The killer detective

14 - Red dot

Sometimes the time behind the scope felt way too long. The adrenaline was building up and my body was sweating. During this time you had the chance to feel all your tiniest muscles flexing and releasing the tension whenever you moved to get a bit more comfortable. The elbows were always trying to bury themselves into the ground, carrying most of my upper body weight. The rifle's end was tightly stuck in between my arm and upper chest, making sure it wasn't moving anywhere else. I was taking deep breaths to make my heart calm down. Each heartbeat meant I could miss the target as the body can move even a couple of centimeters if the heart is beating too frantically. I also had to make sure I was shooting with no air in my lungs, as that was moving the scope as well. Each millimeter here meant a few centimeters at the end. I had to shoot sharp, no mistakes.

I didn't like sitting and waiting here, hoping for time to just pass. It was quite easy to find me in this building given the kicked door and a locked living room. I had to hope for locking on the target quickly and clearing off as soon as possible. There was no way I could stay here more than half an hour. In fact, staying at this place longer than ten minutes was risky. And each minute was getting riskier. The usual time for hiding in this type of place was ok until fifteen minutes had passed. I checked the watch on my wrist. 

"Five more minutes for me to stay... Unless I want to get killed." I sighed, still checking the place. I was counting the seconds in my head to make sure I didn't have to change my position again. I wiggled my body, making sure I was lying down properly. Wiggling was the easiest way to check it. If anything was hurting wrongly or if something wasn't feeling the right way, I would get to know like this. I adjusted my right arm around the rifle as it has gotten out of the right position.

"Come on... Where are you..." Two minutes. I kept counting, checking the whole place. The windows were closed to make sure they wouldn't catch me here. If the window was open during quite a cold night, it would definitely raise some suspicion. At least in this area, it would!

I breathed out and took a deep breath. My mind and heart were getting impatient. That wasn't the best I could do at this point! I closed my eyes for a second, opening them again to check if anything had changed outside.

There it is. Movement. I adjusted the scope and saw the person's rough figure and facial sketch. Should be him. I held the rifle firmer, tensed my muscles. I zeroed in. 

"Now don't move, stay nicely there," I whispered to myself, putting the tension towards my toes, burying them to the floor. I took a deep breath, seeing the guy shaking hands with someone else. I exhaled and held my breath. One pull. The window glass shattered around me. The guy there was lying on the ground. My mind went blank. My body was now only acting as always, I had drilled this move many times! I had to get out of here. They could be here within minutes, it wasn't that far! 

I quickly folded my rifle, shoved the armchair away, unlocked the door. With my readied handgun I cleared the apartment and ran through the stairs down being as close to the wall as possible. I jumped the last staircase down and hid behind a wall. I took a break to take a few deeper breaths while checking the situation outside. My heart was still running wild and I was trying to catch my breath. I had to breathe deeply to make sure I wouldn't get dizzy.

I checked the corners and quickly ran into a side street. So far it was empty. I was shadowing the walls, running as quickly and quietly as I could. I was taking all the side streets I could. The moment I would get on the main street, I would be an easy target. The shot had to attract a lot of attention. 

I stopped at one corner, checking what was going on in one of the bigger streets. As expected, many people were getting out of their houses and going towards the place, where they thought they heard the shot. They didn't look any less like other people. Just their clothes were torn, didn't look so flashy. Some of them looked like they were wearing potato bags instead of clothes.

I was still hiding in the shadow of a taller apartment building. The wind was picking up some of the hair that came loose from under my cap. I pulled the cap closer to my forehead. I could feel my muscles tensing up once again. This is going to be a tough night. Sweat was running alongside my face. I took a last deep breath and ran into the wide street. I needed to go towards the official exit of the area. If I took the route with the hole in the fence, that would be harder in case anyone was after me. Just crawling through the fence could get me killed. There had to be people with guns and rifles running around at this point. Not to mention the person's bodyguards.

The Ruinees on the street were mostly scared, no one was going my way nor trying to attack me. Things were going my way so far. It meant I could get home safely, more or less. I was still running towards the exit in the far distance. The street was straight and long. It was the only street leading to the entrance. It was easy for raids as most of the Ruinees were living along this street. But for exiting this area, it was hell.

I was running as fast as I could. I heard my blood rushing in my ears. I was checking my surroundings while running. My mind was focused only on one thing: To get out. Suddenly, something weird started flying around me. I didn't have time to be looking at things, but this got me feeling insecure. I focused my eyes on the flying thing.

