NOVEL NEXT Chapter 468.
Chapter 468. A Slow Day on a Farm. (1/6)
By the time I opened my eyes next it was late into the afternoon on Saturday. I’d slept for quite a while and my sleep schedule was all out of whack.
When I woke up I discovered that Rosa and Wisteria were nowhere to be found. When I asked Dawn about it, she said the two of them had taken my motorcycle and said they were going to the city together.
When I asked Dawn why she hadn’t gone with them she said Rosa asked her to keep me company today while she was out with Wisteria. Two assassins going out together, I naturally smelled something was up, but I didn’t feel the need to worry since it was Rosa.
I probably trusted Rosa a bit too much, but she was just that reliable. I figured she was likely helping Wisteria out with her assignment.
As for what I was up to today… well, I was currently seated atop a large rock beside a golden blond-haired girl wearing earmuffs. She was laid down flat in a prone position on the elevated rock with her right eye glued to a scope overlooking an open field. The field had several targets set up with thick metal plates with bullseyes drawn on thin sheets of paper covering them.
It was a makeshift shooting range.
When I woke up, Dawn asked me what I wanted to do. Since Rosa wasn’t around I didn’t really have any plans so I figured I’d ask her what she did on the farm for fun when she was free and had nothing better to do. Without explanation, she simply led me here, set up a rifle on top of this rock, and laid down flat on top of it in silence.
The targets were pretty far away, with varying distances between a hundred to five hundred meters.
Looking down at the girl in front of me. Her eyes were tranquil, she looked unusually calm, completely at ease in a world of her own. It was quite warm outside and despite wearing a white collared short-sleeved shirt and remaining under the shade of her white sun hat, there were beads of sweat rolling down her cheek.
Her back was bathed under the scorching heat of the sun’s rays and her slightly translucent shirt stuck to her skin. The outline of her bra wasn’t visible through her shirt which left my mind with several stray thoughts. I shook my head and refocused on the view to our front.
One moment there were strong gusts of wind blowing dust up in the air to the right across the open field. Sparse strands of long vegetation stuck up out of the ground and similarly gave away the direction of the wind. It was quite unpredictable. One moment it was to the right, the next it was to the left. Between us and the targets, there were regions where it even blew in both directions simultaneously.
Dawn was patiently waiting. Waiting for just the right moment to pull the trigger.
When a strong headwind suddenly blew into our faces, Dawn steadily breathed in. She didn’t immediately exhale out, rather, she held it in instead. Going off her actions, the time to fire was near.
When I examined the field again, the wind still looked erratic and unpredictable to me. I couldn’t quite understand how she could make the call to shoot. Was she mistaken?
Was she anxious to shoot because she was doing so in front of someone else? Maybe she thought I’d find it boring if she didn’t do something soon and she wanted to entertain me.
“Dawn, you can take your time. I’m not in a rush or any-”
Bang!
I was cut off right as the headwind disappeared and a strong tailwind picked up from behind us in sync with Dawn’s finger pulling the trigger.
I was shocked to see the wind on the field had seemingly vanished for but a single instant in time. The bullet shot out of the barrel faster than the eye could see. It was like a bolt of lightning attracted to the metal plates far in the distance.
Cling!
The high-pitched sound of metal hitting metal resounded loudly. It was a direct hit.
“Wow, you really hit it-”
However, it didn’t end there as my words were immediately cut off.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
In rapid succession, she fired three shots while slightly adjusting the rifle’s aim.
Cling!
Clang!
Clong!
Three different targets five hundred meters away were hit back to back.
“Huuuuuuu.” Dawn finally exhaled out and finally blinked. She sat up, removed her earmuffs, and asked, “Sorry, were yuh sayin somethin just now?”
It seemed she’d completely tuned out all unnecessary sounds and had fully focused on shooting the targets. I couldn’t help but think she looked pretty cool.
“No, I wasn’t saying anything. How’d you do?”
“Take a look for yourself.”
She held out the pair of binoculars hanging from around her neck in front of my eyes.
“Woah, seriously? They’re all bullseyes. You’re a really good shot.”
“Haaaaah. The only practical thing I’m good at is something useless like this.”
“It’s not useless at all. If a zombie apocalypse strikes one day you’d be a great asset.”
“As if that would ever happen. And if it really did strike, I’d rather be dead. I don’t want to live in a post-apocalyptic world.”
“True, you’d probably randomly space out and be one of the first to be bitten and killed off.”
“I could at least last a little while. At least longer than yuh I bet.”
“Hmmm… probably. Maybe a few seconds longer. If I’m the first to die, you’d be a close second.”
“At least try to survive a little.”
“What? That sounds like too much effort. I don’t want to live every day paranoid, unable to sleep, always having to watch my back. Rather than do that, just kill me off early and put me out of my misery.”
“Hey, yuh wanna give it a try?”
“With your rifle?”
“Yeah. Have yuh ever shot one before?”
“Hmm… I can’t say that I have ever shot a rifle before.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm, then how about a revolver?” Dawn pulled out the revolver from the holster attached to her right hip.
“I’ve never shot a revolver either.”
“Then try my revolver first to get used to the recoil before moving up to my rifle.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, just try it.”
I’d never tried shooting something at a distance before. The only gun I’d ever shot in real life was… a pistol that one time.
Dawn opened the cylinder and confirmed there were no bullets loaded before she passed her revolver over to me.
“Here yuh go. Before I load it with live rounds, lemme see your grip first.”
“Okay.”
I wrapped my right hand around the handle, raised my arm up, then gripped my right wrist firmly with my left hand.
“Pfft. Both your hands should be on the gun, don’t hold your wrist. That’s just some stupid stuff yuh see in movies that doesn’t do anything for yuh. Rather, yuh should wrap your other hand around your dominant hand to enforce the strength. The thumb of your non-dominant hand should cover the thumb of your dominant hand.”
“Like this?” I moved my left hand from my wrist to the handle as she instructed.
“Yeah, that’s good. But yuh should keep your dominant hand higher on the handle like this.” Dawn held both my hands and moved them higher up on the handle. “This way yuh’ll have a stronger grasp on the handle. If your grip is too low on the handle, your hand will recoil more after shooting, so it’ll take more time to readjust and aim again.”
“I see.”
“Yuh should also keep your index finger outside the trigger guard and not on the trigger itself so yuh don’t accidentally fire bullets during adjustments. Only put it on the trigger when yuh’ve aimed at the target and are ready to shoot.” She meticulously adjusted my index finger while she gave her explanation.
“Straighten up your elbows and move your arms up a bit more towards eye level and aim from your dominant eye.” She placed her hands below my elbows and pushed them up until they were straightened out.
“There, that’s perfect.” She nodded satisfied with her work.
Her gaze returned to my face and our eyes locked. Only now did she become conscious of how close our faces were to each other. A few inches...