Gun Gale Online (Fan Fiction)

Looking down the scope of my rifle, I couldn’t help but feel once again that we were in over our heads. I mean, sure we’d taken down some truly impressive enemies but this was just ridiculous. We were two people against thirty raiders. And to top it off Ramuthra had this insane plan to walk right into the enemy camp, alone. I’d tried to talk him out of it but he was adamant about it. This will work, just trust me, he’d said. Well he wasn’t the one who had to watch his best friend walk into a hornets nest from nearly a thousand meters away. So there I was, watching Ramuthra through a high powered scope as he turned over his pistols to the guards.
The camp was set up in a ring around a central campfire. Three large tents that could house ten people apiece blocked most of my line of sight, with a fourth smaller tent set up slightly to the side. The raiders all turned to measure him up as he was searched, then led to the smaller tent, the leader’s tent. I let out a breath as he entered. Well that part went off without a hitch. Now if everything went according to plan Ramuthra would somehow lure the leader outside (the son-of-a-whore has a silver tongue) where I could get a clear shot.
One shot. That’s all I would get. That’s all I would need. I kept a steady watch on the leader’s tent. How long had it been? One minute? Three? The waiting was driving me insane. I’m not new to the sniper gig, I’ve waited up to four hours to line up a shot before but I was alone then. If I messed up the shot it was on my own head. I hated when we did this, when that one shot would determine whether we both died. He didn’t even have a weapon for fuck’s sake.
I took a deep breath. Stressing about it would only make it that much harder. I focused on controlling my breathing, slowing my heartrate. Calm, I told myself, gotta be calm.
Five minutes. That’s how long it took Ramuthra to convince the leader to step outside with him. Five minutes. Some people might think that was really quick work. For me, that was like waiting for five long eternities.
Ramuthra walked out first. He wears this light, black armor. From what he’s told me about it it’s a combination of titanium rings sandwiched between two layers of ballistics gel. It’s incredibly light, and hardly gets in the way of movement. Which is exactly how he likes it. He’s fond of saying that the best defense is to not get hit at all and I’ll be damned I’ve ever seen him hit with anything other than a surprise or point blank shot. He has a crimson cloak that he likes to think makes him seem more intimidating and usually has the hood up. Not this time. He was wearing his mask at least, a reward from a previous job, it came with a built in air filtration system, the black lenses functioned as a pair of binoculars/night vision goggles. It was stylized to look like the Cheshire cat from that old story Alice in Wonderland. All in all it did a fairly good job of hiding his face. If you ask me it made him look like he was trying too hard for the whole mysterious badass look but you couldn’t tell him that. From my vantage point on a rocky outcrop a kilometer away I could make out the fo-hawk he keeps his hair styled in. Why he does that I have no idea.
The raider leader was next, a burly guy, with nearly a foot on Ramuthra’s five foot seven, he was about two or three inches taller than me. Though I’m built like a steel cable, all tight, dense muscle, a runner’s build. This guy was more like a bodybuilder. He looked like he could punch through a brick wall if he wanted. I didn’t want to find out if he could. I tracked him with the crosshairs as he and Ramuthra walked to the campfire. Right in the middle of the camp. Right in the middle of the Raiders. All thirty of them. Even though I could only see ten or so, I was sure the others were either nearby in the tents or patrolling the camp’s perimeter. Either way Ramuthra was giving me a few more grey hairs.
Ramuthra and the leader stopped in front of the fire, Ramuthra’s back to me; which gave me barely enough space to make a shot with. The leader said something, I don’t know what. Ramuthra stuck his hand out. The two shook. Then Ramuthra reached his hand up to take his mask off.
The world slowed down. I was distinctly aware of my own breathing, of how every miniscule movement of my muscles, of my body, changed where the crosshairs were. I was prone, laying on my stomach, with the rifle braced between a couple of large rocks I’d hauled up the night before. I breathed in, and let it out. Halfway through. Squeeze, don’t pull.
The leader’s head disappeared in a flash of gore. Ramuthra is a stocky fellow, but he’s fast. He acted almost too fast to be seen, grabbing a pistol from the holster at the leader’s hip almost before his body started to fall. He let loose into the nearest raider. Three shots from point blank range. Then he dove behind on of the tents. The raiders reacted with typical brutality. The filled the tent with lead. Idiots.
Ramuthra came out from behind the tent to the opposite of the one he dove behind and shot two of the raiders in the head before they knew he was even there. I worked the bolt action and loaded another round into the chamber. The raiders were moving now, much harder targets. I saw one coming out of a tent behind Ramuthra. I didn’t aim for the head this time. Center of mass. He fell, his weapon sliding to the ground at Ramuthra’s feet. He kicked it up into his hands and proceeded to use it without missing a beat, or even slowing down as dodged gunfire. Even though he is much better with a pistol than an assault rifle it was still effective.
I looked up from my scope to get a better perspective on the surroundings and saw something approaching from the right. I loaded another round into the chamber and looked through the scope again. It was jeep, with four raiders in it, barring down on the camp at max speed. One of the raiders was on the back, manning a mounted .50 caliber machine gun. I took another breath. If I missed this shot, miscalculated the wind by a fraction, or mislead the target, it was over.
The driver’s head snapped to the side, along with the head of the raider in the passenger’s side’s head. Two birds, one bullet. The jeep veered out of control, flipping onto its side. I turned my attention back to the camp, and found that Ramuthra was standing in the middle, two raiders had guns to his head. His weapons were on the ground. From what I could see, they were the only two still alive. They were most likely savoring their victory. Probably getting some good smack talk in. I checked something.
Noobs, I whispered. Then took another shot. The raider on the left fell. The one on the right shot Ramuthra point blank. Ramuthra surged forward, taking the shot. Then he grabbed the raider’s pistol and broke his arm. I watched with a small smile as he said something to the poor sod and then executed him.
Dude, I yelled as I walked up to the camp.
Fuck yeah! Loot for days, He yelled back.
We were gathering up anything of value when our employers showed up. They were a small group, only around 10 or so. The one who had hired us walked forward, and surveyed the carnage. He nodded approvingly and took out his card. Ramuthra produced ours as well as a mobile transfer device.
Fifty-thousand credits, as promised, he said when the transfer was complete.
Thanks, we’ll be done in a second, then you can reclaim this territory. And if they come back, Kal and I are always available for hire, Ramuthra answered. The leader simply nodded.
We gathered up their weapons. On top of the contract payment we had another twenty-thousand in loot to sell. But that would be for another day.
I think we’re done here. We both have to work tomorrow. Ramuthra said. I nodded
We pulled up our menus at the same time and logged out.
I pulled the nerve gear off my head and sat up, yawning. Christian did the same thing from in front of his computer across the room from mine.
Totally owned some noobs today, I said.
He smiled, Hell yeah we did.
I yawned again and got up stretching. Well, see you tomorrow nerd. I said as I walked to my room.
Goodnight scrub, He said, as he shut his computer down.
It’s good to have friends who you click with.