"What the fuck are we doing here?"Frank stared at the sign on the door before turning to me and looking at me like I was insane.
"Frank... Just give it a shot. Will you? Literally,"I tried a joke.
"I'm not fucking laughing, Gerard. This is a shooting range. Please tell me you dont have a gun. I'm begging you,"Frank pleaded.

"I dont have a gun,"Yet,"I just want to be able to protect you... And I want you to be able to protect yourself if I'm not around..."
"Gerard... Please tell me this isnt because of Cole being let out of prison. You heard him on the phone, He said sorry. He doesnt even know we're here,"Frank sighed as I opened the door for him.

"Better to be safe than sorry,"I mumbled as I dragged Frank inside. The faint sound of gunshots filled my ears as we walked into a messy looking room. There were a few chairs thrown into a corner and a desk with a bored looking woman sat behind it.

"Do you have a booking?"She looked up at us from under her eyelashes.
"Yes. For Way,"I said firmly.
"You're early. When the green light above the door is on you can go through. If its red you dont go through. You got it?"She asked and blew a bubble with her gum.
"Yes M'am,"Frank saluted her and marched to the seats. I gave her an apologetic look and followed Frank.

"So tell me again why we're doing this?"Frank sighed as he stared at the flickering red light above the door.
"I dont feel safe anymore,"I grabbed his hand,"Frank I dont feel right about- anything."
"Gerard are you okay? Whats happened to cause all this. You've been all jumpy about everything for like 3 days,"Frank looked at me seriously. His eyes were shining with worry.

"I just-"Got a phone call that threatened your life. No biggy,"I dunno I get a feeling like people are following me..."
"And so thats why you made me lie to my boss about why I needed today off? And why you lied to Mum saying we were getting lunch somewhere?"Frank raised an eyebrow at me.
"Yes! Thats exactly why,"I smiled.

"Gerard that is ridiculous. Why would anyone be following you? Or me? Or anybody?"He said urgently.
"I dunno Frank. Why did someone drug Chloe and Brad?"
"Excuse me?"Frank's eyebrows shot to the roof. He thought I was nuts.

"Chloe said she got her blood tests back and that they were laced with roofilin. Someone drugged her and it wasnt Brad cause he was drugged too. I'm telling you Frank, someone is watching us all,"Chloe had turned up yesterday completely freaked out because she had a brainwave to get her blood results. Apparently she and Brad had consumed enough roofilin for 2 people each.

"Oh my god... That doesnt mean we need to learn how to use a gun. This is honestly ridiculous,"Frank let go of my hand and sat back in his seat.
"But-"The door buzzed loudly and the red light went off and the green light next to it flickered on.

"Thats us,"I grabbed Frank's hand and pulled him to his feet. He groaned loudly and stumbled along behindd me through the door and into the shooting range.
"Way?"A short man with no top on shouted ass we walked into a huge room. Halfway through was a line of people reloading guns. Down the other end was a bunch of targets. Some bullseye some a man holding a woman.

I nodded,"Yup."
"You're late. Over here you two,"He motioned for us to follow him. He opened another door and took us into a private room. There were two targets down the end. Halfway down the room was a table with four guns sitting down. By the door wass three seats and a coffee table. This place was alright.

"Can I get you guys a coffee? Tea?"He sat down, his back muscles rippling beneath his skin.
"Coffee's good,"Frank and I said in unison.
"Alrighty then. So, my names Mark. We spoke on the phone?"He said as he switched a jug on.

"Yeah uh I'm Gerard and this is Frank,"I held my hand out for him to shake which he ignored. I dropped my hand to my side and kicked Frank's leg to stop him sniggering.
"Right so. You want to learn to protect yourself. Am I right?"Mark said as he started preparing coffee. It had been so long since I'd had instant coffee. I was already cringing at the thought of drinking that shit.

