Abbey's Road

Abbey didn't stay long in Texas. Wind-surfing was difficult to learn and it made her weakened body hurt. She spent the majority of her time in Texas curled up in the bed in her hotel room before she finally caught a flight to Wyoming. It was a bit off course, but it was somewhere she'd always wanted to go. Wyoming offered some of the best hunting in the western United States, and as a southern girl, Abbey loved to hunt.
"Miss Ketterling, I hope you enjoyed your flight," the cheerful stewardess as she handed Abbey back her ticket. "Welcome to Wyoming."

"Thank you," Abbey replied tersely, forcing a smile. The long flight made her back hurt, which was why she really preferred not to fly. She never liked flying with Zacky and Avenged Sevenfold, either. But Zacky always found a way to make it tolerable, whether it be by singing to her or distracting her with stories of their childhood.

Thankfully Abbey found a hotel that wasn't too far from the airport, so she was able to quickly crawl into a bed and alleviate the pain in her back. She'd go out tomorrow. Abbey was going on a guided hunt, because she'd heard that Wyoming had amazing hunting opportunities. With a smile, Abbey remembered when she'd taught Zacky to use a gun. There were fourteen and they were only shooting cans in the woods.

"So how do I do it again?" Zacky asked, waving his gun around. He flipped it around and attempted to stare down the barrel; thankfully Abbey prevented this and pointed the gun back towards the trees. She cared about Zacky dearly and would prefer not to have him shoot himself in the face with a hunting rifle.

"Turn the safety off," Abbey instructed, demonstrating with her own gun. "Bring the gun up and center one of the cans in the cross-hairs. Then fire." Abbey pulled the trigger on her gun, and one of the can flew off the post it had been sitting on.

"Wow," Zacky breathed. "You're real good at this, Abbey!"

"I'm not that great," Abbey whispered, ducking her head so Zacky couldn't see her blush. Lately anything Zacky said had Abbey turning pink. Her friend Michelle said it was because she liked Zacky, but Abbey insisted she didn't. "W-Why don't you give it a shot?"

Zacky lifted the gun and under Abbey's instruction, fired his rifle. He obviously hadn't been expecting the recoil, because when the butt of the gun rebounded against his shoulder, it sent his bullet flying high, near the tree tops.

"Whoops," Zacky said.

Listening closely, Abbey heard the whistling, the sound of the bullet coming down, and she grabbed ahold of Zacky's sleeve. "Run! Into the trees!" she ordered. The two teenagers took off at a run, with Abbey in front. She led the way into a tightly clustered bunch of trees and stopped. Zacky wasn't expecting this and barreled into his friend at full-speed, sending them both toppling into the brush.

"Ugh, I squished some kind of bug!" Zacky squealed. Abbey laughed. "What are you laughing at, Ketterling?"

"You sound like a girl, Baker," Abbey shot back. Zacky smiled and laughed, and Abbey felt her face heating up. Maybe Michelle was right. Maybe she did like Zacky.

Abbey smiled. Up until the day she sucked it up and just planted one on Zacky, she denied her feelings for him. Luckily Abbey was able to use teaching Zacky to actually shoot a rifle as an excuse for being around him. And after Zacky finally became a decent shot, they used these rendezvous into the woods as a way to kiss on each other without being caught. Abbey's mama wasn't happy when Abbey spent time alone with boys, even Zacky, and she was mighty upset when she found out what they'd been doing in the woods.

"I miss your kisses, Zacky," Abbey whispered to the empty hotel room. "The first time I kissed you, I knew that you were the only person I wanted to kiss. And I was only fifteen. Ain't that something? Only fifteen, and I already knew I loved you."

Abbey felt the guilt pool in her stomach. It was all her fault things were like this! It was all her fault that man gave her that awful news. If she hadn't gone against what God wanted for her - if she hadn't expunged the tiny thing inside of her - then this wouldn't have happened. But she'd altered her body to suit her own needs, and now God was taking it away from her.

And Zacky…Zacky didn't even know. She didn't want to tell him, because when she found out she was only thinking of herself. She wasn't ready for the burden. She wasn't ready for the swollen ankles and the distended belly. And neither was Zacky. He wasn't ready for the responsibility. Avenged Sevenfold was quickly gaining popularity, and with their sixth studio album in the works, he just wasn't ready.

Neither one of them was ready. So Abbey had taken it into her own hands to rid them of this minuscule little thing. Afterwards was when she started getting sick, and it was this sickness that sent her to the man that delivered the awful news that turned her life upside down.

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Abbey's hunting guide - a man named Russ - was a tall, robust man who had obviously been living in the mountains of Wyoming for a long time. His hair was dark and wild, and parts of it fell in front of his steely blue eyes. His cheek bones were highly defined, much like Brian's, and they brought even more attention to his eyes. Most women would have said he was attractive, but to Abbey his utter lack of ink was totally unappealing. Zacky's tattoos were her favorite part of his physique, and any man who didn't have a plethora of them just wasn't attractive in Abbey's eyes.

"Have you ever fired a rifle before?" Russ asked as they trekked through the dense brush.

"Been doing it since I was eleven," Abbey answered. She surveyed the guide with a hard gaze. Why you haven't given me my gun yet? she pondered. Her hands were itching to hold the rifle slung over Russ' shoulder, to fire the trigger and feel the all too familiar recoil of the butt against her slender shoulder. But Russ said it was against the business' rules to give her the rifle until they reached their hunting spot. Damn stupid, if you ask me, Abbey thought.

"Ah, so you're a veteran," Russ mused, chuckling. "Well that's easier on me. Most of the clients we get up here don't know the butt from the barrel."

"Well trust me, I know," Abbey replied, giving Russ her own weak smile. "So what are we hunting today, Russ?"

"Rabbits," Russ answered. Abbey's eyes widened. The last time she'd hunted rabbits was with Zacky, and it hadn't ended too well.

"Are we there yet?" Zacky whined as they trudged through the snow. Abbey rolled her eyes and adjusted the rifle on her shoulder. Leave it to Zacky Baker to make a hunting trip borderline miserable. "Abbey!"

"Yes Zack, we're almost there," Abbey said. "But there won't be any rabbits left to hunt if you keep stomping and shouting."

Zacky grumbled something under his breath and then fell silent. He hated being told off by Abbey, and Abbey knew it. But she wasn't gonna have him scaring off all the damn rabbits. Abbey led them to a secluded spot in the bushes and slung her rifle from her shoulder. Zacky followed her lead and they both crouched down in the bushes.

"So what now?" Zacky whispered loudly in Abbey's ear. Abbey closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Maybe bringing her boyfriend along on this hunting trip wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Now we be quiet, sit back, and wait," Abbey said, emphasizing the two most important words.

"Wait for what?"

Abbey rolled her eyes again. For a sixteen-year-old boy, Zacky's questions sounded starkingly like those of a five-year-old. And they were quickly getting on Abbey's nerves. "For a rabbit," Abbey snipped. "Now be quiet, or we won't see anything."

Again, there was a disgruntled mumble from Zacky, and then silence. Five minutes later Abbey heard the familiar rustle in the brush a few feet in front of her and she raised her rifle. The rabbit appeared and Abbey carefully lined up her shot before firing.

"You hit it!" Zacky exclaimed.

Abbey only smiled as she sat her rifle to the side. "Wanna come help me finish it?" she asked Zacky as she got to her feet. The green-eyed boy nodded eagerly and together they crunched through the snow towards the rabbit.

"So what do you have to do to finish it?" Zacky' asked curiously.

As an explanation, Abbey crouched down and grabbed the rabbit's ears. She gave its head a hard twist until she heard the crack that told her its neck was broken. "This," was all she said. But when she looked up to smile at Zacky, she found her companion staring wide-eyed and horrified at the dead animal. He spun around quickly and was sick in the snow next to the bush.

Later on that afternoon, Zacky had confided in Abbey the reason he'd gotten sick. He'd said he hadn't realized the animal's death would be so cruel. He thought it would just be one shot and the rabbit would die. He wasn't expecting the jerking, the sickening crunch of broken bones. Abbey learned something from this. Even though he'd never admit it - he was fartoo grown and manly for such frivolous things as feelings - Abbey knew that deep down, life was fragile to Zacky. It was a precious gift, and it could be taken away at any second.

Obviously, the voice in the back of Abbey's brain interjected bitterly.

That's why Abbey never told Zacky what she did. He'd say the thing was fragile and it deserved a chance to live.

"Hey, you still in there?" Russ asked, waving his hand in front of her face. Abbey blinked several times in rapid succession. "You've just been standing there for about two minutes now."

"I'm fine," Abbey assured him, but this was a lie. With Zacky on her mind, she could never be fine.

"You ready to hunt?" Russ continued with a smile, handing Abbey her rifle. The cool touch of the metal branded more memories into Abbey's mind, and she shook her head vigorously to get rid of them.

No, Abbey thought. I'm not ready. "Yeah, I'm ready," Abbey lied, and she followed Russ deeper into the woods.

Notes

I'm going to try and get back onto this site :) if all goes well, I have a very long (50+ chapters) story that I may start posting.