by Noah Barnett
The man withdrew his automatic shotgun, and flicked the safety off, but didn’t seem particularly enthused as he started toward the condo at a low crouch. Charlie followed him in after changing Fara to full-auto. The lobby floor was covered in mildewed marble tile. Footprints were visible coming from the opposite direction. They had formed a huddle near the stairs, then a single pair had gone up. The rest had walked back out the same entrance.
Charlie pointed to Tobias and Remy, then gestured to the front desk. The big man would make too much noise climbing up the stone steps. He didn’t look happy being matched up with the pervert but walked behind the counter. The thick desk would provide some cover and gave a commanding view the lobby.
Mr. Random started up the stairs, so Charlie and Jennifer crept up after him. They caught up at the fifth floor as he waited on the last step to the landing. With a small red flashlight, he pointed to the ground. In the darkness, someone had stretched a thin wire across the landing and tied it to the railing. Charlie stepped over it carefully and saw a claymore mine pointed at him around the corner. So that was why the sniper felt confident enough to be by themselves.
The only other trap was on the tenth floor. A flashbang had been duct-taped to the railing with a wire strung across the gap. They stepped over the second wire and snuck down the hallway to the last condo. The random didn’t wait for a signal. He blew off the lock with his Spaz shotgun and kicked the door open.
Three separate claymores went off as the door swung inward. The combined blast shredded his legs into ground meat, and the wall opposite was peppered with shrapnel in the vague shape of a man’s waist. Charlie charged into the room with ringing ears. By the corner window, a woman rolled over in surprise, and reached for a small compact machine-pistol laying on the ground next to her. She had wild brown hair kept in check by a gray ballcap, and green speckled light armor over a loose shirt, and drab brown leather pants.
Charlie didn’t waste time raising the short-barreled M16 to his shoulder, and fired on full-auto from the hip. Bullets struck the ground next to the sniper and he quickly tracked them onto her torso. Blood sprayed across the wall as a half dozen 5.56 rounds tore her insides apart. Jen entered last with her suppressed USP in hand and quickly cleared the rest of the condo apartment. She opened the bathroom door, and leaned in tentatively checking the shower stall. Charlie used his rifle to push open the kitchen closet, just to ensure it was clear.
“You’re bleeding,” Jen said from behind him. Charlie glanced down. His pants were soaked with water, but red was mixed in from pieces of shrapnel. He didn’t feel it, not even as a tingle, so the damage couldn’t have been bad. Charlie had survived worse wounds with his endurance score.
“Tiffany, Respond…” A small voice said near the corpse. He walked over and picked up an earbud laying on the ground. A radio wire snaked to the girls hip.
“Shit, they’re at the condo. All units switch to the alternate channel.”
“Well, they know we took her out.” Charlie sighed as he crushed the radio bud. It wouldn’t do them any good, and the enemy might be able to listen in on them. Both Jen and Tobias were still Silver, and radios were gold level gear.
“Oh my, that cute guy got all blowed up. Tisk… and I didn’t even get to do it.” Remy said from the entrance. She toed Mr. Random with her shoe before stepping past his shredded corpse.
“You were supposed to stay downstairs… with Tobias.” Charlie growled.
“I heard an explosion, and you know me and things that go boom. I can’t help myself.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t trip over the two traps on the way up.”
“Trapping stairs is standard practice in the platinum ranks. I could have walked up here with my eyes closed.” Remy said coming forward.
“They picked a good building,” she said pointing out the window. The graveyard was across the street, and most of it had sunken back into the swamp, but there were still plenty of headstones sticking out of the water. Far in the distance, the red circle was visible.
“Is that where the match is going to end?”
Remy leaned out of the broken window scanning the horizon in either direction. “Most likely,” she said after a few seconds. Charlie joined her but refrained from sticking his head out of cover. It did seem like they were near the center of the map boundary.
“Both teams lost a squad member, but we have the high ground now. Take Tobias and move into the graveyard. We can cover you from up here.”
“We did lose someone, but they will have to assume its five versus four now.” Remy corrected skipping from the room. As she left Jen came back from the bathroom.
“Even if that’s true, they know we’re up here, so there’s little point in changing rooms,” Jen said pulling a dining room table to the windows and laid down on top.
Charlie was eager to try out his SVD for the first time. He had yet to buy a weapon skin for Sofie, but he liked her oiled wood finish. Charlie knelt at the sill, and raised the rifle to his shoulder.
The graveyard leaped into focus as he looked through the 4x scope. In the middle of the cemetery was an old fountain filled with black water. A grim reaper stood on a pedestal keeping watch over his buried charges. The cultured grass surrounding the base have been overtaken by choking weeds and standing pools of water.
Along the horizontal plane was a line with ten dashes for windage. At its center was a slightly larger chevron. Three smaller chevrons were evenly spaced down the vertical plane. A slope with several numbers was to the left.
