They once again loaded into Jeremy's pickup, but this time they all sat in the cab, with Beth riding shotgun and the three teens filing into the back seat. "So where y'all headed?" Jeremy asked as they drove away.

"Nueces River," Mark answered.

"It's our last summer before everybody goes off to college, so we're taking a road trip," Benny added.

"So y'all are all eighteen?" Jeremy asked, eyeballing them in the mirror, and Benny saw something familiar in the way he looked at Julie.

"Yeah, old enough to vote and to get shipped overseas to die a horrible death, fighting so that rich people can get richer," Julie said with ironic cheerfulness.

"But not old enough to have a sip of alcohol," Mark said resentfully.

And old enough to fuck twenty-something-year-old guys, Benny thought.

Perhaps Beth also picked up on the way Jeremy was eyeing Julie, or maybe she just hated liberals, but she spoke up in an icy tone, "Our troops are fighting for our freedom. Don't believe any of that bullshit leftist propaganda you see all over the media."

Julie's cheeks reddened, and for a moment Benny thought she was going to sass back, but she held her tongue long enough for Jeremy to say, "Beth's brother is in the military. Marine Corps."

"I'm sorry," Julie said grudgingly. Benny supposed it was out of respect for Jeremy, who was doing them all a huge favor. "I meant no offense."

Jeremy flashed a wide smile oozing with Southern charm and told her, "Now that's exactly the type of bipartisan olive branch extending this country needs."

"Well I got a fucking olive branch for your ass," Mark said, and produced a blunt and his trusty zippo. "You mind if I smoke in here?"

"Light it up," Jeremy told him, and so he did.

He passed it to Jeremy first, and Julie couldn't help herself. "Just make sure you don't run over any deer, okay?"

Jeremy was unvexed, and he simply smiled his easy, charming smile and replied, "Yes ma'am," before putting the blunt in his mouth and inhaling.

They didn't hit any deer, and the conversation continued cordially enough until they arrived at the ranch house almost exactly forty-five minutes later, as Jeremy had promised. It was a beautiful piece of property, with a sprawling yard and a generous two-story Victorian style home. An elevated deck with a porch swing and a shade stretched out towards the car park.

"This is your place?" Mark asked, sounding impressed.

"It will be. Eventually. It's my parents', but I help out a lot on the ranch. Earn my keep. They're actually on vacation right now. Just like y'all. It's the season, I reckon."

"Yeah, I reckon," Mark grinned.

"Come on," Jeremy told them, and led the group into the house. They congregated in the living room, a spacious area with two couches and two recliners aimed at an eighty inch TV mounted on the southern wall. Where the northern wall would have been, instead there was a bar fully stocked with dozens of spirits, wines, liquors and liqueurs, as well as tumblers and shot glasses stacked high. Beyond that was the kitchen. Beth and Julie sat down on separate couches, and Benny sat next to Julie, of course.

Mark followed Jeremy to the bar where they poured five shots of tequila. "Bottoms up, bitches," he shouted, helping Jeremy carry the drinks back to the rest of their party.

Julie knocked hers back without hesitation, then grimaced and swiped at her lips with the back of her hand. Beth looked at her like it was a challenge, then followed suit. Mark gave an enthusiastic, "Yeah!" and downed his shot alongside Jeremy. Only Benny hesitated, taking a whiff of the stuff and feeling his stomach turn, but he didn't want to seem weak in front of Julie, so after a few beats he slammed his back too, immediately regretting it.

It felt as if his entire esophagus was suddenly coated with warm syrup and it was all he could do to not immediately upchuck, but nobody else seemed to be struggling as he was, so he pretended nothing was amiss. A conversation started about a liquor store in Del Rio, and how much this particular bottle had set Jeremy back, but Benny could barely follow. He was too focused on not losing his lunch, and he was becoming convinced it was a fight he would lose when Jeremy offered him a beer.

Benny waved it away, and rising to his feet, he managed, "Where's the bathroom?" Unaware of the urgency of the situation, Jeremy calmly pointed to a hallway and instructed Benny to take the third door on the left. Benny was off before he finished.

For a bad moment he thought he wouldn't make it, his gorge rising while he was still hurrying down the hall, and as he pushed through a partially closed door he wondered what would happen if this was the wrong room. Luckily it was not, and he kicked the door shut behind him and lifted the toilet seat, narrowly avoiding spraying it with puke. He was thankful that the retching was not too loud - it meant there was hope he might be able return to the living room without everyone knowing he tossed his cookies. There wasn't any mouth wash in the medicine cabinet, so he had to settle for toothpaste and water, and when it felt he had everything under control he made his way back down the hall.

