Time Error
Chapter 9: The Riflemen and the Spider
At the top of a cliff sat Sniper's van, and in his van could be heard a thump…thump…thump…as Sniper repeatedly hit his forehead against his steering wheel, with Amelie staring at him with a smirk on her face, sitting in the passenger seat next to him.
Sniper: Stupid…bloody…hell…of all the blokes you could choose to be with it had to be me…fucking piss.
Amelie: You had a vehicle to use as an escape, of course I'd choose you.
Sniper: So did Engie!
Amelie: Engineer wasn't alive.
Sniper: Augh!
Sniper groaned as he glared through the front window, he was tempted into just driving off the cliff and ending his misery once and for all, he would have already done that if it weren't for the fact that he wouldn't respawn afterwards. He saw the huge explosion back at the base, and if that explosion destroyed the base it surely did destroy the respawn machine there too. He turned his glare back towards Amelie who too was looking out the window of the van.
Sniper remembered his first encounter with a black widow, he was sniping through the window of a very old attic, doing his mission when it landed on his shoulder. Its 2 fangs tapped on his shoulder, as if daring him to make a sudden movement. Now Sniper new this woman was no spider, but in his mind he still screamed "Piss off you eight eyed freak!"
Amelie turned her eyes to Sniper when she noticed him staring at her, their eyes met once again yet Sniper looked away quickly. He did not want to make eye contact since her eyes remind him of someone else, whom he wishes to forget. Sniper let out a growl before getting up from his seat and exiting the van, he slammed the door shut as soon as he was out which caused the bobble head he had at the front to shake, Amelie stared at it with some interest. As Sniper took a breather outside he noticed that the sun was at its highest point, "Must be high noon." Sniper thought to himself.
"Okay, now is not the time to be whining about being stuck with the worse sheila ever, you need to survive until you are united with the others, so you best start planning." Sniper thought.
Sniper: Alright, I'm good with food since my van has food supplies, good on ammunition, oh wait!
Sniper opened the back of his van and ran inside, Amelie could hear a lot of objects being moved around or being thrown about, and after a few minutes the commotion stopped when Sniper found what he was looking for. Sniper smiled proudly when he found it before grabbing and attaching it to his belt, it being the uber canteen. Once Sniper secured its attachment to his belt he got out of the van and closed the back door, then walking back to the front and sitting in the driver seat, Amelie saw the uber canteen but thought it was something else.
Amelie: All this fuss for some sort of alcoholic drink?
Sniper: It's called a canteen sheila, uber canteen in this case.
Sniper patted the uber canteen on his belt.
Sniper: This'll come in handy.
Amelie: What does this uber canteen do?
Sniper: That's none of your business, but if you try anything funny on me it's your funeral sheila.
Sniper then readjusts how he sat in his seat to get comfortable.
Amelie: So, is there a plan you have?
Sniper: We already are good on that, plan is simple, wait until either we find the others or the others find us. Now I know what you're thinking but believe me this actually is a good plan.
Amelie: Care to explain why?
Sniper: How about you think of the position we're in sheila, we're on top of a cliff, we have a good view of everything. We are most likely going to find the others before they find us.
Amelie: If we are on top of a cliff, couldn't they see us two?
Sniper: Yeah.
Amelie: Including the robots?
Sniper stayed silent as he thought about it, a deep frown was set on his face once he realized what she meant.
Sniper: Piece of piss! Argh! I hate you for having a better mind than me! Why are the sheilas always the smart ones?
Sniper turned away from Amelie while she was containing her laughter, Sniper calling her smart is rather hilarious when she only just pointed out the obvious. Sniper then came up with a new plan.
Sniper: Alright I got another idea, we're still using this cliff but we can't be staying here forever, only for a limited amount of time. As we are up here we will be searching for the others, scoping the area you know what I mean. When we are done here we'll move out, go for lower ground, but we might use the hill for the night, ugly creatures crawl around here when the sun goes down.
Amelie nodded, this was a plan she could follow, Sniper took out his rifle.
Sniper: You already know what we doing.
Sniper than began to search the area around them, scoping the trees and searching the ground, Amelie followed his actions and searched in the more denser tree areas. She could hear Sniper groan before mumbling something.
Sniper: stupid…wooden…trees.
Sniper heard something he never thought he would hear, a giggle from Amelie. Sniper froze in place and slowly turned his attention to her.
Amelie: I don't see why you must insult the trees.
Sniper: What are you? A tree hugger? It's the trees fault that I can barely see anything from here, I'm starting to think that my second plan ain't doing anything useful.
Amelie: And this is where I come in to help you, observe.
Sniper watched her as she activated her Infra-sight, Sniper had forgotten all about her creepy head device, this could be a reason why he thinks she's a spider. Amelie then zoomed in and scan the area, while explaining to Sniper what she was doing.
Amelie: With my Infra-sight I can see my targets from afar, but I could also see them through objects, like walls or buildings, including trees.