"Uh yeah I uh- dont feel safe anymore due to- p-past events and would like to be able to fight back if the time comes,"I rambled struggling to keep the phone call secret for some reason.
"Awesome. Well before I do anything I wanna run through the laws and what not. Standard procedure. Then I'll show you how to use two different types of guns. Sound good?"Mark smiled as he handed us our coffee.
"Sounds perfect."

-time lapse-

"Gerard this is fucking stupid,"Frank sighed as he picked the gun up.
"Frank please just do this for me,"I sighed as I picked mine up. The last time I had held a gun was when fucking Dean made it look like I had shot him. I shivered and ignored the memory of that night as I got a better grip on the gun.

"Alright Gerard you go first. Just aim and shoot,"Mark said behind us. I nodded and stood in front of my target. It looked forever away. I raised my arms and pulled the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times. I peered and saw that my aim was pretty fucking shit.
"Not bad. Frank, you go."

Frank glared at me as he raised his arm, preparing to shoot one handed, and took a deep breath in. He shot at the target three times and stared in horror for a second before shaking his head and putting the gun back down.
"Well done,"Mark clapped,"A natural."

I stared at his target. All three shots were in the centre,"Frank what the fuck."
"I dunno just- beginners luck I guess..."Frank shrugged his shoulders and went back to his coffee.
"Its quite common for that to happen,"Mark said as he started loading what looked like a replica of the shotgun Dean had threatened us with in the hallway.

"Gerard, how can you be comfortable handling these guns? These are the exact same as the one that Dean shot himself with and used in the hallway,"Frank glared at me, leaning on the back of his chair. Oh man, he was really upset.
"Because he used them on us. Because he framed me for shooting him. Because Cole is wa- out of prison, Frank.I'm sick of always being the one thats cornered. I'm sick of being at a disadvantage. How can you not want this too?"

Frank's face took on a look of frustration,"Because! I'm- uuargh!"He grabbed at his hair,"I just really dont think we need to. Dean is dead. Cole is- remorseful. We're safe in California. Okay?"Frank sighed and walked over to me,"Its all fine."

I stared at him, fear threatening to take over and make me spill everything to Frank. He hadnt heard Cole. He didnt hear the seriousness and coldness in his voice. Cole was fucking serious. He would kill everyone I loved if I told anyone. He wanted me cut off from everyone... Jesus, he wanted to isolate me. Its what I would do. Scare and isolate the person. Make them feel like they had no one to talk to. If Frank really was keeping a secret about some war, then Cole wouldnt want me knowing exactly what was going on because if he was hiding, I wouldnt stop looking until I found him. We weren't safe at all. Thats why I wanted today to happen. Frank didnt know that Cole knew we were here. He was in the dark just like me. But about different things. And neither of us could tell the other. We were gonna fall apart if this didnt stop.

"Sure about that are you?"I muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry. Mark I'm sorry for all this stupid drama,"I sighed and turned to face him.
"No nah dont worry about it. Trust me, I've seen a lot worse. Even had to call the cops once because of what I over heard the two girls talking about. Both of 'em had the same boyfriend. Wanted to off him. Bloody crazy,"Mark started shaking his head, smiling slightly.

"Jesus,"Frank muttered.
"I know. Right, lets get you guys using these shotguns,"Mark held both of the guns in his hands and jolted his arms up, cocking them both, like in the movies.
"Dude. That was pretty awesome,"Frank smiled slightly.
"See? Its already getting fun. Come on, we just have to take a few shots with this and then we can go home to sleep,"I smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards Mark.
"Maybe this will be okay,"Frank said slowly as he took the shotgun from Mark,"I've never held a shotgun before."

Okay. That was... a weird way to say it. Like he had held the other gun before, a pistol or whatever. but not a shotgun. I watched as he seemed a lot more interest in this gun than he had the other. The more and more I watched Frank, the more and more it seemed that whatever it was that Cole had implied, was true. Frank aimed at the target and got it right in the centre. Had Frank done this before?