When he returned he found Julie hunched over the coffee table, snorting coke through a rolled up dollar bill. Her perfect, juicy, round ass was to him, and he was still staring at it when she stood up and smiled, "I guess today is my day for losing faith in God and experimenting with illegal drugs."

Beth appeared angered by this announcement, and Jeremy looked alarmed, but Mark simply cheered. "Whoa, whoa," Jeremy said, holding up his hands in a halting gesture. "You don't have to give up your faith just to have a good time now and then."

"Yeah, Jesus saves," Beth said admonishingly, "He'll never give up on you, you shouldn't give up on him."

Julie giggled loudly before realizing they were serious. "But doesn't the bible condemn drunkards?" she asked, her eyes wide and shining.

"It condemns vices," Jeremy said. "If you let drugs and alcohol control your life, you've lost God and you're worshipping false idols, but if you just partake when it's time to relax, there ain't nothin' wrong with that."

"The bible condemns all sorts of shit, and then in the next chapter it endorses the shit it just condemned. It's all bullshit," Mark told them. "No disrespect."

"None taken," Jeremy assured him. "We're open to all viewpoints. A good theological discussion is always healthy, but first," he looked at Benny. "You want a bump?"

Benny feared another bout of vomiting, so he declined as politely as possible, "No thanks."

Jeremy nodded and then declared, "Another round of shots!"

"I'll sit this one out, I'm pacing myself," Benny said quickly.

"Suit yourself," Jeremy agreed, then he collected their shot glasses and went back to the bar. "So what verses do you think are contradicting?" he asked Mark as he poured.

"Thou shalt not kill, render unto Caesar, honor thy mother and father, for starters. There's all sorts of shit in the bible that runs contrary to those rules," Mark answered.

"I think the Good Book is more nuanced than you give it credit for, sir," Jeremy replied, carrying four freshly filled shot glasses back to the coffee table. "Some stories are parables, we take lessons from each of them, and it speaks to us in different ways. You can't take everything in it at face value."

"Yeah, well it's pretty worthless as a set of instructions for life then, isn't it?" Mark swallowed his shot alongside Jeremy, and the girls followed right behind them, before Mark continued, "Why is this God of yours so difficult to understand, if what he wants from us is so damned important? I mean if what hangs in the balance is either an eternity of paradise, which is a paradox in itself, or an eternity of suffering, you'd think the rules ought to be pretty damned clear, dontcha think?"

"Yeah, well, there's a fine line between guiding us to the light and removing our free will," Jeremy countered.

"Free will," Mark scoffed. "No such thing."

"What's your take on all this?" Jeremy asked Julie, who had been listening intently.

"I dunno. I mean it is kinda confusing. If God was fair, it seems He'd make things a little more clear, you know, and Mark made a good point about the afterlife earlier, so I kinda think that maybe there's a god, maybe, because how did all this shit get here, but it doesn't give a shit about us. And it's kind of liberating to think that, you know? Like don't get me wrong, it's scary to think that when we die that's it, forever, you know, like there's no coming back. There's nothing ever ever again. Like, shit. But at the same time, I feel like a weight's been lifted, because now I can stop trying to be perfect and just enjoy myself. I feel like I'm gonna have a lot more fun on this trip now, you know? I'm rambling, aren't I? I think it's the coke."

"Yeah, it's the coke," Jeremy assured her, "but no worries. You're young. You've got time to figure it out, but at least you got part of the truth - how does all this exist if not for God? An even better question is why. Why does it exist? Why are we here?"

Mark scoffed. "Religion likes to pretend it has the answers to why, or how, but God is a non answer. Why did God create us? How did God come to exist? You pursue either of those questions far enough and you'll get some dodgy, shifty shit like, 'no one knows the mind of God,' or, 'the Lord works in mysterious ways'. Truth is there's a lotta shit we don't know, and goddidit is just a cop out."

"Sounds to me like you're just pissed at God," Beth said. "What happened to you?"

Mark busted up laughing. "Jesus Christ, woman. Are you listening? I mean I guess if God was real I'd be angry at Him, sure, because an almighty creator throwing us on this fucked up rock just for shits and giggles would be a dick move, but THERE IS NO GOD."

"I'll pray for you," Beth said patronizingly. "You need to let go of your anger."

"That's some passive aggressive bullshit right there," Mark answered.

Benny sensed the rising tension and blurted out, "Welcome to every religious discussion on the internet, ever."

It seemed his attempts at humor had finally struck a cord, as everyone roared with laughter at that. Even Julie. Perhaps Julie most of all, and that warmed Benny's heart.

"Good call, Benny," Mark said, and then to Julie he added scornfully, "Why do you keep getting us into these religious discussions? Motherfucking buzz kill."

Julie smiled meekly, "I'm sorry. Good talk though, y'all," and she rubbed Mark's hair playfully. "I gotta go use that restroom now, if that's okay?"

Jeremy nodded hospitably, and Julie made her exit. Benny found himself wondering if he had left any chunks on the rim of the toilet bowl, and blasted himself for not lowering the seat when he left.

"I'm gonna go get that tubing and we can be on our way," Jeremy told them, before exiting through a back door. Beth and Mark found different spots on the walls to examine, and the silence was palpable.

"So, Beth, you two married?" Benny asked, trying to break the ice.

"We're engaged," she replied amicably. "Been together since our senior year. Jeremy's a big softie, as you can tell."

"Yeah, he seems like a good guy," Benny agreed.

Meanwhile Mark muttered, "Living in sin," and this time it was Benny's turn to do the shushing.

"Mark, shut the fuck up."

Beth just looked at Mark with a scornful glare, but did not take the bait. Then she turned to Benny with a much softer gaze and asked, "Are you dating Julie?"

It was the second time that day it had been suggested he and Julie were a couple, and it played havoc on his sensibilities. If only, he thought wistfully, before answering, "No, we're just friends." And that was the dagger in the heart.

"Oh," Beth said simply. "Well it's probably for the best. I've seen the way you look at her, but she's an odd duck. I think you can do better. You seem like a nice boy."

"Thanks," Benny answered, not daring to take this conversation any further. A short time later both Julie and Jeremy returned, the latter carrying a roll of tubing and a toolbox.

"Let's hit the road, folks," Jeremy suggested, and they returned to his truck. When he inserted his key and gave it a turn, however, the truck did not respond. After a couple tries, he turned to the teens in the backseat with a concerned look, and Julie busted up laughing. Beth looked sorely irked as Julie struggled to control herself.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, "I'm not laughing at you. I mean it sucks, your truck won't start, right? But I mean, come on, look at it from our point of view, it's pretty fucking funny. We broke down and hitched a ride with you so you could fix our van, and now you..." she laughed herself to tears, unable to finish her sentence. Mark and even Benny found it hard to share in her amusement this time, and Beth only continued to scowl, but Jeremy had enough good will to chuckle with her.

"Well, shit, I'm real sorry about this, y'all, let me have a look at 'er." They all waited in the cab, and he was only under the hood for twenty to thirty seconds before he slammed it shut, and the expression on his face was troubling. "Son-of-a-bitchin' cable's been cut. We been sabotaged." He looked around at the surrounding ranch, which was mostly flat land, but with enough mesquite brush and cacti to hide a prowler. "Y'all best get outta there. Let's go back in the house and call the cops."

They followed him wordlessly into the house, everyone on edge now, and when Jeremy lifted the handset to his cordless phone, his face went pale. "They cut the phones," he said flatly.

"You're fucking shittin' me," Beth told him.

"What the fuck?" Mark asked, visibly alarmed, and Benny felt his stomach knotting up.

"Alright, everybody cool it," Julie told them, her voice remarkably calm. "We're gonna be fine. Jeremy, you got any guns?"

Jeremy nodded, "A thirty-ought-six and a fourty-four mag."

"If somebody wanted to kill us, they would have done it when we stepped out that front door," Julie continued. "Hell, they had us all bottled up in Jeremy's truck and didn't do shit. They're just fucking with us. Probably want us to hide in here like bitches so they can wait until night and scare the shit out of us or something. So here's what we're gonna do," she looked around the room and saw that everyone was with her. She was setting their fears at ease. "We're gonna take Jeremy's guns and his tools and walk out the front door like we run this shit, and we're gonna walk back to the van, fix it up, and then we can take Jeremy and Beth to town so they can call someone."

"I think she has the right of it," Jeremy agreed, and he bounded off with determination, returning in under a minute with both guns and a couple boxes of ammo. He stashed the ammo in the toolbox and tossed in a bullet of cocaine for the road. "I'll take the rifle." Looking at the three teens he asked, "Do any of you shoot?" Mark raised his hand and stepped forward, and Jeremy handed him the pistol. They all exchanged glances before Jeremy finally said, "Let's go."

