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A well equipped miner, being necessary to the security of his mine, the right of the miner to sneak and bear arms, shall not be infringed
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Not just goblins, but well armed goblins, standing in front of a rather large rock on the floor of the cavern.
Alistair and the goblins both paused in their shock looking at each other.
There were 9 of them, all in leather armor, 6 with spears, 3 with what appeared to be slings, all wearing leather belts and with leather pouches and a sheathed knife.
In his rather stunned state it struck Alistair as odd how much detail he was able to see, down to the bone toggles used to hold their pouches closed before he realized why he could see them in such great detail.
They were only about 20 feet away from him.
"I um... I didnt mean to intrude... ..."
The goblins looked back at him still in shock, and he noticed the blood coating a few of their spears.
"I will ...um... I will just be going then..."
As Alistair started to slowly walk backwards into the funnel of sand, the goblins seemed to get their whits back. The 3 slingers loaded rocks, starting spinning their slings, and turned away from him to launch their stones at something on the other side of the rock they stood next to. But the goblins with spears? oh they charged him directly.
Alistair dropped to his butt and slid the few feet to the hole, barely righting himself in time to avoid cutting himself on the rock as he pass through the hole.
Back in his tunnel he ran for the main shaft, and nearly jumped onto the ladder/stairs.
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It should be noted that the main shaft in this, as well as many other mines dug by hand long ago, refrained from digging a truly vertical main shaft. A slope of about 2:1 was used here moving 2 feet in elevation for every 1 foot of horizontal distance. At first reading this doesn't seem too steep, until you are trying to climb it in the near dark, with a phone in one hand, and enough adrenaline in your system to make a sloth run a marathon.
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As Alistair climbed he could hear a frantic excited version of the previous growling noise. "was that how goblins spoke?"
looking down he could see the light of his phone reflecting off the still gently moving surface of water another 30 feet below him.
He was near the top of the main shaft, and as he climbed slowly with one hand full of phone the faint light of the day outside started to make itself known. Pocketing the phone to climb faster, Alistiar soon reached the top of the main shaft.
the tunnel he had been digging was the first level off the main shaft only 30 feet or so feet down below the horizontal main shaft. On reaching the top, he sprinted with all he had towards the light of the mine exit, 60 feet away.
exiting the mine, he stepped to the side of the tunnel and bent over hands on his knees to catch he breath. After a moment he peered around the corner down the tunnel to see if he was still being followed by the goblins.
GOBLINS!
"how in hell are there freaking goblins?!?!"
"okay think, first step call the police... wait, I cant... no signal. Damn it think! there is no signal in these hills idiot, that's why you keep your handgun in your back pack... ... ... ... my backpack! probably at the bottom of my new underground swimming pool. How hard must I have hit my head to forget about my handgun and lunch?"
"I need a weapon. Step 1, I need a weapon."
Checking down the tunnel one more time and not seeing pursuit Alistair ran for his trailer, about 200 feet from the mine entrance. The area close to the base of the hill had to many large or large enough rocks to make moving a trailer closer to the entrance a risky move. The trailer was just a tad too big for such risks. It was a 36 foot "forest river" with a tall spacious loft for sleeping. Far cheaper than a full RV, but with all the space of an RV. For a guy looking to spend a year breaking rocks, and avoiding people, it was the perfect solution.
On reaching the unlocked trailer he openned the patio door and ran straight up the loft where his gun cabinet was bolted in place of one of the beds.'
142434* beep beep beep
"shit"
142434* beep beep beep
"That's the damn number!"
142434* beep cluck
"that's what I had been entering you stupid box" Alistair said as he opened the door and grabbed a rifle."
