I stand after finish filling the mags and place them in the vest which is for my sniper and some in the belt around my waist for the pistol, I walk over to my bag and struggle to do so as it is too heavy, did I pack to much with ammunition and magazines, I sit back down and begin unloading some stuff to later come back and grab it.

I stand back up and head towards where Jackson is sitting, when I find him I see him looking out towards the snowy plains and hills of white making me feel cold just looking at the scene in front of me “We are going to that hill to the right so we can practice” I look to the right to the hill his is talking about, I would not say it is a hill but it could be considered one if you wanted to be one, I would call it a semi mountain semi hill hybrid.

Jackson stands up and walks out with his sniper in toe, I quickly grab my stuff and run after him surprised at how fast he is. When I reach him we are at the base of the hill/mountain, he starts to climb the face of the hybrid of terrain, I follow after him in his trail I then realized why I thought this hill looked like a mountain and hill at the same time, in some areas the snow was 5 meters high and others 1 or half a meter but in each area the displacement of snow is so different that is makes this hill look like a mountain or something of the sort.

Without warning a pile of snow tumbles down the hill to my left bringing more snow with it, luckily it did not bring down the snow in front of me and Jackson, I keep walking although the small avalanche to my left happening, I bump into Jackson’s back making me stumble back almost having my balance lost and sending me barrelling down the hill.

I look back up to see why we stopped, the sun blinding my eye with the brightness it produces, I opens my eyes to see the bright lights of the sun peeking through multiple areas of the clouds, the white fields filled with snow sparkle like glitter a toddler would add to their artwork, a question rise’s in my mind that I want to have answered.

did the storm end early? Because if so then I want this sight to be a sight I wish to see at all times when I awake from the darkness of sleep, as in the book I had read while in the snow sleep is the number one enemy of a person wanting to survive as if you close yours eyes to sleep, you may never wake from it.

The snow turning yellow from the glow of the sun, the clouds parting to reveal the sun. the snow seems to look like it was going to melt under the beauty of light, Jackson continues the walk further forward then stops and turns back to face me.

“This is the place where I am going to train you all in the art of being a sniper” he says turning back to the view in front of us and setting his rifle but on the ground and looks out over what looks like a valley full with obstacles, trees and shrubs somehow, he points out one of the areas full of destroyed vehicles and building rubble ”From there” he then points to another point in the valley “To there you have to move without being hit by me” I look over to both points he pointed out, they are both roughly 5km apart with wide open areas closed off and scattered areas, and very easy places to camouflage your self if you know how to.

Which I do not so if any chance he finds out where I am and predicts where I would be going, I am fucked. I turn my head to look at him but in the process of do so I feel a bit of pressure on my back as I had earlier walk up to beside him to get a better look.

I fall forwards due to the said pressure on my back, I begin to tumble down the slope into the valley. I hit end of the slope with a loud crash sending snow up into the air “Alright now that you are down there head to the spot I pointed out” Jackson shouts, I stand and pat myself down to get of snow that was built up on me during the stumble.

I look around for a second and see the spot marked by a red flag that is set up on a high pole, I guess I know where the start is, I look in the opposite direction and see a different colour flag, a green one. I head my way over to the red flag with……… nothing except my pistol and knife and a few magazines.

Where is my stuff? I look back at Jackson seeing my bag and sniper sitting next to him as he sets up, I sigh loudly and continue my walk over to where the red flag was, as I get closer I see that the location of Jackson on my little map in the corner of my vision has disappeared, so turn off my map and location setting I think.

When I reached where the flag was a timer popped into my vision ‘4:00:00 Start?’ “Yes” as the word left my mouth the timer starts to countdown, I guess this is where I start, I start to move from where I am standing and head my way to a piece of cover that on the way there have shrubs so I have some natural camouflage to my advantage.

I make my move to head quickly to the shrubs to cover my advance but before I even touched cover a pain hits my side, from where I am located the shot he took was incredible but it is going to be one of those situations where I won’t be able to leave one bit, I start my 2 paces walk back to the now called ‘safety zone’ starting from now.

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If this is what it is going to be like for the rest of the time here or to be exact 3:59:30 left here, I feel bad for the other two if I am getting a head start, with me in the ‘safety zone’ I have time to think of what to do and how to do it.

Trail and error is so much fun at this point in time.

