9: The Guns

"She wore a smile like a loaded gun."

C H A P T E R 9

L U C I A N A

"Have any of you fired a gun before?"

All of them just looked at each other's faces.

"Okay, have any of you held or touched a gun before?" I asked.

Three of them raised their hands, Aaron Kendall, Carter Anderson, and Thea Miller.

"All of you who raised your hands can go to Amber, Alex and Miranda. The others come with me, alright?"

I saw that Aaron went to Alex, Carter goes to Amber, and Thea goes to Miranda. I was going to have to keep a close eye on Thea.

Meanwhile, the other three were looking at me expectantly, I made a gesture for them to follow me and walked over to the gun stand, rows and rows of beautiful looking deadly weapons were arranged in perfect lines and on the right side of the table, many boxes of ammunition were stacked on top of each other.

I picked three not so scary looking guns and hand one to each, they didn't seem to have been expecting it to be heavy so they sagged down a little when I handed it to them.

I let them get a hang of it for a while and admired the beauties in front of me.

I loved guns, sue me.

Seeing that they had enough time to get used to the feeling of the guns, I took a similar looking gun from the table for myself and led them to the shooting zone. I made them stand in front of the targets. I adjusted the settings a little so that the targets weren't too far and began the lecture. "So the first step in firing a gun starts from your feet, choose a comfortable position. Stand with a foot gap between your feet or keep the foot on your dominant side one step ahead of your other foot."

I stand behind them, observing the positions they chose. Zachary stood with a foot gap between his feet while Cole and Evie stood with their dominant foot in front of their other foot, I also noticed that Evie has her left foot forward, indicating that she was left-handed.

I looked to the other side of the shooting range to see how the others are doing, Amber was still showing Carter the guns, Alex was teaching Aaron how to stand while shooting and Miranda was already showing Thea how to hold the gun while shooting.

I turned my attention back to my students. "Now extend your weapon directly in front of you."

They lifted their guns but held it at different angles, I went near each one and positioned their hands properly, making sure their guns point straight ahead. After assuring myself that they won't shoot themselves or me accidentally, I stepped back to my original position.

"Put your hands down and back up again." I said, to make sure they got the hang of it.

They did it but their positions were still a little bit off so I corrected them and asked them to repeat the same thing a few more times.

After about 5-6 times their postures were much better but not perfect, I decided to go to the next step. "Now that the gun is in front of you, get a good grip on it, make sure it doesn't slip out of your hands."

They tensed the muscles in their hands and held the guns tightly. I continued. "Always use two hands when you are firing. Your dominant hand should seat high on the handle of the pistol and you should extend your trigger finger along the side of the weapon. Your non-dominant hand should be slightly lower, wrapping around the handle."

They did this but wrapped their hands on the bottom of the pistol. I said. "Do not place your non-dominant hand on the bottom of the pistol, it will prevent you from ejecting a magazine when reloading quickly."

This time they positioned their hands properly. "Okay, now make sure to focus your sight on the front tip, that is the small post sticking up at the end of the barrel, and ensure it is centered on your target. This part is referred to as getting proper 'sight picture'. Having the sight picture increases you accuracy."

They did this and I gave them their last instruction. "Lastly, manage the recoil of the gun. It will be easy for you to do this if your stance and grip are in perfect balance. And after firing don't immediately re-position yourselves, focus on the target even after the gun has been fired. This will prevent you from accidentally sending a bullet off course by moving before the bullet has left the barrel. Now fire!"

All of them fired and the bullets landed on various places in the target. Still it was good for the first time. I asked them to fire a few more times and soon their magazines were empty. I gave them a box of ammunition and showed them how to change the magazines. I let them fire another magazine and decided to call it a day.

I moved a little closer to where everyone else was and announced. "Alright everybody, that's enough practice for today. Keep the guns that were given to you in the lockers in the changing rooms and follow Amber and Miranda. They will take you to collect your things and lead you to your bedrooms. You can spend the rest of the day exploring the building. Any questions?"

To my surprise, Evie raised her hand. "Can we come back here and practice?"

"Hm, actually no, since you guys are still beginners, you are not allowed to be here unsupervised. But if you do feel like practicing, you can come find me and I will bring you here." I said, looking at the disappointed faces in front of me.

They talked to each other excitedly and walked to the changing rooms.

Did that mean I could leave?

Alex must have seen the look on my face because he said. "Go on, we'll take it from here."

I gave him a grateful smile and almost ran out of the training room.

On the way to my room, I passed Miranda's room. I tried the handle. It was unlocked.

She wouldn't mind if I just took a small peek inside, would she?

She probably would.

Did I care?

Hell no.

I decided to look through her things before she got back.

Miranda Roberts, what secrets are you hiding?