Maybe

Chapter 9

        

"Get up." I heard as I vaguely felt something hard poke at my leg

"I'm up, leave me alone." I groaned as I stretched in my sleeping bag

"Get up." The voice commanded. A voice that I didn't recognize as Ethan's

            My heart immediately skipped a beat. If someone woke you up in the morning that you didn't recognize, in this world, it was always a bad sign. I reluctantly removed my head from my sleeping bag to see two large men with even larger guns pointed at me. I removed myself from my sleeping bag as fast as I could and backed away from them startled by what I had just found in front of me. I looked around and could see the perimeter of our camp lined with armed men. My vision stopped at one man directly across from me who had Ethan in a chokehold with his arms pinned behind his back. Ethan looked at me with sympathetic eyes and I returned the look with an angry glare. I immediately thought of possible escape routes in my head and remembered that I had left my rifle in my sleeping bag, as if that would help me at all right about now. My dad always used to tell me to not start a fight where there wasn't one to be started. I looked up at the men directly in front of me and decided to act innocent. I put my hands up in a surrender position.

"Hello, it seems that we've run into some trouble." I said in my nicest voice

"Oh, no trouble here." A man said as he walked out of the perimeter and towards me

"Then why are you here?" I asked

"We live in a safe house a couple miles up the road and have been making our rounds to... silence... any intruders." He said picking his words carefully

"Well, we were just resting here for the night, about to be on our way again. We mean no trouble." I said

"Yeah, we've heard that a lot, but you know as well as we do, you can't trust anyone in the world we live in." He said

            His clothes as well as the other men's were filthy and tattered. Their faces weren't in much better shape, covered in filth and grime.

"Just let us go and we won't bother you again." I said

"Well, we have been going around camps looking for food also, seems as though we have run out." He said as an evil smirk crept up his face

"So have we, been out for a few days now." I said as I shot Ethan a look

            There was no code of honesty that had to be kept here and if Ethan didn't know that by now, it was time for him to learn.

"Ha! I would love to believe you little girl, but that's just not the way we run things." He said

            I caught a glimpse of his yellowing teeth as he laughed. I decided to ignore the "little girl" comment; I didn't want to make them even more mad. No matter how confident you are, the guys with the guns always win. He took another step towards me.

"Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, your choice." He said only inches from my face, his rancid breath making my stomach churn

"I said... we have no food." I whispered through clenched teeth

            The man grabbed my left wrist as he leant in closer to my face.

"I see you have chosen the hard way." He said

            I shot Ethan a knowing look, hoping that he would soon catch on, or my plan would be useless.

            I immediately yanked my arm away from his grasp and towards my opposite shoulder. I reached into the back of the waistband of my jeans and pulled out my handgun. Before anyone knew what had happened I had the gun in my hand, the barrel pressed against the man's temple. I spun him around, locked his hands behind his back, and held on tight. To my utter joy, Ethan had gotten the memo. He was out of the chokehold; one man was unconscious on the ground, another with a gun pointing at his head.

"I suggest you leave now." I said

            I watched as the men slowly lowered their guns and looked around at each other, mystified as to what to do next.

            The man I was holding was much bigger and stronger than me and the element of surprise that I had on him just seconds before, was now gone. Before I knew it, he had elbowed me in the ribs and in the brief second that I loosened my grip on the gun, he had grabbed it and backed away from me.

"That was fun." He said sarcastically

            I raised my arms back up in surrender and glared at him.

"Well, I think we should just take you with us. Seeing as you have no where else to go and I don't want dangerous people like you lurking around my safe house." He said

"Thank you, but we are perfectly fine by ourselves." I said

"That's cute, you think you have a choice." He said as he fake pouted

I looked at Ethan to see him back in the same position of a chokehold and knew that we had been defeated.

"Come on Ethan, what do you say?" He asked as he turned to face Ethan

            I glanced at Ethan. How could he be so stupid as to give these men his real name? I was furious at him. He avoided the man's question and closed his eyes.

"Well, I'll take that as a yes." He said as he turned back to me "What about you...?" He trailed off as he waited for me to answer with a name

            I thought for a second before answering.

"Becca."