"Talk about wall hacks." Sniper thought.
Sniper: Well? You see anything?
Amelie took a good look around and did spot a couple figures, some of the figures were close and some of them were very far away, now Amelie could just tell Sniper the truth but she decided against that, she wanted to know more about Sniper and them being alone together is the best way.
Amelie: Nothing.
Sniper: Nothing? You sure that thing on your head is working correctly?
Amelie: In perfect condition.
Sniper:…Are you sure you don't see anything?
Sniper gave a look of suspicion to Amelie, she pretended to scan the area again.
Amelie: There is nothing.
Sniper: Nothing huh? Hmm…either when they ran they ran like hell or they are more farther than we thought.
Amelie: It is possible they could have passed the limit my Infra-sight can reach.
Sniper: So much for the use of your bloody spider sight eh? I'm gonna get this van off of this cliff here, I think we'd be less noticeable without it.
Sniper walked towards his van, but Amelie made one last check on the others to remember where they are. Sniper got into his van and turned the engine on, he then started driving down the slope, being careful not to lose control of it. When he reached ground level he parked his van and turned the engine off, he got out of the driver seat and tried to think of what else to do, Amelie said to him that she saw nobody so that means they can't go looking for them. And he can't just go driving around looking for them either, his van does not have unlimited amount of gas. Sniper turned his head towards the window when he heard a tap on it, seeing Amelie there made him roll his eyes. He got out of the driver seat and closed the door, he made his way towards the back with Amelie following him, when he opened the back door he went inside first then Amelie following him last.
Sniper: Please excuse the mess, I usually don't get visitors, nor do I even allow them in here, hehe.
Sniper chuckled as he climbed up onto his bed. Amelie observed the small cramped room, there was a small stove and sink, a table sticking out of a wall with a seat next to it, a wardrobe and a storage box, and lastly there were some jars filled with an unknown liquid substance placed next to Sniper's bed.
Amelie: So what do we do now?
Sniper sighed as he tried to get comfortable in his bed.
Sniper: I don't know, wait…lie down…talk…although I'm not sure about the third option.
Amelie: Why not?
Amelie's face appeared out of nowhere, right next to his face, her face stared at his face as he nearly blushed at the sudden action. Her eyes made contact with his eyes again but this time, Sniper could not look away, he felt…trapped. Sniper winced as a memory popped up in his head, he growled before covering his eyes with one arm.
Sniper: Maybe because I don't wanna talk! So piss off!
Amelie tilted her head at Sniper, she has noticed that every single time they made eye contact did he look away immediately from her eyes, something was up.
Amelie: What is it that you don't like about me?
There was a pause between the two snipers, Sniper wasn't expecting her to ask that question, which results to that fact that he didn't have an answer.
Sniper: I…don't know…
Amelie: Does it have to do with my eyes?
Sniper shifted uncomfortable in his bed, she was getting closer to a very sensitive subject.
Sniper: No…
Amelie: Then why do you look away whenever you see my eyes.
Sniper: Look, Amelie is it?
Amelie: Yes.
Sniper: Amelie do me a favor and drop it will ya? It's not something I'd like to talk about.
After Sniper said this there was silence in the van, Sniper removed his arm from his eyes and saw Amelie still standing there next to him, he released a sigh.
Sniper: Fine, I'll talk with ya, but we are not talking about any sensitive subjects you got it?
Amelie nodded as she understood, but she wondered what Sniper meant by sensitive subjects, was Sniper inferring about the conversation earlier?
Sniper: How about you take a seat would you? I'm feeling weird with you standing there like that.
Amelie took seat a seat next to the table, Sniper readjusted his position to look at Amelie.
Sniper: So…where did you learn sniping?
Amelie smirked.
Amelie: And you said we shouldn't talk about sensitive subjects.
Sniper: Oh…right.
Amelie: But I suppose that is a good question, so I will tell you how I obtained these skills. Back in my time, years before I worked Overwatch, I was a wife, to a man named Gerard Lacroix. He was an agent of Overwatch, who made operations against this terrorist organization known as Talon. He was targeted to be killed many times by Talon but their attacks were never successful, that is until they turned their attention on me…
Sniper listened with interest as Amelie continued to tell her story.
Amelie: One day Talon operatives kidnapped me, and what happened after that is…
Amelie shuddered at the memory, Sniper can see her shaking for a moment. Amelie looked at Sniper and could see the little hint of worry in his eyes, but she continued to push further.
Amelie: Is unfortunate, what they did to me will forever be remembered, and will forever be a scar in my life…they have put me in a intense program known as neural reconditioning, they abused me and my will, suppressed what use to be my personalities which are forever gone, and have reprogrammed me as a sleeper agent. I'm not sure when or how but I was found by the Overwatch agents and was returned home, returned back to my normal life, back to my husband. But none of them knew what would happen next. Two weeks later I murdered my husband as he slept, and then returned back to Talon.
