Don't Wait For Me

Chapter 2

I turned around abruptly, anticipating the absolute worst. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw the camouflage jumpsuit and the heavy black boots that accompanied the national police system. A ray gun that charged by being in the sun sat on his left hip. The thing I was the most focused on though was the fact that he had an identical ray gun pointed right at me.

A few steps behind him was another officer who looked no older than a boy. He must've been my age or maybe even younger. He seemed milder and more scared than anything else. But what did he have to be afraid of? He wasn't the one who had a ray gun pointed at him.

"Josh!" barked the bigger man. "Come over here, now!"

"Y-yes, sir" the boy who must've been Josh said timidly. Josh walked slowly over to him, his eyes on the ground.

"You said earlier that you needed more practice. Is that correct?" said the man slyly.

"Yes, I did but--"

"No but's! Now, she's the perfect practice for you..shoot her!" demanded the man.

I studied him more carefully. Looked at the way he had hard lines on his face, indicating years of anger, the way he was nothing much to look at, how his white beard had not a hair out of place. All these things I noticed about him were too much of a distraction for me to keep looking. He was a cruel person and would have no trouble shooting me but wanted to make the boy, Josh, do it. Maybe it was for the pleasure of making him squirm or maybe he wanted to affect me somehow. Yes, I did feel bad for the boy, but I felt worse for myself.

As I took all this in, my brain was also on overdrive, trying to figure out ways to escape. I knew I wouldn't have even a small chance of fighting them head on so that option was out. But maybe if I could divert there attention and keep them taking while I work out a better plan. Yes, maybe that would work.

Josh still seemed to be looking very hard at the ground his gun held limply in his right hand. His cheeks were flushed a bright red from the cold and he was biting his chapped lip so hard I thought it was going to start bleeding.

For one minute his clear blue eyes met mine but he immediately dropped his gaze back to the ground, probably too ashamed for what he was about to do.

My keen grey eyes searched for a thing to distract them with. My blond hair fell in waves down to my mid back. It was knotted and had leaves and twigs tangled into its dirty curls. What could I do to get out of this one?

I racked my brain for something, anything, but nothing came. My eyes strayed to the mountains far off in the distance. Unless...yes, that just might work. I now had a plan.

***

Josh's POV:

Buck and I had come to the edge of some woods after a particularly cold day of doing pretty much nothing. We came out into what appeared to be an empty field made up of snow and mud. I was about to pass it by like we had all the others but Buck stopped me. He made a quick motion for me to be quiet and ignored my questioning gaze.

Buck and I have been combing the woods all day in search of survivors of the fires we set about two days ago. I think it's pointless but Buck insisted. So far we've found nothing. I told him it would be a waste of time. We've been out here since dawn and still have had no luck.

I really don't like to kill people like Buck seems to. The other day I told him I needed more practice just to avoid having to shoot a deer down. Te truth is, I have perfect aim but he doesn't have to know that.

I follow him out into the open and I'm so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I don't notice her at first. But it seems that a girl around my age is standing out in the open. She seems on edge. When she sees evidence of the fires she falls to her knees and looks like she wants to start wailing.

I feel bad for her, but our forces needed to burn those fires, make an example of a misbehaved village. Maybe if she understood that, she would be alright right now. Buck continues to slowly advance on her from the rear being careful not to make a sound.

The thought occurs to me that Buck might want this girl for whatever reason that twisted mind of his comes up with. Maybe he think she's a survivor of the fires. But to me it's almost immediately clear that she isn't. You can tell by the surprised look she had when she discovered the fires. Either way, I'm not prepared for anyone to be killed.

I stumbled forward a few steps lost in thought yet again, and realized a second too late that I was about to snap the stick under my boot. The second it makes the sound Buck glared at me but quickly turned to face the girl who has whipped around so fast I didn't even see it happen.

She looked ready to pounce and by the wild look in her eyes I'd say she actually would've if it weren't for the ray gun Buck held pointed at her. She startled a little bit and stood straighter coming out of her cat-like position. I relaxed at this but it seemed to have the opposite affect on Buck. He tensed tightening his grip on the gun.

She seemed to be studying us an so I took the opportunity to study her as well. She wore a torn, red leather jacket and tight black pants. Her plain brown boots looked old and too small for her now. Underneath the jacket she seemed to be wearing a simple white shirt with a collar. Her blond hair had debris in it and is a tangled mess. Her gray eyes squinted at us, darting all around.

"Josh!" said Buck harshly. "Come over here, now!"

"Y-yes, sir," I stammered out walking closer to him my eyes trained on the ground.

"You said earlier that you needed more practice. Is that correct?" He asked raising an eyebrow at me. I didn't like the look of that smile.

"Yes, I did but--"

"No buts! Now, she's the perfect practice for you...shoot her!" Buck demanded with a crazed look in his eyes.

I said nothing. I picked up my gun from my belt and held it loosely in my hand. I couldn't do it. I couldn't. My eyes briefly flashed up to meet hers that were string intently at me. My gaze quickly dropped back to the ground which I found much more interesting at the moment. She didn't look exactly scared, she looked more like she was concentrating really hard on something.

Ugh. Why did I have to tell Buck that lame excuse about the deer? Now I was just in a lot more trouble because of it.

Just as I decided there was nothing else I could do but shoot her, she lunged.

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Hey!(; So I tried to make this chapter longer. Tell me what you think. Vote, comment, or like. Thank you if you do leave a comment, I'm always looking forward to them.

~Holly(: