An excerpt of the story I'm writing...

Warning: this contains foul language and violence. Read at your own risk.



They fanned out throughout the house, making sure they were truly alone there. While Julia was checking her bedroom, she heard a commotion in the living room. She sneaked out to the top of the stairs and saw several New Army soldiers, and the same leader who killed Peter and Kiera, holding the older boys and trying to handcuff them.

Julia wondered where Joe was, and saw that he was there with the others. She saw the leader smack Joe's face so hard that the thirteen year old nearly passed out.

“Where's the girl?” the New Army leader asked Jeremiah. When he refused to answer, the leader slugged Jeremiah in the stomach.

Julia knew she was the only one who could do something to save her brothers. She knew about the threat to force Nik and Jeremiah into the illegal government's army against their will.

She saw that the soldiers had their backs to the stairway, and Julia thought that she could take them out one at a time. She had a pistol and a small submachine gun, but she didn't want to injure the boys.

After formulating a plan, she made her way downstairs. On the bottom step, she said,

“Let them go!”

At the sound of Julia's voice, everyone turned around. Jeremiah saw a look in Julia's eyes he'd never seen before, and it scared him. What the hell is she thinking, he thought.

“Oh, you're kidding, right?” The New Army leader sneared at Julia; “You think you can tell me to let these deliquents go?

“Let them go, motherfucker, or I'll shoot.”

“What a mouth you have on you, little girl,” the leader said. “And I doubt seriously you could shoot me from where you stand.”

Julia pulled out the pistol and shot the soldier closest to the leader, killing him.

“Get her gun!” the leader ordered the remaining soldiers. As they headed towards Julia, she shot them one by one. They were dead before they hit the floor. None of them made it to where she stood.

Oh, my God, Jules, what has gotten into you, Nik thought. He managed to get out of his cuffs and helped Jeremiah and Joe do the same. By the time they did this, the leader was advancing on Julia, determined to take the pistol away from her.

“Gimme your gun, you little bitch,” the leader growled at her. To everyone's surprise, Julia handed it over.

But before anyone could think, Julia pulled out the small submachine gun and pointed it at the leader's chest.

“Oh, you think you're so smart,” the leader said to Julia. “Give me that one, too, and I'll leave.”

“You're not going anywhere, punkass,” Julia said menacingly. “You have to pay for your crimes.”
“Oh, do I now,” the leader said. “And what crimes are those, young lady?”

“Murder, rape, torture...shall I go on?”

“I've never done any of those things,” the leader said, fearing for his life. Julia could see the fear in his eyes, and didn't care. He had to pay for what he did to Peter and Kiera.

“I watched you shoot Peter San Marco, and slit Kiera San Marco's throat,” Julia said. “You will burn in hell for the evil that you have done to innocent people in the name of the illegitimate government.”

“They sure have you brainwashed, don't they?” the leader sneered. “The only witnesses to that are the men you just shot down in cold blood. Now who's the murderer?”

“I protect what is mine and what is right,” Julia said. “If that means an eye for an eye, so be it.”

Jeremiah, Nik and Joe watched this scene in disbelief. Julia standing up to an adult with a loaded gun, knowing that he could kill her at any second.

Then, Julia surprised them all.

She took the safety off the submachine gun, and pointed it at the leader's head. “Say your prayers, asshole. You're gonna need all the help you can get from St. Peter.”

“Who the fuck are you?” the leader asked, knowing that the young girl with the gun in front of him could blow him away.

“Oh, don't you know?” Julia asked. “I'm the one you're looking for.”

“You are Jordan Terranova's kid?”

“Yes. And you're not going to take me, or my brothers, anywhere.”

“Your brothers?” The leader looked confused. Joe sat on the floor and smiled slightly. In his mind, he was urging Julia to shoot the creep.

“Yes, my brothers.”

“Jordan Terranova had sons, too?”

“So much you know,” Julia said. Then, “I'm tired of playing games with you.”

The leader looked relieved. This little girl wasn't going to kill him after all. Then he made a fatal mistake.

“Give me your gun, sweetheart,” he said in a fatherly voice.

It was the last thing he would ever say, because Julia squeezed the trigger and pumped the leader full of bullets.

After he collapsed on the floor dead, she laid the gun on his chest and said, “Sure, here ya go.”

To her astonished brothers she said,

“Come on, guys, lets get out of here.”