The Loner

I sat in a tree overhanging a trail. Below me sat two of my targets. They walked calmly along the trail, oblivious that I was even there. I calmly aligned my scope's crosshairs on the chest of the furthest one back. Once he was close enough I sent a burst into his chest. He stumbled a bit from the sudden force hitting him. The lead one confused turned back to his partner allowing me to fire into his back.

He hissed in pain while clutching his back. I had my rifle set up to 400 fps, so it would cause a bit of a sting. Once they were down I jumped down from where I was perched. I calmly walked up to them.

“Enemy downed.” I said simply while adjusting my vest.

“Yeah, yeah.” Came my reply from the leader. “Had it been on even ground, we would have got you.”

I chuckled. “You keep thinking that.” Just then I heard a rustle not to far from me. On instinct I rolled into a ditch. Quickly getting up and raising my rifle I noticed tiny impacts in the dirt where I had been just a second ago. Getting up into a crouch I began slowly crouch walking while scanning for the aggressor. I didn't have to wait long as two figures dressed in black came towards me. I quickly popped out of cover and fired towards the nearest one.

He dropped to the ground shortly afterwards as his partner, who was carrying a airsoft version of a VSS Vintorez, quickly ran to cover. He got behind a tree before I could set my sights on him, now began to waiting game. I focused on the tree, waiting for him to jump out of cover.

Patience was on my side because only half a minute later did he pop out, only to receive a short burst of metal bbs to his exposed arm. I winced as he yelped in pain.

‘That’s gonna leave a mark.’ I thought to myself. I walked out of my ditch and walked towards everyone that was starting to group.

“Hey, you alright?” I asked, a hint of nervousness in my voice.

“Yeah.” He hissed in pain. “Damn that hurts.”

“I know how you feel.” I truly did, I know what it feels like to get shot by steel bbs close up. Last time I don’t wear a cup to our airsoft match.

Anyway, his arm was slightly bleeding with some welts forming. Nothing too serious, but it would be best to patch that up soon.

“Whelp, it seems that you won Loner. Now lets get back to Jacobs house so we can clean that up.” Stated my friend Andrew. Everyone nodded in agreement before following the trail down to where we came from.

__________

A few hours later I found myself sitting down in a local restaurant close to my house. I had a basket of fries and grilled chicken strips sitting down in front of me with a side of ranch. What? I like dipping my strips into ranch, don’t judge me!

Anyway, taking another sip of my coke I looked around on my phone. I was reading up on various news and other things.

‘Jordan is going after ISIS and we aren't? We would be able to put them down with ease, but our excuse of a president says they’re “non-Islamic.” He’s a fucking dumbass! Their fucking name even says they're Islamic!’ I sighed in annoyance. ‘At least someone is going after the bastards.’

I went back to eating in silence. I could hear various yet quite conversations around me. I ignored them mostly, not wanting to invade other people's privacy. Once I was done eating I made my way outside and towards my truck. However, I stopped when I noticed something in the corner of my eye.

An old man stood alone in the corner of a street. Now while most would have ignored him what really caught my eye was what he was wearing. He wore a brown suit with random colored patches holding it together. His skin was a shade of grey with well groomed white hair and goatee. His eyes were a normal shade of blue, but they had an insane look to them.

Now, while most would have ignored him or gtfo of there, I just stood there as he approached me. Putting my hand down into my pocket I gripped tightly onto the knife inside. I also prepared my left arm, if need be if he tried to stab me or something I could rip open the door and slam it against him.

“Hello there.” He said as he approached in a joyful tone that put me on further on edge. Something was telling me to run, get out of there, yet I stayed for some reason. Was it curiosity, fear, or stupidity I don’t know.

“Hi.” I simply said trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice.

“A wonderful night, wouldn’t you agree?” I looked up to the sky for a brief second. It was beautiful, the stars shining in all their majesty as the moon hung high in the sky.

“Indeed.” I simply answered.

“Oh come on now, you have no need to be on edge. I am just looking for a good chat.” The grip on my knife listened a bit, why I did not know, but something just made the fear go away as gallons of curiosity poured into me.

“What about?”

“Oh I don’t know. Say, what is your opinion on Monarchies?” He asked out of all the questions he could of. He could have asked ‘hey, how was your day’ or ‘what does it feel like to be stabbed repeatedly?” Ok, maybe not the last one. Still, what would you think if someone approached you in the middle of the night in a near empty parking lot?

“Meh, I think no one person should hold so much power.” I replied.

“Alright, what about slavery?”

“Anyone who owns a slave should be shot.” I said. Where was this going?

“Genocide?”

“Sir, where is this going?” I asked simply while crossing my arms and adopting an aggressive tone.

“Oh, I’m just asking a few individuals what their opinions are on certain things.” His answer clarified little, though I can suspect I wasn’t the first one to be asked these questions.

“Fine, I think genocide is an act against any basic organisms right, to exist.”

‘These questions are very specific, what's his goal?’

“Oh, you are perfect for the task I have!”

“Wha-” Was all I was able to say before my world was enveloped by white.