until the end || book 6 of 'she's a dixon'

chapter 3

carl and i were walking hand in hand behind rick.

ron was behind us. today, rick, carl, and i are going to be teaching ron how to shoot.

we saw gabriel hanging up signs advertising his new church group. as gabriel walked off, rick ripped off the signs.

"dad" carl said in a 'seriously' tone of voice.

handguns will be a little better for your first go. magazine release. slide release. thumb safety." rick said pointing out the different parts of the gun to ron. "that stuff is easy, right dad?" carl said. ron looked over to carl and i.

"yeah. empty magazine. empty chamber. see it?" rick said ending carl and ron's stare down. "yeah" ron said looking at the gun. "someone's in-front of you. they have a gun." rick said giving carl a situation. "you will be scared" carl said. "you will be" i said agreeing with him.

"your body will tense. you won't have time to think. you're just gonna want to pull the trigger when they get in front of you." rick said. he quickly pulled out the gun and cocked it to add to the scenario.

"but you'll miss, and you'll be dead. you gotta get it up to your eye" rick said. "you have to be strong enough to wait for your moment." carl said. i just kept a straight face like normal.

"can i uh.." ron said reaching for the gun from rick. rick handed the gun to ron. ron got in his ready position. "keep your finger off the trigger 'til you're ready to shoot" i pointed out. rick went over and fixed that on ron. he shot the gun that had no bullets in it.

"keep that one with you. get a feel of what it feels like to carry one around." rick said. ron then asked about target practice and rick said no.

"hey um reagan?" ron said. i looked at him. "can i maybe like try your bow?" he asked. i sighed and looked at rick. "sure" i said. i took my bow off my back and got my release out of my pocket.

"alright, i normally don't use this, but since this is your first time shooting a bow, you'll probably want it. this is called a release. you attach it to the bow and it makes it easier to pull back and shoot. but first you're going to have to put it on." i said. i put the release on my hand to show ron how it works. rick and carl watched.

"so once it's on your hand and it's secure, you attach it to your bow." i said. i attached it to my bow. also i didn't have an arrow in my bow cause i didn't want to waste it.

"so now once it's attached and the lock is on it, you pull back the bow without touching the trigger" i said. i pulled back the bow with my hand in a fist. "and now you look in your scope, line your target up with the red cross, and pull the trigger. got it?" i said. i pulled the trigger. i then looked at him. "ok" he said nodding.

i helped him put on the release. he attached it to the bow. he then struggled to pull the bow string back. i lightly chuckled. he eventually got it pulled completely back.

"how do you do this with just two fingers?" he questioned. "practice. and don't put your arm against the string. it'll burn you once you let go" i said. he fixed it. he then pulled the trigger. "yeah, i don't think i could ever handle shooting a bow all the time" he said handing my bow back to me. i chuckled. so did carl and rick.

a day after, carl and i were walking the streets. we knew ron was behind us but we didn't pay any attention to him. after walking for a bit, we herd wood crackling.

carl and i both looked towards the direction of the sound. the guard tower was falling. my mouth dropped. carl grabbed onto my hand.

"rae come on!" he yelled.