He collapsed on the back of my legs and was still. I didn’t know how far away the other room was but hoped Gavin hadn’t heard Brian yell.
I squirmed out from underneath Brian and stood over him, pointing the gun at the back of his head. It was a .22 semiautomatic. I hoped there were a few bullets in the clip. My finger hovered on the trigger, my breath tight. I pulled hard—nothing happened. I turned the gun over and spotted the crushed brass bullet casing jammed in the chamber. Shit, shit, shit. I tried to work it free with my fingers, fumbling and slippery with sweat. How much time did I have before Gavin busted through the door? My heart was beating fast, the moment stretching out. It wasn’t coming free. I squeezed my eyes shut in despair, then opened them and glared down at Brian.
“You fucker,” I whispered at his back. “I hate you.”
*
I used Brian’s belt and tied his wrists together, my fingers struggling with the leather as I tried to pull it tight and buckle it, terrified he might wake.
The rifle gripped in one hand, I inched my way out of the room, through the warehouse, skirting around stacks of crates. The lantern hung down by my knees, creating a small circle of light a few feet in front of me. Dani had told me to shoot Gavin, but I still couldn’t get the bullet out of the chamber.
I went back to the other room, trying not to knock into anything as I moved around in the dark, and slid Brian’s keys out of his back pocket, holding my breath when they jingled, but he was still out cold. I’d felt something else hard in his pocket and slowly slid my hand back in, pulled out a pocketknife.
I wondered if I should get Dani first, but when I left the room I noticed another door off the hallway. It was bigger, more like an outside entrance. I pushed it open. I seemed to be on the side of the building. I pushed my way through bushes around to the front. Brian’s truck was parked facing the building.
I started up the truck, turned the radio on—loud blast of music. Then I got out and ran to the front of building where there was a door. I tucked myself around the corner, switched the lantern off. In the last of the evening’s light I could see that the warehouse was in a clearing surrounded by trees. It looked like the driveway went around the side of the building. I couldn’t see any houses or lights through the trees. The only noise was Garth Brooks wailing out from Brian’s truck.
Gavin came out, holding his rifle. He snuck up on the truck.
“Brian? That you? The fuck you doing?”
He was standing still, looking around, about twelve feet away. I tried again to pry the bullet out of the chamber but my fingers were too slippery.
He opened the truck door and reached in.
I moved slowly, my feet light on the ground, trying not to clang the lantern, creeping back to the door. I had to get to Dani, then we could get Courtney. One foot was over the entrance, the second coming in behind. A noise, the edge of the lantern brushing the doorjamb. I looked over my shoulder.
Gavin spun around, aimed at me through the open truck window, took a shot. The wood broke in front of my face. I dropped the lantern, dove back into the building, yelling Dani’s name. I heard her call out from behind a door on my right. Another shot went off behind me. I pushed open the door.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I said into the dark.
She was beside me, her hands touching me. I grabbed her arm. We ran down the hall, pushed open the door into the warehouse. We kept to the side of the room, following the wall, keeping crates between us and the door.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Gavin’s voice echoed down the hall.
We stopped with our backs against the wall, crouched into a corner. I used the knife and cut Dani’s hands free. She rubbed at her wrists. I rested my mouth against her ear. “The gun is jammed, assholes never cleaned it.”
She took it from me, fiddled with the bullet stuck in the chamber. I held my breath, and finally I heard the soft ping as the casing fell onto the concrete.
“We have to find Courtney,” she whispered, passing the gun back.
I gave her the knife. “I took his keys too. They’re in the truck.”
We crab-walked against the wall as cobwebs tangled in our hair and across our faces, trying not to catch our clothes on the crates. Every sound was magnified, every scrape of our feet loud. I heard Gavin’s steps at the doorway, the creak of it being pushed open. I could hear his ragged breaths, knew he was also listening for us. We moved slower. I couldn’t see any other exit, the room almost dark now. We had to get back through the same door somehow.
Dani grabbed my hand, pointed to the left in a frantic movement.
I pointed the gun in that direction, could just make out Gavin’s shadow as he crept closer. I aimed, but he let off a shot first.
I ducked, pulling Dani down with me, then realized he’d shot toward the other end of the warehouse. How many bullets did he have left?
He cursed, then yelled out, “Brian, where the fuck are you?”