Thursday, June 30, 2016

Adventures of Joe Gray: Sniper on the Hill

Looking through my scope I could see about 2 dozen army men lined up at the bottom of a rugged slope with their backs toward a large precipice. They were just standing there waiting for something giving me a perfect opportunity to take them out. I had been tracking them for 2 days across the hilly landscapes waiting for this moment. How dare they come to my homeland taking what they will and killing all those in their way? 

I checked my magazines, each fully loaded with 10 rounds, which should be enough if aim is true. Perched on the limb of a small tree I peered through the scope at my first target. It was a grenadier with mortars ready to go. I aimed for the bulk of the body and breathed in. As I let go of my breath the cross hairs steadied for an instant and I squeezed the trigger smoothly. With a burst I saw the man fly back never to mortar again. 

The others looked frantically about trying to identify the shooter as I aimed at the next one in line. With a shallow exhale I squeezed off another shot down range taking out an infantry man. Then another and another. Now they knew which direction the shots were coming from and started shooting haphazardly in my direction. As my breath quickened and my heart raced I took out men with rifles, bazookas, radios and mortars. 

The trigger clicked empty as the incoming shots got closer and closer. I dropped to my stomach and loaded a new magazine. I steadied the rifle and lined up to continue my volley of destructive justice. Lined up like a shooting gallery they went down one by one as shots flew above and below my position. As the second magazine emptied only a few remained and only one of them was still fighting back. The others had resigned themselves to their fate and staggered around aimlessly. 

I ejected the empty magazine and loaded the last one as I moved to a kneeling position. Propping my arm on my knee I steadied for my last shots. Now just shooting rapid fire at the remaining infantry men bullets whizzed and pinged off the ground but still they went down. With a deep breath I stood up to see the destruction and marvel at my doing. Victory was mine!

I walked over to the downed army men and began to set them back up in interesting places on the dirt. Some behind rocks and some atop stumps. A few had been flung far enough that I couldn't find them, truly lost in the battle. I was getting better with the 22 semi-auto my dad had gotten me and I loved practicing with the new scope. Bullets were cheap and I would test myself at longer range this time. The plastic men wouldn't know what hit them. 

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