Bink waited until Nancy and Howie were both together with him. Then he announced game 13. The audience applauded once more as the contestants exited the yard. Path 13 was a rather long one. At the end, Nancy saw a rack with two guns on it. Bink told each player to take a weapon. Nancy picked up one of the guns. It was a pump action shotgun and Bink had to explain how it worked to her. Nancy had never fired any kind of weapon in her life.
After getting Nancy squared away, Bink moved over to Howie. He asked him if he needed any help, but Howie told him he was fine. Bink then explained the next game. Each player would shoot at 5 clay pigeons. The contestant who hit the most won. Bink also explained that a pigeon would launch whenever the player yelled PULL!
Nancy would go first. She put the gun up to her shoulder and yelled PULL!. A clay disk shot up into the air. Nancy pointed the gun and fired. There was a loud BANG! and the kick almost knocked her down. Nancy gathered herself and tried again. This time she braced the gun better. PULL! The next clay pigeon went flying. Nancy fired but nothing hit the target. She fired at the next 3 pigeons, but never hit one. After she was done, Nancy stepped back and waited for Howie to go. She wondered what happened if they both missed all 5.
Bink told Howie it was his turn. He also told the players that if they both missed all five pigeons, they would next shoot at stationary targets. Howie wasn't worried. He had gone bird hunting with his dad many times as a kid. He wasn't the best shot in the world, but he was certainly passable. Howie got set and yelled PULL! The first clay pigeon flew and Howie fired. A moment later the clay pigeon shattered. That quickly the game was over and Howie was the winner.
Nancy was so confused by this game that she didn't even realize she had lost. It really wasn't until Bink told them both that they could walk back, that Nancy even knew the game was over. She had never seen Howie's target and didn't know that he had hit it. Nancy actually had to ask Bink what had happened. When he explained that she had lost 1 to 0, Nancy started to shake.
As they walked back to the yard, Nancy tried to pull herself together. She told herself that she knew this moment might come. When they got back to the yard, Nancy took a deep breath and reminded herself of what she had promised God. Even though this penalty would be extremely difficult and demeaning, she would accept it with grace and humility. For whatever reason, God wanted her to endure this challenge and she would not disappoint Him.
Carol announced Howie's victory in game 13 and the entire crowd stood and applauded. Then Bink brought out another table. This one had a carrot, a flag, a ballpoint pen, a vibrator, and a candle on it. Nancy just shuddered as she thought about where one of those items was going.