red hill - jamie mcguire

lood out of this carpet,” Scarlet said.
“Was he . . . ” Joey said, looking at Kevin, and then back toward the bedroom.
Miranda, Bryce, Cooper, and Ashley had wandered out of their bedrooms by that point, shocked
by the noise and the scene in the living room.
“Whoa! What the hell is going on” Bryce said.
“You don’t wanna know,” Joey said. “Shoot him, Scarlet.”
“I’ll leave!” Kevin said, his arms still high in the air.
“You’re damn straight, you will.”
Kevin glanced past Scarlet to the bedroom. “But I’m not leaving without my daughter.”
“The fuck if you’re not,” Joey said. “She’s safer with us than with you.”
“Come on! At least let me get my clothes!” Kevin whined.
“Boohoo, you sick son-of-a-bitch,” Scarlet said, incredulous. She cocked her gun, pressed the end
of the barrel against Kevin’s stomach, and pushed him backward out the door. She watched him for a
moment, and then went into the bedroom. “Watch where he goes,” she said to Joey.
Joey stood guard at the door.
Scarlet stood at the end of the bed. “Elleny, is that man your father”
Elleny, clothed only in the sheet that she had pulled up to her neck, shook her head.
Scarlet nodded. “That’s what I thought. I’ll be right back.”
“Scarlet,” I warned.
She ignored me and walked to the front door, pausing in front of Joey.
“He’s headed south,” Joey reported.
Scarlet pushed out the door and we all looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
“Should I . . . follow her” I asked, looking to Bryce and Joey. No one had an answer. It was
difficult to even form words.
A scream echoed from the south, followed by a single gunshot. We all jumped at the noise. A few
seconds later, another shot was fired.
I ran out the front door, followed by everyone else, stopping when Scarlet came into view.
She stopped, letting the barrel of her gun tilt toward the ground.
“You killed him” Ashley said, her voice high and nervous.
Scarlet didn’t flinch. “I wasn’t going to let him walk away with my daughters out there.” She
stomped past all of us to the house, and slammed the door behind her.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, we all followed. Scarlet was inside the bedroom, talking
to Elleny, whose whimpers turned into wails.
“What do we do” Miranda said.
“Looks like it’s taken care of,” Bryce said. He tugged on her hand, and she followed him back to
their bedroom.
Cooper and Ashley did the same, even though Ashley was still upset and asking questions.
Joey and I stood in the living room alone, listening to Scarlet speak calmly to Elleny. After an
hour, she emerged from the bedroom.
“She’s asleep.”