Jeremy and Mark led the way, taking the vanguard and sweeping the horizon for signs of a threat. For five minutes they moved forward in this manner, Mark and Jeremy with their guns at the ready, and all of them nervous wrecks. Benny kept expecting a bullet to come whizzing out of nowhere and shear off the top of his skull, but it didn't happen. In fact, nothing happened, and after ten minutes they all began to relax, suspecting Julie had been right all along - some bored teenagers had decided to play an elaborate prank, but backed down when they saw the guns.

Conversation eventually resumed, with Jeremy giving voice to this exact sentiment. "Damn, Julie, I guess you had it pegged. If it hadn't been for you we'd probably all still be back in the house, shakin' in our dang boots and wastin' daylight."

Julie smiled coyly and shrugged. "I'm just as relieved as you are. I was shitting bricks there for a minute." She was a wiz at accepting praise gracefully while remaining humble. After all, she'd had a ton of practice.

"Who do you think did that shit? Did you piss off any high schoolers recently?" Mark asked.

"Probably some little pervs that have a crush on me," Beth answered, and Jeremy seemed to mull it over and nodded in agreement.

"Probably."

"What a bunch of twats. Now it's gonna be way too late to set up camp tonight. Guess we're gonna be sleeping in the van," Mark whined.

Julie giggled, "Awww, is Marky Warky afraid of sleeping in the van?"

"Fuck you, slut," Mark snapped, but Julie laughed even harder.

"Could be worse, I reckon," Jeremy noted.

"How much longer do you think it'll take us to get to the van?" Benny asked.

"Two and a half hours, mayhaps," Jeremy answered, "if we keep up the pace."

"We should get there before sunset then," Mark commented. "How long will it take you to fix the fuel line?"

"Not long," Jeremy told them. "Anybody want another bump?" He took the bullet from his toolbox and gave it a snort. "All that excitement kinda killed my high."

Never one to turn down narcotics, Mark accepted the offer and took a sniff. "Wish you'd brought some of that tequila too."

Jeremy grinned and pulled a flask from the back pocket of his jeans. He took a swig and handed it to Mark, and Julie took a pull off it after him. Benny waved it away again, still not trusting himself to keep it down, and Beth was evidently no longer in the mood to party.

"Did you play football in high school?" Mark asked. "You're a big dude."

"Fullback and linebacker," Jeremy answered, and so they talked and walked for the next forty minutes, discussing high school and college and that awkward and scary transition they were in, kids trying to become adults, until they had almost completely forgotten about the scare back at the house.

The subject had happened upon rent and the cost of college courses, and Mark was telling Jeremy and Beth how lucky they were not having to deal with all that.

"Hold on," Beth said, seeming to take offense. "Jeremy works hard for his living. He earns his keep."

"And you?" Julie asked. "What do you do for a living? Keep Jeremy's bed warm at night?" Julie giggled, but as usual, Beth didn't join in her laughter.

"I'm a hair dresser in Del Rio," she answered icily.

"I mean that's respectable and all," Mark acknowledged, "but it's hardly setting the world on fire."

"Burn, from the guy who's gonna study English in college," Julie teased, still giggling.

"Point is you and Jeremy got this ranch gig all set up," Mark continued, ignoring Julie, "so you don't have to strike out on your own and..." He trailed off when he heard the gunshot.

Benny was watching Julie, something he did a lot of, so he saw the neat little hole appear in her denim vest, just above the frayed bottom and about a couple inches to the right of her navel, and he could have sworn he heard the sickening smack of the bullet hitting her flesh a split second before the report of the shot. He saw the expression on her face go from cheerful laughter to confusion to shock to horror in the space of a second, and he saw the first splash of bright red blood spurt from the hole and stain her perfectly white outfit.

"Aaaak!" Julie cried. While everyone else was looking around, trying to find the source of the shot, Julie was gawking at her wound, her right palm pressed against the hole in her gut, and Benny was gawking at her. When she looked up and exclaimed, "I've been shot," it spurred Benny into action.

He charged forward and tackled Julie, being careful to cushion the landing, and shouted, "Stay down." Mark and Beth were already on the ground, and Jeremy took a knee, still searching for any sign of the shooter. "What do you see?" Benny asked in a whisper, but Jeremy just shook his head.

"I can't see anything. How is she?"

Benny looked down at Julie, and she looked back up at him and called out, "I'm fucking shot, so not good."

