Fire at a Distance

Chapter 3

Two slow moving months passed, throwing us head first into winter. Unprepared for the upcoming assignments we were conveniently informed of at the last minute.

My squad hunkered down in the frost bitten underbrush of the woods, shaking in their thin coats. I knelt under the upward growing roots of a large oak tree and pulled my m16 paintball gun close to my chest. Hawk signalled from the top of his lookout tree and dropped a magazine to Mouse. He caught it with a shaky hand and clumsily loaded it into his gun. I caught the sight of someone green vested crouched behind a tree. So quickly I called the command. "Drop Breach."

Within seconds Raven landed behind him before he could even ready his gun. She jammed the barrel into his back, catching him by surprise. He dropped the gun and rose his arms, it was a sign of defeat that would get him out of the woods, unharmed. He stood and began to walk to the edge of the trees.

"Ground Squad!" The warning came from across the creek. I dropped next to a rock and peered over the edge, "GRAY VEST!" I called to my team and Twitch repeated my order. I rose my gun above my head, so they would check my vest. Matt signalled his squad and quickly darted across the ice. He had only two of his squad members left with him and their faces were pale.

"Where's everyone at?" I asked tossing my coat to Mouse, leaving me with only my under-armor.

"Blue vests, they're not too far behind. We thought you'd be over on this side of the creek since it's easy to guard. Given the idea you were still in that is."

I nodded my agreement, it was easier to guard than where we started in the field. I pulled my hat over my ears to fight back the icy wind.

"Mouse, Sam, on me." They came over, crouched below the tree, awaiting orders. "Hawk, you call the shots. Us three are gonna go pay the blue vests a little visit." He dropped from the tree and nodded.

"Sure thing, Fox. You show 'em how you earned your name."

I grinned and turned towards Matt, "You and your team help hold here."

"Will do... Fox." He said raising his eyebrow quizzically.

I checked my mag and glided swiftly across the frozen creek. Quickly I glanced back as I slid behind a rock and motioned for them to follow. I watched as they briskly made their way across the creek. I signalled towards the direction that Matt had informed us that the blue vests were heading from, sending Sam and Mouse in that direction.

I darted skillfully through the woods occasionally taking cover behind trees, rocks, and underbrush to avoid detection. Silently I slid behind a tree and uncovered the scope on my m16. I slid the strap over my shoulder, slowly taking a breath I scaled three meters up the tree. I pulled the gun around to my front and angled the barrel through the pine needles. Giving me a clear view on the blue vests below. Their attention was drawn to the other side of the field were I could barely see Mouse and Sam.

I held my breath top steady my gun and took a shot at the guy to the far right. Hitting him on the lower part of his vest. He raised his arms and began to walk away, "Flanking on the RIGHT!" I called out, giving false orders to the blue vests. I couldn't believe it worked. They all looked to the right and before they realized they were tricked Sam and Mouse picked off three more of them. I took in another breath readying my next shot, but hesitated. I flung the gun around to my back and dropped from the tree. Pain erupted in my ankle, but I maintained my silence. I pulled my gun back around and held it close to my chest. I was really about to do this. Without a vest.

"Fox to the left!" I called to them and darted down the line of trees. I moved swiftly and steady as I fired shots into the air. Paint balls splattered the trees behind me. I prayed that Sam and Mouse saw my plan.

I dove sideways and fired off shots towards the remaining six blue vests, picking off only one of them. I plopped down into a massive mound of snow and army crawled to the nearest cover. I steadied my shaky breaths and started to fire off random shots over the top of the rock. Then I heard it a rapid beat of guns being fired. I dared a peek over the rock and saw to my astonishment, Sam and Mouse had eliminated three more blue vests.

"Out!" The call came from across the clearing. I jumped up and darted down the tree line once again , but I didn't stop. "Switch mag!" I call to Sam just as I round the corner. At the same instant I tossed my gun to Sam and Mouse passed his empty gun off to me. I kept moving and slid to a halt behind a bush. Snow sprayed me in the face as paint balls shook the branches. I grinned remembering what I had been taught during survival training. 'Use your surroundings and they will keep you alive.' The voice of Professor Cline droned in my head. But then I saw it. Little black berries lied in the snow where the force of the paint balls had shaken them loose. Perfect. I grabbed a fistful of berries and loaded them into Mouse's gun. Cline would be proud if he saw me now. I stood up silently and saw that they no longer faced me. The two remaining blue vests were no more then two feet in front of me. "Hello Boys." I said causing them turn around. the moment they did I fired off two shots directly into each of their chests.

The siren sounded, marking the end of the game. "Mouse get down!" I didn't blame him for not reacting fast enough. Before I even finished my sentence I was laughing at the way he looked. At some point ARCA must have installed some type of paint launchers and by time I saw them Mouse was already dripping royal blue paint from, well every where. He came up and stared at me. I busted out laughing and so did Sam. He just smiled, "Oh you think this is funny?"

YES! "No not at all, blue buddy." I said choking back my laughter.

"HE-HE, Cute." He said mockingly. His eyes lit up and I did not particularly like the look on his face. He ran his hands rapidly through his hair splattering blue paint all over my face. "Hey!" I shouted, shoving snow into his face. I brushed the snow off my clothes and smiled at Mouse. " I guess that how they make sure you never let your guard down."

"Oh?" He asked. "How nice of them." He furrowed his blue eyebrows. "Now I will have to shower many, many, many times.

"Come on, now. Lets start heading back."