Silas by V. J. Chambers

tossed it
out the door.
    The response was immediate.
Gunfire bursting out like the drum section of a marching band. My
shirt was riddled with holes in the air. It fluttered to the ground
in pieces.
    “ Shit,” said Ken.
    Everyone else was awake now. Christa,
Milo, Brandon, and Ross were all sitting straight up, their eyes
wide in fear.
    “ What the fuck was that?”
said Ross.
    “ That was us finding out
that they’re covering the door,” I said. “The first person out of
that door is dead. First step he makes.”
    Emmett stroked his chin.
“Well, we don’t leave then. We stay here.”
    “ You kidding?” said Brandon.
“We’re trapped rats in here. In here, they know where we are. They
can come shoot us anytime.”
    “ But it’s not about shooting
us, is it?” Emmett asked me. “At least, it’s not only about
shooting us. They want to hunt us down first.”
    I looked at the others.
“He’s right. This a sport for them. If we don’t play, that’s going
to force them to make another move.”
    “ What do you think that move
will be?” asked Milo.
    “ I have no idea,” I
said.
    “ What if that move is to
come in here and start shooting us?” said Christa.
    I considered. “They might do
that. They probably wouldn’t shoot all of us, but they might kill
one of us in an attempt to get the rest of us to run.”
    Emmett sucked in air through
his nose. “So, if we run, someone dies. If we stay, someone
dies.”
    Everyone was quiet.
    “ If we run,” said Emmett,
“then we stand a better chance in the woods. We could stay out of
their sight. And if we stay, they’re probably just going to force
us to go.”
    “ The door’s narrow,” I said.
“We’d have to go single file. And the first man to go is going to
get shot.” I considered. “So, that should probably be
me.”
    “ What?” said Christa. “No. I
don’t think you should—”
    “ Trust me,” I said. I looked
at the others. “You guys see this?” I pointed at the blood all over
me. “This is from the last time I had a bullet in my
skull.”
    Emmett narrowed his eyes.
“This isn’t a time to make jokes, boy.”
    “ Not a joke. I’m hard to
kill.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll go out first. I’ll draw their
fire.”
    “ I think it’s a bad idea,”
said Christa.
    I turned to Ken. He’d made a
few comments that led me to believe he was a decent guy. “Can you
take Christa?
    He nodded. “Yeah.” He turned
to her. “You run behind me, and it’ll be okay.”
    She shook her head. “No. I
don’t like this plan.”
    I turned to Emmett. “They’ve
been watching us, and you’ve emerged as a bit of a leader. They’ll
gun for you because of that. They’ll figure that we’ll lose
cohesion without you.”
    Emmett shrugged. “It’s like
you said last night. I’m a dead man walking.”
    I looked back at Ken. The
truth was that all of these men had been sentenced to death. They
were most likely all guilty of some kind of heinous crime. Could I
trust Christa with any of them?
    On the flip side, it wasn’t
as if I hadn’t done the kinds of things that earned people the
death penalty myself. Maybe it was better not to worry about
it.
    “ There’s a clearing out
there,” said Emmett. “Woods in all directions. We go east, towards
the rising sun. Out there, it’s every man for himself. Those of us
that can will meet up in the woods once we’re clear. Got
it?”
    “ What if we don’t want to
meet up?” said Ross.
    “ Then don’t,” said
Emmett.
    I looked around at the
circle of guys. At Christa’s wide, frightened eyes. I took a deep
breath. “Well, guess there’s no reason delaying the
inevitable.”
    Emmett furrowed his brow.
“Are you sure about this?”
    I nodded. “Sure.”
    * * *
    I hurled myself out the open
door, screaming at the top of my lungs. Something about yelling
made it easier. I knew that I ’d be okay,
that the bullets weren’t going to cause any permanent damage, but
it was still a hell of