The End.

21

The cold metal rested between my hands and I felt it rub my face as I peeked through the scope.

The red 'X' showed that I had aimed correctly at my target. I took a deep breath, checking once more and clicking the safety button off. My finger rested against the trigger, waiting for a second before I gently squeezed it.

The loud bang of the gun registered in my ears immediately. My entire body seemed to shudder from the backlash. My shoulder seemed to be bruised from the gun kicking me each time it went off. They said you wouldn't feel it when you actually shot something. They say the adrenaline cancels out the pain.

I watched as the bullet pierced the middle of the target. Bullseye.

"This winter we will have to hunt some so that we don't rely on stores and other places for food." David boomed, talking to everyone out at training. Since Ali's disappearance, we had talked a lot more on safety and practiced a lot more. I was relieved to be completely honest. If we could prevent this from ever happening again, then I think we should do everything we can to train ourselves and be prepared.

I nodded my head, and my dad stood with a stone, cold look plastered across his face.

My eyes widened when I heard an all too familiar noise. A car.

"What was that?" Spencer asked, eyeing the road that lead here.

"I don't know." Sam responded, looking around as if he could see the car from miles away.

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Sam's wife asked. She must have a lot to do in her spare time, because she's rarely out here as it is. I've only seen her a few times and that's at meals and a few trainings. Even Liam came to train. And he's 10.

"Everyone calm down. Let's pack up and go inside." All though my father meant to calm us down, he only created a larger amount of worry. Everyone scrambled to get inside, leaving their guns laying on the ground or propped up on their targets.

"This is exactly why you don't say stuff like that, Tom!" Sam yelled.

"It wasn't his fault! Are we supposed to put lids on these people's sippy-cups and hold their hands until they get inside?" David retorted. I continued to stand there, not knowing what to do with myself.

A hand reached for mine and tugged me along. I didn't even realize that Calum was still beside me.

"Come on. Grab your gun." He said. I obeyed and slung my gun around my shoulder.

I reached for his hand again. "What's going on? Why are they fighting?" I asked. Calum probably doesn't have answers either, but nothing else would come to mind to speak about and I had to say something to break the silence. There's been a lot of that lately and the saying that silence is deafening has really applied to me lately. I don't know how much more of it I can take without completely breaking down.

"There's talk about someone else wanting to take over the vault." He said in a hushed tone.

"What?" I practically screamed.

"Carter!" He scolded. "They don't know I know, so I better not hear about you telling anyone."

I agreed, taking a deep breath.

"Well I'm gonna go workout for a bit. See you at dinner?" He blurted out.

"Yeah, thanks Calum." I replied, uneasily.

Kyle. That's exactly who I needed to talk to. No, I wouldn't tell him something that Calum trusted me with, but I could still have a conversation with him and possibly confront him about last night.

Kyle and I were never 'sibling goals' as some would say. We were never even really close in that matter. Yeah, we pulled it together when it mattered, but other than that, not really much conversation was passed between us on a daily basis.

Of course, being only a year and a half a part, we were close when we were younger. But then again, who doesn't like someone as a child? As a kid, everyone seems nice, they seem exactly who you think they are. When you start growing up, you see them for who they really are. That's why you lose so many friendships over the course of your teenage years. Well, one of the reasons anyways.

"Kyle?" I said, strolling into his plain looking bedroom.

"What?" He rolled his eyes and my hands immediately went to my hips.

"Kyle. Don't act like I didn't see you last night when you came in my room and slept in Ali's bed."

He stayed silent for a few moments then quickly responded. "I'm not. I'm sorry if I woke you up, but I keep having these dreams that I can't get out of."

I sighed, remembering my latest nightmare all too well.

"I-I get them too." I admitted. "But," I quickly added. "I don't think that mom or dad should know about this... I mean they're worrying so much already-"

"No, I completely understand. I'm such an idiot for letting her go outside to check her phone servi-" He stopped. Realizing what he just said. "Oh no." He added

"'Oh no' is right. Why didn't you say something?" My voice had begun to change.

"I was too scared. That's right, I said it. I'm such an idiot! My girlfriend is nowhere to be found that I know of, and I lost my own sister! How do you do that?" He yelled.

"Kyle it's okay! Stop yelling, please!" I begged.

"I'm so sorry Carter. This is all my fault." A single, angry tear fell down his cheek and trailed down his neck, falling onto his usual attire of a black t-shirt.

"Kyle, I-" He walked up to me and put his head on my shoulder. He was easily a foot taller than me, so you can imagine what this did to me. I stumbled backwards a little but he never seemed to notice. Then, he stood up again, clear of any previous tears and spoke once more in a loud whisper.

"Please never speak of this again."

I nodded.

----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Photo of Carter & Kyle on the side! Kyle is played by Luke Hemmings! (By the way, I don't own any of the pictures I add. They are mostly edits that someone else made. All credit goes to them.)

teaser: Kyle, Alyssa, Carter, and Calum hear some information that they probably aren't  supposed to...