It was snowing lightly in the training yard, soft flakes tumbling from the sky and settling on the bubble before melting. The children's laughter rose in bursts as their breaths turned into little clouds. Sunshine stood at the center of it all, riffle in hand, watching their progress with sharp eyes. She corrected stances adjusted grips, but it was Ariel who made her pause the most.
While the others struggled to align their sights, Ariel lifted his riffle with practiced ease, as though the weapon had always belonged to him. His shots tore into the mutant rubber like creatures placed ahead of them, hitting the eyes, the throat, the chest. They were clean, precise, almost merciless.
Sunshine's nodded, the kid's version of the nullfire guns was as good as those for the adults. Instead of bullets, it shot steel pellets that were strong enough to cause pain but not enough to rip through a body.
