Long Shot- Chapter 1
#1 of Long Shot
Excuse the lingo. Some of the stuff I picked up from work.
Chapter One:
Where are you? the stoat wondered. He was in the sand, belly down, legs sprawled with a rifle at his shoulder. He rested his face against it, seeing through the scope through one eye, looking around with the other to prevent eye strain. He was not quite at the top of a hill, but he was somewhere around three quarters of the way up.
Below was a poor town of mostly coyotes, but he was looking for one in particular. The target had yet to show himself, though, hiding somewhere inside the buildings, surrounded by women and children. It made for an airstrike impossible, but for a sniper team, they needed only to see him.
His spotter stared through binoculars at the town, chewing on some plant matter. He spat it out and looked at the stoat. "No signs, eh? Any word from up top?"
His spotter was a hare wearing the same uniform. His helmet covered most of his head but his ears which he let flop to the side. He told everyone that it helped him hear, though in truth it was just so he could keep them from getting tucked into his helmet.
"You'd know before I would, Jack," the stoat said, not taking his eyes off the town. "Any word on the other teams? We don't have any visuals here."
"Nothing. Looks like this asshole wants to hide out until we starve. Speaking of which, I could go for a nice meal right now. Think they got anything back at came for us, Steve?" Jack said with a grin, though his eyes were trained at the building they had been watching.
"Doubt it. Most likely anything good would've been eaten up by now. I just hope they... wait, do you see that?" Steve said.
The hare looked through the binoculars and let out a small grunt of triumph. "Finally! There he is, looks like he's brought his kids with him this time. Hey Alpha? This is Squeak-Two. We have visual on the objective, over."
A burst of radio static and then a response. "Wait one, Squeak-Two. We've got some bird in the sky to confirm. Over."
"They better hurry," Steve said. He slowly moved his rifle to keep in line with the target.
Below, his target, a coyote like the rest of the town, but it seemed older and carried himself with a head held higher. The rest seemed like poor villagers. He looked like be longed somewhere important.
The armed coyotes that surrounded him helped identify him, as well, so it was strange that it was taking so long for command to get back to them.
The radio turned on again. "Squeak-Two, you're the only ones with visuals on the objective. Weapons hot, over."
The hare's ears twitched. He whispered, "Only about 630 meters. Easy shot. Wind coming in from the east, but it's all but dead. We're going to have a rough time with the retaliation, but... you got this. You've taken harder shots."
Steve nodded. "I know." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, controlled, and moved his finger down to the trigger, though not around it quite yet. He rested the tip of his finger on it.
"Ready to engage, over," he said onto his own radio.
There was silence, and then the radio sounded again. "Wait one."
"We're about to lose the objective, Alpha. Over," the hare said urgently into the radio.
"He's getting in the car," Steve said.
"Alpha, I say again, we're about to lose the objective. Over," the hare said.
"Squeak-Two, fire when ready," the radio finally said.
"You heard 'em," the hare said. "Same winds, same distance, but account for the glass."
"Yeah, I know." The stoat took a deep breath and then let it out shakily. He inhaled again and held it, training his eye on the target. He gently pressed his fingertip against the trigger, pulling it back very gently.
At first there was nothing, and then a sudden jolt that surprised him. Always a surprise, he thought. The sound was suppressed but still loud. He immediately began to pack away his weapon.
"Hit," the hare said.
"I know," the stoat said. "We need to move."
"Bees are angry. You need help with your... nevermind." Jack nodded toward the case for the rifle, already clasped, the rifle disassembled.
"Not too far away from exfil, we going around the hill?" Steve said, slowly getting up, careful not to make any sudden movements while the enemies continued to look for them.
Below, the coyotes were restless. There were screams, shouts, blood on the window. The hare looked down at them. "Three... four... one of the kids is missing."
The stoat looked down the hill, and then at the path in front of them. He sadly responded, "I know."