“You’re lying to me, Dennis,” Mom says, her eyes growing smaller as she steps closer. “Who have you been talking to?”
“No one,” Dennis says again, even more firmly. “I just watched a YouTube video on how to use this.”
He holds out the gun for Mom to see, making sure the barrel is pointed down and his finger is away from the trigger.
Mom reaches out to take the gun, but Dennis pulls it back instinctively before he can even think about it.
Mom’s hand stops in midair as she stares at him in stunned silence.
Slowly, her face changes. “Hand me the gun, Dennis,” she says softly.
“Why?” Dennis asks.
He can hardly recognize himself.
“Why?” Mom repeats, raising one eyebrow. “Because I say so.”
Dennis considers for a moment. His heart is pounding away in his throat, even harder than before.
“I’d rather hold on to it,” he says. “If that’s okay with you, Mom.” He quickly adds: “I’ll be careful, of course. I know how to handle it.”
He sounds like someone who’s been familiar with guns his whole life, when in truth he’s only just fired it for the first time and he’s barely had time to process anything. Yet he feels a strange sense of power connected to the gun.
He made those two awful dead people die for real.
He eliminated the threat.
Part of him expects Mom to react with fury. To scream at him. He’s even prepared for her to slap him.
But she simply says in a detached tone: “I don’t feel safe around guns.”
“Well, I do,” Dennis says. “And I think we’d both be safer if I kept it close to me.” With Mom still not looking convinced, Dennis goes on: “It’s about time I grow up, Mom. I’m not a little boy anymore. I’m a man now.”
Mom eyes him for the longest time. Dennis can literally feel the dew settle on his skin. He can hear the breeze rustle through the plants. He begins to feel a little cold.
Then, finally, Mom speaks: “YouTube, eh?”
Dennis smiles. “Yep.”
She nods once, not looking convinced at all. Then she says: “All right, you can keep it. But let me know the next time you go out in the middle of the night to practice.”
“I will, Mom. Sorry if I scared you.”
“Come on,” she waves at him. “Let’s go back inside.”
Dennis follows Mom down the ladder, and he makes sure to lock the hatch after them.
As they walk through the underground tunnel, Dennis feels the weight of the gun in his hand very acutely. It feels wonderful. It feels almost like a friend.
And he notices Mom doesn’t walk in front of him, but next to him. He realizes his stride is faster than usual, his steps longer. Mom doesn’t say anything, but Dennis can sense she needs to walk fast to keep up with him, and she’s looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
Dennis breathes deeply as he walks on.
The world might be turning to shit like Silas said. At the very least it’s changing. Turning into something new. And it probably won’t be the same ever again.
Neither will Dennis.
* * *
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A note on guns
Hey there, and thank you for reading. I’m thrilled you’ve stuck with the series for so long. It really means a lot to me!
I wanted to make a quick note about guns in the story, as I’ve gotten a few questions on the subject.
You might be wondering how come firearms in general have been mostly absent from the plotline so far. You might especially be nonplussed by this if you’re American.
The thing is, Dead Meat plays out in Denmark, and here guns are a lot less common. Personally, I’ve only ever seen one or two in my life.
I did a little research and found that less than 3 percent of Danes have a gun permit, and even less actually own a firearm. And outside of military or police, the only guns you’ll find here are basically plain old hunting rifles.
So, having every other person in the story run around firing an AK-47 and throwing hand grenades simply wouldn’t have been realistic.
But now, as people in the story begin catching on and want to defend themselves, I had to introduce a few guns. Since I know absolutely nothing about the subject, I reached out to an old friend of mine, who’s an avid hunter, and he was able to tell me all I needed to know about rifles, shotguns and ammo.
This is me thanking him.
And thank you, dear reader, once again for making it this far into the series. I sincerely hope you’ll follow me in the days still to come.
—Nick
Dead Meat Box Set, Vol. 2 | Days 4-6 Page 58
