Chapter 7. Fresh meat.
I woke up again but was feeling better than the last time and I was pleased to find that the door wasn't flung open. I sat up rubbing my eyes, probably tired from last nights midnight outing. I heard a knock at the door than Ghost came in Holding full body armour with a gas mask. He then pulled out from a holster from his side a Browning High Power handgun. He pulled out the magazine reloaded it and cocked the pistol. He looked at me and said
“ Have you every shot one of these?”
“ My father …..” I stumbled at the thought of him.
“ One summer holidays he taught me.
“ Well that's good because you're going to need to operate something bigger but this is a start.” Ghost joked. “Put these on .” Ghost pointed to the armour and gas mask and “put the pistol in the holster son we don't want no accidents.” Ghost chuckled to himself then left “Meet me outside.” He said just as he left the room. I threw the covers up of me, got up and walked over the the pile or armour I was meant to put. It took me a while to figure out how it actually goes but I managed to do it. Then it cam to the pistol I picked it up and started to aim it around the room as if I was a child holding toy gun I smiled to myself. I decided to just hold the gas mask because I thought it might like look stupid. The was not as heavy as it looked but it made me look awkward as I stumbled towards the door. I reached the door and put my hand on the handle pressed down and walked out, there was a few people smoking no one caring about my awkward apparel. I could feel the pistols weight at my side. I walked out of the building and made me way to over where Ghost was addressing a group of people he noticed me and beckoned me over and said “Speak of the devil here is the man himself everyone meet the newest pathfinder ham he is your brother now one of us.” Ghost said.
A rather large man said “ They're practically giving spots in this elite group away now.”
“Quiet Soren” Ghost ordered .
The man Ghost had called Soren gave me a sour look and turned to talk to his friends. Ghost said that I would have to start training and eventually pass the gauntlet. A vigorous test to see weather if I was to become a pathfinder or die in the test. This didn't fill me with hope. To be honest it made me uneasy but I knew I could not show the others that I was filled with fear I had to remain strong. I nodded and said “when do I start.”
Ghost said “Follow me.” and turned walking off to the outskirts of the camp. We came up to a building and went into the underground car park were a makeshift shooting range had been set-up. There was a kiosk with lights on inside Ghost walked up to it. He told the man inside He needed “2 Standard L96A1 sniper rifles and ammo.” Then man disappeared and came back with the two guns. The gun was rather large and I thought that I might not be able to hold let alone shoot it but I had to give it a go. Ghost grabbed both the rifles with ease one in each hand not even breaking a sweat. He thanked the man nodded at me and we went to the shooting booths to set-up. Ghost talked me through how the rifle worked and how to load it. He explained that it was bolt action and after each shot you have to pull the bolt back which shoots the used shell out and inserts the new one. He showed me everything and watched me do it myself until he was satisfied I could reload, re cock and put the scope on the top of the rifle. He also showed me the stand he said today we would practice with it but I would have to learn to free fire it at one point. I think he saw that I would not have the strength to do it at the moment. In my mind I thanked him for this. He told me to set-up my rifle to the stand. I did this he showed me the aiming of this particular rifle and what the target we we aiming for. If you weren't looking through the scope it would've been impossible to see the target clearly . The target was in fact a hay bale with a paper sheet with a silhouette of a man on it but without scope it was just a large object. I guessed it was 300 metres away at the other side of the car park. Ghost said from this range you have to watch the dip of the bullet he showed me where aim then he shot and scored an perfect shot straight through the eyes of the silhouette. “Yee Haw” Ghost shouted. “Your turn!” Ghosted looked at me.
I set-up for the shot just like Ghost had shown me I aimed up to compensate for the dip. I pulled back the bolt to load the round in to the barrel of the gun than I folded the bolt down. I felt my finger on the trigger rubbing the trigger I tensed, waited for a second the puled the trigger back. The recoil was quite a lot and the but the stand saved me a bit I kept control of the rifle. The bullet made impact but it did not sound soft like Ghost's it sounded like it had hit concrete rather than the hay bale. Ghost laughed at me for my shot had been horrible and missed by a mile it had hit the ball some 25 metres to the left of the hay bale. I didn't like Ghost laughing at me. He said maybe I should be a cooks assistant instead. I blocked out his laughing re loaded the bullet into the barrel. Aimed but this time I put more emphasis on the stillness of the rifle I took a deep breath and fired this time the rifle was more still for I had foreseen that recoil and expected it. This time the shot had gone lying in to the silhouetted man's forehead. Ghost mouth opened wide in surprise then whistled said “maybe I was wrong. I always had faith in you I swear .”
“Yeah sure you did.”
Ghost and I practised reloading and shooting the target he said I had a knack for pin point accuracy and consistently. We shot until we had exhausted the ammo. We went back up the kiosk ghost handed back the his rifle. I handed him mine but he said “ No that is yours you must name it and scratch it into the stock of the rifle. This was a test to earn the rite for you to own your own rifle.
“What's your rifle called” I asked Ghost.
“Sally after my daughter.” I sensed dark things about his past. I wondered what had happened to his daughter Sally and his wife. But I dared not ask.
“ What shall we name yours Ham?”
“ Mustang after my favourite car” And so Ghost pulled out his combat knife and engraved it into the hilt of the gun. “See you tomorrow for practising.” I walked off to the mess hall for dinner. I got to the entrance than thought maybe I should put the gun down. I headed back to my room I got to the door and I saw Soren coming towards me. “ So the little twerp passed the test looks like we got a teachers pet.” He spat in my face.
“Stay out of my way or things are gonna get nasty for you brat.” He pushed past me and went around the corner out of my sight. “Twat.” I said aloud. I wiped the spit of my face and went into my room and on the bed was fresh clothes and everything I could need in terms of apparel. There was a note that read
Hand picked by yours truly,
Laitka
I smirked and changed into my some jeans and a t-shirt that was on the bed. I put Mustang under my bed and the pistol as well. I chucked on a Indiana Jones type cowboy hat and left the room to go to the mess hall for the second this time I would be getting food. I walked into the mess hall and lined up for the grub. I reached the front of the line and was handed a plate of food. I thanked the lady and went to sit on a table by myself. I ate for 5 minutes being very solitary. Till Latika came up to my table and sat next to me and said “nice hat partner.”
We ate dinner together and then went are separate ways I went off to my room to go to sleep. But first I went to Ghost ans thanked him for everything today. He nodded than went about his business. I headed to my room pushed open the door and saw Latika sitting on my bed. She beckoned me over with her hand. I sat down on the bed she pushed me onto my back and started to kiss me. I said Latika no and pushed her lightly off me. I said”We can't do this I know where this will lead to.” She looked deeply into my highs the sadness of rejection filled her face. She stared to weep than ran out of the room, I felt bad and called for her but she just kept running. I found it hard to sleep that night with the feeling of what id done. Eventually exhaustion overcame my inability to sleep.