“Sofie, can you remind me how to range a target?”
“Use guide on scope. This iz for man-size targets of 1.7 meters. Make sure head of target iz’ touching the curved slope, then place flat line on feet. Results will be range to the target.”
“Simple, da?”
“Yes, thank you.” Charlie said looking through the scope again. He picked the grim-reaper statue standing over the fountain, which was roughly man sized and he set the slope along the head.
“I read two-hundred and fifty meters to the fountain.”
“I’d say it is closer to 275. The statue is bigger than seems.” Jen said from the table.
Sofie chimed in again as he picked out a tall cross on the other side of the graveyard. “Zee top chevron iz for targets under one-hundred meters. Next is for targets between two-hundred and three-hundred meters. The final two chevrons are for four, and six-hundred meters. You v’ill need better scope to hit target at thousand meters.” Nothing happened for a while, and he wondered where the enemy was.
“Jen, What would you do?” Charlie asked.
“I’d set up somewhere and counter-snipe us.”
“Not sure I’d try out-sniping you and that fifty-cal. If I were them, I’d lay low until the condo was no longer a threat.” Down below Remy and Tobias carefully crossed the street. Remy reached the gate first and pulled it open for the trundling tank. They only made it partly into the first ring of tombstones when someone opened fire from the opposite side of the graveyard. The head of an angel statue disappeared, and Remy rolled into cover. There was a forest abutting that side and at least two people had climbed the trees to get a better vantage point.
“I don’t see them in the foliage,” Jen said next to him, so there was little chance he’d find them. She was using a 15x scope and could see much better. Charlie settled the SVD against the sill again and peered through the glass. The foliage was thick with bushes and beech trees. Two people ran out of the copse and through the knee high water.
He very briefly used the guide on the running figures, and found they were over six hundred meters out. Using the third chevron he fired at the first running man. By the time the bullet reached the target he was already a dozen feet ahead, and the bullet splashed into the water. He tried again, by aiming well ahead of the man. The round slipped past and slammed into a half-sunken headstone. Sniping was much harder than he first imagined.
Jen fired once. The glowing bullet
arced over the cemetery, and a dark human shape fell from a far tree. Tobias stopped next to a kudzu wrapped tomb and aimed Gadreel at the tree line. A stream of hot rain cut into the forest like a buzz saw. In the distance, a figure slid down a trunk, then disappeared into the foliage.
While that had been going on Charlie was still failing to kill his two targets. Both were among the headstones. Remy climbed to the shoulders of an angelic statue, closed her legs around its neck, and fired a string of grenades at the two players. They landed in the water exploding with less force than usual, but the grenade grouping sent one man leaping out of cover. He dove into the shallow water to avoid the deadly shrapnel. Charlie followed the man’s movement with his cross-hair.
“Use the second chevron,” he reminded himself.
Aiming at a point just above the bubbling water, Charlie pulled the trigger as the man stood. The 7.62 caliber bullet caught the player in the temple snapping his head back. With a golf-ball sized hole through his brains, he fell backward into the murky water. Almost immediately two small gators seized the corpse, and dragged it under the surface.
Jen fired again and again at the second sniper who was running into the graveyard in the opposite direction. Charlie felt a little better knowing she was having just as much trouble hitting a moving target.
“The red is coming in, we should leave.” Charlie said standing. Jennifer made no move to climb from the table.
“I only have the Barrett, so I’m not going to be any good down there. Join the others, and I’ll stay here and provide cover for as long as possible. That was probably their plan too, so good luck.”
Charlie stood shouldering the SVD, and with Fara in his hands, left the condo. At the last second, he remembered the trip wire at the top of the stairs. He chuckled to himself, because that would have been a sad and hilarious mistake. His foot stopped a few inches from setting off the trap, then he stepped over carefully. The claymore on the fifth floor had been disarmed, and he quickly ran down the rest of the way. As he exited the building the barrier was already closing in. Jennifer’s massive rifle continued to fire non-stop at the two remaining targets. Under that cover, Charlie sprinted into the graveyard and met up with Remy and Tobias holding the corner.
“Good to see you, Brother.”
“You too, Tobias. How much ammo do you have left?”
“Half, maybe a little less.” The giant admitted.
“Good, I want to get into the center first while Jen still has their attention.”
The heavily armored Giant stepped from cover and activated his Gau-19 cannon. The barrels spun up as he aimed at a group of bullet ridden headstones. Charlie ran forward through the water toward the center of the graveyard.
The enemy sniper caught Tobias out in the open. He staggered from several slugs hitting his heavy chest armor. Paper scriptures flew off as the rounds continued to slam into him. Remy returned fire on the sniper with a string of grenades, but Tobias had fallen backward into the murk. Only his weapon stuck out as if his last action was to keep his angel from touching the unclean swamp.