Sniper let out a snort before covering his mouth, trying to hold in his laugh, this surprised Amelie.
Amelie: You are laughing? Why?
Sniper: I just realized why they use to call you Widowmaker…forgive me really, I'm the type of guy who doesn't take stuff like this too seriously…
Sniper said before letting out a little chuckle, but then he used his hand and motioned for her to continue.
Sniper: Go on tell me the rest.
There was a pause before Amelie continued.
Amelie: Afterwards Talon had finished what they started on me, they have planned on making me a living weapon, and they were successful. They given me training for covert arts, and they have also changed how my body worked, they slowed down my heart which turned my skin cold and blue, and they have blocked off my ability to experience human emotions. I was a complete weapon, a walking gun.
Sniper: the perfect assassin…
Sniper said in awe, Amelie looked at him with some confusion.
Sniper: Good…God…you were literally the perfect assassin.
Amelie: I was?
Sniper: No feelings, complete training of combat, with only one thing set in mind which is to kill the objective, I'd say yes.
Sniper said as he now stared at Amelie with amazement, it was no wonder why he was killed back at the sniper tower, he was facing the perfect assassin!
Sniper: Wow…I must say I feel a bit honored, never have I thought I would I meet a true assassin. Tell me how did it feel? You know, to be something so deadly, well I mean you still are but…yeah.
Amelie: Felt like I was dead…
Sniper: Oh…thought it would feel like something else.
Amelie: But after each kill I get, I feel so alive, so satisfied, the craving for a kill goes away and is replaced with…how do I say this…
As Amelie tried to fine the right words to describe the feeling, Sniper got out of his bed and leaned against the stove in front of Amelie.
Amelie: It just felt amazing, like as if you can challenge the whole world and win.
Sniper: Ahaha! I know that feeling, back before I worked for this company, I was an assassin.
It was Amelie's turn to listen to his story, she listened intently as he went on.
Sniper: Now keep in mind, I really wasn't much of a good shot back then, but I still kept my word and got the contract done. But either way as I was saying, there is this one contract requested to be finished, some bloke asked me to get this one guy killed, he gave me the location and time of where he would mostly hangout. Seems simple enough, although little did I know that something was wrong.
Amelie rested her head on her elbow as she listened to Sniper, things were getting interesting.
Sniper: So I setup my sniping point, found a good spot where no one could find me, it gave a good view and everything. So I stayed there and waited, and waited…and waited, you get the point. Sniping is a good job sheila, but it could also be a full time job too, so you do what you gotta do to stay on point, no bathroom breaks.
Amelie: So…what do you do if you have to go?
Sniper: I can hold in the number 2, but as for the number 1, I get out a jar and I-
Amelie: Ugh!
Amelie grimaced as she already knew what he was going to say, this disgusted her but when she saw the jars filled with orange/yellow liquid did she almost barf. This disgusted her even more.
Sniper: Hey I'm a dedicated sniper alright? I can feel bad about any sheila who has to go take a piss when they are sniping, how the bloody hell are they gonna aim inside the jar?
Amelie gave a disgusted look at Sniper.
Amelie: We are getting off track here.
Sniper: Huh? Oh yea, anyways I pissed in a jar and whatever. After awhile did the wanker finally show up with a couple other guys. Had my scope on his head and was about to pull the trigger, but what stopped me was when he turned his head towards me. Starring right at me. Suddenly some guy attacked me from the back, tried to get me in a choke hold but I fought him off good and pushed him off, before he could attack me again hehe.
Sniper started chuckling as he grabbed one of the jars, Amelie could already tell what was coming next.
Sniper: I grabbed my jar of piss and threw it at him and screamed at the same time "Jarate!" In seconds he was covered with piss, soaking wet! Hahahaha!
Sniper gripped his stomach as he laughed his head off, Amelie was a little disgusted at this but couldn't help herself and let out a chuckle.
Sniper: The poor guy started throwing up his own meal when he realized what it was he was covered in, but don't worry, I ended his suffering by shoving this deep into his chest!
Sniper pulled out his kuri and held it to in the air, then acted the movement of pretending to stab someone in the chest.
Sniper: When I was done with him I turned towards the rest of the gang, they were now holding their own weapons and shot at me several times! I ducked in cover quickly before any of the bullets could penetrate me, once they ceased fired I took advantage of their reload time, I grabbed me rifle, aimed at one of the blokes head and pulled the trigger! That wanker shouldn't have gotten out of bed that day as my bullet when through his noggin! There were 7 of these guys so there are now 5, this next kill I got was a beauty, two idiots thought it was a good idea to stand in line, hehehe collateral damage. I shot first the guy in the neck and the bullet pierced through and straight into the heart of the second guy. Now there were 3, one of them was quick enough to reload and aim at me, I had to think fast and just pointed my rifle in his direction and pulled the trigger, didn't even bother to aim and I actually hit the guy!
