Silas (Done Editing! If only now I could get through the writers block... )

Chapter 1: Gun Point

Chapter 1: Gun Point

The Wyoming mountain air swirled around the treetops, a long main road stretched out across the hills, its sister streets joining around the bends and turns. Fog shoved its way into the aircraft.    

“We have a lock on the target, sir!” Shouted a SWAT Soldier. His voice was barely heard above the roar of the helicopter.

“Fire when ready. Over.” Came a gravelly order through his ear piece.  He breathed in deeply, zoning out the roar of the steel blades on the helicopter and ignoring the shouting of his comrades. As the door gunner, he has to take down the rogue operative, concentrating on his exact mark. His forefinger tightened on the trigger, he closed his left eye…and fired.

The bullets rocketed out of the .50 caliber barrette rifle, sliced their way through the air, past thousands of pine trees and deer trails, to inches from the target’s head. Ending up lodged into the wood of a fur. The target leaned out from behind his tree cover and waved.

“A miss fire, Captain!” The soldier yelled, hurrying to reload his gun. He pulled the trigger again and it jammed. He pried open the clip and tried to reload the bullets. He ultimately caused his own death.

“Get the hell out of there gunman! If he ain’t dead-“‘then you will be’ is what his captain was going to say. And he’s not wrong.

*****

 I pulled my AR-15 rifle up to my face so the barrel was grounded into my cheek and stepped out from behind the giant spruce tree after I was sure the shots had stopped firing. Before I aimed and most likely killed the man shooting at me, I risked a glance at the tree trunk next to me, noticing the sizeable chunks of wood that had torn off from the bullets.

“Damn those SWATs, who do they think they are?” I muttered under my breath. Will they stop at nothing to blow my head off? I lifted my gun back up to my face, shut my left eye and aimed for the helicopter’s hull.

My bullets ricocheted off the metal, not even leaving a dent. Bullets went flying from the gunner up in the search helicopter hundreds of meters away from me.  I didn’t move, but widened my stance, cock my gun, and aim for the center of the twirling metal blades. I zoned out the bullets hitting the earth surrounding me, getting closer to their target every 6th of a second. I fired.

Nothing, the bird kept flying, drawing closer to the ground and me. The blades were spaced too far apart for the bullet to hit anything. Damn. I rolled my body back to my limited cover and waited out the shots fired. I quickly stepped out and I aimed again, this time at the tail rotor gear box, breathing slowly and focusing on my mark.  I gritted my teeth, and clenched my fore finger on the trigger. Again, I fired.

BAM! The little blades spluttered and black smoke immediately left the tail of the airliner. The helicopter slowly swung towards the ground, turning in long circles. But the bullets from the gunner's rifle didn't stop and at one point I had to crouch to avoid being shot. No, this wasn't fast enough for me; I needed to get this bird out of the air and my ass deeper into the woods for my disappearing act to actually work.  I could barely and only if I tried, hear the panic shouting from the helicopter's passengers. I grinned.

This time I decided to go the somewhat easier route and take out the pilot, landing this bird a fiery doom. I laughed quietly as I again, for the thousandth time, brought my ultimate weapon up to eye level. I looked through the scope and steadied my aim on the pilot's head, a little in front of it to be exact, not quite on my mark. I had to account for the moving helicopter, the wind, and the height. My bullet would make its mark.

And I was right, the metal cage plummeted down to earth in out-of-control twirls, its few other passengers jumping out or ejecting. The exact second the machine hit the trees, it blew up in a quick burst of flame, black smoke covering its tracks.