After another hour of set up and turning off two lights that guided up people coming behind me I finally was looking down into the camp. It seemed that the little base settled in to sleep with one person sitting by the fire on watch. It seemed that they were not content with just one person overwatching their sleep. Or maybe it was the fact that if they didn't, it would look more conspicuous that they were not watching out for potential threats.

I settled in, looked down at the dark tents, and realized just how bad of a base camp this was. There were tents in a circle around a little campfire. Yes, there was some separation, but it was more like they were out here camping instead of being criminals. Maybe there was a purpose for this place that they were staying here for, but I wasn't sure from what they had been doing. The cliff had caves, and further separation like that would make it hard to be ambushed. Or even ambush people looking to move in.

I would never have caught them if it wasn't for the fact that they were out in the open. It was stupid as they could have made a camp in the caves instead and been much quieter. Make a latrine in another cave; you wouldn't need to show yourselves. It was stupid, and I wondered why they didn't. Was this an NPC thing, or was it because it needed to be a certain difficulty?

This game had done such a good job of being logical that I had trouble grasping this illogical choice in my mind. I took a deep breath and looked down through the scope of my rifle, ready to execute my plan. It would be as simple as I could make it, and I looked at the red-haired horned man looking out into the darkness with the campfire at his back. He seemed to want to move somewhere, and I saw him taking a step forward.

Now was the time, and I watched as he moved to the edge of the forest. I rolled my eyes a little as he started to move to take a bathroom break. I was glad I didn't have that issue in the game, or things would get awkward fast. I watched as he squatted at the edge of the forest, barely in my vision, and I took a deep breath.

I waited a moment and took into account that there was no wind on this night, and the distance was no more than five hundred meters. I had nothing more to take into account, I was sure, and it was the perfect night for killing. I released my breath, my hand steadied, and my finger stroked the trigger a second after my ears flattened on the top of my head.

I felt my tail swinging behind me as the rifle slammed my shoulder.

Bang!

As he took his final moments, the man never even knew what hit him, and the occupants in the tents were awake now. I moved my scope over to the encampment, and that blue woman with the horns came out, and I saw her with some blood on her body. I didn't care what she had done with her playmate last night as the tent continued to move a little with someone else moving. I had eight more targets, and the woman was looking around for whoever shot the gun and turned to look at me with surprise on her face. My finger hit the trigger, and the rifle slammed into my shoulder as the bullet hit her, removing the top half of her head from existence.

The second rifle shot had all of them out of their tents now, and with the body as proof of kills, they grabbed their guns and headed in my direction for either cover or to attack. I was unsure of the reason, but I lined up the mouse sniper I saw earlier tonight, and my finger hit the trigger again as he looked toward the forest and hit him in the lower chest, blasting a hole through where I suspect the stomach to be and he fell to the ground with his intestines visible.

“THE SHOOTER IS AT OUR OVERLOOK SPOT! THEY GOT ORRION!” A woman's voice shouted.

“PUSH THEM!” Another announced, and I grinned as they got too close to the cliff face for me to shoot with my rifle. Instead, I stood dropping my rifle, unpinned the grenade I had left over, and tossed it in their path.

They were split up, and in the darkness, I doubted they saw the “rock” I threw. And it landed just before a pair of them, and with a small explosion of shrapnel, two more bounties were dead or dying.

“Shit! PUSH, PUSH, PUSH!” I heard that woman scream. They were at the cliff face now, and I couldn't see them, but I grabbed my assault rifle from the spot I left it resting, and I prepared to accept my new visitors as I heard the cans rattle. “Take a second, guys; get your wits about you. Must be a bounty hunter,” The woman spoke, “Then we move forward, Be careful. They can probably hear us. Watch for movement in the tunnel.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Fuck!

That was smart of them; I was now stuck, hoping for them to move up. I thought about doing something to flank them but all my rope was in the backpack, and there was none up here. Damnit, Such a damn small detail; I was hoping to have them panic run up here, and all it took was one phrase from their leader to throw a gear into the works.