Amelie let her jaw dropped when Sniper said that, usually whenever she does that she would miss. But Sniper looked down to the floor and shook his head, frowning a little.
Sniper: Ahhh…the bullet hit the wrong spot though, I think I shot him in spot where you make kids…poor bastard. He was bending over and screaming like hell, I gave him the easy way out with a bullet to the head. And then there was 2, I guess these guys were bosses of the group because when I saw their faces, they looked pissed. They started shooting at me again, I was able to take cover from the bullets until they threw a grenade at me spot! I had to jump out of their quickly, so I just…jumped off, forgot to tell you my sniping spot was 4 floors high, and as soon as I did jumped the damn grenade detonate.
Amelie's eyes widened from the thought of him jumping at an incredible height.
Sniper: But as I fell, in my mind I was still thinking "You know, since this is probably the end of me, I wanna make one more shot…" Time seemed to have slowed down for me as I aimed for one of them, and as soon as I pulled the trigger did time resume its normal speed. Funny thing is, I parked my van next the building, and yes you guessed it, I landed face first on my good old van, and that hurt a lot! Yet strangely I was all good, except for the stinging pain on my face. I got off of my van and looked at what should be my last target, and there he stood looking down at his fallen brethren so I guess that means I didn't miss, when he looked up at me he gave me a deadly stare before shouting out to me. It turns out this contract I was trying to do was a setup! The guy who gave me the contract wanted me dead! And the blokes I killed were assassin killers! To make this even more crazy was that the guy I was facing, was the one who assigned me the contract! He claimed that he was the one who was gonna still be breathing after this gunfight, but I begged to differ.
Amelie: What happened next?
Sniper: Isn't it obvious? I died.
Sniper said sarcastically, Amelie rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Amelie: Haha very funny.
Sniper: Ha yeah, a bullet to the heart was all I needed, and then I drove the hell of there.
Amelie: How did you manage to shoot him in the heart.
Sniper: The egghead was doing an unnecessary speech, I shot him in midsentence.
Amelie just let out a laugh, Sniper laughed along with her, when they're laugh was over Sniper continue.
Sniper: Either way when I escaped the bloody scene and hid away in my hide out, I just felt…accomplished, like I achieved something, I just felt so…
Amelie: Alive.
Sniper looked back at Amelie as she smiled, he let out a little chuckle before nodding.
Sniper: Yeah, felt like that.
There was silence in the van after that, Sniper checked his wrist watch and saw it was now 1 p.m. They still had plenty of sun to spare, so Sniper started thinking of other things to talk about, but then he remembered Amelie's gun, in a way her weapon was fascinating to him, and he got so curious and wanted to know more about it.
Sniper: Amelie?
Amelie: Yes?
Sniper: What about you weapon right there? What's it capable of doing?
Amelie smirked as she grabbed onto it.
Amelie: I'll show you.
She got up from her seat and walked out the door with Sniper following her. She then aimed to the air and began to shoot multiple times, giving Sniper an example of the firing rate, Sniper scratched chin as he was very impressed.
Sniper: Guess this explains the your rapid fire back at the tower, although I remember the firing rate to be much more faster.
Amelie: Oh, you mean this?
Amelie switched her Widow's kiss to assault mode, and began to fire rapidly, the sudden increase rate of fire made Sniper gasp.
Sniper: Dodgey! Now that's what I'm talking about!
Amelie then held out her weapon towards Sniper, his eyes widened when he saw her offer.
Sniper: Really? You sure?
Amelie: Well I don't see why not.
Sniper was shy at first but slowly grabbed onto her Widow's kiss, he held it carefully as he rotated it around to get a look at it.
Sniper: It's a beauty.
He aimed the weapon high before taking his first shot, he felt the force of the gun but held his stance firm.
Sniper: How do you shoot rapidly?
Amelie: Flick the switch.
Amelie got close to Sniper and showed him where the switch was.
Sniper: Oh, right then.
Amelie then took a few steps back to watch Sniper, he pulled the trigger and out came bullets flying out rapidly, he almost fell backwards if it wasn't for him setting one foot back, he let go of the trigger as he stood there in awe. But then his amazement was replaced with excitement and laughter.
Sniper: Hahahaha! Ohhhh how I wish I had one of these before this bloody robot war, I would have been spawn camping those blue scumbags every time, see how they would like it.
Amelie giggled but started sweating all of a sudden, it was then she realized the heat of the sun, how its heat began to concentrate on her due to the black clothing she wore.
Amelie: I find it incredible how I didn't notice the sun's heat till now.
Sniper looked at her then looked at her clothes, his facial expression changed and he gave her a plain look that clearly said "Really?"
Amelie: What?
Sniper: Maybe it's because of the fact that you're wearing those fancy looking clothes in a forest, just pointing out the obvious here.
Amelie looked at her clothes and knew the Australian was right, the color black attracts the most heat from the sun, but she had clothes under them.
