Lake Yixa by Cameron Harper Page A

the small hill.
          "Why did they
have to kill him?" she said between small sobs. "We didn't do
anything." Jeremy sat down next to her and put his arm around her
shoulder. He didn't say much and just let her talk. Sarah told him how she met
Liam and what happened. He felt angry for what had happened to Liam and Sarah.
It had to have been the same guys that had tied him up. He was lucky to have
made it out alive. The two of them sat there for a while. Sarah’s crying soon
subsided after a while.
          "I'm going to
wash up myself if you don't mind keeping a lookout," Sarah said as she got
up.
          "Sure,"
Jeremy replied.
          Sarah walked back
down the small hill and around toward the dock. She kept an eye on Jeremy. Sarah didn't think he
would look, but she still wanted to make sure. She stripped down to nothing
next to the dock and slid into the cold water. Sarah shivered for a few moments
and then began to clean herself. She grabbed the shampoo bottle from the dock. Sarah watched Jeremy
the whole time, making sure he didn't try and take a peek, but he didn't try or
even look back. He kept his eyes fixated on the lake.
          Sarah didn't take
long to bathe, and soon , she got out. She dressed in
the bushes and called out to Jeremy, making sure only to be so loud that only
he would hear. He turned and gathered up the kids, and they headed back to the
house. It wasn't long till they had made it to the front of the house when Zoe
pointed and squealed.
          "Look,
another kitty!" Both Jeremy and Sarah turned to look at where she was
pointing. Near the shed, a large raccoon stumbled about. It hissed and clawed
the air.
          "Shhh,"
Sarah said as she moved in front of the kids. "It’s most likely a zombie ," she
added.
          Jeremy didn't say
anything, but he move d forward a little bit at the ready.
          "Get the kids
inside," Jeremy finally said. Sarah nodded, and then she moved the kids
along the forest line and toward the back of the house and around to the front. Sarah quickly got them inside and followed in after. She set down
her axe by the door and went into Liam's room and grabbed the rifle.
          It wasn't long
before she was back outside with the door closed behind her, leaving the kids
inside, scared.
          She watched as
Jeremy slowly moved closer and closer. The raccoon never seemed to notice him.
Then, just before he swung, it stopped, turned, and let out a screech that made
Jeremy jump back and swing. The raccoon easily moved out of the way.
          "Shoot
it!" Jeremy said, backing away from it , while still swinging the bat
the best he could. He hit it in the side, but it shrugged off the blow and
continued its weird clawing and hissing attack.
          Sarah pointed the
gun at it and pulled the trigger. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing
happened. Jeremy looked at her.
          "You don't
know how to use a gun, do you?"
          "Um, no, not
really," she said with a half-smile. Jeremy hit the raccoon , this time in
the side of its head. It staggered to one side and fell over. Jeremy wasted no
time in finishing it off.   He looked down
at the poor creature , sighed , and turned to Sarah.
          "Sorry, I
only found it when I got here," she said. Jeremy didn't look amused with
her. Sarah felt a hard lump form in her throat. She had pointed it at him and
felt bad about that. He walked over and pointed to a small switch on the gun .
          "That is the
safety. Flip it to turn it off."
          "Thanks,"
Sarah replied. Jeremy smiled back at her. "You wouldn't happen to know how
to load it, would you?" she added.
          He looked at her
with a face that made her feel embarrassed.
          "Did you just
try and shoot it empty?" he asked.
          "I don't
know."
          "Mind if I
take a look at it?" he asked. Sarah didn't even hesitate. He knew she
didn't know how to work it. If he wanted to kill her