《The Beasts Under Your Bed》Chapter 10

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After a few moments, Kiko stopped using the window to check herself out, and glanced through a nearby window, seeing she was outside a firing range. Kiko had never seen a gun, let alone held one, but it was interesting...So, Kiko opened the door, and then retrieved a pair of earmuffs from a row of them, with a sign above stating that they were necessary for all personnel in the firing range. Probably to prevent ear damage, or something like that.

Putting them on, the world suddenly became strangely dulled. Not muted like she had expected, but the edge was taken off all sound. With sufficient ear protection, she opened the second door that connected the earmuff room to the firing range proper, and was glad for the muffs. The air was filled with loud pops, bangs, and cracks as dozens of SIR agents practiced their marksmanship with a multitude of weaponry. If this was what it was like with ear protection, she wondered how people got on in the field, unless there were some sort of plugs, but then that would mess with communication. Lost in her own little world, she didn’t notice when someone came up and placed a hand on her shoulder. Jumping slightly, she turned to the amused visage of the woman standing next to her. With nothing distinctive, Kiko thought she was just another operative, and so gave her a smile. No risk of weird stuff here.

“Fresh Meat. How lovely” The woman said, flashing some impressive fangs as a glint of light revealed a cadaverous look to her face. It earned her a shriek and a punch in the face, which was apparently not what she was expecting, as the woman went reeling back, and clutched her nose.

“Ow. Dam, you have a hell of a left hook, girl. I was only going to nibble” The girl stated, dropping her hands from her face to show a much friendlier smile.

“We are surrounded by too many guns for you to start that kind of crap” Kiko retorted, electing a rather cute giggle-snort from the woman. Kiko’s hand was throbbing from the punch, apparently having thrown a blow at a brick wall rather than a woman’s face. Did fucking everyone had supernatural durability here, or something?

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“Fair point. I’m Bruyn. I run the shooting range. I hope I scared you, I just haven’t smelled you before and so thought I’d come over and say hi” Bruyn explained, and introduced herself. After a few seconds, Kiko was confident that Bruyn was just messing about, and wasn’t actually about to bite, so walked over and took the outstretched hand. The woman’s face had returned to a normal look, so she wasn’t all that scary anymore.

"Bruyn...head of the Rifles" Kiko commented, remembering what she had just been told.

"Yea, best shots in SIR. With a Rifle at your back, you can be assured you've got all the Fire Support you need" Bruyn exclaimed. Queenie was not exaggerating about the fact that she had strict aspirations, it seemed.

“So....Smelled me? What happened to seeing? Are you blind?” Kiko was still a bit nervous, put off by the look the girl had given. She had obviously plastered those emotions on her face, since Bruyn offered some more.

“Na. I’m a Draugr. Hence the rotting face” She said, before noticing Kiko had no idea what a Draugr was. “Think…Awesome...super zombie. Shit happened, I died, and now I am back to help the world fight the Beasts from Beyond. And in return SIR keeps me from rotting and dropping my body parts were I may. Also covers up the stretch. If there is one problem with being a super strong, neigh-invincible zombie, it’s the stench” she quipped, laughing to herself.

Kiko listened, and then cocked her head softly as she said neigh-invincible.

“Invincible being the reason for awesome super-zombie rather than the normal, shuffling, 'hit the head' zombie?” She asked.

“Yea. We Draugr are impervious to weapons, but need to be dismembered and burned to die. As you might think, it’s difficult to dismember a super strong zombie when you can’t use any weapons on her. Clever, huh? Makes me a great asset on the field against the Shriekers and the Succubi. I’m dead, they can’t bugger with anything that makes you humans tick. Plus, I don’t actually rot, I sort of just desiccate. But! You did not come here to talk about me, did you?” She asked, and then continued when Kiko shook her head. “Good. Then let us begin the tour of guns! Have you ever shot a gun before?” She finished.

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“W-wait, I just came here to explore. I only joined the other day” Kiko admitted, looking around and feeling a bit self-conscious at all the confident gunslingers around here.

“That’s fine. No problem with never shooting before. It’s what we work for, after all. Now, you’ll wanna start with a small calibre weapon so you can get used to the weight of guns, and the recoil, and then move up. I’ve got an open booth, we can start you off with the thirty two. I'd not trust it if you are hunting big monsters, but it's good for the smaller guys” she then took Kiko to the booth, and there was a spread of pistols in individual slots, with numbers above them. Kiko’s eyes were immediately drawn to a huge thing near the end, with ‘.650’ above it. She moved over to it and stared, with a grin.

“What the hell do you need something this big for?” Kiko would ask incredulously.

"Some monsters need putting down hard. Funny you go for that gun, it's the same make your father used" Bruyn commented, walking over and taking a position behind Kiko.

"....I feel jealous. Everyone here seems to know him so well, and I never got to meet that side of him" Kiko muttered, pulling out the gun and feeling the thing's weight. It was hefty, and she never expected her Dad to be the muscle man to wield something like this.

"It was on purpose. He never wanted you to find out about this part of him. He, and we, never thought he would die like that. It's sent Elis and Lassadora into a major tizzy to know there is something out there we don't know, that can take out men like him" Bruyn's sombre tone echoed her movements, which reached around Kiko and took hold of her hands. "Sorry, to be a buzz kill. Let's have fun. Grasp firmly, spread your legs, and squeeze the trigger when you feel ready"

Kiko, avid for something to focus on that wasn't her dad getting killed by an unknown monster, did just that. It was just a gun, even if it was hellishly heavy. She'd seen the movies, she knew that recoil was hardly a concern when you were fit and healthy like her. So she slowly pulled the trigger, and there was a monumental force suddenly thrown onto her, the gun went up, ripped out of her grasp, and clattered onto the floor, while Kiko herself let out a strangled yelp and lost her balance completely, hitting Bruyn hard, though the Draugr didn't seem to flinch.

Making sure Kiko was fine and then recovering the gun, Bruyn smiled.

"So?" She asked Kiko, who was rubbing her sore hands.

"I reiterate. What the hell needs that kind of a gun?" she grumbled, glaring at it.

"Honestly? Nothing. You can get by with a .357 or a .44 if you need the firepower. This gun was designed for people like me, the super-strong Quasi-Humans who can casually handle something like this" Bruyn stated, aiming at the target and cocking the hammer before firing off a round with one hand. Unlike Kiko’s wild shot which had gouged a small chunk of rock out of the concrete wall at the back, Bruyn’s bullet hit the wooden target and blew apart the head, sending wooden splinters across the firing range. "There is comfort in something being super-dead rather than just dead or nearly dead, after all. Now, to the thirty two"

Bryun's orders were not something Kiko could argue with, and so spent the next half an hour learning basic gunmanship. She was a very strict teacher, but one with a firm grasp on how to teach, so Kiko left to her lecture on Beast Biology feeling like she had really learned something...

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