Amelie: I'm going to change, I'll be back shortly.
Sniper: Alright, don't you worry about me I'll just…have fun with your gun here…hehe.
Sniper didn't really care what Amelie was doing, he was mostly focused on her weapon. Amelie walked to Sniper's van and entered the back, she closed the door and began to take off her clothes. She took off her coat and shirt, then she took off her pants, she also decided to take off her Infra-sight device since she won't be using it any time soon. The only thing she wore now was a black military bra and purple shorts, she sighed with relief as she was glad she was out of those clothes, they've been killing her with the heat. Amelie started to think of how Sniper would react to her wearing only this, even though she was wearing clothes her abdomen was completely exposed, and her military bra including her purple shorts did hug her skin tightly, which means Sniper will be seeing something. She was about to go back outside but then saw his wardrobe, perhaps he has something she could put on, for his sake anyway. She began to mess around with his clothes, moving them about as she tried to find something she could wear, Amelie was just about to quit looking but then found something that caught her attention. She pulled them out of the wardrobe saw it was a pair of weird looking goggles, and it had a note attached to it. Amelie pulled the note off and read its little message.
"Do not put this on if you want to keep your sanity!"
Amelie tilted her head with confusion, how could goggles take away your sanity? As she stared more at the goggles, the more she became curious of what happens if you put them on, soon she gave into curiosity and began to put them on, but she did not know that this was a big mistake she was making, once the goggles were strapped tightly to her eyes, she opened them…and was met with an entirely different world.
As Sniper continued to play around with Amelie's weapon, he heard some fussing around in his van, his eyes squinted with curiosity as he made his way back to the van, checking to see if everything was alright in there. He gave a knock to the back door of the van and spoke up.
Sniper: Oi! Amelie? You okay in there?
The movements in the van suddenly stopped.
Sniper: Hey watcha doing in there? What? You fighting a crocodile in there? Haha.
There was no response from inside the van, Sniper was getting a bit concerned.
Sniper: Uhh Amelie? Why aren't you talking?
Still no response.
Sniper: Come on speak up!
The van remained silent and not in motion, Sniper had enough of the silent treatment.
Sniper: Alright sheila I'm coming in, 1…2…3!
Sniper pulled the door opened but was immediately tackled down to the floor. Sniper was completely dazed since he did not expect to be tackled but gasped when he saw who was responsible for him being on the ground. It was Amelie! She sat on his stomach as her arms pushed him by the shoulder to the dirt, and gave the most creepiest smile to him, that will forever be in his nightmares, and strapped around her head were goggles he never wishes to see again. Pyrovision goggles. Sniper squirmed in her aggressive grip, trying to escape, Amelie only let out giggles as she tilted her head at him.
Sniper: Amelie please! Snap out of it! Get those goggles off now!
Despite Sniper's desperate crys, she only heard laughs from him as she held a little baby version of him to the ground.
Amelie: I'm gonna tickle you now!
Amelie said in a joyful tone, the baby Sniper laughed as she began to wiggle her fingers above his belly. But in reality Amelie began to tighten her fist in front of Sniper's face, he could hear some cracking from her knuckles as she continued to tighten it even more.
Sniper: AHHHHHH!
Sniper screamed of horror before finally pushing Amelie off of him, then getting up from the ground quickly, but Amelie got up after him and began to chase him around the van.
Sniper: Amelie! Stop this right now!
Sniper said while trying not to run out of breath, she was gaining on him fast. But in her vision she was chasing him around a van made out of chocolate, the baby Sniper laughed with happiness as he was being chased by Amelie, she only giggled before running faster. As Sniper continued to run he looked back but didn't see Amelie behind him anymore, he thought he finally was safe but unfortunately for him he bumped into her near the van's back door, she was smart enough to realize they were running in circles.
Amelie: I got you! You're all mine now!
Amelie said happily as she grabbed his shoulder, Sniper was officially freaked out.
Sniper: AHHH!
With quick movement he gave her a good punch to the cheek, Amelie let go of his shoulders as her head titled downwards, but slowly and creepily her head raise up to look at him again, her smile still placed there.
Sniper: Get away from me!
Sniper pulled the door open and slammed it to Amelie's face, causing her to back away a little, but she began to walk towards him. Sniper jumped inside his van and closed the door, locking it as fast as possible. Slowly Sniper walked backwards to his bed, still keeping his eye on the door, he thought he was safe in there, but there was another way in. Amelie broke through the van's window while scarring the hell out of Sniper.
Amelie: You can run, but you can never hide!
As Amelie crawled through the window, Sniper slowly made his way to the stove, he had an idea. Before Amelie could tackle him again he tackled her, pinning her against the van's floor.
Sniper: You'll thank me afterwards Amelie.
He raised his frying pan upward before bringing it down to Amelie's head. The sound of the frying pan colliding against Amelie's fore head echoed in the van, including part of the forest. Sniper got off of the now unconscious Amelie and was breathing heavily.
