Song: KMFDM - More & Faster; Anti-Flag - American Attraction
There were so many weird things about being in a sharpshooting competition. I think the weirdest part for me was that I knew I was being watched and it made me even more nervous than I already was. I was waiting to go out there and get into position, but my hands were all shivery and it sucked. Because I needed to be calm and focused. The last thing I needed were shaky hands.
The other really weird thing was how they gave us these headphones to protect our hearing. I almost laughed out loud when they handed them to me. It just seemed a little ridiculous when I had grenades exploding next to me and have never shot a gun with any sort of protection before.
What was even worse was that Mordecai wasn't here to wait with me until it was my turn. He could stay with me up until a certain point, but right now I was on my own and my nerves were getting the better of me. I just wanted to get this over with, but I knew I needed to be good.
"Nova, are you there?"
I looked down at my ECHO. What the... Lilith? What was Lilith calling me about? Now was really not the time, but I was kind of glad she did call. At least that meant I wasn't all on my own, surrounded by all those people with their high-tech rifles. I clicked on the message to answer.
"Hey, Lil. I'm there, but I gotta go soon. What's up?"
"We found her. We found Athena." Lilith answered.
"That's great news. Are you questioning her?"
"Not right now. We'll have to capture her and it looks like a job for all of you. For now we're just watching her, trying to figure out a plan for when you guys come back. How are you doing?"
"Well, I think I'm actually up next, so I can't really talk right now. I'm so nervous, Lil, I swear, I'm glad you echoed."
"Alright, you got this, girl! You can do it."
"Thanks, Lil."
I wished I had that sort of confidence in myself. But I didn't. I was a mess. This morning I was pretty calm - I sorted all my dreadlocks, put them into a neat braid, so they wouldn't get in the way, put on some new cargo pants and a clean tank top, got my rifle ready. I did all those little things and I was calm and I was looking forward to this. But now I just wanted to run off.
"Miss Haile, you're up." someone behind me suddenly said. I turned around to see a petite young woman with a data pad in her hand and a headset on her head standing there. She looked pretty overworked.
"Uh... right, thanks." I replied and grabbed my rifle. Okay. Okay. Mordecai had walked me through this. I just needed to go out there and start hitting the targets. 3 shots on each distance, 4 different distances. I could do this.
I took a deep breath and started walking out of the little tent I had been waiting in. My knees felt wobbly. I could see the field with the targets and I quickly walked towards it, trying to ignore the fact that there were a bunch of people sitting around behind me. I took a deep breath again before I got into position.
I tried to focus on what I was doing, but it was just so incredibly difficult. This was all completely new to me. There were some unintelligible sounds coming from a loudspeaker and I could feel the people watching me. But there was something else, somewhat far away. There was a small, familiar caw. Talon.
Hearing that Talon was around actually helped me calm down a little. I looked through my scope and aimed at the target. There was little to no wind, so I chanced in. I breathed in and held my breath as I carefully squeezed the trigger. It was odd to hear the shot only as this distant and faint sound. I wasn't used to it. For a few seconds I wasn't even sure if I had actually shot the rifle.
And of course I missed. I had two shots left, but still. That wasn't good. That was awful. I needed to qualify for the next round, if I wanted to get anywhere. I could miss only two more shots and not get disqualified, so I felt even more nervous after this. I tried not to think about it too much and reloaded my rifle.
A second shot. I took a deep breath in, held my breath and pulled the trigger. This time I hit the target. Barely. Shit, I wished Mordecai was here to tell me to focus and get my shit together. I really missed him, but he had stuff to do himself. He was probably aceing whatever discipline he was doing at the moment.
I reloaded my rifle and aimed at the same target for the last time. This one had to be better. It just had to. I did my usual breathing ritual and pulled the trigger. And it was better. It was pretty good, actually. I smiled down at my rifle and moved on to the next target. This one was further away than the first one, so a bit more difficult to hit. But I had to get it. I had to hit it all three times, otherwise I'd just be average.