Together Remy and Charlie made it to the center, and he rolled into the fountain which was filled with black water. However, Jen had stopped firing as the red barrier crossed over the condo. The sniper took the opportunity to shower the fountain with accurate rounds, while the second enemy player moved into cover.
“Don’t let them get close enough to throw grenades,” Remy said splashing toward the right side of the fountain. She fired blindly over the lip at the closing player. Charlie wasn’t sure how he was going to do that. Every time he poked his head out the sniper would quickly fire on him. He’d already been hit by flecks of stone twice, so there was no chance he could out shoot the other person.
A grenade landed in the murk three meters from the fountain and exploded. The stone cracked, and water quickly poured from the broken stone. Charlie crawled to the center and slid behind the Grim Reaper. As he did, bullets knocked chunks off the statue’s legs and feet. The first player stood again to throw another grenade.
He rose up just enough to fire Fara. The slug caught the man in his grenade hand, and it dropped into the shallow water at his feet. Wounded but still alive, the player dove away from the spot.
“Got you!” Remy cried standing up. She leveled her double barrel at him, and the buckshot shredded the player as he struggled to his feet. Seconds later Remy fell from the fountain as three quick bullets slammed into her. Charlie transitioned to the last player and fired on the sniper’s distant cover. He missed, but kept the player pinned down. Now that Charlie had a bead on his location he wasn’t going to give the player a chance to line up a shot.
The circle was feet from the enemy player, and Charlie wondered if the man was going to just let it roll over him. At the last second, he dodged toward new cover, but Charlie had saved the last ten rounds expecting it. Fara rested against the base of the statue, and he led the target a little before firing. The first bullet caught him in the stomach, and he tried to throw himself into cover. The next five punched into his chest before the sniper slammed into the grave-marker face first. His body rolled over into the water and several gators converged on the corpse. Darkness closed in, and Charlie stepped out into the private lounge.
[Match Complete]
[Team Win]
“Good job!” Remy said clapping. Jen and Tobias looked pleased as well, though the random guy was already in the elevator.
“Did you notice that we got more contracts?” Jen asked.
“Really, did you level?”
“No, I'm still silver, but I have four contract slots.”
“I hath only one extra,” Tobias said. Charlie checked his stats, and discovered he had two open contract slots as well.
“Unexpected, but maybe it’s an extra reward for capturing those dropships.”
“I got two as well,” Remy said with a mischievous grin. “I'm going to walk into the Armory, get naked, and contract with the first weapons that fuck me,” she added. The girl stuck her finger into her mouth thinking of all the delicious combinations.
“Who wants to join me?” Remy asked.
“I already have some girls waiting at home. It’s getting late, and I want to clean Fara.” Charlie said turning toward the elevator. Everyone climbed in and headed up to the competition lobby.
Outside the night was coming on fast. Charlie climbed into the Mustang and drove quickly home. The aroma of his contract slot drew the girls to him like bears to honey. The door was barely open before four bikini clad girl slammed into him, and knocked Charlie back into the garage.
“I like the enthusiasm,” he said as Sakura and Rain pulled his shirt and armor off. Thelma and Luise were giggling like intoxicated fairies as they worked his pants free. There was a choice to be had because he could only take two of the four girls. Sakura was a stand-alone grenade launcher, and he really considered her first. Grenades were an effective tool for clearing an area. The asian eyed Charlie, and pursed kissable lips as he considered her. Rain was a pump action shotgun, but Fara already had the short range covered. He finally forced the girls off of him, and sat up. Really there was no choice. A threesome with the twins was too good to pass up, and he pointed to Thelma and Luise.
“You two… bedroom… ten minutes. I'm going to clean the girls, but you had better be ready when I’m done.” The twins beamed at Charlie and only left after kissing him several times. Sakura looked downcast, but Rain pecked him on the cheek.
“If I hit platinum soon, I’ll get another contract slot.”
“My time here has been better than fighting for Meisters at the Armory. I’ll stay, if that’s what your asking.” Rain said.
“Me too,” Sakura added.
He managed to collect his clothes, and enter the house. Charlie sat down to clean his guns. He cleared each, then sprayed them down with solvent, and waited a few minutes. Then he ran a brush through each barrel, and worked quickly to scrub their insides. He loved having
his harem, but it was taking longer and longer to clean the girls.
Afterward he walked toward the bedroom. He could hear giggling, and muffled talking as he pushed open the door. Two pale skinned girls were already naked, and laying atop one another on the bed. Two sets of amethyst eyes looked back at him.
“Thank you for contracting us together.”
“Yes, we are very happy.” Luise agreed reaching for Thelma and spread her sister’s legs wide. Charlie was treated to the glorious view of her pink and glistening entrance.
“Tonight is going to be fun,” he thought, and smiled at the two as he closed the door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Halloween Pt1
