Because You Exist(21)

She was pointing a gun right at the men.

I began to put it together.

The noises were shots.

Josephine had just wounded these two men. The two men who now began to call out for their leader, begging him to come take care of the boy and his bitch.

Why would Josephine bury a gun in the backyard of her old house?

How did Josephine even know how to use a gun?

How could she shoot these men without even flinching?

I felt nauseous.

This wasn’t right. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t right. She had just shot two men. Granted, they had been trying to torture and kill us, but I had never even seen a real gun before. It wasn’t like the movies. Blood was thicker and darker. It ran from their legs onto the grass, clashing violently with the green of the lawn.

“Let’s go, Logan,” said Josephine. Even her voice sounded dead.

I couldn’t move. I wanted to go back. I wanted my life back. I didn’t do anything to deserve this hellish existence, to be trapped in this place. Maybe I was a bully. Maybe I didn’t go to church as much as I should or wasn’t particularly nice. But I didn’t deserve to be a part of this world.

We were running again. I didn’t know where we were going, and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to follow Josephine anymore. Who was this girl? I kept telling myself that she did what she had to do. If she hadn’t shot those men I would most likely be dead, and they would be doing God knows what to her. She hadn’t killed them after all. She only wounded them.

She had saved us.

For now.

I just didn’t know if I would ever be capable of pulling the trigger.

I was so focused on trying to convince myself not to be petrified of the girl running in front of me that I never saw him coming. The leader of the band of survivors tackled me to the ground and pulled me up by the neck. His arm tightened around my neck making it almost impossible to breathe. I watched as Josephine slowed down. She took her time tuning around to face us, but at least she didn’t keep running without me.

She still held the gun in her hand.

I felt something prick painfully against the side of my neck. Josephine walked slowly towards us. Her eyes met mine and wouldn’t leave, even when the leader began to speak to her.

“I’d drop the gun, sweetheart. You might get me, but not before I pushed this glass right into his neck. And you don’t want him dying. Not unless you know for sure you’re the conductor. Because if he’s the conductor and he dies, you’re stuck here with me and my kind.”

Josephine lifted the gun up. It looked like some sort of handgun. I didn’t have an obsession with weaponry or violent video games like some of my fellow teenage males. Regardless of what type of gun it was, Josephine seemed like she planned on using it. Again.

The leader pushed the shard of glass deeper into my neck, and I couldn’t help but gasp out in pain. “You better hope you’re a great shot, darling. It’s a tough thing watching someone die. It might just distract you enough to miss, and then I’ll get you all to myself.”

“Stop talking. Let him go,” Josephine said quietly.

“You know wha—“

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. The gun rang loudly once more as Josephine fired a bullet straight into his chest. The man’s grip on me loosened and I fell to the ground, coughing violently. In between the tears that burned my eyes, I looked up to see the leader stumble towards Josephine, blood spurting from his wound.

Josephine’s eyes widened, and she dropped the gun. The man fell onto her, dragging her to the floor with him. He coughed blood into her face as his hands fumbled to grab hold of her.

“He let all the good people die, but us bad ones have been around the whole time. He let us exist too. You...you...you just...remember...when it comes time.” A loud chorus of racking, wet coughs filled the air before the leader finally died.

I crawled over to Josephine and pushed the man off of her. Tears were running down her face. Her breathing was ragged, and I wondered if she was about to lose it. I got up on my knees and grabbed her by the arms, helping her to sit up.

We just stared at each other. I had no idea who this girl was or what she was capable of. It scared me. It scared the shit out of me to be honest. But I needed her, and maybe she needed me too. I wanted to tell her these things. I wanted to ask her if she was all right, but I didn’t get a chance. Josephine shoved me away and climbed over me. I watched as her hand reached for the gun. She twisted her body around, lining her gun up on an unknown predator.

I twisted my body to see what the hell we had in store for us next.

“Wait! Don’t shoot! I’m one of you!”

Before Josephine had a chance to shoot or I had a chance to meet our latest attacker, I felt the shift.