"Thank God that's over." He thought.
He looked back down at Amelie and cringed when he saw a huge bruise forming on her forehead.
Sniper: Ohhh the sheila is gonna kill me after she wakes up, I better get you fixed up while you're still sleeping. Ah where'd I put that medkit?
*6 hours later*
After hours of being unconscious Amelie woke up from what seemed to be the most messed up dream ever, she groaned as she felt like she was having a huge headache. Amelie also felt something cold on her forehead, she removed the cold object from her head and saw it was an ice pack, when Amelie touched her head and put pressure on it she hissed in pain, she realized she had a bruise on her head. But then Amelie remembered that she was with Sniper, so where was he? Not only did she realize she was alone but also realized it was dark, the next thing she realized was that she was in Sniper's bed.
But then she heard a weird instrumental sound coming from outside the van, it sounded like a very low toned horn. She got off the bed and slowly started walking to the door, while she held the ice pack to her forehead. Amelie opened the door and stepped out of the van, she followed the source of the sound and found a campfire a few feet away from the van, with Sniper sitting next to it while playing a long wooden instrument. When Amelie got closer she noticed the can of cooked beans along with some corn, it looks like Sniper made dinner while she was out. Amelie made her presence known by clearing her throat, Sniper turned his head quickly towards Amelie and reached out for his rifle instinctively, but calmed down when he saw it was Amelie.
Sniper: Oh you're awake, I thought you were going to be out for the rest of the night.
Amelie: Who hit me?
Sniper was starting to look nervous and tried to hide it.
Sniper: Umm foods ready, beans or corns?
Sniper said as he raised the two choices to her, giving her a little scared smile, she grabbed the beans and corns and set them down, she repeated her question with a very serious tone.
Amelie: Who…hit me?
Sniper: Umm…yeah about that.
Sniper scratched his head as he tried to think of a way to tell her in the nicest way.
Sniper: You see uhh…
Amelie: You hit me didn't you?
Sniper: No I didn't I…yes I did.
Amelie: Why?
Sniper: I had to! Knocking you out was the best option I had!
Amelie: You knocked me out!?
Sniper released a frustrated sigh, but then he shot back a question.
Sniper: Well why did you put on those goggle!? I had a note stuck to it that specifically said! "Do not put this on if you want to keep your sanity!"
Amelie: What goggles? I don't know what you are talkin-
Amelie stopped in midsentence when Sniper pulled out a pair of goggles from his pocket and held it out for her to see.
Amelie: Oh…
Sniper: Now you remember?
Amelie: I guess I remember putting them on, but I'm not sure what happened after that.
Sniper: You mean you don't remember what you were doing when you had these goggles on?
Amelie shook her head, Sniper let out a humph before looking back at the fire.
Sniper: Not sure why you don't remember, but I'll tell you what does happen when you have those bloody goggles on. When you look through these goggles, the whole world looks different, like as if it was made out of candy or something sweet. The clouds would be made out of cotton candy and the sun would always she shining so bright, it just looks like some sorta happy world.
Amelie looked down at the ground, this description of these goggles sounds way too much like her dream she had.
Sniper: And what makes even more weird is that the people through the goggles would look like little babies with wings, but what makes this dark and messed up is what you do. Like if you hugged the little baby versions of the people, you are actually choking them to death in real life…so messed up.
Amelie was cringing at this point, that dream she was having, it wasn't a dream, it was actually happening! And what makes this even worse is that she was having fun with it, tickling the little baby Sniper when she was actually doing something far worse to him in reality. Amelie shook the thought away and tried to think of something else, she then spotted the beans and corns on a pan near the fire.
Amelie: Can I?
Amelie gestured towards their dinner, Sniper nodded.
Sniper: Go ahead, dig in. I already ate anyway so you could have the rest if you want, considerate it an apology for knocking you out.
Amelie sat down and sat the ice pack to the floor, as she began to eat Sniper checked to see how her bruise was doing.
Sniper: Seems to be healing well, last time I checked it was bigger, now it's getting small which is a good sign I guess.
Amelie: What did you hit me with anyway? I doubt it was your fist.
Sniper: What did I use to cook those beans and corns?
Amelie: Fire.
Sniper: And?
Amelie: Oh.
There was silence between the two as she ate, Sniper was watching the night sky before looking at Amelie, she looked back up to him when she sensed his stare, and as always Sniper looked away as soon as their eyes met, Amelie had to know.
Amelie: Sniper?
Sniper: Yeah?
Amelie: Why do you feel uncomfortable around me?
Sniper: I don't feel uncomfortable around you, well I use to but now I got to know you a bit more, I'd say I'm ok now.
Amelie: Then why is it when we stare at each other's eyes, you look away?
Sniper remained quiet after that question, Amelie waited for a response but assumed she wasn't going to get any after a minute or so of waiting. But then she heard him speak up.
