Stranded

Chapter 10

"I-I don't know," I stuttered.

"Well, I can teach her, Chief. It's really not that hard to learn," Max said, standing up and grabbing one of the two bows he had in the house.

"Here hold this." He handed me the bow as he went to collect an arrow from the quiver. "Are you left handed or right handed?" Max asked me.

"Left."

"Well then that's easier for me to teach you since I am left handed also." Max grinned at me then continued. "You have to hold the bow body with your right hand, and pull back the string with your left, okay? Just see if you can hold it up."

I placed the bow in my right hand as he said to, and then lifted it up, pulling back the string as I knew people do, since I saw some of the Villagers do it before. It didn't feel foreign to me-it felt normal and relaxing surprisingly. "Which fingers am I actually suppose to use?"

Max held up three fingers. "These three. Place them right under the arrow once you get it on there."

I put the arrow on the bow and pulled the bow string back with my three fingers. But what was I suppose to aim at? "Max, I don't have a target to shoot."

"Oh! Aim for that tree outside the window. It's not too far away."

And so I did. I aimed for that tree and I hit that tree. Square in the middle of it.

"Wow, honey," Mom remarked. "That was...perfect. Have you been taking archery lessons?"

I laughed. "Actually I haven't. I don't know how I'm good at this. I have never even held a bow before."

"Well, you're a natural!" Max exclaimed from behind me. "Just in case that was a lucky shot, do it again."

I grabbed another arrow from one of the quivers and placed it on the bow. I brought the bow up into a shooting position, drawing the string back to my mouth. I aimed for directly under the previous arrow. And then I shot it at the tree. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I saw where my arrow went: right where I aimed.

"Okay yes. Wow. You are wonderful!" Max told me.

"I know," I joked.

"Well, we now have a new guard for the Raid," Mom said. She smiled at me.

I was honored to be able to do something like that. But I was also scared. What if I get killed? Max and Mom would surely die. I wouldn't be able to deal with myself if that happened. I have to be smart with this.

I was still deep in thought when I heard Max speak up. "The real test is, can she shoot a moving target..."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I have to shoot...people?"

"Well duh, Sam. You gotta shoot them so they won't shoot us. The Night Crawlers will do anything to get in here. That's why you gotta shoot them quickly."

"But I can't practice that right now! It's getting dark. And they will be coming soon, won't they?"

Max nodded at me. This is going to be much harder than I originally thought.

~~~

"I see one! Over in the bushes!" Max pointed to the left outside of the window.

I shot at what I thought was the person and heard a scream. Okay, so I just shot someone. Oh my gosh...I just shot a person! A living, breathing person...

Max must have seen my face because he asked me what was wrong.

"I just shot a human! That's what's wrong!" I yelled at Max a little too loud because I could heard someone running toward our location and shot the arrow into the dark at the running object, knocking it down. I either stunned the figure or killed it, since it wasn't moving anymore.

"Sam," Max spoke. "You have to realize something. It's either you shoot them, or they shoot you. This is war. Well, not a full blown out war, but this is us against the Crawlers. Would you rather them win and slaughter us all?"

"Well no. Of course not," I replied.

"Okay, well then you are fine. You are defending us. Not killing for fun."

I let out a huge breath and continued staring out the side window with Max while Mom was watching the front window.

Throughout the night we could hear a countless number of screams coming from the distance, both fear screams and war cries. I couldn't wait until this was over.

"There's another one. Over there! He's coming this way. Hurry, Sam!"

I saw what Max was talking about and shot yet again another arrow at the mysterious target. Right after I did so, I heard a scream coming from behind us and turned around to see a Night Crawler holding my mother close to him, a knife against her neck.

The intruder was tall and very muscular, with red paint covering his arms which were not covered by cloth. His face was hidden by a red mask, which had an wicked vibe to it.

"YEE YEE YEE!!" The strange man yelled out, gripping the knife tighter in his hand against Mom's throat.

"No! Please! Don't hurt her!" I cried out. I set down the bow and put my hands up to surrender.

"Sam! Don't surrender. We can win this!" Max whispered to me, discreetly showing me the arrow which he held in his right hand.

"Max they have my mother. If I shoot or even begin to do so, they'll kill her." I couldn't lose my mother. I didn't want to see her die right in front of me. I started to cry, not knowing what to do.

I saw Max throw down the arrow and put his good arm up in the air along with mine. "Hey," he whispered. "It's going to be okay." Max gave me a small smile and turned back to the intruder.

"You're a big bully, you know that!" Max yelled at the Night Crawler, sticking his tongue out at him and gave him evil eyes.

"AHHHHH!!"

"Why don't you go pick on someone your own size? And maybe someone with your same IQ. Because I can tell yours is not very high."

The man did not like that, for he yelled out again.

"Do you not know English. You dumbo. It's a very common language and you should at least know something else other than how to yell."

"Max! I think you're pushing it! He's getting more angry!" I really didn't want my mother to die because of Max's insults. But I had to admit, they were pretty funny.

"Hey!" A voice came from across the room that wasn't there before. "How about you put down my wife and we settle this like men!"

I turned from the Crawler to see my father standing there, a broken fishing pole in his hand. The end of it was jagged, like a spear. His clothes were ripped and worn, caked in places with dirt and blood.

"AGHHHHH!" The man yelled once again, but instead of Max, he turned and faced my father. He threw Mom on the ground, the knife still gripped in his ape-like hand. Mom laid on the ground, gasping for breath. I wanted so badly to go to her, but afraid the Night Crawler would hurt me, I stayed put by Max's side.

"That's right big boy...come 'ere." Dad gestured the man to come forward.

The man charged at Dad, his knife ready to stab my father. I couldn't watch this. I buried my head in Max's shoulder, and closed my eyes. All I heard was a loud groan, followed by a clank of rock hitting the wooden floor.

"It's okay, Sam. You can open your eyes now. Everything is okay," Max reassured me.

I hadn't realized I was crying until I lifted my head from Max' shoulder and saw that my tears made his shirt sleeve wet. When I looked over where Dad was standing, I saw the intruder laying on the ground, his knife laying a couple feet away from him. Dad was walking toward me, his arms open.

"Dad!" I shouted, running to meet him with a hug. I was so happy I started to cry again, but I didn't care. I had my family back! I felt so happy that my family was whole again. And even better, the sun was starting to come up, which meant the Raid was over. Mom came over and joined our long hug. But something just didn't feel right...

"Max!" I called out. "Get over here." I waved Max over to join our hug. He smiled and joined us.