Desired

19. Bad Aim

Standing at the back of the building, I look at the greenhouse and the fields spread out around us.

I close my eyes and lean against the wall as my mind replays Zach's words from last night. Replaying last night only increases my confusion and anger. His actions, his words, none of them make sense.

'Haiden was right when she said I'm not much for talk, but I'm good at listening if you need it.' Bo says from beside me.

'I'm ok.' I wipe furiously at the tears which refuse to stop falling and open my eyes to focus on Bo.

'You're not.' Bo places a jar and two forks on the floor next to my feet then hands me a gun which is cold and heavy.

The gun reminds me of hitting Zach's mum, of Zach being shot, of treating his wound. It reminds me of Zach asking me to wait for him before I crossed the wall. He wanted to come. Now, he's saying he didn't.

I don't understand.

Bo goes into the greenhouse, drags a wobbly wooden table outside and places five sized pots on top, going from smallest to largest.

He comes over to me. 'You'll have seven bullets, so seven tries. The aim is to hit a pot each time. Start with the largest and you move to the next, whether you hit it or not. By the end, you'll have two final bullets which you can use to hit the pots you missed.'

'So all of them.' I deadpan. I hold the gun between my thumb and index finger and wave it in front of him. 'I don't even know how to hold it.'

Bo chuckles and takes the gun from my hand. He presses a button; the bottom part unclips and he slides it out into his hand. He shows me the empty chamber. 'Bullets will go in there.' He slips it back up and clicks it on place. 'Don't catch your skin when you push it back up.' He holds the gun and points to a small clip. 'You press this, the top slides across and the first round is loaded.' He holds the gun in two hands, points it at a pot and presses the trigger and it clicks. 'When the bullets are inside, the gun will jerk back so support the gun with two hands and lean forward slightly so you don't lose your balance.' He slides the top back into place and hands me the gun. 'Try without bullets.'

I hold up the gun with two hands, press the trigger and it clicks softly. 'Are there names for the different bits of a gun?'

'Yep, but I don't know them.' Bo takes the gun from my hand, slips out the bottom, loads it with bullets then slides it back into the gun. 'Only put your finger on the trigger when you're going to shoot. If you walk around with your finger on the trigger, you'll shoot someone you don't want to.'

Like Zach. Only, right now, I do want to shoot him.

I'm lying. The last thing I want to do is shoot Zach. I'd happily beat some sense into him. Maybe, I could also beat some truth out of him.

Bo hands me the gun. 'Press the small clip to load the first round and then aim for the pot. Stay relaxed.'

Clicking the small button, I aim, press the trigger and a loud crack explodes in front of me while the gun jerks back violently. Glass lays scattered on the ground in front of the greenhouse and there's an empty space where a window was a moment ago.

'I'm sorry.' I cringe. 'Is there a technique I should be using?'

'Aim for the pots,' Bo says flatly.

'Really? And there was me thinking, I could bounce it off the glass at an angle and take out all six pots in one go.'

Bo laughs. 'Now that would be impressive.'

'Seriously, there must be some technique.'

'I've told you what I know. If you want more tips you'd have to ask a gun expert. And as far as I know, they all died from Virulence two decades ago.' Bo smirks.