"No!" Nicholas yelled. "I-I mean-" he didn't finish. Instead, he shut his mouth and made a dash for the rifle. He'd briefly wondered if Alisa survived, but by the blood stains on Mattie's clothes, he could determine otherwise.

"[i]I'm sorry mom,[/i]" he mumbled as he loaded the rifle. He lifted it up and aimed for his mother's head, finger off the trigger. He made an annoyed [i]tsk[/i] sound, because Mattie was in the way. Then, he figured he shouldn't get annoyed because she was trying to help him. So he aimed, waited, and fired.

Only to miss.

His mother turned around, not paying Mattie anymore mind. She started after him and he cursed under his breath, quickly and clumsily trying to re-load this stupid, ancient, one-shot rifle that he didn't even remember where he got it from. He backed up, successfully reloaded the rifle, and shot his...mother right in the head.

After being hit, the woman stopped walking. She swayed a bit, and her eyes changed. She looked at Nicholas with a pained expression and said, "Nicholas? Why are you hurting me?" before dropping to the ground.