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Time passed: 3:59:10

Well I am fucked, I cant move from here if I do I get shot either way fair play Jackson. The timer in the corner of vision reaching zero I start to head back to where Jackson is posted that whole time I was one step behind, I couldn’t move to fast at points or slow at others, couldn’t find a way out of the ‘safety zone’, and distract him it is as if he has been through all scenarios possible that I could do, scary.

Once I finish my painful walk to Jackson he turns to face me “That was the farthest you have gotten in the 4 hours here good job” he says with a smile and patting me on the back “You could have gone easy on me at least once” I say back “That is a hard no” he says in a harsh tone “If I do that you will develop habits that will most likely get you killed if you were to face a different sniper other than me” he stands from his crouched position.

I grab my bag and sniper and we both head back to the little home we have started to make for ourselves before we could even get far into the base we both see merry standing next to the sign we all use to find both the new training ground and the armoury.

We get closer to have the crunching of snow in ear shot she turns to look at us, she quickly makes her way over “So how was the training” she said stopping in front of me “Painful and a learning experience that will stick with me for life” I say back with a bit of a groan at the end “I feel sorry for you two after me” she look at me with question in her eyes “What do you mean you will feel sorry for us?” she says with a bit of worry in her tone “You will find out when the time you start training as I think I am not meant to spill the beans” I explain making her want to ask some more questions, before she could Jackson coughs catching her attention, and she already knows the answer waiting for her.

She sighs in defeat and turns around and starts to walk back, I follow behind her with Jackson at the back of the small travel group, we find our way back due to Merry’s good memory to remember things so it is a lot easier to have her be in front and lead the way for us to travel to places. With her leading the group to head back to the new house we arrive in no time.

When we all are inside we are surprised by what a mess it is, planks of cut wood over here and there, cement bags that are a new addition along with pipes over the place. The culprit exits a room covered in a mess and looks at us “Oh, your back, how was the trip and training” he says exhausted by the work I think he has been doing “What is this mess I cleaned not even an hour ago and it is like this what have you been doing!” Merry shouts in anger and confusion of what she is seeing around “Now before you get to angry sis I was doing work with piping around the place so we have sho-” Before he can finish Merry steps closer to him glaring dagger at him.

“I want this mess cleaned” she stated coldly, Mark understanding what will happen if he continues, The cold stew, he sighs in defeat and looks over at me I sigh as well understanding what he want me to do “Fine I will help as well even though I just finished training not long ago” he smiles and begins to goes on about where he wants certain materials how to stack them and where they are located.

So the clean began, moving the materials mark said to move in the way he wanted them to be stored and stacked, it feels like hours had passed while helping him, I look at my helmet time and see that it has only been around 1:30:00 total, with the moving bit finished it was up to him to clean the left overs up like empty bags and dust.

I head up stairs and into my room and take off the coat, jacket, shirt and helmet and climb up to lay in my bed, I spall myself out on my bed and let out a sigh and relax, I have 3 things that take more then an hour in one day, 2 hours setting up my room, the 4 hours I had spent training and the hour and a half spent moving materials and now maybe the rest of the day is going to be spent resting and sleep maybe.

I close my eyes and begin to feel drowsy until I don’t, I open my eyes and find myself in all too familiar scene that plagues me in both reality and dreams I look around and see me and mark looming over someone tied up in a chair in the void of darkness.

It then all rushes away to show a younger merry tied up, beating and crying, a door opening somewhere is audible and steps on a metallic surface as well “Now those two have been delt with I have you to myself merry” an all to familiar voice infiltrates the silence as the weeping and cries of merry grows louder “Do you want to know what I had said to those two? Of course, you do! you are my lady of course” he smiles diabolically at her.

He closes in and leans into her ear “I said what any man would do to their wife and that was take care of you” he then leans back to his original position and moves the gag from merry’s mouth and pours a liquid down her throat, her head when released was that of like when you are passed out. He unties her and the guards leave the room.

He then picks her up and places her on a comfortable piece of ground and lays her out, he spreads her out in a starfish position I rush over knowing what is going to happen but stopped by his eyes of evil looking into what feels like my soul.

Before it could continue any father the sound of knocking on the door is heard, I sit up fast and cover my face in my hands and begin to cry “Why did I not pull trigger” I ramble out while crying, this prompts the person at the door to open it “Arthor, are you okay?” the voice of merry enters my ears.

Of course it’s merry, why does it have to be her at this moment of cliché time, just why.