"I'll only be teaching you this once, so pay close attention," Ringer said, sliding her protective goggles up her nose.

I rolled my eyes as I lifted the rifle to the side of my face.

Ringer was just so full of it because she was better than the rest of us at everything. Hand to hand combat. Shooting. And apparently even P&D (which I had found out earlier today was the processing and disposal of bodies). There didn't seem to be a single thing she wasn't good at.

I didn't know for sure what made me dislike Ringer, but I just knew that some cog was not turning up there in her head of hot air.

"Canary, put your goggles on. The last thing I need is for you to shoot your eye out and put the rest of the squad in jeopardy of graduating."

I narrowed my eyes and slid my goggles on without much protest.

She just loved to tell people what to do.

"Canary, I don't think I can carry this," Nugget said softly, nudging me with his elbow.

I looked down at Nugget, who, by the quivering of his arms and pained look on his face, proved he could barely even lift the rifle Ringer had given to him.

"Ringer, is there a smaller rifle for Nugget?" I asked.

"They only give us one size," she said, her voice hard and unforgiving.

"Nugget can't carry the rifle," I said, biting my tongue. I was one straw away from going off on her. I hadn't had my chance to beat her up during hand to hand combat, so I was just itching to give her a piece of my mind.

Ringer approached me, bearing her dark eyes into mine. "Listen, either he deals with it, or he leaves the squad. I'm not letting anyone, anyone, screw up my chances at graduating."

I grit my teeth, tensing my body, ready to throw a punch at her ridiculously pale face.

"It's fine, Canary," Nugget said, tugging at my sleeve.

"Let's just start shooting, alright?" Zombie asked, coming to step in between the two of us.

I pursed my lips and turned away from her and Zombie, defeated.

"Fine. Let's just do this," I said.

Ringer smiled smugly and continued barking out orders. "Load. Aim. Fire. Start again. Make sure to look down the barrel of the rifle when aiming. Know that your target will be moving when you're out in the field. So plan accordingly."

Dumbo nodded. "Sounds easy enough. I'm ready," he said, fidgeting with his rifle.

I glanced over at Dumbo, realizing without much trouble at all, that Dumbo was anything but ready.

In a ways, he looked in even much worse shape than Nugget (which was saying a lot, considering Nugget couldn't even hold the rifle). A few beads of sweat dripped down the side of his face and his finger fumbled with the rifle, holding it awkwardly.

I tore my eyes away from him, unable to look at him longer. It only made me feel bad for him...for all of us.

"Begin," Ringer said, situating her earmuffs over her ears.

Nodding, Zombie brought the butt of the rifle up to rest a little ways down from his jaw, looking down its barrel and to the target. I found myself almost caught up with how much concentration and care went into the single movement. It reminded me of before the world had gone to shit and he had been lining up on the field to score the winning touchdown of a Friday night football game.

A series of shots brought me back to reality, as Squad 53 all pulled their triggers simultaneously.

I bit my lip and loaded, sliding bullets into the rifle before bringing it in line to shoot.

Load.

My focus darted to the bullseye target, on the opposite side of the shooting range.

It's alternating black and white rings mocked me as I struggled to hold the rifle still. I closed my eyes thoughtfully and opened them with a newfound confidence, finally able to come to a comfortable firing spot.

Aim.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

My index finger clicked the trigger and the shot sent vibrations flooding through my earmuffs.

Fire.

I pursed my lips, waiting for Ringer to assess each one of our targets.

"Do I even have to say how bad you geniuses just sucked? Take a look at your targets. Dumbo, you shot the floor. Have you ever even held a gun before? Teacup, Oompa, Canary, you hit the corner of the targets. You're not going to take your opponent out if by scraping away a little bit of flesh. Nugget, did you even try aiming? Flintstone, your shot was pretty shitty but honestly not as shitty as Zombie's. Really Zombie, you call yourself our leader? This is pathetic. Aim for the target. Aim for your enemy. That's an Other. Try again."

I found myself gritting my teeth as Ringer made her sadistic comments.

My bullet had clipped the side of the target, in all honesty, I hadn't completely sucked.

And wasn't she the teacher? Didn't our results reflect poorly on her?

Whatever. It didn't matter what Ringer did or how many times she said something in a condescending tone. She would always annoy the living hell out of me.

I focused on the target, imagining the bullet colliding with Ringer's head as the shot rang out.

This time I hadn't thought about shooting. I just did it.

The bullet hit the middle of the second ring of the target and I smirked in satisfaction.

Too bad the target wasn't actually Ringer's head.

"Honestly? Are you people so incompetent of shooting a damn metal ball?" Ringer said to the group when everyone else had finished firing.

My smirk faded and I gripped my rifle tighter, willing myself to not be fazed by her overall asinine behavior.

"How on earth am I ever going to graduate when I'm stuck with you people?"

I let out a irritated sigh, letting my shoulders raise and fall dramatically.

"What?" Ringer asked, whipping around to face me.

I shrugged. "Maybe if you spent less time yelling at us and more time teaching, we'd actually be getting somewhere."

Ringer's lips curled and her dark makeup (I'm sorry, who has time to put on that much makeup during an apocalypse?) gave her the impression of a raccoon (in my own popular opinion, of course).

"Listen, Canary, I know you haven't been here long and this is just something new and exciting for you, and I know you're someone who's never faced a sliver of adversity in their life and they get shit handed to them on a silver platter, but I am not going to let you blow any chance I have at getting out of this hell hole."

Part of me wanted to load myself into the rifle and shoot myself a million miles away, while the other part of me just wanted to lunge at her.

What was her problem, anyways? Her bitch switch always seemed to be turned on for no apparent reason.

Ringer and I had a stare down for what seemed like eternity until a strong, firm hand gripped my wrist.

"Canary," Zombie said.

Ringer nodded stiffly before spinning on her heel, going back to bark orders at squad 53.

My nostrils flared in irritation.

"What?" I asked Zombie, my words coming out harsher than expected.

Zombie pulled me aside, looking down at the ground before looking back to me.

"I understand Ringer can be a handful, trust me, I know," Zombie said, a faint smile dancing on his lips.

I crossed my arms, displeased. What was that supposed to mean?

I looked at Ringer and then back at Zombie. Were they? No...they couldn't be.

"But we really need her to teach us how to shoot. There's no way we'd have a chance at graduating without her help. What I'm trying to say is, we need Ringer, and you provoking her is putting the whole squad at risk."

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop my lips from quivering.

"So you're telling me you and the rest of the squad just tolerate her behavior?" I asked skeptically (but mostly in disbelief).

Zombie gave me a single nod. "She's gone through a lot, her behavior is understandable. She's our best hope, our only hope."

I took a slow breath, processing his words.

"I thought Squad 53 was a team. Not that I would know for sure because I wasn't briefed or anything...but being apart of a team means we all work together. Ringer isn't our only hope. Squad 53 is our only hope. Not one person can carry the team," I said.

I looked away, towards the group of kid soldiers, firing away with the slightest hope that they could still win the game.

"I thought you of all people would know that," I said softly.

<><><>

There it is! Let me know what you think!

Just so you all know, 'Perish' will consist of 3 parts: The 5th Wave, The Infinite Sea, and The Last Star. Lucy's journey will follow the timelines of each one of those books in their respective part!

So there's still a lot more of 'Perish' to come!