{"id":37304,"date":"2025-01-13T08:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T13:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=37304"},"modified":"2024-12-07T22:35:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T03:35:28","slug":"a-single-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=37304","title":{"rendered":"A SINGLE SHOT by Matthew F. Jones \/ Z-View"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A SINGLE SHOT<\/a> by Matthew F. Jones<\/p>\n

First sentence…<\/p>\n

\n

Before the sun is up, John Moon has showered, drunk two cups of coffee, and changed into his blue jeans, sweatshirt and Timberland hiking boots.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Overview:\u00a0 Beware of Spoilers\u2026<\/p>\n

John Moon has lost a lot.\u00a0 First it was the family farm.\u00a0 Then his wife and child.\u00a0 His work at the factory doesn’t pay enough.\u00a0 Times are tough.<\/p>\n

It’s not hunting season, but John decides to risk another poaching fine. John hikes deep into the woods.\u00a0 He spots a big stag and takes a shot.\u00a0 The wounded beast runs off.\u00a0 John doesn’t want the buck to suffer and tracks it.\u00a0 Deeper in the woods, John bends down to check the trail.\u00a0 He hears movement and looks up to see a flash of brown and white.\u00a0 John fires and hears the animal fall.<\/p>\n

As John is walking to where the buck fell, he’s suddenly surprised by the wounded animal charging him.\u00a0 He’s gored in the shoulder as he strikes the stag with his rifle.\u00a0 The buck goes down and is soon out of its misery.\u00a0 John is confused.\u00a0 He thought he killed the buck with his second shot.<\/p>\n

John pushed through the brush to where he heard the animal fall.\u00a0 It was a young woman.\u00a0 She’s dead.\u00a0 Killed by John. John’s sick.\u00a0 He broke the hunter’s code.\u00a0 Be sure of what you’re shooting before you pull the trigger.\u00a0<\/em> John considers his options.\u00a0 Turning himself in won’t change anything for the girl.\u00a0 It’ll destroy his family.\u00a0 And put him in prison.\u00a0 Why was she out here anyway?<\/p>\n

John decides to bury her.\u00a0 He looks around. Nearby is a small cave opening.\u00a0 John decides that will be the girl’s final resting place.\u00a0 As he checks it out, John discovers a metal box full of money.<\/p>\n

John makes another decision.\u00a0 It’s an easier one.\u00a0 He takes the money.\u00a0 Places the body in the cave.\u00a0 Says a prayer.\u00a0 Then does his best to remove any evidence he was there.\u00a0 Finished, John hikes out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0John is paranoid as the days pass.\u00a0 Bad men have a way of finding what’s theirs.\u00a0 And soon they will.<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A SINGLE SHOT by Matthew F. Jones First sentence… Before the sun is up, John Moon has showered, drunk two<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[52,51,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-crime","category-z-view"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37304"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37931,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37304\/revisions\/37931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}