Red dot! f**k! I sped up. A red laser dot was suddenly flying around me.

I jumped into a dark alley. A shot landed on the spot, where I was a while ago. 

I scrambled myself to get up. Holding the gun in my left arm, my shoulder twitching in pain. It hurt. My body hurt. I gritted my teeth. I didn't have time to count the damage I had just done to my body by evading that deadly shot! 

They should have paid me at least double for this s**t! I was breathing heavily, getting all the air in my lungs. My shoulder was hurting as if someone just hit it with full force. Guess I gained weight... I stuck myself to the wall as close as possible. My back was resting on the rifle case, which was right behind me. I didn't have time to take it off. Most importantly, I couldn't leave it here! I had to drag it with me no matter what. Even over my dead body. Leaving any equipment here would mean another armed Ruinee, which would endanger others!

The watch was buzzing on my hurting wrist above the gun. It was only adding to the numb burning pain I was feeling. Stupid thing. My mouth suddenly became dry. Every slight movement added to the stinging and throbbing of my left side. I just wanted to stay here, stuck to the wall, not moving anywhere. I wanted to close my eyes and just rest. My body was telling me I had to take a break. I can't go into shock. I have to get moving. MOVE! I took a step away from the main street. Another one.

My legs started running through the alley, away from the main street. I had a while until the sniper would change the position or if anyone from the group had found me. There was no way he was working alone! Panic in my eyes was subsiding with the anger I was trying to build up inside. It was the only way to save myself - to get angry instead of being scared motionless.

There was no street lighting in this whole part. The Moon had hidden behind the clouds. The place was dark. No street lamps, nothing. I stopped and stuck myself close to the wall behind some boxes. Running like this wasn't going to do anything. I shuffled through my pockets. Where is it? Where the hell have I put it? My palms were sweaty. I hated the feeling of sweaty hands. It was very easy for the trigger to slip out of them!

Where THE f**k did I PUT IT?! I was cursing myself for not tidying up my equipment better before going out. I hope I didn't crush it when I landed! I quickly looked around. It wasn't like I was going to see anything in this dark, but there was nothing else I could do to make sure that nobody was around me. I stopped breathing and focused my hearing. No footsteps. Good. I continued searching the pockets. FINALLY! I grabbed the night vision and put it on my left eye and behind my ear. The tiny round glasses-like piece was fitting well, while I started creeping around the walls.

Once again, my heart was nearing my throat. At this point it felt like that place behind a few boxes with no light was safer than moving around like this. I tried walking silently, but the tiny rocks, dust, and dirt on the ground were making it more than difficult. Apart from the crunching sound under my feet, I was hearing my heartbeat and the blood rushing in my ears. My breathing was still fast and unstable. I had to climb over a few piles of rubbish, which were blocking the alley. It wasn't really used for people to pass through. Instead, it looked like they used it as a dumping place for whatever they didn't need. It was a miracle there were no rats running around.

Slowly, the end of the alley was getting closer. I was going to leave this semi-safe place and be exposed once more. I was holding my left shoulder, which was uncontrollably twitching as it hurt with any slight movement. But as I was getting closer, I switched the gun into my right hand. I was ready to shoot anyone, who would come my way. 

This is not the end. I can do it. I breathed out and in deeply. I gripped the handgun firmly. My hands were too sweaty. There was only a 30 centimeters wide passage in front of me. I took off the rifle case and started pushing myself through, trying to not touch anything with my left shoulder. I couldn't stop there.

I felt the cold sweat now all over my body. The scratches I got were still burning and stinging. It was for sure that someone was after me. I didn't know who they were and I wished I knew the exact reason why they were after me. But there was one reason, every time. Being a detective was enough of a reason to be hunted and killed here. I tried to swallow. My mouth was getting awfully dry.

I didn't know this area that well. All I knew was that I had to find my way to the exit asap. My mind was working quickly and chaotically. I was trying to make a plan while running around in the maze of alleys. I had to come up with a plan and organize the way back to the exit. I had to realize where exactly I was at this point. I was somewhere in the middle of blocks of apartments, with nobody around. And I was highly vulnerable, being on the ground, while my enemy was somewhere up there on the roofs. I didn't know it here. They did. I could only see the disadvantages I had in this fight. One wrong move and I would get out of here in a black bag.

Where the hell...

Red dot. Bang!