[011] going too far

                                   All Suki could think about was the kiss between them. It wasn't anything new since they had kissed before. But something about this felt different. It felt so romantic, as though there was a possibility for something more. With the way Courtney continued to cling onto Suki the next day, it wasn't too unlikely. They didn't really talk about it but then again, they didn't really need to.

                                   But with the fuckery that was about to commence, they wouldn't really have time to.

                                   "Hey!" Jackie exclaimed.

                                   Suki was horrified to find Travis with a gun in his hands, the oldest Martinez son now pointing the gun at a squirrel in a tree. Van raced over to where he was in an effort to stop Travis before he did something incredibly stupid.

                                   "You don't know what the hell you're doing with that!" Van pushed the gun down before he could actually shoot it.

                                   "He's being fucking stupid," Jackie commented, looking upset as she sat down in front of the cabin, legs crossed and arms folded across her chest. Of course, that only causes Travis to glare at the team captain.

                                   "No, what's stupid is the fact that we have a gun and we're not fucking using it," Travis retorts.

                                   He then aimed the barrel of the gun directly at the squirrel before pulling the trigger, missing the squirrel who raced off the first chance it could. The loud gunshot was enough to make everyone close by jump from fright. Everyone except for Courtney who just rolled her eyes in disappointment.

                                   "Oh, shit," Taissa replied, walking over to see what had happened.

                                   "What the hell?" Natalie adds, looking over at Suki who just shrugged. She was just as confused as everyone else.

                                   "Hey!" Coach Scott exclaimed as he walked outside the cabin with his crutches in hand. "Give me that."

                                   "Travis, give me the gun," he ordered, not backing down even when Travis didn't budge.

                                   You could hear a pin drop with how silent it was. The girls watched Travis get up and give Coach Scott the gun. Although he struggled a bit, Coach Scott managed to remove the bullets so no one could accidentally shoot themselves or someone else with the gun. Suki felt incredibly relieved when she knew that none of them could get hurt by it.

                                   "This is a dangerous weapon, and we will handle it as such. We understand?" Coach Scott instructed. "With that being said, Travis is right. We're out of food, we're all feeling it. The good news is that my father used to take me deer hunting every year as a kid. The bad news... yeah, I am down to one fucking leg."

                                   "So... what are you saying?" Suki asks, it being the first time she had spoken that day. A couple people looked at her in surprise, forgetting that she was there.

                                   "What I'm saying is that, if we want to eat, one of you is gonna have to learn how to use this thing," Coach Scott explained.

                                   "We are soccer players, not hunters. We can't do this," Suki shakes her head.

                                   "Do you have any better ideas?" the coach asks her.

                                   Suki went silent. She knew that there was no other way. And soon enough, they'd start trying to find a perfect hunter to bring them food.

                                   "Slow breath in... then full exhale, then go," Coach Scott advised.

                                   He was speaking to Taissa as she aimed the gun in front of her. There was a coin carefully placed on top of the barrel by Misty on Coach Scott's orders. Basically, if you were able to pull the trigger while holding onto the gun and maintaining perfect balance with the coin on top of the gun, you were set to go.

                                   But it was pretty obvious that Taissa wasn't going to be it. When she pulled the trigger, the coin instantly fell to the ground and Taissa cursed underneath her breath.

                                   "It's okay, you guys. Hey, it's not a competition," Coach Scott quickly assured her.

                                   "Uh, but there is gonna be a winner, right?" Jackie asked as she walked over to Taissa, a smug grin on her lips.

                                   "Alright, Jackie, you're up," Coach Scott declared as Taissa handed the gun over to the team captain.

                                   "Yeah, Jackie," Mari clapped for her.

                                   "I bet that Jackie won't be able to do it. If I win, you have to give me that black shirt you love so much," Courtney suggested.

                                   "Deal," Suki nods.

                                   "Screw you!" Jackie exclaims.

                                   "The golden child curses. Who knew?" Courtney teased, earning a couple laughs.

                                   "You won't be talking shit when I end up winning," Jackie retorts, causing Courtney and Suki to share an amused look before they giggle.

                                   Jackie got into position nonetheless, holding up the gun and pointing it forward. Misty placed the coin on top and in seconds, the coin fell because Jackie was moving too much.

                                   "You owe me a shirt, Suki!" Courtney cheers, making Suki playfully groan beside her.

                                   "Okay, this is literally impossible," Jackie complained, huffing in frustration when she realized that it wasn't as easy as Coach Scott made it sound.

                                   "All right, come on, let's keep it moving," Coach Scott ordered, "Martinez, let's go."

                                   Travis took the gun from Jackie, looking over at his little brother afterwards. "Uh, yo, Javi, come try this."
                                   
