The Way the Wind Blows (Third Entry)

The Tension Builds Up

ID: Whitfield, Noah

Status: Alive, Distressed

Date and Time: September 7th, 2022 (3:35 pm)

-----------------------------------------

As I squinted past the body of the lake, I made out a strange figure. Looking a little closer, I could make out that he was holding a sniper rifle with it being aimed directly at us.

I froze in fear. Why would this man try to attack us in a public area, especially where there are children around? Did he think he could get away with this, despite being a distance away? What was I supposed to do? We had weapons in the car, but nothing that would reach him unless we had insane accuracy.

"Jacob," I called out to him beside me. From what I could see, he wasn't making any motion to fire at us yet. "Don't freak out, but there's a man with a sniper rifle on the hill across the lake. He doesn't look like he's trying to fire at us, but I can't guarantee that."

I saw him out of my peripheral vision purse his lips. "What should we do?"

"If we ran, we'd just get shot," I said in a serious tone. "Our weapons are in the car, too. If we tried to casually leave, they might follow us home."

"I might have an idea," Jacob said after a minute. "You're going to have to trust me on this."

Maricana's words once again rang in my head. If we were going to get out of this situation, I had to at least hear what Jacob had to say, no matter how crazy it sounded. I nodded my head.

"Shoot it."

He sighed out of anxiousness. "I might be pulling this out of my ass, but it might be crazy enough to work. If he hasn't shot at us yet, it's probably because he's either waiting for some sort of signal, or there might be other people coming."

"Okay, so what do we do?"

"It's like you said, we can't run or we'll just get sniped," he said. "That only leaves us with one clear option. We surrender."

I had to force myself to keep a straight face. "There's a punchline to this joke, right?"

Jacob let out a chuckle, but I could tell he was still anxious. "You know me well. My idea was that we send two of the girls to clear the people off of the beach and another to get the guns out of the car. I'm sure he'll see this and know that something's up, of course. Once whoever gets the guns, we'll surrender to draw him closer. That's when we strike."

I thought it over for a few seconds before shaking my head, not coming up with a better plan. "That could work. Let's get the girls, but let's make it seem as casual as possible. I don't think he knows we see him."

He nodded. "I agree. Girls, come here for a second!"

Once they did, I ran them over the situation. They started to panic, but Jacob interjected.

"I don't think he knows we're aware that we see him," he said. "That's why we came up with a plan."

"What is it?" Monika asked.

He looked in Sayori's direction and nodded to the family of four. "Sayori, you get that family off the beach, whatever it takes. Don't make it seem obvious, though. Monika, you do the same with the two women over there."

He turned to me at that point. I stepped in. "Natsuki, once they start talking to the families, get the cooler and go to the car and grab the two handguns, and make sure the safeties are turned off. Hide them in the cooler with your back turned and bring them to us."