Sniper: Because your eyes…they remind me of her eyes.
Amelie looked back up at Sniper, he stared off into the dark forest around them as he continued.
Sniper: Your eyes look exactly like hers, the color and everything.
Sniper released a regretful sigh.
Sniper: But the reason why I look away is because I just want to forget the bloody sheila, I just want her out of my mind!
Sniper yelled as he held his head with frustration, and Amelie was curious of who was this woman he was talking about.
Amelie: Who is 'her'?
Sniper: *sigh* There's a lot of names and ways I could describe her, but for your sake I'll tell you her actual name, her name was Emily. Long ago before this war took place, me and the others would face a team in a mode called capture the flag, pretty simple task. All I had to do was defend the base from the attackers, while the others go and try to get the intelligence. But apparently I wasn't the only sniper, there was another sniper on my team, and her name was Emily.
Sniper paused for a moment, but then continued.
Sniper: And I have to admit, she was beautiful. Me and her both were new to this whole "get the intelligence!" or "defend the intelligence!" so we stuck together. We'd sometimes hang in the intelligence room with Engie, or sometimes we would stay in the respawn room after dying. This continued on for weeks as we worked there, but until one day…everything changed.
Amelie saw Sniper take a huge breath before continuing to speak.
Sniper: It was the beginning of a new round, me and Emily stood by each other as the announcer started the countdown, and that round me and her were gonna actually try to do something, so when the countdown ended we headed straight for the battlements. It was another bloody battle, bullets and rockets were flying all over the place, Emily and I stood side by side in the sniping area, taking out the supports, or trying to at least. All was going well, until one of those backstabbing spies attacked us! I heard the filthy wanker uncloak beside her but I wasn't quick enough to save her… she died with a knife stabbed to her back. I killed spook by shooting his head clean off to avenge Emily, and immediately ran back to spawn for her.
Sniper stared into the fire, as if he was seeing the memory replaying inside of it.
Sniper: But she never got the chance to respawn in my team, she respawned in the Blue team. Unknowingly it was time for auto-balance, when the respawners would switch teams unwillingly to even out the fight. But I didn't know about that back then, so it wasn't until one of my co-workers pointed out that they had a new sniper in their team, and it looked just like Emily. *sigh* I ran back to the battlements to see her myself but as soon as I did a bullet went through my head…you already know who shot that bullet.
Amelie's eyes widened, she refused to believe her thoughts of what it was saying, but Sniper could tell she wasn't believing it.
Sniper: Yep it was her sheila, it was Emily, the only friend I had or thought so anyway. Every single time I respawned and ran back to the sniping position I'd always be sent back to spawn.
Sniper's facial expression formed into anger and frustration.
Sniper: And she kept on killing me and killing me, soon enough she was dominating me! Argh! And all my team mates despised me! Saying I was useless because I couldn't bring myself to kill her! This whole time i tried to reach out for her, tried to talk to her! But she would always kill me! Finally I had enough, if that's the way she was gonna be then fine by me! I marched straight back to the battlefield to deal with her, when I spotted her she already spotted me so I ducked my head to dodge her first shot, I was successful when I heard a bullet bounce off the wall behind me, then I stood back up, took my aim and pulled the trigger!
Sniper settled back down and his facial expression softened.
Sniper: I finally got my revenge, she was the one sent back to spawn, but again she never did come back.
Amelie: Why?
Sniper looked back at her, starring back at her eyes for the first time.
Sniper: Respawn failure…one of the very firsts incidents to happen. She never respawned, so when I killed her, she actually died.
Sniper shook his head before standing up.
Sniper: Well there you have it, that's the reason why I didn't like you before, but now that I got to know you, you seem to be alright. Sorry things got a little bit depressing or too mushy, you probably don't care about it, which is the reason why I could also feel a bit jealous, having no feelings? That's something I wish came true.
Amelie furrowed her eyebrows when Sniper said that, having no feelings to her was a nightmare, it was not something she enjoyed, and about his story…she does care. Sniper chuckled a bit before looking up at the night sky.
Sniper: Beautiful night ain't it? We should be seeing lots of stars up here.
Amelie: Hmm?
Amelie looked around and realized they were up at the cliff again.
Amelie: Why are we up here?
Sniper: It'd be safer if we are on higher ground at night, and I wouldn't worry about them robots, they usually wouldn't be roaming the area at night, usually. With all the creatures out here, the robots are probably fighting for themselves right now.
Amelie: Including the others…
Sniper looked down the dirt with worry and shame, blaming himself for not finding the others earlier, but he did take some worry off of him, this is his co-workers they're talking about.
Sniper: Ah they'll be fine, they got their weapons, and I did teach them a few lessons on how to survive out here. But if anything we should worry about your mates sheila, the other gals.
