< From Noon Until the Break of Dawn (Part 2) >
Zin quickly scouted the Slaughters for their weaponry.
Single action custom made rifles.
Each Slaughter had a rifle strapped on their shoulders. Although the guns were crappy, they were still firearms.
The rifles they carried were not of high quality, with low accuracy and range. Plus, it was not possible to fire consecutive shots. But they were more than enough to kill a person, and much more powerful than crossbows or arrows.
Towards the end of the trail of the junkwagons, there seemed to be a line of chopped off heads skewered on a long string dangling behind. As the junkwagons bumped on the road, the heads bounced off and dragged on the ground.
First scavengers appear, and now Slaughters.
Scavengers came to loot the equipment of the Wargrave, hoping for a jackpot, and now the Slaughters were coming to raid those scavengers.
It was a very common scene.
Vrrrrooooom!
Hey, hey, hey! I see footprints!
Look at those footprints! They look so fresh!
There were seven Slaughters approaching, and they stopped as soon as they spotted footsteps near the riverbed. The seven junkwagons stopped, and the Slaughters got off the junkwagons with their rifles in hand.
They ran away in a rush.
Hahahahaha!
The scavengers ran away, but the sands on the riverbed showed their tracks. Therefore, there was no point in hiding.
When people are in a pinch, they make irrational decisions. If the scavengers had scattered and run away, at least a couple of them would have survived.
One of the Slaughters yelled, If you come out now, I will kill you nice and clean!
If the scavengers didnt come out from their hiding places, they would be tortured to death and murdered. The Slaughters were very aware on how to inflict the most pain to a person. And the slaughters threat was not just words.
However, none of the hiding scavengers responded. They were hiding inside the armored vehicles and hoping for a miracle.
Leona quietly watched the Slaughters.
She wondered how the scavengers would be feeling at the moment. They were probably terrified and about to die of a heart attack. They were probably also hoping someone would rescue them.
The Slaughters started giggling and searching the area by following the tracks. Shortly after, they yanked out a terrified scavenger out of a tank.
Ah, aaah Aaaaaah Please have mercy, let me go.
Oh man, look at this poor guy. So desperate.
Please dont kill me! Im sorry! Please!
Yo! What a funny dude.
One of Slaughters smiled, revealing his yellow teeth. He looked at the scavenger who was trembling in fear.
I dont know what you are sorry about, but if you are sorry, why did you hide?
Shank!
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarggh!
Wow, you must have been eating pretty well. What a great voice you have!
The scavenger screamed as the Slaughter hewed at his leg with a machete. The other Slaughters laughed at the scavenger who was bleeding and struggling to get away.
Motherfs Leona cursed in a whispering voice. The Slaughters were inflicting misery on others, and they enjoyed watching them crawl in pain. Leona attacked others if she needed to, but she didnt attack others just to see them suffer.
She had witnessed such cruelty in Ard Point, but she was still not used to it. The Slaughters were toying around with the injured scavenger. They were ready to dissect the scavenger alive with a knife.
Ha, hahahaha! Hehehehehe!
The scavenger who was trapped seemed to have gone mad as he was laughing like a crazy man. The Slaughters followed other foot trails to capture the remaining scavengers. Another one was spotted.
He did not have the courage to rescue the friend who was being tortured, he was only aware that he had to run away.
They jumped out from their hiding places, and started running away. The Slaughters looked at them and shouted, Theyre fleeing!
Shoot them!
Bang! Bang!
Ack!
Argggh!
Nggaaaah!
Shots fired off from the rifles, and three of the five scavengers fell down to the ground. Two of them seemed to have dodged the bullet and kept on running.
Fire again!
The Slaughters were not going to let the scavengers run away, and they started to reload their rifles. Zin was surprised at how the Slaughters were reloading the rifles.
Regular ammunition?
The single action rifle looked crappy, but it operated like a bolt-action rifle. They were not using steel bearing balls, but regular ammunition. Steel bearing balls required the use of gunpowder, but regular ammunition could be gained by looting.
The rifles that the Slaughters were using fired regular ammunition.
Zin took a closer look at the ammunition that they were loading into the rifles.
