Jon Merz - Prey

It seemed so strange to her.

Without her gloves on, Julia felt the grips of her rifle go slippery. She was sweating. But she wasn’t hot. She recognized the signs of an adrenaline rush. She could feel her heart hammering away.

And she wondered if the others were experiencing the same thing.

She couldn’t risk taking a look. She couldn’t take her eyes off the small angle of attack Mick had designated for her.

“Cover this arc,” he’d said. “Shoot anything that enters it.”

A sound from far off down the tunnel bounced off the walls and reached their ears. Julia flicked the safety catch off her M16. It made no sound as she did so. She could have slid it all the way to automatic, but preferred keeping it on semi. She knew that every time she squeezed the trigger, just one bullet would fire.

If things got hairy, she could always use her thumb and slide the catch forward one more ratchet to go full auto.

In her mind, she felt like she was back at Girl Scouts summer camp. She’d gone to one in Pennsylvania. Situated on the side of a mountain and complete with a lake fed by an underground spring, Julia had loved the location. They’d had horseback riding, archery, crafts, and camping skills.

But she’d enjoyed picking up the rifle most of all. She hadn’t mentioned this to Mick for fear he think of her as a tomboy. She smirked. Was that silly? Why should she be so concerned about what he thought of her? He might even appreciate the fact that she could take so easily to a gun.

And besides, they’d already shared a first kiss.

Back at the summer camp, she could remember picking up the rifle. It had felt heavy that day when the sun’s rays had warmed the entire covered range platform. She looked at the simple block of soft pine wood lying next to her filled with twelve rounds of small. 22 caliber ammunition. Each of the bullets fit the block perfectly. It almost looked like some type of puzzle.

She chose to lay down prone and fire from that position.

From her vantage point, she could see the target fifty yards away. Standing up, it hadn’t looked that far, but peering through the fixed rear and front sights, it suddenly seemed miles away.

She concentrated on her breathing. Smooth inhalation and exhalations. She aligned the rear sight first and then brought the front sight up, got the two of them synched up and aligned and then found her target.

Like the instructor had taught her, she didn’t focus on the target, but on the sights themselves. She kept the target fuzzy. Somehow that seemed to contradict the logic of how she’d assumed everyone would aim a gun, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she did as she was told and slipped the safety catch off.

The sudden explosion of a rifle going off somewhere down the line startled her. The gun sounded so loud! More rifles barked in the lazy summer sun. Julia settled down and brought the gun back up, finding her natural breathing rhythm.

She let her trigger finger slide into the trigger housing. She felt the pad of her finger rest on the trigger itself.

She took a breath in.

Held it.

And thought about taking up any slack against the trigger. She didn’t think about squeezing it.

When the gun finally fired, she thought she’d been holding her breath for hours. A slight kick against her shoulder and the gun came back down. But by then, her bullet had already zoomed out of the barrel, raced across the fifty meters, and plunged into the target.

Julia let the rifle tilt, pulled the bolt back and the spent shell casing flipped out and landed next to her. Hot.

She slid another round into the chamber, rammed the bolt back home and positioned herself again.

And kept firing that way until her first block of bullets was done.

The range master called a halt to firing and everyone opened their bolts. The range master walked the line, making sure there were no live rounds still waiting to be fired. When he announced an ‘all clear,’ the girls all went forward to their respective targets.

Julia’s had twelve holes in it. The rounds had pierced the target all over the place.

But there in the exact center, sat two neat holes, almost overlapping.

“Nice grouping.”

She turned. The range master had come up behind her. He smiled. She hadn’t noticed him before. He pointed at her target. “Have you ever shot before?”

She shrugged. “First time.”

“Impressive.” He looked around at the other girls. “Gather round here ladies.”

The other scouts came over and looked at Julia’s target. By contrast, their own targets only had a few holes in them. Some hadn’t even been able to find the concentric circles that made up the actual target.

“Julia’s got some very good form. You can see how her bullets all found the target. She’s got some scattered here and there, but she also managed to get two rounds overlapping in the exact center. Two bulls-eyes.” He smiled at Julia again. “Excellent job.”

Julia had smiled back, but felt a sudden wave of shyness come over her and she lowered her eyes. “Thank you.”

The memory of that summer washed back over her there in the dank cave. What ever became of the range master? She recalled the fuzzy feeling she’d had for him after that first encounter. She remembered spending every free moment of the camp up on the range.

He taught her a lot. And Julia knew that he was the first man she’d ever had a serious crush on. She was just at that age. Fourteen. When the bridge between a girl and a woman doesn’t seem that great, but still spans a million miles of poignant heartache and experience.

For his part, the range master never touched her. Never spurred on her crush. He just remained the friendly man who controlled the shooting area. He taught her some finer points about shooting. So much so that by the end of the summer, Julia won a medal in the inter-camp jubilee competition.

I hope all those lessons weren’t lost on me, she thought.

Another sound came at her ears.

Closer.

Something was out there. In the darkness.

Julia remembered the effect that bright light had had on the one creature she and Mick had seen back at the greenhouse. She wished they had some of those ultra-bright spotlights with them now. All they would have had to do was flip the switch and while the creature was blinded, they could kill it dead.

Still, was that the right thing to do?

As far as they knew, the creature had killed Vikorsky. In all likelihood, it had also murdered the other station crew. But did that give Julia’s team the right to kill it? Were they exceeding their mandate by declaring themselves judge and jury and executioner all in one fell swoop?

Too late for debate on the issue, she decided.

Sure, studying the creature would have been nice. But the danger it apparently posed was too great to risk another life on.

It would have to die.

A scrape sounded further up.

It had to be close now. That sound hadn’t been more than seventy feet away.

Why was it moving so slowly? Julia frowned. Something wasn’t right.

Here they were, in the cave, ready and waiting with enough firepower to hose down a veritable army and the object of their hunt was meandering its way toward them. If it had been relaxed and not suspicious, would it have moved faster?

Probably.

Which means it knows we’re out here. Julia frowned. She wished she could whisper a warning to Mick.

Maybe he already knows, she thought. Maybe he knows the creature knows we’re out here waiting to kill it.

More sounds echoed off the walls of the tunnel.

Closer.

Julia’s hands felt slick with moisture. Come on already, let’s get the show started. The sooner the creature made its appearance, the sooner they could be done with this battle.