Warning: This chapter/one-shot contains some blood and gore, so if you don't want to read that skip over this. But, don't worry, I should have a new one-shot out by next weekend. So hold out till then.
The screech of laser fire dominated the battlefield. Screams of agony, misery, and all out desperation filled the ears of anyone in the nearest vicinity of the battle. The lasers flew by, so fast that you wouldn’t even be able to glimpse them. After you hear a screech from the barrel of the weapon, you're done for.
Vinyl couldn’t think of the last time she’d heard the crackle of gunfire. After the breakthrough in the technology of weapons during the past decade she had made it a self-assigned mission to master the handling of a laser rifle. The many battles she’d been through with the ancestor of the rifle, one with projectiles, played a large part in acting as a base for her learning the weapon.
Squad mates had come and gone throughout her time on the frontlines during the time of projectiles, many fell from fatal wounds to various body parts and some simply couldn’t handle the pressure. Personally, Vinyl had seen one of the worst moments in her career when one of her close friends had lost an eye to a blind fire from one of the enemies. The projectile had lodged in their eye, turning it into mush. The medic had was dispatched and they were carried off, but luckily the projectile hadn’t made it to their brain and was able to be removed.
Vinyl weaved in, out, and through the openings created by the maze of walls. The current mission was to eliminate the large enemy presence, but the catch was that Vinyl had brought along a newbie to the fight. She’d seen the mission as a good opportunity to break the newbie into the flow and horrors of battle. There was only so much studying at the Academy could do to real experience.
Somehow, though, the Private had broken off from the main force. The urban setting did nothing to help whatsoever to aid Vinyl in her search. However, the screech of laser fire away from the main battle did give her a slight direction to go. The problem was the patrols covering the area between her and the Private.
Vinyl slinked between the buildings, occasionally taking out the paired up soldiers out on patrol. But as she seemed to be halfway to the waypoint she set for herself, a screech reverberated from the roof of a miscellaneous building. She didn’t feel the usual vibration from being shot. Somehow a laser shot would hit you and cause vibrations throughout your whole body before the searing pain would kick in. Vinyl never questioned it, she just avoided it.
The sniper fired a few suppressive shots, both equally headache-inducing from the laser screech. But this allowed Vinyl to judge distance and position. After a three count, she popped up from cover, firing at a darkened window, the body of the enemy creating a slightly darker contrast than a regular dark space. A few moments later and there was no fire from the window, Vinyl rushed to the room that the sniper fired from. After carefully clearing it, she restarted her side-mission to rescue the Private.
Vinyl snuck around to the back of where the bulk of the firing seemed to be coming from, which was a large building of about two stories and multiple rooms. She crouched behind the nearest backdoor and inched it open, using the ‘ol “slicing-the-pie” technique. As she neared the end of clearing the first room she spotted an enemy. Every few seconds a screech would echo through the room, this allowed Vinyl to sneak up behind them using the screech as a cover for the sound she made.
The barrel of her gun pressed against the enemy and Vinyl quickly tapped the trigger twice, the screech of the laser muffled by the now burning mixture of flesh and cloth. Vinyl moved from room to room on the first floor, taking out each enemy she encountered with practically the same method.
Vinyl made her way to the stairwell. But paused at the bottom when she heard shouts that had been previously overruled by the noise made by the many weapons firing from the first floor. She unclipped one of the few grenades from her belt, creeping up the stairs slowly as she pulled the pin out. Once she reached the top, she tossed the grenade around the corner.
A loud thump sounded a few second later, followed by cries of confusion and agony. The white walls now painted red told Vinyl all she needed to know about the lessened enemy presence. She quickly picked off the remainders and cleared out the rest of the floor.
The sound of laser fire had stopped altogether. Most likely because of whatever was left of the enemy had retreated from the vicinity. Vinyl made her way to the large space that the enemy had been firing at. The small wall situated in the space was the likely over for the Private.
“Private Octavia, you there?”
A head popped out from the cover, “Yes?”
Vinyl jogged over to behind the cover, “While I will most likely question whatever reason you have behind deserting your post, I’m currently more worried about our positioning in enemy territory.” She grabbed Octavia by the shoulder. “So, all you need to do if cover our six and keep up with me. Okay?”
Octavia nodded.
The pair made their way from the open space to a gap between the buildings. Vinyl open her mouth to give further orders, but the earsplitting shriek of a single laser shot commandeered her attention. Vinyl turned to give Octavia a once-over, finding out quickly by the red seeping out close to her left shoulder that she was hit. Octavia’s eyes were blank, most likely from the bolt hitting her heart directly.
Vinyl drug Octavia behind cover, checking if she really was gone. After a few seconds she deduced Octavia was. Vinyl looked to the sky and shed a single tear, yelling upwards in an all-out mix of emotions. “Noooo!"
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“That was fun.”
Vinyl and Octavia walked toward their car, both had just recently come out of the building labeled All for Laser Tag.
Octavia shook her head, “I simply cannot believe you convinced me to go to...whatever that fiasco was. I would think I could handle something other than practicing the cello, but this and...what was it? Some kind of role-playing?”
“It’s called LARPing.” Vinyl said.
“Yes, well, I think you and I must try something a little more tame next time.”
“But did you enjoy it?”
Octavia sighed, “I suppose.”