“Begin.”
I pick up the gun, taking out the magazine, then racking the slide as I clear the chamber of any other bullets. Once that’s done, I make quick work of pressing in the takedown lever on the right side, and pressing down on the left side before pushing the lever into the takedown position. Once the slide is unlocked before pressing down on the spring and freeing that from the slide, I place it in front of me. I press in the locking block plunger and take out the barrel, placing it down on the metal bench as well before raising my hand.
I look down both sides of the gun range, and I’m the first one to finish the disassembly.
The guard walks over, giving a quick nod of approval before I put it back together again, finally putting the magazine back in and clocking the chamber to load the bullet. My hand doesn’t start to tremble like it used to when I picked up the guns. I don’t let it, raising my hand again for approval.
Once I have the final nod of approval, I raise the pistol and fire, hitting the paper target twice as instructed, once in the chest, once in the head. Both with perfect accuracy. Then I step back and turn to look at Shayleen who’s still disassembling her gun.
I stare at her, confused. Why is she taking so long?
“My gun is faulty!” she cries, turning to look at Trainer and Overseer. “Please check, my gun is faulty I can’t—” The Overseer shakes his head.
“Your enemy won’t care if your gun is faulty or not. Fix it.” They can’t possibly be serious? How are we supposed to fix a faulty gun?
“I can’t! The takedown lever won’t budge!”
The Overseer walks over to her, picking up my gun and handing it to me before raising his own to my head. I freeze.
“Shoot her,” he orders calmly. I look up at him, confused. Shoot Shayleen? My best friend? My only friend?
“W-what?” My voice trembles as I speak. My body shivers as the cool metal is placed at the back of my neck, the icy cold metal making me tremble in fear. The bile rises in my throat when I realise the Overseer is being serious.
“Shoot her, or I'll shoot you, and then I’ll shoot her as well.” The Overseer’s voice is cold, like all the emotion he usually speaks to us with has vanished. I begin to shake my head, tears welling in my eyes, but he tsks.
“I won’t ask again, PX-3.”
“Darlia, please…” Shayleen begs, turning to look at me. Her hands tremble on the gun still in her hands, still loaded and ready to shoot.
“I can’t.” The words barely come out as a whisper.
“Clearly, you didn’t hear me.” Turning the gun from my head, he turns, pointing it at Ethel, another girl from our group, and fires.
She dies instantly, falling to the ground.
Screams fill the shooting range as everyone realises this isn’t a joke. “Shoot. Her,” the Overseer orders, his voice cold as ice.
This time I listen. My hands wrap around the handle of the gun, my finger trembling on the trigger. I won’t be able to get an accurate shot like this, but maybe if I miss, he will let her live.
“Three. Two—” I squeeze my eyes shut and fire, not looking at where the bullet lands and not wanting to wait for his countdown to finish. My hands tremble so badly the gun doesn’t stay still. Somehow I manage to pull the trigger.
When I finally open my eyes again, Shayleen is on the ground. The bullet hit her neck. Blood pools around her as her hands reach for her throat, trying to put pressure on the wound. She’s choking on her own blood. I did that…I…
Dropping the gun and throwing it away, I take off my shirt and press it into her neck, barely able to see anything with the tears that don’t stop falling from my eyes. “Help her!” I scream, but nobody moves.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I sob, pressing my shirt into her neck, trying to stop the bleeding.
Shayleen interlocks her fingers with mine, her voice coming out weak. “I’m going to be with our mums now. They’ll protect me.” Then before I manage to respond or get someone to help her, two guards drag her limp body from the shooting range.
Chapter 27:
Cayden
Three days. It has been three fucking days since Darlia was taken, and there hasn’t been a single trace of her since. It’s like she vanished into thin air, and I can’t fucking find her.
We have searched every single database, every file, document, message, and nothing. There is not a single trace back to Darlia, other than her file which keeps updating with each method of prolonged torture they put her through.
Darlia has slipped through the cracks, and is nowhere to be found. I know she’s somewhere, I just can't find her. And the worst part is, I know she hates me for it.
