Horror's True Form.

Part 3

BANG

                 I checked my watch. 6:25. There is always that one guy who shoots too early. It was barely light outside, and one could hardly see what was what in the woods. The shot sounded too far off to be one of the people in my group, but I radioed in anyway.

"Any chance that was you guys? Seems like a record early shot haha" I said whispering with a chuckle.

There was a long pause, but  eventually I heard a voice break the radio silence. It sounded like Greg.

"Nope, I didn't hear it too well here on the east side, couldn't be us."

"Not me either" my brother said sing song like.

               After hearing all that, I knew it couldn't be us, and for some reason that made me feel better about it. I sat back in my chair and took a swig of water from my hydration pack. It will still be a while before I could legally shoot something. My friends might break the rules a little on something like this, particularly Sonya and Greg.... but I am generally a rule follower.

                Some time passed. I checked my watch enthusiastically.  6:40. Legal shooting starts, finally. I can see the light coming out in the Eastern direction now, and the details of the woods are starting to show up. I heard a few shots earlier as usual, but now is when the real action happens. Well, not entirely, the majority of the shots I hear are the people in my group. Otherwise, I don't think that there are many people around here, yet for some reason it never fails for someone to shoot early. I heard another shot to my left, in the East. I spun my chair around to face the noise, almost like an instinct. I knew the shot was from one of us, and I assumed they would send a text or radio it in after a while. It wasn't technically legal to be communicating like this but we do it anyway, because we want to stay safe. We haven't been caught yet, so we keep doing it. 

               A few minutes later I heard another shot, and it was close. I knew it had to have been my brother, or maybe Meg. I got very excited, and almost called my brother, but I decided to wait and let him have his moment. It was now "crunch time", as I like to call it, for me, and for Meg too. The close shots mean that the deer in the area would either be scared in our way, or scared away for a while. Either way, we still needed to be on our best lookout. I sat up straight, put my rifle in my lap and slowly spun around. I stayed like this for what felt like an eternity, but it was more like half an hour. That's when I heard the snap of a twig on the ground.  I slowly turned. Slowly. Slowly. A little more... there he is. I could see him clearly, a buck, 6 or 7 points, massive body. I mean this guy was HEFTY. Perfect. He looks like he is maybe 100 yards out. An easy shot with my 30-06. I raise my rifle, except this time maybe a little too hastily. The deer raises its head and looks me right in the eyes. I pause, holding my rifle awkwardly in the air. Afraid to move, I stay like this for quite some time, and my arms quickly tire. But the deer puts his head back down, to sniff whatever it is he was sniffing. Slowly this time, I finally rest my rifle on the side of my stand. My heart rate increases as I put him in my sights. I focus the cross hairs of the scope behind his shoulder, and click the safety off. The noise startles him, and he looks up, ears moving trying to find the source.

Steady.

Steady.

Exhale slowly.

Click.

A dud. 

FUCK.

I chamber a new bullet faster than I ever have before, not even taking my eye off of the deer, and fire just as he starts moving. The sound has my ears ringing and the flash blinds my scope. I look up quickly and see him tumble to the ground with a crack. I cringe at the cracking noise, knowing that was probably a leg breaking in a gopher hole. I start shaking more than a V8 from the 70s, and my heart rate goes through the roof. I check my watch. 7:02. Perfect. The perfect time for a kill. The first morning and I am already done.