“There’s a first time for everything.”
My stomach growls right on cue, but I refuse.
“I’m not going to hunt and kill an animal. I’d rather starve. I—”
Langston starts walking away even though I haven’t finished my sentence.
“Really?” I huff after him, annoyed that he won’t even listen to me.
I stop dead in my tracks as Langston pulls something out from behind a tree and holds it out to me.
I blink several times—Langston holds out a bow and arrow.
I scrape my teeth over my bottom lip to hold back my excitement. I haven’t held a bow and arrow in my hands since I was ten, when Langston took me “hunting.” All we did was target practice since I couldn’t kill anything.
I was a perfect shot.
I cautiously reach out for the weapon.
My fingers brush his as I take the bow and arrows in my hands.
I have a weapon.
Something I can use against Langston.
He looks at me wearily. “Don’t even think about it.”
My eyes light up. “What? I’m not thinking about shooting this arrow into your heart.”
He grins. “I’ll give you one shot.”
“What?”
“One shot to shoot me.”
“And what happens when I hit you in the heart and you drop dead? How do I survive?”
He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his phone. “I unlocked it. When I drop dead, you can call for help.”
I lean forward. He unlocked the phone, and it has service.
Langston takes his time walking ten strides away from me. Then he turns and looks me in the eyes.
“I’m waiting.”
I hold his gaze as I reach into the bag and pull out a single arrow. It feels familiar in my hand.
I could do this.
I could kill him.
I could…
I take a deep breath as I position the arrow against the bow and pull back on the string, aiming at the ground as I get used to the feel of the bow in my hands again.
And then I look up at Langston—his light blonde hair, his gleaming blue eyes, his tense smirk. He knows that I might shoot him, kill him, but it doesn’t matter. Death has never scared him, just like it doesn’t scare me. We’ve seen too much, he and I.
Can I really kill him?