Page 62 of Wandering in Darkness
“Nah. A sniper.”
“Ah, so that’s why Cal’s so damn good at this.”
“Taught him everything I knew and then he ran off and got better than me.”
“How dare he!” Grayson says.
“Right?”
I look away from my gun to send them another glower. “You’re supposed to be directing me, not shit-talking me.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go. You find the ridge of trees?” Arthur starts, giving me a rundown of where my target is by giving me landmarks to work off.
I shift the gun so I’m facing that general direction. “Got it.”
“To the left where the pines meet the ridge.”
I shift a little to the left. “Got it.”
“There’s a dead tree at about four o’clock.”
“Contact,” I say, seeing exactly what he’s talking about.
“The target is about ten feet in front of it.”
It’s now my turn to tell him what the target looks like so we can verify that we’re looking at the same target and not looking at something different. “Target looks like your ex-wife.”
That makes him laugh, even though the target really is just a silhouette.
Once he’s done laughing, I say, “Target is a silhouette leaning slightly to the right. Tall grass on the lower right, sapling to the left. To my three o’clock is another silhouette.”
“That’s your target.”
We used to have to run through a lot more things, but as I got older and better, it became more casual. More fun than technical.
I give him a “Ready” and prepare my breathing.
He gives me a wind call.
And I fire.
“You see, Grayson, I’m not even needed. I just like shouting out demands and making him obey me,” Arthur says.
“You’re needed,” I tell him.
“Did I say you could stop focusing?” he grumbles as he gives my leg a kick.
“I don’t think the spotter is supposed to kick the sniper, are they?” Grayson asks.
“Of course they are. How else do you get them into shape?” Arthur gives me another kick.
“This is a very vulnerable position,” I growl.
“I see no issue,” Arthur says. “You’re letting them balls of yours dry up anyway.”
“My balls have seen far more action than yours have of late.”
“So you think. I go to bingo night not to play but to scoop up the ladies who don’t win.”
