Page 16 of The Devil's Den

“Follow me.”

And I do, not having a choice, following him all the way down until we stop in front of something which comes out of the ceiling, with circles on them.

“We’re gonna shoot these targets together so you can see how it works.” He comes up behind me, his hands wrapped around the weapon, putting mine on it the way he wants. Without warning, he pulls, and the sound of the gun, the vibration from the bullet causes my hands to jerk, my body to stumble backward, bumping right into Stan. I huff like I just ran.

“Whoa, kid. Relax. You’ll get used to it.” We go again and again, so many times, my hands get tired. But he doesn’t stop. He keeps having me shoot more targets. Then a mannequin-looking thing is brought out.

“Shoot it anywhere.”

“I—” It looks so much like a person. It even has eyes and a mouth. “Do I have to? I’m tired. Please,” I breathe. “I want to take a break.” I want to stop forever. I don’t like guns. I don’t like shooting them. My eyes quickly wander around, and I know I can’t run. There are too many men here.

“Do it!” he yells, his face getting red, a gun pointed at my head. “I’ll fucking kill you right this second if you don’t do it, pussy.”

Someone help me! Please! Please get me out of here!

“Kill him,” another man shouts.

“Yeah, kill the kid.” Someone else laughs, the voice further away.

I turn this way and that, my heart pounding, my breathing heaving out of me.

My hands shudder. But with tears slipping past my cheeks, I take the gun from him, lifting its weight with both hands. Slowly, I raise it, aiming it at the mannequin, closing my eyes, and I pull.

With a gasp, I stare out to where I shot, just as Stan gets up, marching all the way down to the mannequin. “Damn, kid.” He examines the stomach area. “That was either a lucky shot or you’re a natural.”

I don’t want to be a natural, whatever that means. I don’t want him to be happy I shot good. I want to be bad at this, because maybe then, they’ll tell Agnelo I suck, and I can go back to be with Aida.

“Can I leave now?” I ask with hope in my voice.

He makes it back to me. “As long as you can pass the last test of the day.”

Another test? Ugh!

But whatever it is, I’ll do it, as long as I can go after.

“Yo, Carlito,” he tells someone. “Bring it out.”

Footsteps pound behind me, my pulse slamming even louder. He gets closer now, coming over, holding a brown box.

“Remember how you shot that target?” Stan asks.

I nod.

“Well, you’re going to do it again, but this time…” That’s when this man, Carlito, faces me and takes out the cutest white bunny I’ve ever seen.

My mouth spreads into a giant grin. “Will you let me keep him if I do good? Please? I promise to take care of him!” But when I try to get near the bunny, someone else behind me holds me back around my chest.

“You think we’re gonna let you keep a bunny?” Carlito snorts on a laugh. “Where? In Agnelo’s basement while they got you chained up like a stray dog?”

“Why would you bring the bunny here if I can’t keep him?”

Stan answers, “Because you’re gonna kill it.”

I stumble back with a whimpering cry. “No! No! No!” My entire body shakes. “I won’t do it!” I scream, swallowing my tears with every breath I take. “You can kill me! I don’t care! I won’t hurt this poor animal!”

“Ahh, but see, I know for a fact that you will,” someone else says—the man whose voice I hate, the one whose daughter hates him too. His feet shuffle to us, getting nearer as he comes to stand next to Stan. “He do good today?”

“Acceptable.” Stan folds his arms over his chest, both of them staring at me with their monster eyes.

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