Finally, it was their free time. Scarlett had recently been promoted to Green, and she felt like she had to prove herself among all of the older females. Scarlett jogged toward the females’ shooting range. As a Yellow, she hadn’t been allowed to use real bullets. Now, she was. She had only shot once with real bullets, and she could feel the difference. 

Scarlett pulled up at the shooting range. A simple sign on a rope hung across the entryway. It said, ‘Closed for renovations. Reopening 4/16.’ Two months? The place was going to be closed for two months? 

Scarlett narrowed her eyes. How was she supposed to get better at shooting if she couldn’t practice for two months? 

Like a lightbulb going off in her head, she remembered that the males had a mirrored setup at their training center. They had a shooting range, and she wondered if it would be closed for renovations at the same time hers was. It was worth a look. Scarlett made her way across the bridge to the males’ training center. A guard was waiting for her. He scanned her thumb print, and her picture popped up on the screen. 

“Go ahead,” he said. Scarlett nodded and scurried through, feeling like a Red exploring new places. Once she had reached the end of the chain-link hallway, the males’ center was easy to navigate. It mirrored her familiar territory, laid out exactly opposite from what she knew. 

Scarlett turned right and approached the shooting range. She felt a thrill of excitement when she saw that there was no annoying sign hanging from a rope. She reached the counter and pressed her thumb against the screen. Her information popped up, and she typed in what type of gun she wanted to practice with that day. A 9mm, thank you very much.

But as Scarlett walked down the row of soundproof pods, she realized that they were all occupied. Scarlett returned down the aisle, carefully checking each pod. Most of the pods only held one person, even though there was space for two. Scarlett didn’t feel comfortable entering a pod that already had someone in it, especially if it was a male she had never met.

Scarlett stood awkwardly at the entrance to the shooting units. A male checked out a rifle, brushed past her, and entered Pod 2, taking the second empty shooting spot. 

Just do it, she told herself. Pick a pod and go in. Scarlett gripped the pistol a little tighter and swung open the door to Pod 3. The male who was in there fired a shot just as she was entering, and the sound ricocheted off the sides of the pod. Scarlett quickly pulled her ear muffs over her ears as the male turned to look at her. He frowned at her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. 

Scarlett felt out of place, the only female in the males’ shooting range. Still, she knew it was allowed. 

“The females’ shooting range is closed right now. I thought I would get in some practice over here.” The male pulled his protective eyewear off his eyes and placed them on top of his tight, brown curls.

“Rhys,” he said. 

Scarlett didn’t know what that meant. “What?”

“My name is Rhys.”

“Oh, like the candy?”

“Yeah, like the candy,” he smiled. “So what’s your name?”

“Scarlett.”

“Like the color?” She could tell he was trying to be funny, but she wasn’t used to interacting with males. He seemed so different and so normal at the same time. 

“Yes.” She felt the weight of the gun in her hand. “Glad you know your colors.” 

“So you like to shoot with a nine millimeter?” Rhys asked, reaching for the gun. She didn’t give it up. She had checked it out, and it was her responsibility if something happened to it. No way was she trusting some stranger to handle the thing. His hand fell back awkwardly to his side.

“This is the only one I’ve practiced with.”

“I like to try out all the guns. By the time I’m a Blue, I’ll be able to shoot anything using any gun.”

Scarlett hadn’t come here for conversation. She had come here to practice. She pushed her eyewear over her eyes and aimed at the target. She felt conscious of this male watching her, but she steadied her fingers and pulled the trigger. Ripping her protective glasses off, she squinted to see how well she had done. There was no new mark on the target. Great.

“You should really keep both eyes open when you’re shooting,” Rhys said. 

Scarlett didn’t appreciate him being a know-it-all. She ignored him and purposely closed her left eye as she aimed again.

“Hey, did you hear me?” Rhys asked, breaking her concentration. Scarlett set her jaw and took aim again. She wasn’t very fast, but she was new at using real bullets. It made her a little more cautious about pulling the trigger. 

Scarlett pulled the trigger again. She tagged the edge of the target with her bullet. Better. It was strange how using a gun with real bullets made her so bad at shooting. In order to be a Green at all, she had had to pass a shooting test as a Yellow. She had done great, well, not too badly, at least.

“Do you want some help?” Rhys asked.

“No, I don’t,” Scarlett tried to sound as least irritated as possible. “I came in here to practice, and that’s what I’m doing.” 

“Well, then,” Rhys said. He ignored her from that point on as they took turns shooting. Scarlett was getting better but not good enough. She still wasn’t hitting that center circle. Maybe there was something different about the males’ guns. If she could find something other than herself to blame, then she would feel better.

“You’re getting a lot better,” Rhys said after they had been in the pod for half an hour. “I still think if you kept both eyes open when you shoot, then you would hit the center.”

Scarlett didn’t want to do it now after saying she wouldn’t. She looked around for an escape. She couldn’t see in the pods very well, but there was probably a spot in another with a male who wouldn’t heckle her. 

“You done shooting for the day?” Rhys asked, when he saw her reach for the handle to the pod. 

“I need to practice more,” she said, “but I do better practicing when it’s quiet.”

Rhys held up his gun and smiled. “Sorry, but these things aren’t quiet.”

“I mean, I need you to be quiet.”

“Oh,” Rhys looked hurt just a bit, and Scarlett felt bad for being so direct. But what was she supposed to do? Pretend that she enjoyed his chatter while she was trying to concentrate? “Yeah, I’ll shut up.”

He really did keep his mouth closed as they shot for another hour. Scarlett knew it was almost time for the evening meal, so she took one final shot, trying to make it her best. This time, she angled her body slightly and kept both of her eyes open, even though it was already becoming a habit to close one eye. Steady, steady, fire! Scarlett smiled just a little. It hadn’t hit the middle of the target, but it was as close as she could get without hitting it.