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Alistair had never been quite a gun nut like his younger brother, but he knew a thing or two and had a few. While the rifle he picked up looked nothing like his brother's fancy custom ARs, it was non the less, his favorite rifle. His brother had been nagging him to "build his own" and out of a bit of spite did so. but not an AR15 or AR10, or even an AK. It was an FAL. Kit built from parts that had been around in some battlefield or other in the 70s before being cut down for import to the USA as a parts kit. Revived from its old life of war, into a loving retirement occasionally shooting steel targets.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
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The receiver was flat black, the furniture was still covered in the worn cammo pattern of its previous life, and the contrast between new and old parts gave it a bit of a quilted look.
Pulling out a magazine, and a box of .308 Alistair cursed himself for not keeping loaded magazines. Keeping an eye out of the window of his trailer at the entrance of the mine, Alistair loaded 3 20 round magazines, putting 2 in his back pockets, and 1 in his rifle, he chambered a round, removed the magazine and topped it back off to 20. He only had a few boxes of .308 left, and if felt wrong to open a 4th box just to pull out a single round, but in this situation at least, he would rather be prepared.
Not seeing anything at the entrance to the mine, Alistair decided to wait it out. No need to go get himself in danger, and there were no other exits to the mine. Grabbing a water from the fridge, he sat at the table on the patio, plugged his phone in to charge, and while watching the mine entrance and waited.
After a few minutes of waiting, the adrenaline started settling out of his system, and Alistairs mind was slowly occupied by other thoughts, and he sipped on his large water bottle.
"Why were there goblins in that cave?"
"its amazing how fast you can dry off in the dry Nevada air"
"How can goblins exist?"
"Why does wet underwear never seem to dry like pants do?"
"Why would that sand be full of gold, and how can such sand exist in a cave?"
And finally
"I need to take a piss."
Still keeping watch, he stood up to drain himself right there off the small trailer patio. Who was going to see him? and why not? He needed to keep watch, and after all he didn't want to fill his black water tank on the trailer to fast. That said did he really need to keep watch? He was probably just going mad he reasoned. "How could such a large cave even physically exist when its dimensions would have overlapped with the mine shaft AND the tunnel. Hell it would have extended part way outside the hill. Maybe this is all a hallucination from hitting my head."
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It was of course at this point in time, while quite vulnerable, and with his hands on the entirely wrong "gun" that 3 goblins stepped slowly out of the mine entrance.
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"Shit!"
Rapidly stuffing himself away Alistair reached for the FAL. The first goblin threw a stone from his sling, while the other two charged. The stone fell well short, but it seems it was expected too. They now knew the range it seemed.
As soon as the rock fell, the two charging goblins split off from each other at an angle. Both surprisingly fast as they jumped over or off of the larger of the strewn rocks, expert eyes gauging stable foot falls over the rough terrain.
Raising the rifle to his shoulder, Alistair tried to train his sights onto one of the little bouncy bastards. This was FAR different than sitting down at a bench taking shots a stationary steel targets. He HAD considered himself a fairly good shot, but now felt like an incompetent fool. The weight of the rifle kept having him swing past the moving target he was aiming for. Giving up on getting a good shot Alistair pulled the trigger the next time he thought the sight was lined up
BOOM
recoil disturbing his sight picture he tried to get back on target and let loose a series of rapids shot.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
"Shit" he lost sight of his target, looking for on of the other 2 goblins, he saw the furthest one, the one who had flung the first stone, dart from behind on stone to another. It seems they were still moving towards him, but now recognizing a threat, they were moving from cover to cover.
Desperate to make up some of the distance they were closing Alistair walked backwards further out into the less rocky landscape, angling away from his trailer, and further into the open. He could see 2 of them moving from cover to cover, but couldn't see the one he had been shooting at. Nervously he looked around him in all directions, wondering if it had somehow gotten around him. he fired 5 shots into a nearby shrub, the only possible concealment near him, just in case. Not having a good target, he replaced the magazine in his rifle with the one from his back left pocket.
