The Differents | ✓

T W E N T Y

After telling me his idea as quickly as Sniper could, we got into position. The plan was for me to climb over the rocks to the right and cause a distraction far away enough for their attention to be diverted for a moment. While they were busy inspecting said distraction, Sniper would be in a hiding spot close by and would take them out as quickly as he could. Afterward, we would search them for a tracker of any kind and get it as far away from us as we could. Then, just to be safe, we would run in the direction the rocks went and hope we would find somewhere to rest.

Crouched in a section of rocks that barely offered me cover, I got myself ready. I had two fist-sized stones in my hands and two more on the ground in case I needed them. My plan was to throw them as far as I could and hope they would distract the Masks long enough for Sniper to have a clear shot. If not, I would start throwing more. I would have to be careful about how I threw them, though. I didn't want them knowing where they were coming from.

I took a look over the rock sheltering me from their view. They were talking amongst themselves. They seemed to be having an argument, talking over each other and taking sides. This was the perfect time.

I held the rock firmly in my hand, brought my arm back, and hurled it as high and far as I could. I watched as it arched through the air, brushing the leaves of the trees as it went higher and higher. And then it went down, down, down, and landed with a loud whap on the forest floor somewhere in a patch of greenery.

Immediately, the group of Masks fell silent. In unison, they loaded their guns and crept forward toward the sound. I held my breath, getting ready to throw another rock.

Then it all happened at once. I threw another rock, to their left, one of the masks in the back shouted in the direction of the rock, and then two of them crumpled to the ground, dead. The three remaining started shouting and emptying their guns into the foliage where the rocks had landed. Their guns had no reason to be muffled, unlike ours, so I heard every single shot. I covered my ears and ran to join Sniper. He was behind a rock with the perfect vantage point of the Masks. His face was set in a calm and focused expression and he didn't flinch when he pulled the trigger of his gun, hitting a third Mask in the back of the head. She let out a strangled scream before joining the other two on the ground.

I couldn't decipher the expression I could see on his face. Yes, it was calm, but he seemed to be almost too calm. As if he knew how deadly he was and was completely okay with it. And he definitely knew how deadly he was. I had seen him shoot before -- he never missed.

The fourth Mask went down screaming with a bullet in the eye, and the fifth received one in his neck. He clawed at the wound before falling to his knees and slumping to the ground.

I looked over at Sniper. He reloaded the bullets in his gun and got calmly to his feet. "Shall we go finish this?"

"What? Oh, yeah, right. Of course." I stammered. The way he was so casual after killing five people made me feel strange. Was it normal to kill with such efficiency and ease?

He brushed past me and climbed down the rocks, landing softly on the forest floor. "If they have trackers on them, we need to get rid of them quickly," he called up to me. "That means getting down here quickly so we can do that."

I mustered a smile and jumped down from the rocks. We walked over to the Masks and stripped them of their weapons and communicative devices and then searched them for any kind of tracking device. We scattered anything in their possession that wasn't a weapon and then rolled their bodies underneath bushes and foliage. While I was rolling one of the bodies, a small notebook fell out of her pocket. I picked it up, flipped through the pages, and decided to keep it in case it contained anything useful.

Wiping the blood off my hands on a corner of my shirt that wasn't already bloody, I turned quickly and went to get our stuff. I couldn't stop thinking about how the boy accompanying me on this adventure was just responsible for the deaths of these five adults.

After getting our things, we walked in silence for a long time. The sun was starting to sink lower in the sky and our shadows were gradually elongating. Sniper didn't say a word and I didn't either. We just walked, hoping to find a safe place to rest before dusk.

But is anywhere really safe when the person next to you is the one you should be most afraid of?

*****

A/N
Thank you for reading this far! My classes have just started and I will try to continue to write but I may miss a day or two because of work and update it a few days later. I will still try to write but please bear with me when I don't! As always, please do let me know if you have suggestions or comments and a vote on the chapter if you enjoyed it really makes my day. Have a great rest of your week everyone :)