Luna tugged on Abby's shoulder and leaned down towards her mouth. "Would it be funny if you can roll it around? That would make the situation less scary if someone saw a giant blue orb rolling around on the battlefield."
Abby covered her mouth giggling, trying to hold in a belly laugh. "I just imagined a giant blue ball going around in bullets. It was something out of a play or book." Her cheeks were flaring up, but she smiled at her dear friend before turning her attention back to Monica who was smacking the ball furiously.
"If you don't use antiserum this casing is good for 24 hours. I don't know about any of you, but if you were to save me on the battlefield, I wouldn't want to be in there waiting 24 hours to go to the restroom. I'm not saying let me get shot. I'm saying let's try not to get in a situation where any of us must use this. Understood!"
"Yes ma'am," her subordinates yelled passionately.
"Alright everybody, get into a lane and keep your weapon downrange today. Make sure all weapons on are safety when putting them down and when removing them from the lanes. Make sure there are no bullets in the chambers. For our grenade launchers, that means you Marcus, I spoke to the gunsmith. He has nonexplosive grenades for you that will expose paint when they explode."
Marcus pulled out his grenade, smiling. "Eventually I get to blow up the real thing. I wonder what the ladies will think about me coming back with 15 medals on my chest."
The group of ten walks back from the long way where the frozen objects were displayed. Monica guided each to their individual stalls where they took a moment to load their ammo.
Putting the earplugs in, Abby looks over at Luna who was loading up a sniper rifle with 10 bullets. "I hope she knows what she's doing. That sniper rifle can have a mean kickback to it. But you're someone I would trust my life with…Luna." Reverting her eyes back downrange, she looks at the straw figure with pieces of paper on each limb, a circle on each one. She heard a loud whistle come from behind her as an array of bullets rang out from a variety of weapons around her.
Abby's heart raced as she watched the straw figure downrange. The distant target stood motionless, a makeshift representation of her mark. She had been training diligently for this moment, and now it was time to put her skills to the test. Looking at her rifle, it was a little bit shorter in length. She put in the 20-round clip and pushes the slide forward, loading a bullet. Let's see how much damage this can do. Putting her neck on the stock of the brown and silver rifle, she cocked her head to the side, squinting and taking a deep breath. My grandfather always taught me to hold rifles with delicacy. I need to, like Ian says all the time, have elegance when firing this. The iron sights lined up on the head of the straw figure, a hundred yards away from her. Boom, boom. Two shots rang out, Abby hoping that they hit their mark. Switching positions to her weaker side, Abby steadied herself once more. Boom. Boom. I guess one good measure is to take out his gentleman's area. Boom boom boom! This guy probably isn't going to have any kids for a while or maybe ever. I have a few more shots. Let's go for the knees, and then try for the neck.
I'm glad this rifle is semi-automatic. I don't have to pull back the slide to shoot a bullet every time. That would grow weary in war. The rest of the bullets rang out from her gun as silence fell on the range. Abby leaned her gun to the left showing an empty cartridge.
Boom! "Sorry about that," Marcus yelled. "I had one more grenade to get out of my launcher."
"You scared the shit out of me man," Cody vents, taking his earplugs out. "I was all calm, cool, and collected, hoping that I had a good grouping down the field, and here you go shooting off the paint filled canister that is as loud as pots and pans falling down the stairs."
"I have to concur with that," Rebecca murmurs, holding the pendant on her chest tightly. "I just finished firing my pistol and put it down because it was empty, and my heart is beating quickly. If I shall fall here may the goddess take me quickly into her bosom."
"I don't think anybody's dying today," Monica says, taking out her earplugs. "Let's go down and check how everybody did. Please leave all weaponry at your station." Monica walks forward to guide the group. They look at some of the targets that were littered with bullets, while others went past and didn't leave their mark. Walking, Monica noticed that Rebecca shooting a pistol had the best grouping of anyone. "I have to say, I'm pretty impressed." She smiles at Rebecca, giving her a wink. "You know we're the same rank and you're in the faith-based role with us. You're the best shot here. I would trust you with my life."
"All I do is trust that the goddess will guide my bullets to the correct target. I practice fundamentals such as breathing and focusing on her spirit. In doing so, it gives me courage to proceed on. Actually, I don't like violence very much, but in this world sometimes you have to protect the flock by taking up arms." She let go of a humble bow as her smile seemed to shower over the rest of the group.
"Man, you let the chaplain show you up," Marcus says, laughing. "I'm used to grenade launchers, so if anybody should be getting 100% accuracy it's me. I'm the one that blew up everybody."
"You are a simpleton," Ian says, putting his hand through his hair. "As you know, or should have learned in your basic training, two different weapons come to different marksmanship type's understanding. No one gun is better than the other. They all have different purposes."
"More of the same, blah blah blah," Cody proclaims, looking over at the cunning pretty boy.
Monica walks up, noticing a different paper and observing the holes thoroughly. "Though everybody scored very closely who used handguns and rifles, I would have to say the next best shot is Luna Neil."
"Look at you," Abby says, nudging her. "Get it."
"Oh, it's nothing," she vents, holding her hands together, looking at the ground and only looking up for a moment to observe everyone's stares. "It was just basic calculations. There was no wind taken into effect so I was able to aim to my heart's content. Really, shooting comes down to the math, not feeling. Thank you," she squeaked.
"Everyone else did a fantastic job, and Abby, you're not a bad shot either. Everyone here is well suited to go downrange and fight in the war. Our next phase of training is going to be to capture the flag, where we will be going against other squads to practice our ground training and maneuvering. It will be pivotal for us to be ready as a team. That's all for now, everybody rest up and enjoy your evening."
"She is worthless," Derek spoke up.