                                   "Fuck you," Javi spat before storming off, wanting nothing to do with what was going on.

                                   Courtney and Suki ooh'd with the other girls, amused by the whole thing. It was obvious that Javi was still angry over the fight he and Travis had before.

                                   "Nice going, Flex," Laura Lee taunted.

                                   "Let's go," Travis ignored them with a frown, positioning the gun just right before Misty put the coin on top.

                                   Before Courtney could make another bet, he managed to pull the trigger and keep perfectly still without dropping the coin. The others applauded while Courtney just scoffs.

                                   "See, and that, ladies, is how it's done," Travis replied, turning around to look at the others with a grin. "Nat, you're up."

                                   Even while Natalie was getting ready, Travis still lingered around. It upset Suki to watch since he was obviously trying to mess with her. "Come on, nice and easy. Like the man said," Travis remarked, clearly taunting her.

                                   "Leave her alone," Suki complained, earning a frown from Courtney.

                                   "I'm just helping," Travis shrugs.

                                   Natalie moved and just like that, the coin fell. While Travis was obviously happy, Natalie looked sad. Her eyes were glossy and her body was frigid but Suki had a feeling that Natalie's mind was elsewhere.

                                   "That's a shame. Now, you know what, next time we can just stick to something you're actually good at, like folding laundry or sucking -," Travis began to say.

                                   "I know you're not talking about sucking anything, Flex. After all, you got your nickname for a reason," Courtney remarked, causing others to begin oohing at her words.

                                   "Why don't you shut your damn mouth?" Travis spat. Courtney had hit a low blow.

                                   "And why don't you leave us all the hell alone? If you're so miserable being around us, maybe you should do us all a favor and join your dead dad," Courtney retorts and Travis visibly flinches at the mention of his dad. Everyone went silent, seeing as the mood had quickly changed from fun to morbid.

                                   "You're going too far now," Coach Scott remarked.

                                   "I'm saying what everyone's thinking, whether you all want to admit it or not," Courtney shrugged.

                                   "I'm going again. Mhm," Natalie remarked, holding onto the gun with a determined spark in her eyes.

                                   "Can she do that?" Jackie frowned.

                                   "Yeah. I'll allow it," Coach Scott relented.

                                   "Okay, this is bullshit," Travis complained.

                                   Suki suddenly got up, moving over to Natalie and whispering something in her ear which made Natalie turn to look at her with slight shock. Courtney glanced between the two, wondering what was so interesting that had Natalie spooked. But Suki sits back down after, deciding to keep the secret all to herself.

                                   Misty once again placed the coin on top of the gun and Natalie aimed the gun, standing perfectly still before pulling the trigger. The coin managed to stay on top, meaning she had a chance now. Mostly everyone clapped for Nat while Courtney didn't look too happy. She felt completely left out. And, of course, Travis just stormed off, annoyed that someone had managed to best him. 

(🌲🔪🦌)

                                   A couple of hours later, the training picked right back up from where they had left off. But instead of balancing a coin on top of the gun, they'd be doing actual target practice. Cans were lined up for the participants to shoot at and whoever hit the most cans were fit to go out and hunt for them all.

                                   With the odds in Natalie's favor, Suki hoped she'd be able to beat Travis.

                                   "Now that we've narrowed down the field, here's how this is gonna go down. One final round for all of the marbles. You got five targets, five shots each. Mari, can you start us off?" Coach Scott explained.

                                   "Um, just a thought. Shouldn't we be saving bullets, you know?" Laura Lee suddenly asked. It was an incredibly valid question.

                                   "Uh, yeah, in theory, but lucky for us, the nut job who lived here before was apparently hoarding for the apocalypse," Coach Scott explained while Mari prepared to shoot the first target.

                                   Suki suddenly jumps as Mari pulled the trigger. She was close but she ended up missing the first can. Something Travis just had to tease her about.

                                   "The cans. You're - you're aiming for the cans," he taunted.

                                   "Shut up!" Mari exclaimed.

                                   "Do you like being this way?" Natalie questioned.

                                   "If you shit the bed again, you gonna ask for another do-over?" Travis retorted.

                                   Natalie rolled her eyes, looking over at Therese who wore an equally annoyed expression. Mari shot two more times, managing to hit a can on the last try.

                                   "Good job, Mari," Coach Scott encouraged her.

                                   "I mean, if the objective was to miss, then I'd say you did pretty swell," Courtney adds with a small grin.

                                   "You're such a bitch," Mari retorts before shoving the gun towards Travis.

                                   "Okay," is all he said before he took his turn, aiming the gun right at the first can. He knocked it down before moving on to the others, nearly getting every single one except for the last one.

                                   "So close, Flex," Natalie taunted.

                                   "Don't fucking call me that," Travis immediately pointed the gun at Natalie who froze.