And I managed to hit it all three times, but two of those shots just about hit the target, which wasn't too good. I really needed to ace the next distance, because the last one would be really difficult to even hit. Especially now that the wind got a little stronger and the ballistics got way more complicated.
Thankfully I managed to do well for the next three shots. Those three should save me, at least for this round. I'd have to do way better next round if I wanted to get anywhere. I took a deep breath before I repositioned again. This was pretty stressful. Being nervous, all the focussing, knowing people were watching and judging and whatnot. I wasn't used to it at all. I didn't know if I'd ever get used to it.
I heard Talon caw in the distance again, as I got ready for the last three shots. God, I couldn't wait until this was all over and until I could finally sit back and relax again. I shot and hit the target the first two times. But then - I don't know why - I just missed completely. I don't know if I was feeling exhausted or if I was getting too confident or what it was. I sighed and got up.
Guess I had to sit back and hope for the best. At this rate, I might or might not make the qualifications for the second round. I unloaded my rifle and walked back to where I came from. Guess I had to sit with the rest of the people in this contest and wait it out. I just felt really exhausted and kinda numb after this.
"Hey, girl, you did well out there!" I heard someone greeting me as I trotted back into the tent. I looked up and saw Nadia smiling widely at me.
"Thanks. I kinda did shitty. I was nervous." I replied.
"Oh, stop. We're all nervous the first time. Don't worry. I think you got enough points to get into the next round and then you can do better. You got this." she said. I shrugged and smiled a little.
"You wanna go and grab a coffee? I really need one." I replied. She shook her head and pointed towards the exit.
"I'm up soon, I can't really right now. But I think Anouk went to get a coffee, so you'll probably meet her there and can hang out with her until the next round." Nadia answered. I smiled and nodded.
"Cool, I'll head there, so. Good luck out there!"
"Thanks!"
I slung my sniper rifle over my shoulder and walked towards the coffee station. At least they had free coffee here. And it wasn't bad coffee. Not the best I've ever had, but it wasn't terrible. I hesitated for a second before walking over to the coffee machines. It felt weird to just be talking to my fucking daughter, as if she was a good friend. As if she was Lilith or something. It was weird.
But at the same time, I figured it was probably the best I could hope for. I bet few people were exactly friends with any of their parents. Or maybe that was just me. Anyways, now there was no way back. At some point I'd have to reveal the big secret, but today was not the day.
"Hey Anouk." I said, as I casually sauntered over to the coffee machines to get that coffee that I craved so badly.
"Nova, how are you?" she asked.
"Alright, I guess. Kinda screwed up a little out there. Hope I'll make the next round." I replied and took my cup of coffee in my hands. Damn, I just couldn't get enough of that good coffee smell.
"Aw, no. Same here. Kinda screwed up. This is pretty much the biggest thing I've been to, it's kinda making me nervous."
"Yeah, I get you. How many did you miss?" I wanted to know, hoping it would calm me down a little.
"I missed one, but that was only the furthest distance, so I think I should be okay for the next round. I'll have to be better than that next round, though. What about you?" she replied. I took a sip of my coffee.
"Uh... I missed two. The very first one and the very last one. I was really nervous and I'm not used to wearing the hearing protection thingies and being watched... I don't know. I hope I'll get through to the next round, I'm usually better than that. I mean, Mordecai made me train A LOT for this." I answered.
"Oh man, having to wait and hope for the best is awful. But you'll be fine, I'm sure. There's not many people left after you and you're not right at the cutoff line. You'll be fine." Anouk said.
"Really? How many are left?"
"I dunno. Five or so? Not that many. Nadia is left, she's usually really good, but she's had some trouble focusing lately. I hope she makes it."
"You guys been friends for long?"
"Yeah, I think we've been friends, since... maybe since I was four or five? Just before we both started school. Been friends ever since, which was good, because I wasn't the best at making friends at school. But Nadia made up for that."
"She sounds like a really good friend. I wish I had a friend like that when I was your age." I replied with a sigh. I really wished I had had a friend like Nadia. Maybe I wouldn't have been such a screw-up then.