You watch as the initial shock in Claire’s eyes slowly dissolves into something between curious fear and impending doom. Her fingers curl away and she steps back, glancing for a moment at the open bathroom door beside you.
“What is that for?” she asks. “Is it one of ours?”
Her second question quickly overshadows her first and for a moment you stand there without moving or speaking. A hundred thoughts come racing into your head all at once and almost all of them, or at least the ones that are screaming the loudest, are all demanding you to take action.
“Ours?” you think to yourself. “What does she mean, just one of ours?”
You know that the Reverend has some old hunting rifles locked up but you’ve never seen him or anyone else in the church ever holding one. As far as you could tell, they had been long forgotten... until today.
“Here.”
Your hand reaches out toward Lance’s Peacemaker with the intention to pull it away from the sink and hand it over. The voices in your head wail with rage, reminding you of everything her family has done to you and, more immediately, what they are going to do to you. But Claire, you argue with them, has to know that she is just as much a prisoner in all of this as you are.
“No. Leave it.”
Claire steps forward and grabs your hand before it can fully dislodge the gun. Her grip is tighter than you had thought possible, stopping you from making another move.