                                   Suki was scared, wondering if Travis might actually pull the trigger. Courtney secretly hoped he would.

                                   "Travis! Put the gun down," Coach Scott ordered.

                                   "What are you waiting for? Shoot her," Courtney goaded.

                                   "Courtney, that's enough," Coach Scott huffed, sick of her antics.

                                   "Come on... let's see big bad Flex shoot Natalie. It'd be the first interesting thing he's done since he's gotten here. So come on, shoot. Show everyone how unafraid you are, make Daddy proud," Courtney kept going, smirking like a true psychopath.

                                   It almost seemed like Travis was contemplating Courtney's words, like she had some sort of dark hypnotic effect on him. Suki couldn't believe her own eyes. But then, he finally lowered the gun and Natalie took a deep breath. Although she didn't look too relieved, glaring at Courtney for basically nearly getting her shot.

                                   "Alright, that's, uh... yeah, that's good shooting, Martinez. But don't ever do that again," Coach Scott remarked.

                                   "Don't choke. Again," Travis replied, handing the gun over to Natalie. "And you, stay the fuck away from me."

                                   "Don't flatter yourself, Flex. But if you bother to fuck with me again, you'll have to deal with a lot worse than stupid pet names," Courtney warned.

                                   "Is that supposed to be a threat?" Travis scoffs, barely managing to keep his composure.

                                   Courtney smiles sweetly and yet it sends a shiver down Travis's spine. "No, it's a promise. And ask anyone, I always keep them."

                                   Travis walks away from her while Natalie prepared to shoot this time. She pointed the gun at the first can and shot it down, doing the same to the same to the rest of them. She knocked them all down without any hesitation. Suki smiles, glad that something good had happened.

                                   "Yeah!" Mari cheered.

                                   "Holy shit," Coach Scott remarked.

                                   "Bravo," Courtney drawled.

                                   While everyone else cheered for Natalie, Travis was sulking. He had proper competition now and he couldn't show off how awesome he was. And on top of that, he had been beat by a girl. This was one of the reasons Suki hated boys.

                                   He storms off with a big scowl on his face, leaving the others alone for good. It seemed as though they'd be free of Travis for the rest of the day which was truly a blessing. But Courtney's main concern was figuring out exactly what Suki had told Natalie which seemed to make her win.

                                   So when it was closer to night fall, Courtney pulled Suki to the side and decided to talk to her privately. Suki was grateful but for a much different reason. She was hoping to try to talk to Courtney about the nature of their relationship. It was what she had wanted the most.

                                   "What did you tell Natalie earlier?" Courtney questioned.

                                   Suki falters. Those weren't the words she had been expecting to hear. "What?"

                                   "What did you whisper in Natalie's ear to make her win like that?" Courtney demanded.

                                   "I... All I said was, it wasn't your fault," Suki admits.

                                   Courtney frowns, even more confused before. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

                                   "I don't know. All I know is that I just felt a need to tell her that. It just came to me out of nowhere. Maybe... maybe my mom told me to say it," Suki shakes her head.

                                   "Or maybe you said it just to assure Nat that it wasn't her fault for sucking earlier," Courtney reasoned.

                                   Suki shakes her head. As much as she wanted to believe that, the way Natalie looked at her after she said the words made it seem like there was a lot more to it than that.

                                   "Are we going to keep talking about Natalie or can we get to something more important? And by important, I mean us," Suki inquired a moment later, making Courtney smile.

                                   "What about us?" Courtney questioned.

                                   "You know I like you a lot. I'd do anything for you, even when you can be absolutely evil at times. And... I know you like me too. So I was hoping that maybe we could try to be... more than friends," Suki offered.

                                   "Are you trying to ask me out?" Courtney responds with amusement written all over her face. But deep down, she was ecstatic. Now that they were in this wilderness and free from their oppressive small town, Courtney could truly act on her feelings towards Suki. She could have her fully.

                                   "You know I am," Suki pouts.

                                   "You're so adorable when you pout, you know that?" Courtney says, ruffling the girl's hair before deciding to get a little more serious. She moves down to caress Suki's cheek with a small smile. "Of course I'd go out with you, Suki. You're the only girl for me.  But you have to promise me that I'm the only girl for you."

                                   "You are. I promise," Suki assured.

                                   "Then I'll be your girlfriend, Suki. We're gonna be together forever," Courtney responds.

                                   Suki smiles as she moves closer to Courtney. "Together forever."

                                   They kiss again and ultimately seal their fate. Of course they knew that they couldn't be public with their relationship. But only the two of them would know the truth and that was all that really mattered.

(🌲🔪🦌)

word count: 2642
notes: can anyone guess which one out of the two will be the HAPPIEST when they have to start hunting and killing people?