He took a knee. It seems the goblins were hesitant to move much farther forward where they wouldn't have good cover. keeping track of which rocks one of them was behind he trained his rifle on it, ready to open fire as soon as they moved. It was at that point, a stone weighing a good pound slammed into his thigh, dead legging him, but not drawing much blood, only a scratch and torn jeans.
That said, if such an attack had got him in the head, this fight would have been over.
Falling from his kneeling position to a sitting one, Alistiar realized his mistake. He wasn't out of range of their slings. quickly checking for any other stones in flight, he retrained his rifle on the rock he had been looking at. If they were planning to play an alternating game of whack a mole, he wasn't going to let them.
The goblin stood up, sling ready, and caught one hundred and eighty grains of soft point copper jacketed lead to the face. dispite losing his sight picture from the recoil, the spray of mist and body falling like a puppet with its strings cut told Alistair he had hit. It seemed that sitting down, rather than standing, and with his targets not bouncing around Alistair was back in his target shooting element.
Unable to really stand quite yet, and with a leg in enough pain it was hard to move, Alistair lowered his rifle a little to get a wider view of the area he knew the goblin that hit him was in. The goblin stood up, and loosed another stone his way. It was FAST, that first ranging shot arcing across the sky had given him the wrong impression. This was less like a high toss, and more like an MBA fast ball pitch... but rock!
Throwing himself to the side as best he could he managed barely to dodge the rock, but now he knew where the little bastard was hiding. Throwing himself had taken him from seating to laying down, and he oriented his prone self to aim at the rock the goblin was hiding behind. The goblin quickly peaked out the side, and brought his head back. As Alistair moved his aim to that side of the rock the goblin was already standing up to throw again. Swinging his rifle back on target Alistair pulled the trigger, hoping he would hit the goblin in time.
The round struck the top of the rock Infront and to the side of the goblin. Chips of rock sprayed up into its face cutting its eyes. Screaming it fell and started thrashing about on the ground, Alistair waited. looking for the 3rd goblin.
the screams were not slowing down, the sounds of the trashing about in desperation and pain were... uncomfortable.
Alistair tried to get to his feet, and found slowly that he could do so. he started sneaking to the side with a bit of a limp. He needed to get around the thrashing goblin, but there was one more out there unaccounted for, and if he got attacked by a sling up close, it could end him real quick. With eyes peeled, he didnt notice any other movement aside from the now blinded goblin. When he reached a rock he could hide behind. He was now nearly 90 degrees off the direction he had previously been, and working to get closer. From rock to rock, going slow, keeping noise down he approached the sounds of agony.
Getting within 40 feet of the still thrashing goblin, he could see it from around the rock. It was a the pitiful thing, and in pain. He fired 2 shots ending the goblins misery.
ducking back behind the rock with only his eyes above scanning the rough terrain he thought
"two down, one to go. and I have... shit how many rounds do I have left 18,15, or.. no doesnt matter."
He swapped his magazine for the fresh one in the back right pocket, realizing only now that it was a HORRIBLE place to store a spare magazine when you reloaded with your left hand. Still by swapping hands, he got it done, and went hunting for the 3rd goblin.
Moving from rock to rock, trying to ensure he didn't get seen first. This horrible high stakes game of hide and seek lasted nearly 10 minutes.
Finally having made his way back to where it all started he saw the last goblin. leaning with his back to a rock and some sort of felt bandage, stuffed into the hole in his stomach. "My first shot must have gotten him, and he bleed out while sitting in cover."
Thinking back to the bush he had ventilated, and all the sneaking around Alistair nearly laughed... or nearly cried. He didn't know how to feel. His stomach felt oddly heavy and twisty.
"The little bastard had been dead, and still had me scared shitless." Alistair realized this was the first animal he had killed. "No" Looking at how he died, bleeding out holding onto a bandage, Alistair realized "this is the first PERSON I ever killed."
Not wanting to think about such things, and yet not able to look away Alistair just stood there for a while.
...
...
watching.
...
...
before zipping up his fly.