The sun had begun to set over a sky bellowing with clouds. The wind had picked back up, delivering a bitter chill. Now encamped on a summit of a small mountain overlooking the large town along the banks of the lake's bay, the team had finally come to rest. Volkov, Zeus, and Daniel had begun setting up their tents as Aiyanna and Victor had split off and found a clear overlook of the outskirts of a city that slept in the distance, beyond their mountain camp.
"This seems good enough." Aiyanna said, stopping in her tracks. Victor stopped as well, looking over to her as she crouched and set her pack down, beginning to search it. She then removes a large black metal box that took up almost half of the entire space of her pack; the pack collapsing over itself.
Victor's eyebrows shoot up as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket and shifts his torso to adjust the carbine that rested freely against his back.
Aiyanna flicks open the locks of the case with a smirk. She then gently lifted the case to reveal disassembled parts of a designated marksman rifle, complete with a spotting scope embedded in the foam insulation of the lid.
Victor lets out a whistle of amazement. "How long have you had this for?" He asks, crouching down beside her and watching her assemble the weapon.
"Since this whole conflict started. It's been in my family for two generations. My old man thought it'd be a nice gift." She answers, smirking to the man as she inserted the barrel of the rifle into place, that being the last piece to assemble. She then reaches for the scope and begins to slide it into place along the top of the receiver.
"Well, he sure has taste for quality armaments." Victor says, crossing his arms over his knees.
Aiyanna then pushes out the bipod of the rifle and lies upon her stomach, aiming to the town in the distance.
"Let's see what we can find out about this Podunk." Aiyanna said, Victor letting out a soft laugh.
She observed the rooftops of the tall concrete buildings of the downtown area through the mini telescope of her rifle. She reaches up to the top of her scope and adjusts the zoom. She was able to see the outskirt neighborhoods of the town way off to their west, beyond downtown. She noticed how they seemed to move up along the hills to the southwest and moved further into the hills and forests inland.
"No smoke, no fires... Seems quiet down there." Aiyanna said, twisting her body and aiming her scope along the bank of the bay, observing shipping docks that gave way to a river that seemed to carve straight into the mainland.
Victor lets out a soft sigh, lowering his head. Aiyanna looks over and up to him, letting her ear tilt gently.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"It's all quiet down there... Makes me wonder if any kind of resistance against these monsters is still alive." Victor responds, raising his head and looks out to the town in the distance.
Aiyanna smiles. "Don't worry, Mr. Churchill. We anthros are methodical and cautious. I have no doubt that the good fight down there has not been wiped out." She says, peering back into her scope.
Victor smiles to himself before standing up next to Aiyanna, bringing his carbine out in front of him across his torso. Aiyanna looks over to Victor before gazing to his firearm. Her ears perk up and she gently nudges the man. "I have an x8 scope in my pack. Wanna help me survey?" She asks, gesturing her head to her pack behind her.
"I doubt I'll be able to see much from this distance." Victor chuckled, gazing over to Aiyanna.
"Scan the tree line at the foot of this hill while I'll see if I can spot anything in town." She says, rolling her eyes with a smirk and peering back into her scope.
"Aye, aye." Victor says, giving a playful half-hearted salute before turning on his heel and strolls over to Aiyanna's pack, letting out a soft giggle herself.
Zeus had noticed the two as he finished assembling his tent, watching Victor fumble around the contents of her pack. Raising an eyebrow, he proceeds to stroll over to the two. Daniel and Volkov turn their attention to Zeus, watching him walk away from the encampment.
"How long do you think this will go on for, lieutenant?" Daniel asks, smirking and glancing over to Volkov, raising his eyebrows repeatedly and gesturing his head to Zeus.
Volkov rolls his eyes. "Please, Daniel. No need to theorize about things we know nothing about yet." He replies, shaking his head and tightening the final knot of his tent.
"Humph, humph. Fair enough." Daniel responds, crawling inside his own tent.
Victor lowers the back iron sight of his carbine and slides the scope over the top of the receiver. "Like a glove." He says, placing his elbow underneath him and aiming the rifle out to the tree line directly below their position.
"You two see anything?" Zeus asked as he stopped behind the two, placing his hands on his hips.
"Looks like there are some neighborhoods beyond the forest ahead of us. Most of the commercial buildings and offices seem to be situated at the mouth of the river at the end of the bay." Victor answers as he scanned the forest patch below.
As Aiyanna observed the other side of the lake, she notices a large compound in the distance along the horizon.
"I think I got something." She says, keeping her aim steady.
Both Victor and Zeus shoot a glance at her.
"What is it?" Zeus asks, strolling over to the other side of Aiyanna.
She observed in silence for a moment. "Looks like some kind of facility. It could possibly be a military base." She responds, keeping her sights set on the distance.
"It's more than likely the source of all this. If the US ARMY is indeed involved, we need to find out who is running their entire operation." Zeus says.
"We can't know for sure unless we can monitor any traffic that comes to and from the facility and the town." Victor says, sliding the scope from off his carbine.
"Good deduction, sergeant. Consider yourself first on that shift." Zeus says, he says, looking to VIctor, smirking smugly.
"Can do, captain." Victor responds, giving a full-hearted British salute to Zeus.
Zeus rolls his eyes and mumbles softly to himself. "You switch out with Daniel at twenty-two hundred. Start your shift in one hour." He says, looking down to his wristwatch and stuffs his hands into his jacket pockets, strolling back over to the encampment.
Aiyanna giggles to herself, looking behind herself and back to Victor as he begun to remove the scope from his carbine. "You can borrow my spotting scope and DMR when your shift starts." She says, smiling to Victor before peering back into her scope.
"I just might take you up on that." Victor says, swiveling his carbine back behind him and holds the scope in his hand.
As Zeus reentered the encampment, he noticed Volkov watching him as he sat upon a fallen tree.
"What?" Zeus asks, stopping in his tracks.
"Does he remind you of anyone we know?" Volkov replies, smirking to him.
Zeus scoffs and rolls his eyes as he then proceeded to enter his tent. "Bring any of that up and I'll hang you by your ankles." He says, tying the flaps of the tent entrance together.
Volkov chuckles, looking over to Victor and Aiyanna as they stood together and continued to observe the town below.
YOU ARE READING
𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝚂𝙾 𝙲𝙾𝙻𝙳
Fiksi Umum- PART ONE - An Earth where anthropomorphic animals and humanity coexists, peace and stability is threatened in midwestern America when a ruthless militia takes up arms and seeks to eradicate the anthro presence and to ultimately wage war against th...
