The men immediately grab two guns that they must have already been eyeing, leaving me and the two women to debate who should get what. I give them first choice and they leave me with the biggest - and what I'll soon find out to be the most cumbersome - gun.

Jed asks Freddy to demonstrate the preferred shooting technique and contrary to his clumsy weapons skills from when we met, he hits five out of five objects.

"I shouldn't even be wasting the ammo with you guys, but I guess we need to make this fair for everyone," Jed addresses the two men in camouflage. "Go ahead, Nate."

Nate plants his feet slightly sideways, turns his body parallel to the target and after a small click, shoots off his first round.

A green bottle on top of the crate in front of him bursts open, littering the ground below with sparkling glass fragments. Barely a moment later, his second shot takes down the metal can next to where the bottle previously stood. He readies himself for a third attempt, but Jed interrupts. "Hold your fire. That'll do. You're in. Bram, you're up."

The other man repeats the same performance and soon it's the woman's turn.

I'm worried that I'll have the worst outcome, so I'm a bit relieved to see that she's less sure of herself than the others. As proof, her first two shots both hit the crates instead of the intended targets. Freddy, however, helps her adjust her aim and the next shot hits its mark.

"One more like that, Pam and you're in," Jed encourages her, but her newfound confidence betrays her and Pam overshoots the target completely. Learning from her mistake, she takes her time with the last shot and it grazes a can, making it wobble, but not knocking it down.

"Not perfect, but it's a hit," Jed pats her on the back before stepping up to Ellen. "Do you need me to show you again or do you think you've got this?"

"Show me again," she demands and we watch as he slowly goes through the preparatory motions, sets up the shot, and pulls the trigger.

As soon as the can falls to the ground, Ellen pushes him out of the way. "I think I got it."

She mimics his stance perfectly, takes her time to aim, and pulls the trigger.

Nothing happens.

"What the hell?" She turns toward us while still holding the gun out in front of her. We instinctively crouch, while Jed - who's still closest to her - grabs her arm and forces her to point the weapon toward the ground.

"That's something that I do not want you to ever do again," he enunciates every syllable to make sure we all understand. By the redness that immediately creeps into my sister's cheeks, I can see that she's already regretting her mistake. "You left the safety on," he continues, snapping the switch and finally letting go of her.

Ellen's hand is now slightly shaking, but she wisely aims at a group of objects tightly clustered together and hits her first target. Her confidence quickly returns and I can see that on her second try, she deliberately focuses on something farther away. Missing the bottle on the far left makes her hesitate again, but on the next shot, she manages to take that out, as well.

"Not bad," Freddy says from behind us, obviously not expecting this outcome. "Your turn, kid."

I've been holding my gun so tightly that my hand has cramped up, so I first shift the weapon to my left hand and flex my free fingers. Next, I make sure to undo the safety trigger. Then I take up the recommended stance, spreading my legs and placing my left foot slightly closer to the target than my right. Finally, I grip the gun with both hands, locking my right arm and twisting at the waist to put the target in my sight.

Although I watched six people ahead of me do the same thing, it turns out that I still wasn't prepared for how the actual act of firing the gun would feel. The pop of the ammunition echoes not only in my ears, but I can feel how the round leaves the chamber through the almost immediate recoil. My hands snap to the left and as I work to maintain my balance, it takes me a second to see if the shot made contact.

While I'm not really surprised that I didn't hit anything on the first try, it would have been really cool if I had. However, I still have four tries left to make two shots.

"You need to support the left side of the gun better." Besides Ellen, Pam's the only one who looks like she cares about me succeeding and I give her a brief smile to show my appreciation.

I take her advice and wrap my left hand differently around the grip. While the recoil doesn't pull to the side this time, I still overshoot the target.

My heart is beating faster now as I realize that I'm running out of chances and if I miss the next shot, I'll have to make both of the last two to be able to go out on this mission. Being able to leave the building is the only way Ellen and I can have the opportunity to sneak back home, so there is an awful lot riding on this.

I know that my sister must be thinking the same thing because she's watching my every move, but I'm thankful that she's not saying something stupid to add to the pressure. On the flip side, Bram and Nate have gotten so bored with the whole thing that they're lying on the ground, while Jed and Freddy are off to the side discussing something.

"How did you do it, El?" I ask over my shoulder as I take my position again.

"I'm so sorry, Will, but I have no idea. Luck, I guess?" She sounds like she's about to cry and now I'm kind of annoyed that I've made her feel responsible for not being able to help me.

"What's taking so long?" Jed returns to my side. "If you ever have to use that thing out there, you won't be able to take your sweet time."

Even though I know he's right, it would still make me feel better if I could punch him in that smug face of his. Instead, I take a deep breath, aim, and fire.

The bullet hits the can at such an angle that it flies ten feet into the air, finally landing with a loud clink on the hard floor below.

Before I can stop myself, I jump up and throw my hands above my head. "Woo-hoo!"

"One more, Will. Do whatever you just did again," Ellen deflates my joy with her super non-helpful advice. I'm about to call her out on it, but a loud bang draws our attention toward the door.

Oh, shit. This is not happening.

"What did I miss?" Nelly joins us.

"You're late. You're lucky that sailor-boy is so bad with a gun because otherwise we would've left without you." In spite of his words, Jed gives her a quick kiss and I find my gaze lingering on them for too long. She catches me watching them and I awkwardly turn back toward the targets.

I instinctively know that I'll miss the shot even before I pull the trigger. So now I'm left with one shot, which I have to make in order to go out with the group.

"Didn't you play any video games when you were a kid?" Jed smirks, apparently incredulous at seeing someone who's not a natural born killer.

I've had enough of his attitude, so I slam the gun on the table and head towards him. Ellen, however, steps between us. "Just take your last shot Will and let's get out of here."

"Yeah, Will. Take the shot," Jed teases and I seriously consider pushing Ellen aside just to get a crack at him. But now every eye is on me and something in the back of my mind tells me that wouldn't be wise.

I'm still not thinking completely straight, so without hesitation, I silently walk back to the table and pick up my gun. Instead of taking the time to go through the textbook motions - and not even bothering to get any closer to the target - I lift my right arm, declare "Screw it," and aim in a way that feels natural to me. After I fire, the only sound in the room is that of broken glass falling to the concrete floor.

Ellen jumps on my back in celebration, almost knocking me to the ground. "I can't believe you did it!"

I finally grin and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah, me neither."