Kitty will update! Even though she doesn't have me pushing her to do it. Okay, bye for now.
Love and Thanks,
Theeny

Hi Everyone,
Kitty isn't here right now so it's Theeny again. She isn't writing her author's note and I want to get this chapter out as soon as possible, so there's none for her this chapter! You'll hear from her next time! Okay! Bye