Beans and Puddin'

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Everyone is exhausted. Morale has bottomed out. Wry amusement centers on the quickest way to die. They're just kids.

Puddin' keeps unconsciously tugging her big brother's shirt tails. Terrified to lose track of the only one left. He is overwhelmed by her slight fingers and vise-like power.

No one knows what's going on. No one knows why these terrible things are happening. No one knows how come they're the ones that are left. But for Beans in this moment, he knows that his next decision will mean the difference between question and silence.

He's fifteen. Just made his regional track squad. His mom would tell you that he's an introspective boy. He reads Irving Layton and Twilight. He made his own bike. He catches fish.

His father took him to the gun club on his fourteenth birthday. Introduced him to the skeet and trap shooters. Taught him how to produce his own shells. Let him call "pull" and obeyed him instantly.

No one knows why the invasion happened. But Beans is ready. Pull.