"Can you move?" Jeremy asked.

Julie eyed Benny again. "If Benny gets off of me, I think I can."

"Do you want to head back to the ranch house?" Jeremy asked.

"The ranch house is a dead end," Julie peered at her gun shot wound again. "I need a hospital. We've gotta keep moving forward."

"Okay, everybody stay low, and let's move," Jeremy commanded, keeping his voice down.

"After you," Julie whispered to Benny, and he rolled off her.

"Thanks," she muttered, and she gingerly rolled onto her hands and knees, and after pressing her palm against her belly one last time, she began to crawl. They all began to crawl, and they kept it up for as long as they could manage.

It was Beth who finally broke cover, complaining, "I can't do this shit anymore." To her credit, they had covered more than three hundred yards without hearing or seeing anything, so she stood up. Jeremy stood up beside her, scanning the surrounding brush and coming up empty.

"We can probably walk from here, but stay alert," he said.

"Yeah, if you see a bullet, duck," Julie quipped, climbing miserably to her feet. She chuckled a little, but it clearly caused her a great deal of discomfort.

Mark and Benny got tentatively up on their haunches, scouting their surroundings as well, but Benny was quickly distracted by Julie. The hole in her gut was still leaking, and the bright red blood stood out in stark contrast to her white clothing and pale skin. Her right hand was mostly coated with the stuff, making it look like she wore a red glove, and he wondered if she'd be able to make it all the way to the van, and if she made it that far, would she manage to hold on long enough for medics to save her?

Noticing that everyone was looking at her, she lifted her top to show them the wound. "What do y'all think? Am I dying?" Benny thought the hole was relatively small, and her belly was still otherwise flawless, but it looked like a lot of blood to him.

"I heard that gun shot wounds to the abdomen are only fatal like twenty-something percent of the time," Mark told her, grinning.

"Thanks, asshole," she answered.

"Actually," Beth chimed in, "they're only fatal about twelve percent of the time in civilians. Although that's mostly due to a swift medical response."

"She's right," Jeremy agreed.

"Guys, please, I was being sarcastic. Now can we stop trying to figure out the odds of me dying and get our asses to the van?"

"Yes ma'am," Jeremy said, and they all continued down the road.

"Does it hurt?" Beth asked, looking at Julie with a squinched up nose.

"There's a hole in my belly, created by a burning hot chunk of lead, which is now buried deep inside my guts... Yeah, it fucking hurts."

Beth flinched, but didn't respond.

"It's crazy though, right, that you were talking about getting shot in the stomach earlier today and now you've been shot in the stomach," Mark commented.

"Yeah, crazy," Julie agreed unenthusiastically.

"You know what would be really crazy, is if it was an accidental shooting and Julie ends up suing and winning a lawsuit for a million dollars," Benny noted.

Julie smiled wanly at that. "You know, that might almost be enough for me to start believing in God again."

"Don't start with the religious shit again, Jules," Mark groaned.

"I feel like we're missing some context here," Jeremy said.

"Julie asked us earlier if we'd be willing to take a bullet in the belly for a million bucks," Benny clarified.

Jeremy raised his eyebrows, interested. "What'd you say?"

"I guess I said it depends. How close are the paramedics? What type of bullet is it? Stuff like that," Benny answered.

Jeremy nodded thoughtfully. "Makes sense, I reckon."

"I said fuck yeah, I'd do it," Mark spoke up. "But Julie said she wouldn't. She was pretty much the only one who said no, and now look at her."

"Yeah, look at me," Julie muttered.

"I think that's the first thing I agree with you on, Julie," Beth said.

Julie nodded, and acknowledged, "Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

"Cute," Beth said, "but are you the broken clock, or am I?"

Julie giggled briefly, then sighed and blew a stray lock of hair away from her cheek. "Don't make me fucking laugh, it hurts like a bitch."

"So who do you think shot Julie?" Benny asked. "Do you think it could be an accident? Like, do people do like, target practice or whatever out here?"

Jeremy shook his head. "Not normally, no, although it's possible it was an accident, I reckon."

"If they were taking target practice, they didn't get much practice in," Mark noted. "I only heard one shot, and it ended up in Julie's gut."

"I'm sure it was just some asshole," Beth said.

Julie snorted. "They probably shot me 'cause they have a crush on you, huh?"

Beth eyed Julie coolly. "Maybe it's not the shooter who's the asshole."

Julie smiled thinly. "Nice."