Green Desert - Chapter 1.1.3 - Fírí

“Zhíno, that wasn’t a cop!” I shrieked. I breathed deep, trying to calm the rising panic.

“Could be. They’re using unmarked cars more and more these days, trying to catch speeders. I saw it on the news.”

He slowed down and spun the steering wheel with his right hand, his left still clutching the gun.

“Oh please, Zhíno, leave them alone. If it is a cop, he’s going to have a gun.” I did not want to get shot. Just having a gun in the back seat had been bad enough. I’d felt like climbing out the window when I first saw it there next to my suitcase. But that was yesterday––that was before I saw what was in the trunk.

The blue pickup was stopped alongside the road up ahead, its lights off. Zhíno slowed the car. “Roll down your window.”

I froze.

“Roll down your window!” He hit my shoulder with the gun butt, the barrel brushing my hair. Pain stabbed down my arm, but it wasn’t the butt of the gun that terrified me. I cranked the window down and Zhíno held the gun right in front of my nose, his eyes on the motionless truck coming quick.

“Zhíno, don’t,” I squeaked.

“Shut up, bitch.” And then he fired. It was so loud I couldn’t even hear his second shot.