Matthew was seriously starting to pity himself.
And yet, here he was, driving down the road to a train station in the middle of nowhere that would produce a train from the middle of nowhere and would ultimately lead him to—you guessed it—the middle of nowhere. He gave a lonesome sigh as he took the next left, not bothering to look the other way for any incoming traffic.
Normally he would find excitement in traveling outdoors, not a lot of excitement, but to anyone that really knew him (not many) would be able to discern that a small smirk that came from Matthew would be the equivalent to, say, a hysteric football fanatic whose team just won the super bowl after 50 years of being unable to win a single game. Matthew was patient, calm, cunning, and quiet. But this was harbored from his line of work, which required such qualities that ended up being his profession. Matthew used to work as an accountant for a PMC. Not a particularly exciting life, but respectable and the pay was decent. His parents didn't particularly like the thought of him counting money for people who killed for a living, but he consistently told them that he was only counting and not killing, so they warily let him slide, but not without a few arguments every time he came over to visit.
Though he was not a taker of human life, he still found himself an interest in hunting. Not long after he joined the company did a co-worker of his asked him out for a small hunting trip over the weekend. Not wanting to seem cowardly or dull, he decided to go along for the trip. So he and two others drove to a remote part of the outback and got out their gear. Matthew was given a Sako 75 rifle for the occasion. He had never actually held a gun before, so the weapon looked deadly even though other people may not put the gun on their top-ten list. The three of them hiked across the fields, each taking a shot at a few prarie dogs that popped up here and there, until the trio came across a certain particular challenge; a kangaroo.
Matthew didn't particularly like kangaroos. They tended to jump out in the middle of the road a lot while he was driving. If you think I'm wrong and think kangaroos are cute and should be protected, then you can go happily burn in hell, because I don't want to hear any of it.
The challenge posed was that the marsupials were posed at least 500 meters away. None of them had a rifle which carried enough kick to travel that far, so they decided to turn around and find another animal to hunt. However, when they turned to go, Matthew stood rooted to the spot, eyes fixed upon the animal. One of his friends told him it was a hopeless fight, the marsupials were too far away, and they would never get close enough without the creatures being alerted of their presence. Matthew ignored him and set himself down into a crouched position, bringing up the scope to his eyes. "I've got twenty that says I could put one right between 'er eyes." Matthew said quietly while still focusing on the kangaroo. His two friends looked at each other and smirked. There was no way he could make a shot like that. "I'll raise you another twenty, no, forty." The two men held devilish grins as they were about to make the easiest sixty bucks, well, thirty each.
Matthew held his breath, then positioned the crosshairs of his scope onto the animal's head, just above it's nose. Time seemed to slow down as he steadied his rifle and pulled the trigger. The rifle made a loud crack as it sent the piece of lead zooming through the air where it eventually connected with the animal's head, right between the eyes. The bullet's impact shook the creature's body as it then collapsed to the ground.
Matthew grinned as he lowered the gun and stood up. He turned around to see two mouths gaping at him in utter astonishment. He gave the two of them a pat on the back and reminded them both of the sixty bucks they now owed him as he marched off to collect his trophy.
His two colleagues returned to the company with the tale of his amazing marksmanship. One thing led to another and he eventually became a contracted assassin to the company. Being realized as a superior-ranked marksman, he quickly rose the ranks to become the most renowned and feared assassin in the company. He would often be sent on missions which required him to sit in wait for weeks on end until he finally found his mark and bagged another one. He also personally bought a Mosin-Nagant rifle, specifically designed for hunting. He still liked the thought of hunting in the outback even when sitting in the same place for hours. Though his parents now resented him for becoming a "crazed gunman", he quickly found out to overcome the argument with a few thousand dollars.
Ah yes, now THAT was why he was here, Matthew thought to himself as he pulled his van up to the old train-station. With the end of the war came along the end of his company, without any wars or battles to be fought, the PMC eventually collapsed upon itself and the hunter now found himself without a job. He picked up a few freelance jobs from some random people, but he didn't find an actual employer and was left to pick up almost any job he could, which ranged from a janitor to a telemarketer. Yet, he still found himself traveling back to the wilderness to take potshots at anything that seemed worthy of mounting on his wall.
Matthew received a letter a few days ago from some company calling themselves "RED". The letter told him of some sort of war that was going on that required his particular "skills". He didn't care so much for what he was doing as he did for the four-digit number that explained his weekly payroll. The letter didn't give him a return-address, but told him that if he accepted the job, he was to meet at a certain place at a certain time.
Which happens to be here and now, the ex-assassin thought to himself. He locked his van and strode into the abandoned building. He found himself on an open-air platform which stretched around the corner of a mountain. He looked both ways to find that the rails curved around the mountain, blocking his view of the train that was yet to come. He checked his watch. Any minute now. He sat down on the ground and started to fall asleep.
The rendezvous time had caused him to wake up extremely early, early enough so that the sun wasn't even out. Just before he dozed off, the faint sound of an engine caught his ear. He was used to finding changes in the environment, which led him to not only be an accurate hunter, but an adaptable one as well. As the sound got closer, a faint light along came into view the railroad came into view just around the mountain. The light turned into a train as it finally pulled up into the station, and Matthew got up and dusted himself off as the locomotive stopped in front of him. The side door opened and a man wearing a hard-hat and overalls slowly appeared before Matthew. The man also wore goggles and a worker's glove on his right hand, and he had a certain air of wisdom about him.
"You wouldn't happen to be Matthew Jones, would you?" said the man in a strange accent. Where had Matthew heard that before? Ah, yes, from those movies about the cowboys in the old west. So this man must come from the states.
"yeah, that'd me" replied a very tired Matthew.
The man from the train grew a grin across his face. "And I assume ya'll be our new sharpshooter?"
"me, again." He really just wanted some sleep.
The man stepped aside and offered the doorway to his guest. "name's Jeremy, but most people just call me the engineer"