They are 5.56mm bullets. I can use seven 7.62mm bullets to gain a whole lot of 5.56mm bullets
Zin quickly thought, and held his breath.
Not a bad deal at all.
Bang!
Whoa!
The shot was fired from the M700 Remington with a low sound. Leona was surprised when Zin fired suddenly.
The target was about thousand feet away. It was not too hard for Zin to shoot a running target from that distance. Before the gunshot could be heard, a Slaughter was hit in the head and fell down.
What?
The Slaughters were not sure what was going on as they watched one of the Slaughter drop down dead.
Clack!
In a split second, Zin loaded the next bullet.
Bang!
The second Slaughter went down, and then the remaining Slaughters realized what was going on and yelled out, Sniper!
Take cover!
The Slaughters moved swiftly after the two Slaughters were slain a couple of seconds apart. Their reaction time was not too slow.
The Slaughters started to take cover, but they were not able to figure out where the shots came from. Three of the five Slaughters were able to take cover hiding from Zin shooting, but
two were not.
One of them hid behind a tank, but unfortunately he was wide open to Zin.
Bang!
The third bullet pierced through the head of the unlucky Slaughter. The fourth Slaughter realized that he was taking cover in the wrong direction, and he jumped to the other side of the tank to hide from Zin.
Leona was astonished as she witness the three Slaughters get taken down in a blink of an eye.
Over there! Hes at the hill of the other side of the river!
Hide inside the tank!
The four Slaughters were able to figure out the snipers location based on the deaths of their friends. They all went inside the tank to take cover. However, even if they knew where the sniper was, there was not much they could do about it.
Their rifles were weak, with a range of at most three hundred feet. They did not have the means to counterattack.
The surrounding area was open, and there were only destroyed tanks for cover. On the other hand, the sniper was in high ground, and carrying a sniping rifle that could reach the whole river bed area.
The Slaughters had to run in the open fields to flee from the sniper. But that meant that they would be in the range of a sniper who had proven able to headshot them
A while ago, the Slaughters were having fun, but now they were panicking, with their lives in the hands of the sniper. They had nowhere to go because of the sniper.
The scavengers were not able to run away from the Slaughters because of the difference in firepower. Now, the Slaughters were unable to attack or run away from Zin.
Leona now realized how important a good weapon was.
The sniper who could snipe enemies that were hundreds of yards away would be powerless if he was armed with only a pistol.
Life in the wilderness was determined by firepower. The range of the firearm, pre-emptive attack, and strategic locations, such as high ground, were the deciding factors in a gun battle.
Zin was able to maintain advantage over the Slaughters in every aspect. The Slaughters had nowhere to go. His shooting skill was important, but the equipment, awareness of surroundings, and holding strategic location mattered as well.
Zin did not talk. He was teaching Leona how to survive in the wilderness by his actions.
The Slaughters took cover and went inside the tanks. They were smart enough to know how to identify the location of the snipers.
The scavengers fled the scene.
Zin didnt explain, but Leona was able to understand what was going on.
The Slaughters were confused until they figured out the direction of the sniper, but now they were waiting.
They were going to wait out in the tank until the night came. There was still some time until the sun set, but they were going to wait out the hours to survive.
Zin was actively observing the situation.
They went inside the tanks, so I cant snipe them even if I move to a different spot. Using a heat pressure warhead would be a waste. I
suppose I can cross the river to take them out
However, the Slaughters would be on full alert, and they would start a counterattack if they heard someone coming across the river.
And there was no benefit in moving to a different spot. Crossing the river would expose Zin to the counterattack of the four Slaughters.
I could go around them, but there is no point in giving up this location.
He did not need to search and kill the enemies. Zin was already in a position where he could spot all the movements of the Slaughters. Crossing the river to attack the Slaughters was foolishly aggressive.
In the wilderness, it was important to be calm and cool. Being defensive and conservative was how people survived in the wilderness.
I should wait until they start coming out. Im sure theyll start moving come night.
Zin and the Slaughters decided to wait until night came. Leona did not know what Zin was thinking, but she remained silent next to him.
Zin calmly stared at the opposite side of the river.