Volume 1, Chapter 12 – Hit!
The Soldier dissolved into the air, and it felt like a ton of fear had been lifted off me. Now there was only silence, the cold ground, and... the rifle.
Hoo-oh! Now I just need to figure out how to properly set up this thing with a dozen buttons and levers.
First — brace it against my left shoulder.
Done. Now what?
I aimed the barrel at a tree. Now I'm ready. It's pressing into my shoulder, my fingers are near the trigger, and through the long scope I can see the tree bark in detail.
No one around, just silence, me, and nothing else.
Click.
No shot. Must be the safety? Where is it?
Time to figure it out.
I started clicking various buttons, twisting things... And accidentally knocked the scope — it fell off.
My heart raced, like a kid who broke his parents' expensive thing, or a guy who ruined his girlfriend's makeup kit.
The scope lay on the ground surrounded by ants and grass, and the rifle now looked bare.
Okay... I give up. I can summon the Soldier for a second, just to make this rifle ready to shoot.
"Summon Soldier," I said into the air, slowly getting to my feet, picking up the scope and the rifle.
I looked up — and there was the eerie void under the helmet right in front of me. I jumped back in fright. No sound of appearance — he just appeared and stood there, as if he'd always been there. But no, he definitely wasn't — it was literally in the direction I was aiming, I couldn't have missed a two-meter figure looming over me while I was lying down.
I pulled myself together and calmed down.
"Here..." I held it out with a hint of guilt and a sliver of hope that he'd just blame me for breaking the weapon.
But no. The Soldier took the scope, clicked it back into place, and handed it back to me.
"Thanks..." I looked away. "Can you make it ready to fire?"
And I watched closely as he did it.
Right! I needed to pull that "T"-shaped thing.
Now it's all set. The Soldier is gone, I'm lying on the ground, aiming at the tree. Now all that's left is to pull the trigger. I'm ready.
Silence. My breath quickened with anticipation of the bullet piercing the tree trunk, shredding the bark.
BOOM-boom — a few rounds accidentally flew out toward the bark.
My shoulder ached with an unpleasant pain. Thankfully, I still had the noise-canceling headphones on, so it was quieter than I expected.
A wave of joy washed over me. I jumped up, leaving the rifle behind, and walked toward the tree.
"Hit!" I poked my finger at one hole. The second one was in the tree a little to the left and farther away.