"I guess you just made your dad do all the dirty work," Andy said before poking the zombie's head with the head of his gun.

"Well, I tried, okay? It's scary. My dad said he was gonna teach me but he never did. I'm scared of guns."

"Well, you're screwed if you can't use a gun," Andy said.

"I know! Don't remind me!"

"Maybe someone can teach you," Lee said.

"Maybe," I replied. "Actually, that'd be great. If nobody minds."

Andy leaned against the barn. "We have some extra guns you might be able to use. Lemme ask my brother."

As he was walking away I grabbed Lee's arm excitedly. "Oh my god! That'd be so cool!"

"Hold your horses," Lee said.

We both then walked to the St. John house and Andy was scratching his face. "All right. Apparently we have a few extra you can give a try. Let me get them."

He went to the barn and soon came back with a shotgun in his hands. "We can't make a lot of noise. So give it a few shots but that's it."

My mouth hung open as I snatched the gun from it. It was so heavy that I dropped it and the head was facing Lee's feet. He jumped backwards.

"Control yourself!" He cried, his eyes widened.

I slowly picked it back up and kept on apologizing. The gun's head was at my chin.

Andy stepped a little backwards too. "You're holding it the wrong way. You're gonna blow your head off if you keep holding it like that."

I turned it the other way so it was facing the ground. "Like this?"

Lilly came up to us. "What's going on?"

"We're teaching her how to use a gun," Lee said.

"You don't know how to use a gun?"

I shook my head. "No. I've never used one."

She then came up to me. "You know what, I can tell. You're holding it wrong." She took the gun and adjusted it for me.

My wrists were shaking. "It's hurting my wrists."

"Yeah, well get used to it," Lilly said. She then walked behind me and adjusted my arms, holding my arms up in the correct position.

"Do you guys need me to help?" Andy asked.

Lilly was still holding my arms and staring ahead. "No, you two can go. I can help her."

Andy shrugged and went back to the barn, and Lee went back to fixing the swing.

I was still shaking. Lilly noticed and squeezed my arm. "Stop shaking or you can't shoot."

"I changed my mind. I don't want to do this."

"Shut up," she said. She then let go of me and leaned next to my face and pointed ahead. "See that tree?"

I looked at her and she snapped at me. "Keep on looking ahead!" she cried. "Pay attention!"

I stared ahead at the tree and nodded. "Okay."

"Okay. So aim at that hole in the tree, and pull the trigger, right there." She guided my hand to the trigger.

"But I'll go deaf."

"Oh my God." She scoffed and put her hands on my ears. This all seemed familiar. I aimed and she adjusted my arms again. "Keep it in this position. And pull the trigger."

Her voice was muffled but I could still hear her. I pulled the trigger and the shotgun jerked me backwards and it still hurt my ears and head. I weakened my position and let go of the gun with one hand and put my hand on my head.

"That hurt!" I cried.

"Get used to it. You didn't even come close to getting the hole. Get back into position."

She had to adjust me again. The next two shots felt a little better but I still wasn't that close to the hole.

Then Andy came up to us. "Only a few more shots. We can't waste all our bullets."

"Uh huh," Lilly replied nonchalantly, lifting up the gun for me.

As chance had it, a zombie was slowly making its way towards us.

"Now's your chance!" Lilly whispered.

I was nervous and fidgety and kept on trying to aim. The zombie had already hit the electric fence and while it was being electrocuted I fired. The bullet hit its shoulder and I tried again. It hit its neck and I lessened my position on the gun and smiled.

"Oh my god! I hit it! I can't believe it!" I gently put the gun down and jumped up and down excitedly.

"Well, I guess that's enough then," Andy said. He then picked up the gun and took it back to the barn.

I looked at Lilly. "Thank you so so much for teaching me! You're a lifesaver!"

"Just don't let your nerves get to you when you're handling a gun. You can get into some serious shit."

"I know."

"I mean, you weren't even being attacked and you were shaking too much."

"Yeah, I know." I smiled. "Thank you." I leaned in and gave her a hug.

She didn't reciprocate and stared at me when I stopped hugging her. "Okay. Let's keep body contact to a minimum."

I nodded. "Oh, sorry."

"Too much body contact can get you into a lot of trouble too if it's with the wrong person."

"Yeah. But I can trust you, right? I just got excited."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "How've you even manage to survive this long?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. It happens?"

"Well, we'll have to keep on practicing with the gun." She started to get serious. "You seriously need to learn how to defend yourself and everyone else. We already have Clementine and Duck and you need to protect them."

That was too much responsibility for me, but I didn't show it. "Okay, I'll try. So does this mean I'm in your group?"

"Well, if we stay here, I guess so." She raised an eyebrow. "Where are you from again?"

"Here," I replied. "Well, technically, Atlanta."

She nodded. "Uh huh."

I was surprised at the answer and Brenda called to us from the front door. She was busy talking to Larry. "Dinner will be ready soon!"

I looked at the sky. The sun was setting, and I didn't even know what time it was. I suddenly became very, very worried. I wanted to reach for my cell phone but I was too scared of what Lilly would say so I didn't. I wasn't prepared for what was to come. I wasn't prepared for any of this. I didn't even have a toothbrush.