Along the Shadows of Death Valley - ON HOLD

In Harm's Way

"You're kidding right?"

I gazed at the 10mm pistol handed in front of me, questioning why I was being trusted with it. I knew there was trouble, but I didn't want to be a part of it. This was their problem, I was just dragged into it, right? As a matter of fact, I was happy to be tossed onto the road again, as long as I never had to use that thing.

Ryan was obviously impatient. He made a whining noise as he hit his head three times against the wall, almost shaking the flower pot to the point where it would fall. Yes, he wanted to rescue his friends right now, but this was making me more and more worried as to what was really out there compared to what I saw in a day. What I saw from one was terrifying enough. From a lot of them, I didn't want to even imagine.

Ryan's friends were trapped, and I didn't even want to know how many croakers they were up against. I saw how they attacked Melissa, how violent it was for its prey. How it ripped apart the skin from its bare teeth, not caring about anything else other than eat, kill, destroy.

It was all I could do to prevent my mind from replaying that scene over and over, trying to put every piece of the puzzle together when I didn't even know where to start, let alone finish.

Ryan proceeded to glare at me while speaking. "You have ten minutes. Then we're hitting the road. No excuses."

He stomped into the house, leaving me alone to try and comprehend what just went down. The heavy weight on my hands that was given to me was something that could be thrown away, or put up with. The choice was mine, and it would determine the fate of those people.

I threw the gun on the chair, hoping it would just disappear into thin air. I raked my hands in my hair as I backed into the wall, slowly sliding down it. Hiding my head in my knees, I wanted to cry and make the stress go away, but there was no way in hell that any had a chance of happening.

I was being a baby about all of this. Sure, I was fourteen and I would have thought to have gained some dignity, but no. I was as sensitive as Donald Trump. Who could blame me? I was supposed to be a kid, and kids make mistakes all the time.

That didn't account to what was coming. Surely not. Just imagining the s*** going down at the CVS made me want to throw up. That stupid gun, just a few inches from me, was going to be used by me whether I liked it or not. But my body wouldn't comply with what I wanted, and it made me feel ashamed to be such a wimp.

I sniffled, wiping my nose with my sleeve. I looked back to the truck, noticing that the rain had turned to a small drizzle. The billions of little droplets falling down to the ground only aided to the sorrow that had already consumed what bravery, if any, I had left.

Pretending was the only thing I had to keep me alive with these people. For all I knew, they would probably give me up to the croakers any chance they could get. And I know it's been annoying to contemplate what to do with complete strangers, especially in what seemed like the end of the world. But what choice did I have? Nothing, at least not yet.

Right now, I had two choices. Number one, I could abandon that gun and get away, risking those people becoming my enemies and staying on the run. Then, there was number two, grab that gun, woman up, and go to the city, all the while risking my life in the process. The clock was ticking, and I probably had a couple of seconds to make a decision.

Breathing in a shaky breath, I stumbled to my feet, leaning against the porcelain-colored walls. I folded my arms across my chest, going in a stare-off against the object on the chair, not wanting to do anything at all. When I thought I heard footsteps coming back, I shook my head quickly looking back and forth, confused as to what I was going to do. I cursed and looked at the gun before almost jumping to a loud sound.