@shadowsaint007@Letter Bee
John took of his hat and pulled up his cloth hood as Par broke down the watch tower and shots rang through the air.
He moved around the corner of the wall Rap ad just entered. He looked around the corner and changed the sight of his gun from scope to iron. He was lucky enough to stumble on a military cache a few years ago and snag a decent sniper.
He poked around with his gun aimed straight taking out anyone he saw coming that Gabe hadn't already.
"kids a damn good shot" He though looking back over his shoulder to where the quick flash and bullets rang from. As he neared one of the corners into the main fields he caught up with Par, holding back in fear of what the beast would do. "Nice work kid" He yelled as a bullet whizzed by his feet. He returned fire blindly into the dust created by all the running and firing.
A man screamed and ran up with a chain saw, John pulled out his revolver and shot him as he ran upon them.
"No alarms?" John looked around as the fighting settled. "I guess we got in quietly..?" He asked in general confusion.
John knelt next to one of the dead guard bodies and looked back to Par and nodded, "Let's get in and out, no need to raise the whole place" He said quickly and began moving forward as he strapped his rifle back to his back.
Gabriel kept his rate of fire, taking care to favor the quality of each shot over quantity; each shot had to count. The pattern was the same; breathe in, aim, breathe out, gently squeeze the trigger. The mulish kick of the rifle butt against his shoulder informed him of each shot fired, and each bullet swiftly flew through the air at its intended target. Anyone who could pose a threat to the attackers was a priority target. Heavy weapon wielders were priority targets. Flamethrowers and grenade users were priority targets. Anyone who could shoot back at him from a distance was a priority target.
To keep his mind off the fact that he was adding the to body count in the Wastelands, Gabriel kept his mind on the fact that he was supporting people trying to free captives, slaves. He kept telling himself that his targets were the enemy; people who abused others and tortured them into obedience, throwing aside the weak and the broken to die as trash. Death may be a constant in the Wastelands, but here, it was also necessary.
Suddenly, a bullet shot in front of Gabriel, deflecting off the ground in front of him and kicking dirt in his right eye, before richocheting the dirt and grazing his temple. Grunting in alarm and pain, he quickly slid into cover to avoid any other shots. Like his papa always said,
it wasn't the bullet with your name on it that was dangerous, it was all those other ones marked 'To Whom It May Concern'.
He quickly pulled out his flask of water, a small piece of gauze, and some distilled hard alcohol. With the water, he flushed his eye of dirt, straining his ear to ensure nobody was closing in on him. Once he had the dirt out of it and could just blink it out, he poured some alcohol on the gauze and dabbed at his forehead. Nothing serious; just a flesh wound. Pain was good; pain kept him alive. And pain was telling him the bullet had only left a slight gash on the skin and not gone deeper. Thank God for small mercies.
((Collab Post between Letter Bee and Madly33))
Par nodded respectfully to John, while at the same time noticing that Gabe was both some distance away and, well, was looking good. Good as in professional, and good as in...that way. The young merchant would be mesmerized by how the blond looked as he wove through the available sources of cover, but eventually chose to react to John's words:
"Thanks, although my intention was to distract the guards while you guys go and escape with the slaves; basically, I and George here," he patted his steed, "were going to make as big a ruckus as we could, then get away once we've made our rampage. Even now, I still think that plan is workable; I'll move east to where the arsenals and blockhouses are, then try and break through to the North Woods*." Par then looked at John again.
"What do you think? Also..." he felt the urge to add, "keep Gabe safe."
"Anything you think would help" he said in responce "...And..sure?" he said in confusion before looking at him and it processing "Ahh.. Yes" He nodded and signaled at Gabe to inform of the new plan.
"Thanks," said Par, before going off to the northeast; he knew it would give Gabe a bad impression for him to leave so soon and go it alone, but hopefully, John would explain things to the other boy better. Sigh...why must the blond be so hot?
*centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-d..
@shadowsaint007, @Kenyeismylife
Fortunately, no attackers materialized; the camp was well and truly subdued, with the defenders trying to fight for their lives. Once he was sure that he was safe to come out, he tied the gauze to the wound using a headband, and peered up. He caught John trying to signal a new plan, and nodded, trying to follow the older man as best he could.
Getting closer, he managed to get in talking range to John.
"What's the new plan, sir?" he inquired. "And don't mind me; just got lucky the bullet hadn't gone an inch to the left."
