Chapter Ten

And then, Ellie heard what she would later reflect to be the greatest sound in the whole world: A gunshot. Ellie spun around and saw Gordie with the pistol that Chris had brought.

"You're not taking him," Gordie said.

"Come on kid," Ace tried to convince him. "Just give me the gun before you take your foot off. You ain't got the sack to shoot a woodchuck," Ace said.

"Don't move, Ace. I'll kill you, I swear to God."

Ellie had never seen Gordie so serious or so angry.

"Come on Lachance, give me the gun," Ace tried to reason. "You must have some of your brother's good sense."

Gordie cocked the pistol and aimed it at Ace's face. "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood."

Ace looked back at his gang, his fear subsiding for the moment. "What are you gonna do? Shoot us all?"

"No Ace, just you."

Weighing out his options, Ace saw that it was just best to leave. He started to back away. "We're gonna get you for this."

"Maybe you will and maybe you won't," Chris smugly replied.

"We're not gonna forget this if that's what you're thinking," Ace warned. "This is bigtime, baby." The Cobras left, with Ace the last one out of sight.

Ellie was no longer frozen and had to admit that she felt a bit stupid. Vern and Teddy, seeing that the scuffle was over, came back.

"Are we gonna take him," Vern asked.

"No," Gordie said simply.

"But we came all this way," Teddy protested. "We were supposed to be heroes!"

"Not this way, Teddy," Gordie said. "Give me a hand, guys," he ordered and they all helped cover Ray Brower's body with Ellie's blanket.

Ray Brower's body was found. But neither our gang, nor their gang got the credit. In the end we decided that an anonymous phone call was the best thing to do. We headed home, and although many thoughts raced through our minds, we barely spoke. We walked through the night and made it back to Castle Rock a little past five o'clock on Sunday morning, the day before Labor Day. We'd only been gone two days, but somehow the town seemed different, smaller.

They all stopped on Main Street.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys around," Ellie said.

"Not if we see you first," Chris replied.

"Good luck in junior high," Ellie told them.

"Thanks. Good luck in high school," Teddy said.

Ellie shrugged before leaving to go towards her house. After a few steps, however, she turned around, waved, and went back towards her house.