I took my time to breathe slowly, and I waited, and time seemed to crawl. I had one more trap for them, and I heard them breathing heavily from the ambush while they were asleep. The surprise was gone now; they were taking a moment to regain their wits, and I had nothing to flush them out. The good news was that they couldn't go back outside where I could shoot them to get supplies to smoke me out or something. That was always good.

Then I heard slow movement from down below, and I sighed in relief as they started moving forward, stepping over their traps. That first rattling of cans was probably deliberate. These criminals were not stupid, but they should have held out a little longer as my sensitive ears picked up their movement and also the moment.

“Shit, They!” A man's voice yelled, followed a moment later as my ears pressed against my head again when an explosion happened. They would be reeling from such an explosion, and I moved in and saw three injured people. My gun shot up, and I found my target, and for the first time, I shot my assault rifle directly at people. A three-round burst tore into one, and I turned and did it to the two others as the last woman seemed to have her hands up.

“I DON'T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE!” She screamed as I held her at gunpoint. She was trembling, and all her associates were dead.

I looked at her, and she was a little short woman. I saw her around the campfire and looked at her with a serious expression. Her hair was long and green down her back, and she looked scared as hell as I held her at gunpoint. “Got something to tie yourself up with?” I asked.

She looked at me confused and looked around, and I continued to hold my gun at her, “Make a move for a gun. I will blast a three-round burst into a lady.” I shouted, and she looked at me, confused.

“MY EARS ARE RINGING FROM THE EXPLOSION! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT. I CAN'T HEAR YOU!” She yelled, sounding odd, and I realized what was happening. And I moved forward, shouldered my gun while putting my gun up to her neck, and looked at her closer. She looked human but not quite, as her skin seemed very moist. It was not like there was a layer of sweat on her skin or something, but it was weird. It didn't matter. I grabbed her, and she cried out as I roughly grabbed her, “Ah!” It was a cry of pain more than anything, and I moved her out of the cave with a gun lodged under her chin to walk.

She was very nervous about the gun right under her chin and moved with me. We stepped out of camp, and I walked toward my backpack with her in tow with that gun very threateningly against her throat. She made no move, and about five minutes later, we were at my backpack. I grabbed the rope from my pack and tied her to a tree without the ability to move. Then, I tore into my backpack for the capture collars. I smiled, grabbed one of the more expensive ones, and returned to her.

I could see her being scared of the bounty collar, which was essentially a slave collar to her. I wrapped it around her neck and attached it without saying anything. “Now your mine,” I told her and stepped back, took out the bounty tablet, and took a picture of her.

—

Bounty: Kimmy Greenhorn

Race: Half Human, Half Gecko-kin

Crimes: Assault, Sexual Assault, Murder

Federation Bounty: 7500 Federation Credits

Wanted Dead or Alive

Note: Known to be with a pack of men and women attacking and murdering Bounty Hunters. Proceed with Caution

—

I couldn't get a good look at her in this darkness, but I had bounties back in the caves to collect and loot to collect and organize. I was also feeling a little tired from the night. It was only about four or five hours in the real world, but I was exhausted. I needed to get out and eat in the real world, too, but not before ensuring I was safe. Those tents and things would be empty now, and everyone knew the occupants were dead now with the bodies. I needed to clean up and ensure wild animals didn't come for the bodies.

I took a moment to untie this woman, and I grabbed my backpack, putting it on my back before ordering her, “Come on, Kimmy, We have work to do, and you are not going to enjoy it,” I told her, and she nodded clearly the fear of me very deep in her bones now.

Walking back to the camp, it was about time to get started. Kimmy walked before me, looking very nervous, and when I ordered her to start collecting the dead bodies and bringing them over to the cave, she nodded.

I wrapped a rope around the man who died in his own filth and dragged him back with a gun pointed at Kimmy. It was going to be a long night.