As soon as we walking through the door it crashed shut, making a loud banging sound as it did so.

Leo just kept walking. Not taking time to examine the room anymore I just followed him until he stopped.

“Give me the gun.”

I held the gun low, by the bottom, and slowly passed it to him; not wanting to shoot him.

He held the gun in his left hand, with his hand around the grip of it, and with his right hand he reached into his back pocket and a rectangle object; which he forcefully pushed into the bottom of the gun. He handed me the gun back.

Not knowing how to hold a gun I grabbed the bottom of it and held it with a loose grip, and let it swung back and forth.

Leo grabbed the gun from my grasp and said, “For one don’t be a chick about this, and two that is not how you hold a gun.” He held the gun in his right hand and as he moved his hand back and forth, in an exaggerated way, he said, “You don’t see me waving the gun around. Cause that’s not something you do with guns.” He wrapped his right hand around the grip and placed his index finger near the trigger and said, “This is how you hold a gun.” With his hand still on the gun, he handed the gun back to me.

I grabbed the gun with my left hand, and once I had it in my grasp I eased my hand around the grip and into the position that Leo had.

“Good, now if you pull on the rectangular shaft on the top that will allow you to start shooting.”

“Ummm, what?” I asked unsure.

Getting irritated Leo walk up to me and slid the shaft back and let it slide forward. “Be careful now, if you press the trigger it will shoot something.”

“Okay I wo…” Before I could finish my sentence the gun fired into the roof, causing a tile to shatter.

Cautiously taking the gun from me Leo said, “How about we take this away from you before you shoot one of us.”

With a slight smile I said, “Good idea.”

Leo pulled the shaft again, on the top of the gun, and then placed it into his back pocket. He wrapped his arm around mine and pulled me a few feet sideways. When we stopped, Leo let go of my arm, and in front of us was a long gated area with a white wall at the far. Turning towards me Leo said, “Before I give you the gun back I am going to show you how to properly stand when shooting a gun, this way you’ll hit your target instead of the roof. Again.” Stepping aside he said, “Stand in the middle of the gated area, so you’re facing the white wall.”

I stood where he told me and said, “Okay, now what?”

“Spread your legs.”

In shock I turned around and said, “wait what?!”

“Just trust me, it’s how you have to stand while firing a gun.”

I turned around to face the wall and spread my legs so that I was almost off balance.

“You look like an idiot” Leo in a low joking voice, before he came up behind me and started kicking my feet together with his. Once my feet were shoulder length apart Leo stopped kicking my feet and said, “Now for your arms.”

“What about them?”

“Raise them to shoulder height, place them together and then straighten them.”

So I did what he instructed me to do.

Next Leo came up to me and said, “Stay exactly like that when I give you the gun. Don’t pull the trigger until I step back.”

I didn’t say a word when Leo reached in his back pocket and took the gun out. He placed the gun between my hands and carefully wrapped my right hand around the grasp on the gun, so that my hand was on the gun properly.

Leo stepped back and said, “Okay, pull back on the top and then you can shoot.”

After pulling back the top I closed one of my eyes and tapped the trigger. After a loud bang from the gun I opened my eye and saw a tiny black spot on the white wall. In excitement I let go with my left hand and I turned around then asked, “Did you see that Leo? I hit the wall!!”

With a slow sarcastic clap Leo said, “Now do that until you hit that spot again.”

I lowered my head and whined, “Aww man.”

Hours went by, and all I did was shoot at the wall the entire time. Each shot I got closer and closer to my original point. Eventually my arms began to get sore and I had to lower them.

“What are you doing? You aren’t finished.”

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In a tired voice I said, “But I’m tired.”

“Do you think Charlie will care if you’re tired? NO! He will keep coming after you.”

“If I get tired I can just hide behind you.”

Leo raised his eyebrow and asked, “And if I’m dead.”

I tried to come up with a response but nothing came to mind.

Taking my silence as a good thing Leo said, “Just for thinking like that you are going to stay here until you hit your original bullet hole.”

More time went by and my eyes began to feel heavy. My head slightly lowered and bounced up whenever the gun made a loud banging sound.

Seeing that I was getting tired Leo said, “Okay, you’re not going to hit it this way. We’ll go to sleep and keep practicing in the morning.”

I lowered my arms and with a deep sigh I said, “Oh thank god.”

Leo took the gun out of my grasp just before I fell from exhaustion on the floor. My shoulder and forearms ached from being held up for hours on end; but I was too tired to do anything about it. So I just stand on the floor and drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning I was in a big leather chair with a light blanket covering me and a small pillow under my head. I rubbed my eyes, sleepily, and looked around where I was. There was a brown area rug covering the floor, beneath the chair, and on the other side of the rug was a three cushion leather couch. The walls were bare and in the corner sat a little wooden desk, just big enough to place a small laptop if they existed here.

I sat up and noticed that Leo was nowhere to be seen. “Leo, where are you?”

He peeked his head into the room and said, “Oh good you’re up.” He stepped into the room and said, “Ready for more shooting today?”

I swung my legs, so they touched the floor and said, “I guess. But I have a question for you.”

He stopped and asked, “What is it?”

I pushed the blanket off of my lap and asked, “Did you put me to bed? I thought I passed out on the floor.”

“You did. But I wanted to practice my shooting, and didn’t think you wanted to be woken up so I moved you out of my way.”

“That was nice of you, thanks.”

“Don’t get used to it.” Leo paused and then asked again, “Ready for more shooting today?”

I didn’t answer him, I just stood up and walked over to the doorway. I followed him until we were in the same room that we had been in the day before. Leo handed me the same gun that I used yesterday and stepped back. I readied my stance and right before I fired my first bullet I pulled back on the top.

The training, for the day, continued until I finally hit the same bullet hole that I made yesterday.

I turned to Leo and asked, “Can I try a different gun?”

With a sarcastic laugh Leo said, “Let’s just stick with this one.”

I faced the wall and hit very close, if not exactly on point, to my original bullet hole.

Days passed and it was endless shooting training after endless shooting training. Once I got a hang of handling my gun Leo got me to try different stances, and changed scenarios; so that I would be used to the weight of the gun. It also allowed me to try different movement, that would be helpful in fights.

After, what seemed like months of hard work, Leo finally said, “I think you’re ready to fight the beast that took your friend.” He took the gun from me, for the last time and said, “Go get some rest, we’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

I made my way to the room with the leather couch, and chair, and fell asleep as soon as I wrapped myself up with the blanket and laid down.

In the morning Leo woke me up, earlier than I intended, and told me to get ready. We made our way to the room with the different guns and weapons, and began to gear up for battle. I grabbed the two hand guns, that I was used to, and strapped them to the side of my legs. I grabbed, and filled my front pockets with hand gun ammo. In my back pocket I placed a flat knife in one side and I left the other pocket empty in case.

“Ready to go?” Leo asked. He had a shot gun strapped to his back. Bullets crossing on his chest and hand guns strapped to his legs. On the opposite shoulder of the shot gun, he had a big black bag full of weapons and extra ammo.

I felt a little unprepared compared to him but I still answered, “Yep.”