Amelie looked out to the forest, where her agents currently were, they could be either dying, fighting for their lives, or they could be hiding in a safe spot. But she was hoping it was the third theory, this is the first time she actually worried for them. Suddenly she heard a howl not too far away, Sniper heard it to, he growled before picking up his wooden instrument and started playing it again. The instrument released a deep low tone sound, Amelie stared at Sniper curiously as he continued to play, after 10 seconds he stopped because he was getting annoyed of her staring at him.
Sniper: What?
Amelie: What are doing?
Sniper: Playing my didgeridrongo, now I usually would play this for fun but I believe it scares off the bloody critters. We should be sleeping well tonight, or maybe you will be sleeping well tonight.
Amelie: And what about you?
Sniper: I will be keeping watch.
Amelie: What is it with you and doing night watch? Didn't you say that the only reason why you did night watch was because of me?
Sniper: Yes, but that's changed and either way I don't sleep much, gotten use to sleeping like 3 times a week. But…I could show you another reason.
Sniper got out his jar of jarate and put the fire out, much to Amelie's disgust of the use of his urine. When the fire was out Amelie thought they would be surrounded by darkness, but surprisingly they weren't, she looked up to the night sky to see millions of stars that shined in the night, their glow brightened up the ground and the tree tops, it was a beautiful sight. Suddenly there was a bright flash that came out of nowhere, it appeared in the depths of the forest below them, the snipers were confused of what that flash was.
Sniper: You saw that too right?
Amelie: Yes, what was that?
Sniper: Not so sure but that flash was really bright…wait a sec…you see that?
Sniper pointed out black smoke rising from the trees, there was a faint orange glow at the bottom. Excitement rose in Sniper's chest as he walked closer to the edge of the cliff.
Sniper: It could be the others, they're still out there!
Amelie: It appears so, but what about that light we saw?
Sniper: That light was close to that little camp fire over there, I don't know who is there but they may be the ones to investigate.
Amelie: And what about us? Can we doing something about this?
Sniper: Nope, nothing we can do about it, it's a very long distance away Amelie, and driving my van in a dark night like this in a very dense forest like this? I wouldn't say walking is a good idea either.
Sniper had a point, the only thing they could do is wait for the night to be over and travel there in daylight. As Amelie tried to think of something they could do a cold breeze went by, causing her to shiver. Sniper saw this and shook his head before chuckling.
Sniper: At first you're hot and you had a lot of clothes on, now you're cold and all you're wearing is shorts and a training bra.
Sniper hadn't noticed what she was wearing until he knocked her out back in the van, and boy it was hard for him to stay professional when he could see her curves, and he was glad he didn't have to tell her he had to grab hold of her butt in order to push her up to his bed, it wasn't an easy job but he managed. Sniper took off his coat and handed it to her, Amelie was shocked by his polite gesture but was also touched, no one ever did treat her nicely before.
Amelie: Th-thank you.
Sniper: No worries sheila, being polite is one of the standards of being professional. Be polite, be efficient, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
Amelie: So you have a plan to kill me?
Sniper: No…well no and yes.
Amelie raised an eyebrow at him.
Sniper: Look sheila, you're the most deadliest woman I have ever met, I need something against you. But enough of that, think it's time to head back in the van.
Sniper started walking back to his van with Amelie, when they were inside Sniper closed and locked the door.
Amelie: Not sure if that's any use, your window is broken open.
Sniper: I wonder who was responsible for that Amelie.
Sniper said sarcastically, Amelie realized it was her.
Amelie: Ugh what have else have I done when I wore those goggles?
Sniper: Well you did straddle me as you got ready to punch me to death.
Amelie: What?
Sniper: Haha! Just joking…
Even though Sniper claimed it to be a joke Amelie knew that it was true, since she saw his cheeks go red for a bit.
Sniper: You can take my bed if you want, I'll just be sitting here.
Sniper sat on his chair near the table so he could keep an eye out through the broken window, Amelie climbed to his bed and laid down, once she was comfortable she stared at Sniper, he stared back at her.
Sniper: What?
Amelie: Did you have...feelings…for someone before.
Sniper let out a snort before shaking his head.
Sniper: Feelings? Those are for the unprofessional, the rookies. But I suppose once in my life I was a rookie, but those feelings never helped me.
For some reasons Amelie felt a bit disappointed when Sniper said that, she didn't know why but she just felt like her hopes were crushed. But why? Why did she feel like this? Could she be developing feelings for this Australian? No! Impossible! Why would she love a man who pisses in a jar and throws it at people? These thoughts frustrated her badly, why was she even thinking these thoughts?
"He's just a man who knows his way around a sniper, nothing more." Amelie thought. "But maybe he could be mo-Stop it!"
Sniper: You alright Amelie? You seem a bit disturbed in your slumber.
Amelie: I'm fine.
Amelie turned away from him to try to hide her frustration, Sniper gave her a curious look before shrugging it off and turning back to the window. As he stared through the broken window, a smile formed on his lips.
"Ah…she's a beaut." Sniper thought.
To be continued…
