Lake Yixa by Cameron Harper Page B

or hurt her, he could have
by now.
          Jeremy double
checked the safety and pulled back the bolt action. He could see a few rounds
in it.
          "Well, the
good news is there are rounds in it," Jeremy replied as he started to pop
the rounds out. They both heard another hiss. A second raccoon was standing by
the edge of the forest. Jeremy pushed the last round into the chamber, aimed,
and fired.
          Sarah jumped at
the loud sound of it going off. The raccoon fell over dead. It was a clean shot
to the head from what Sarah could tell.
          "So are you a
hunter?" Sarah asked, looking at him.
          "No, I hate
killing animals," he said. He flipped the safety on and handed back the
gun and then the ammo. He left her standing there while he got a shovel from
the shed and began to bury the two animals.
          Sarah returned to
the house and put the rifle above the door. The two kids were sitting on the
couch, looking over the back of it at the door. She gave them a small smile.
          "Everything
is okay. Your dad will be in soon," Sarah said before going into the
bedroom. She grabbed the backpack by the door and sat down with it on the bed.
She pulled out the two boxes of ammo and matched the bullets up. T he box read 308 win . She smiled at it. She was happy she knew which ammo
was for the rifle even if she didn't know how to load or shoot it. At least if
she was out looking for supplies and came across a box of it, she would know
what she found.
          A soft knock came
from the door, followed by Jeremy's voice.                                                  
          "Sarah? Can I
come in?" he asked.
          "Yeah."
          "I wanted to
talk to you about the rifle," he said, standing in the doorway.
          "Oh,"
was all she said.
          "I want to
teach you how to use it. With all that has happened in the world, you will need to know. "
          "Sure,"
she said with a smile and then added, "We only have a half empty box of
ammo though."
          "Well, I guess
your aim is going to be shit. But at least you will know how to load it, clean
it, and fire it."
          "What about
after dinner? You can show me how to clean it," she asked like a little
kid.
          "Sure,"
Jeremy replied and then turned and left. Sarah’s head began to hurt, and she
lay down in bed for a few hours.
          When she finally
got up and went out into the living room, Jeremy was making dinner.
          "What's for
dinner?" Sarah asked.
          "Corn—not the
creamed kind," he said with a smile before adding, "And green beans."
          "So you
caught on about the creamed corn," she said sheepishly. She had done her
best to make sure the Bakers had been eating the
corn .
          "Yeah."
          She pulled out a
bowl for each of them and set them around the table. Soon Jeremy started to
dish out food to each bowl.
          "Matt, Zoe,
dinner time," he said as he set the pot on the stove. Sarah sat down
across from Jeremy, the kids taking up the other spots.
          "Sarah, do
you mind if we say grace?" Jeremy asked. Sarah took a moment to reply. She
had never heard them say grace before. Sarah wasn't much for religion
herself. She was sure some people saw the end of the world as God’s doing, but
she would just say it was mankind's own fault.
          "Sure,"
she finally said.
          Jeremy then said
grace and made the proper hand signs before saying amen. They ate in silence
for a while. Sarah was wondering if there was a God when Jeremy snapped her out
of her thoughts.
          "Huh?
What?" Sarah said.
          "I said I
think we should think about moving on," Jeremy said. Sarah stopped mid
spoonful, the feeling of déjà vu washing over her. A lump
formed in her throat.
          "Why?"
was all she could get out.
          "All the
houses in the area had been looted for any