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Chapter 5

I was laying in my bed, pondering the events of the morning. This time, it was obvious that someone wanted us dead. I couldn't think of anyone with a severe grudge against us. I would have to ask Jared later.

But even then, how would they know that we would go there? Even we didn't know where we were going until we got there. We just went North until we found something.

Unless Jared... no, there's no way. I pushed the thought out of my mind, then let my thoughts wander. Eventually I felt myself slipping in to unconsciousness.

*** 

Jared lay in the infirmary bed, waiting impatiently for a doctor to examine his ear.

"Come on doc, I need to get back to my room! Hurry up!" Jared said impatiently.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," the doctor said, washing his hands in an old porcelain sink. "Roll over so your ear is facing me."

After examining his ear, the doctor said, "Yeah, your eardrum popped. You should be ok, but it's gonna hurt for a while." Then he wrapped a bandage around his ear.

Jared asked "Can I go now then?"

The doctor nodded, then seemed to remember something. "One more thing. Take these whenever your ear hurts," said the doctor, taking out a bottle of pills. "Just take one though, and not again for another 24 hours."

Jared nodded again, took the pills, and walked out the door.

***

I found Jared in the shooting range with his new rifle. The range was a large concrete area that I figured had once been a parking garage. There was a small room with a rectangle opening for shooting through.

Several bulls eye targets lined the back wall of the larger room. Several body targets hung from the low ceiling at different intervals from the smaller room.

Not a single shot missed the targets.

"You like it?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna need more ammo soon. You think we could go back sometime to get some?" Jared responded.

"Not today. I'm beat. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Sure," Jared said, then went back to shooting. I stood there for a while, watching him fire off shot after shot.

Eventually, I realized I hadn't eaten food at all today, and that I was starving. Hopefully they were serving something good today.

They weren't. I got to eat fresh mincemeat pie. Yum.

After choking down a slice, I washed it down with some milk then looked at the clock. I had some time to kill, so I decided to go back to the shooting range and go try out my new pistol.

Jared was still there, but now he was practicing throwing his knives at the targets in the back. Every single one hit the target in the center. I still couldn't believe how he could do it.

I slipped my pistol out of my jeans, grabbed an ammo cartridge from my other pocket, and started firing at the body targets. My first few shots missed the target completely, for I wasn't used to the kickback change.

Eventually, though, I got the hang of it and started hitting the targets. Fortunately, the Eagle used the same ammo as my older pistol, so I had plenty of ammo.

After hitting the target in the head five times in a row, I asked Jared, "So how's your ear?"

He shrugged. "The doctor said it's going to be ok."

I nodded, then said, "Well, I think I'm going to turn in. G'night."

He nodded, and I went to my room. I lay there but couldn't go to sleep something was wrong. Then something under my bed went bump.