Once I reach the top of the steps I go to my bed where I had placed my Long Las .Charlie goes to the desk where he placed his gauss carbine and backpack with supplies.

“Dave, grab your sword we’re heading down to the basement.” I tell Dave.

“Affirmative ‘Josh’.” Dave responds, then grabs the white sword he had placed on his bed. After we all had our weapons we walked down the stairs to the firing range. Once we arrived at the firing range I went down range and placed some paper targets and mannequin targets.

“I think you should test your weapon first Charlie.” I say.

He looks at me with a huge smile. “With pleasure.” He then grabs a magazine of ammunition labeled ‘Anti-Personnel’. Putting the magazine inside the gauss carbine he lines up the sites on the carbine. Aiming at a paper target he tenses up and fires.

There was a large pop as he fired. I look down the range at the target. ‘Did he hit? I can’t see from here.’

“This thing has some kick but it manageable.” Charlie says as he set his carbine down on a table.

“Let’s go check out what it did.” I say. I then start walking towards the target. Charlie and Dave soon follow. When we get to the target I scan it. ‘I don’t see a hole. He must have missed.’

“I swore I hit it.” Charlie says as he runs his finger along the paper. Suddenly the paper folds in as he pass over it with his finger. “What’s this?” Charlie asks. I walk closer to get a better look. I look through the line like hole in the paper and see something sticking out of the wall behind it.

“Hey Charlie, do you know what kind of projectile the Anti-Personnel ammo is?” I ask as I look at the wall.

“No, I didn’t bother to take a look inside the magazine.” He answers. He joins me behind the target. I walk up to the wall and carefully pull out a thin rectangular piece of metal. I hold it up for Charlie to see. Charlie takes the piece of metal from me and lightly touches the edge. “Fuck!” He exclaims as he pulls his finger back.

“What happened?” I ask.

“I cut my finger on that fucking thing. I didn’t even touch it that hard.” He responds.

“I guess this is what the Anti-Personnel round is. A thin razor.” I look at the blade and shudder. “It must be horrible to get shot by that thing, if just lightly touching it cuts so deep.”

“Yeah.” Charlie says as he puts his finger into his mouth.

“I’ll go get some hemostasis spray and bandages.” I say as I start jogging towards the stairs. Once at the top I go to my backpack and take out a bottle of hemostasis spray and a roll of bandages. Running back down the stairs I arrive back at the firing range. “Show me your finger.” I say. Charlie obliges and takes his finger out of his mouth. I set down the bandages and spray his finger with the hemostasis spray. His finger immediately stops bleeding after I spray it. I then put the bottle down and wrap his finger in bandages.

“Thanks.” Charlie says and flexes his finger a couple times.

“No problem.” I answer. “Hey Charlie.”

“Yeah.” He answers.

“Do you know what it takes to be a good sniper.” I ask.

“Well, I can’t tell you much since I wasn’t a sniper but what I can tell you is that the most important thing to being a sniper is mobility.” He says.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You see Josh a sniper is good at taking down single targets, but what happens when there is more than one. Sure you might be able to kill a few before they find you but eventually they will find you. Of course that is only if you stay in one place. If, after every shot, you change to a different position then it will be extremely hard to find you. Not to mention you probably won’t be that far away from people considering that you haven’t been formally trained by the military.” He answers.

“Wow, I never thought about it like that, but now that you have said it it makes a lot of sense.” I say.

“No problem. We are friends aren’t we. I’m always happy to help.’ Charlie says.

“Really? Thanks a lot.” I say a huge smile plastered across my face. After a couple minutes of silence I walk over to the table where I placed my Long Las and lined up the iron sites on one of the mannequins. I place my finger on the trigger and pull. A bright flash of light beams out and a hole the size of a baseball opens in the face of a mannequin. ‘I see why these are called ‘hot shots’ these overcharged packs really pack a punch.’ After a couple hours of practice, in which Charlie gave me pointers on how to shoot better and Dave practiced swinging his sword, we head back up and Charlie leaves for his room.

“See you tomorrow Charlie.” I say as he heads out the door.

“See ya.” He responds with a wave. After Charlie leaves Dave and I enter the kitchen and sit down at the table.

“I’m glad we have someone else to train with.” I say as I slump down in my chair.

“Charlie will be able to provide valuable information on combat and shooting.” Dave responds.

“Yep.” I answer. “It almost makes me excited for the next mission, almost.” I stare down at the table. ‘We got lucky this time. It wasn’t that hard and most of the newbies survived but I’m almost certain that trend will not continue. Most of them will die. I might even die.’ My thoughts swirl in my head. I slam my fist on the table. ‘I can’t think like this. I need to survive. This isn’t just about me, it’s about Dave, it’s about Charlie, but most importantly it’s about Bill.’ My eyes start to water and I place my head on the table. Soon everything fades away.