"So where do you want to go first, guys?" Meat asked as they walked around base.
"How about the gun range?" Royce suggested, "I know that today's a free day for us, but I want to see what kind of firearms they have."
Gary thought about it for a brief moment, and then he replied, "I'm game. Also, I want to see if we can shoot a few rounds." He then turned to John and asked, "You game?"
John gave a shrug and replied, "Sure."
The four walked towards the gun range. It was still full of troops when they got there. The four stopped behind the safety line and saw a Staff Sergeant barking at the troops.
"That's the worst shooting I've ever seen!" the Staff Sergeant yelled, "If any of you maggots' points are lower than 90, all of you will run around the compound!" He then looked behind him and saw the four. "Continue on, I need to take care of something." He then walked towards the four, who saluted when he was standing before them. The Staff Sergeant returned the salute and said, "At ease. I'm SSgt. Avery "Archer" Combs. I see that all of you are our new FNGs."
Meat leaned towards Royce and whispered, "What does FNG mean?"
Royce looked at him, dumbfounded. "You don't know?" Royce asked, stupefied. Meat shook his head. "We're the Friggin' New Guys."
"Oh…"
"What can I do for you FNGs?" Archer asked, suspiciously.
John stepped forward and replied, "We just want to see the gun range, sir. Gary, on the other hand, was wondering if we could fire off a few rounds, sir."
Archer thought about it for a brief moment, then replied, "Well, I want to see how good you guys are at the range…sure." He then faced the troops in the gun range and barked, "Make room! We're going to see the FNGs shoot!"
A slot was quickly emptied, as the troops were anticipating what would happen. Most of them were betting with each other, thinking that the four will do horribly. Gary was the first one to go up, since he was the one that wanted to fire off a few rounds. He grabbed an M4A1 Carbine and slammed a magazine into the receiver.
"You're good to go," Archer announced.
The target was human shaped. The inner-center and the head were 10 points, outer center was 9 points, and then every other two slots were 7, 5, 3, and so on. Gary pulled the charging lever, released it, and turned off the safety. He braced the butt of the gun with his shoulder, and then opened fired. He used short control bursts, and soon he ran out of ammo in the magazine.
"Weapon's clear!" Gary announced.
Archer entered the range and studied the target. "Okay…your score is…158! You did better than the troops here!" There were "oohs" and "awes" in the crowd. Archer put up a new target, got out of the range and yelled, "Next!" Meat walked and picked up an Mp5k submachine gun. There were snickers within the crowd, thinking that Meat would do horribly, since the Mp5k has a lot of recoil. Meat slammed a magazine in the receiver and waited for Archer's orders. "You're good to go!"
Meat opened fire. He also used short, controlled bursts. He used Mp5ks before, so he had excellent control of the weapon. Once he ran out of ammo, he turned the safety on and yelled, "Weapon's clear!"
Archer did the same and studied the target. "Hmm…125 points, not bad!" There were murmurs of shock throughout the crowd. Archer put a fresh new target, returned and yelled, "Next!" Royce then took his turn. He took a M4A1 Carbine and slammed a new magazine. "You're good to go!"
Royce then opened fired. Unlike the previous two, Royce used a full automatic mode. However, he had excellent control over the weapon. Seconds later, he was clear. "Weapon's clear!" Royce yelled.
Archer then examined the nearly destroyed target. "Holy crap…I can't even get a definite score here," Archer admitted, "My best guess…179! Not bad for full automatic." He then changed targets for the last time. He walked up to John and said, "Let's see what you can do."
John nodded and walked up to the range. He picked up an ACR rifle, the rifle he was best at. John took a deep breath, and exhaled. Come on John…you're the last to go…I need to REALLY impress them. What was the lesson that Louis taught me when I joined the USMC?
Two years and four months ago…
John just had joined the Marines. He and his brothers were at their parents' home. He walked up to Louis and asked, "Do you have any tips for me, Louis? I mean…you're a Marine yourself. Can you give me any advice?"
Louis reached for a chair, placed a chair before John, sat down on it and replied, "Well…when I was fighting with the SAS, I used the ability to use adrenaline fully. You know…become a super-soldier on the field."
"How do you do that?" John asked curious.
"Hmm…well it's hard to explain," Louis admitted, "I know that if you're facing death, you get a surge of adrenaline. However, I believe fear would resist the flow of adrenaline that's in your blood, so you can't use the adrenaline to the max. I believe that if you accept that you could die, the adrenaline would flow smoothly. If you use the adrenaline to the maximum, you'll get perfect focus, aim, stability, and can ignore most pain." He then shuffled in the chair and resumed, "If you just want to be the best in the gun range, try thinking that it's the last time you'll ever be in the range. You know that you want to do your best, and that's when the adrenaline pumps in…well…that happens to me."
John shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Well, I won't know unless I try."
Now that John remembered what his brother Louis said, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was thinking that this was the last time that he was going to be in a gun range. He has to do his best. Then, the adrenaline came in. He slowly opened his eyes and time seems slowed down a bit. His mind was clear and focused. He reached for a magazine and slammed it into the receiver.
"You're good to go!" Archer yelled.
John raised the rifle at super-natural speed and opened fired. He aimed for the inner-center ring and the head. John used bursts, but due to the adrenaline surge, the pause between bursts was a split second apart. When John's rifle was out of ammo, the barrel was smoking. "Weapon's clear," John said. Once the adrenaline wore off, John shivered as he felt his spine went cold.
Archer hesitantly walked up to the target and looked at it. "Ho…ly…crap…" Archer murmured. The bullet holes were only in the head and inner-center areas. "30 round magazine times ten…300 points!"
"HOLY CRAP!!!" the crowd screamed.
"Bollocks…" a British accent murmured.
John recognized the voice. He spun around and saluted to 1stLt. Riley. "You…watched us, sir?" John asked, somewhat tired from the adrenaline surge.
"Sure did, Savior. In fact, I've watched all four of you," Lt. Riley admitted, "You four are the best recruits I've ever seen...well in the range." He noticed John's exhaustion and asked, "Something wrong, Savior?"
John put the ACR down and wiped the sweat off his brow. "N-not really, sir; adrenaline surge just tired me out."
Lt. Riley raised an eyebrow and asked, curious, "Adrenaline surge?"
"It's something that my brother Louis taught me. I'm a bit tired to explain it."
"Okay, but I hope you'll explain it to the Captain and me during dinner."
John nodded, sat down on a crate and watched the others fire down the range. As he was watching Meat shooting again, John formed a small smile. Yeah…I think I've made a good impression to everyone here…