Range Cold

I step back from him, and point the gun at the back of his head again. I squeeze the trigger... but only a little. I can't believe how good it feels. After the longest time, I relax my finger's grip on the "bang switch," although I keep the gun pointed at him, just the same.

From across the field, the high pitch screaming from Faye slowly becomes more intelligible. "RANGE COLD!!! RANGE COLD!!!" She is shrieking with her hands covering her head. The reaction is silly, once again, but basically involuntary.

As soon as Jason looks up, he sees Faye still alive and crawling to her feet. She seems uninjured, so I guess she dove to the ground when the shooting started.

"You missed?" I say, as if surprised. "I never guessed you wanted to get shot in the cock!" I take aim at his crotch.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I SWEAR I DIDN'T MISS ON PURPOSE!!!" Jason exclaims, with terror thick in every word. "GIVE ME ONE MORE ROUND, I SWEAR I WON'T MISS AGAIN!!! PLEASE!!! ONE MORE CHANCE!!!" He looks so pathetic; I want to cry again for any love that I ever felt for this man. I'm almost as disgusted with myself as I am with him.

I shake my head as if disappointed. "I've given you too many chances, Jason." He puts his hands over his groin in the same universal, hilariously useless gesture. "FAYE!!" I shout at the top of my lungs. "Get your ass up here!"

I lower the gun, and Jason stares at me... clearly too afraid to speak. As soon as Faye returns, I pull out my phone, and start fiddling with it, nonchalantly.

"What the fuck was that?!" Faye screams; her eyes are wild and confused. "Who tried to shoot at me?"

Jason is still in shock, so I answer for him. "Your adulterous lover did." The surprise of being caught blooms on Faye's visage, replacing her initial anger; it is accompanied by the fear of me and my rifle, clearly.

Now Jason begins shaking his head. "I didn't...! She made me...!"

"I told him to shoot you or die." There is absolutely no emotion in my voice. "I loaded the clip with 7 rounds and a blank. It was his choice to sacrifice your life to save his. But I wouldn't actually do that to you. I, perhaps unfortunately, have a conscience... unlike the two of you."

"You loaded...?" Her voice is full of fear and fury. I know the feeling. I am surprised at how little shame I see in her expression. What a bitch.

"I loaded the clip... which you loaded into the magazine. I knew that Jason might notice a blank cartridge mixed in with the other rounds. So I got his stupid skank to load it for me."

I can see realization dawning on Jason's face, along with the notion that there was never a threat to begin with. Anger washes over him and he stands up, trying to step towards the less-psycho of his two lovers.

"I missed on purpose!" He declares... a deceitful snake to the end. On Faye's face, I can see suspicion growing. She knows that he's a liar, but would he lie to her?

"Perhaps..." I say with a shrug. There is a long silent pause which is broken when Faye's phone chimes. Perfect timing. "You might want to watch the video I just sent you though, Faye. I never turned off my phone's camera. The footage I sent shows Jason begging for a second round to put you down with. I don't know how clear the picture will be, but I'm sure you can hear the audio just fine. I suppose you can trust whomever you choose."

The former couple stare at each other... two deceivers both aware of the lack of honor among thieves. I step over to the table and scoop up the truck keys. The gun is still in my hands, not pointed, but not forgotten.

"I need you two to stay here until I leave. You can figure out a way back home on your own. I should take your phones, but I suppose you'll need something to watch while you wait for a ride. Might I once again recommend the video that I just sent? It's a nail-biter, if you ask me."

Faye's eyes narrow with mistrust, and she glances back and forth between the two of us. She might have even heard Jason begging me for another bullet when it happened, but she wouldn't have been able to hear him clearly. Now however, I've offered to let her rewatch the events as they unfolded. Surely, she doesn't want to believe it, but we both know that I've never lied to her in the past. I was a good friend.

"Oh! One last thing!" There is an edge of sardonic humor in my voice that I have no chance of hiding. "Make sure you pay extra close attention to the video the first time, Faye. I sent it from the Priva-See messaging app. You know that one, right? It's the one that sleazy, homewrecking whores use to send sexy videos to their married lovers; the footage always deletes after the first viewing. I stumbled across the app on Jason's phone. Honestly , that was the first clue that pointed towards his infidelity... however, now I see that the app has other uses as well! I'm sorry you can't watch it over and over to get the full effect, but I can't exactly have you showing that film to the police, now can I?"

"Lizz...!" Jason takes a step towards me, and I level the gun at him again.

"Don't you fucking dare! I never want to see your ass again. I've already taken care of the legal side. I wasn't able to get everything of ours, but I think that I'm certainly on the winning side of the deal. We both know that the truck's in my name, but it's just a start." I smile sweetly, as Jason's tower of cards begins crumbling within his mind. "But hey, you can still keep the bitch that you tried to murder... if she stays with you, that is."

Now it's Jason's turn to look petulant. We're all hypocrites here, truly. "Don't point a gun loaded with blanks at me, Elizabeth! You've already admitted that you-"

I raise the gun to my shoulder, pointing it at the targets down range. There is a loud crack from the carbine, and a moment later, a subtle ding... 200 yards away. It is such a sweet sound. "I don't need your help anymore, Jason. We're done. I'll never need anything from you ever again."

The shock on his face is the sweetest reward I can imagine. He can't prove it, of course... but in this moment, he knows. If he hadn't shot at Faye, I would have killed them both. And of course he's right. I could still kill them, even now; but what would I gain from it?

As I step towards the truck, I see Jason attempting to embrace his home-wrecking slut. She is looking at her phone, and she pulls away from him with disgust. My laugh is loud and cruel.

I hop into the vehicle and throw it into gear. Amazingly, I feel no sorrow. I thought I would be sad right now, or at least numb. Instead, I feel elated. There is a rising sense of joy within my soul that I never would have hoped for in a thousand years. I have essentially severed off a cancerous tumor, and the cut is so clean that there is hardly any blood.

I begin to pull away, but then I stop. I lean the rifle out of the window. There is fear in Jason's face again, but Faye is still watching the video on her phone. She has stepped even further away from my soon-to-be-ex-husband, and her posture is off-putting, both stiff and cold. As cold as... well, you know.

Savoring the nervousness in Jason's eyes for only a moment, I fire a single round into the range's heater. The equipment sputters and dies. They don't deserve it. Of course, they can always share body heat, but somehow I don't see that happening. It isn't really my fault... if they wanted to be warm, they should have been better to one another, shouldn't they?

Their voices are already rising in a furious argument as I pull onto the main road and drive away.