Silent Shooter (Mac)

[Ben Shirley]

Finally, the day was nice and shiny, with a week of relaxation, it was a message sent by god that this may be your last moments. Its strange how he does that, just gives you something completely awesome and that you needed, before ending that pleasure in mere seconds by making sure that mortar round don't miss. But, such things Ben didn't think of, as he had alot of more important things to do, like rally his brothers up to go to the shooting range. Getting a new gun, means getting a new buddy. If you don't cooperate with your buddy, your basically screwed over when your buddy don't let you pull the trigger. So, to increase trust with your buddy,(the gun) you better start practicing how to hit targets from 250 meters away.

The sky was blue, and it had a lively vibe to it. The birds occasionally flew over the place, along with several airplanes that the air force sent out to do recon or some other stuff. The grass and hills were calm, and the wind finally started blowing, since it was extremely hot. All of the soldiers used their time wisely, some drank and talked with friends, some put on their bookworm caps on and started to increase their vocabulary, and others like Ben, practiced to be sharp shooters. He entered the army for many reasons, but his most important reason, was to become a god of long range shooting : An sniper. These guys were the elite, they were trained to be deceptive, trained to hide between the bushes. The snipers were sometimes lone wolves, breaking off from the pack to lay down some mayhem.

Ben's new friend : The De Lisle Carbine. An silenced rifle that could shoot up to 250 meters. If he trained enough with that bad boy, he would be shooting right infront of the krauts, and they wouldn't notice who did it. A fine dream that was worth dreaming, a dream worth turning into reality, and a dream worth focusing on. Ben wouldn't be able to do it on his own, so he asked his brothers to help out aswell. Kevin, usually the most eager of the 5 brothers, basically dragged the others along with him. Joseph, the second eldest, had the most experience aside from Ben himself, so they were going to show everyone else the ropes of the De Lisle Carbine. This way, if Ben dies, the others could use the gun effectively.

Just so that Raymond and Todd didn't feel left out, Ben brought them along too. Micheal was going to keep them busy, talk with them about some retarded crap until they get bored or something. It was good to have brothers, made life alot easier sometimes. Thats the only thing that matters really. Now, the adventure began, with everyone walking out of their bunkers and walking casually across the grassy land. Wind made the grass lean to the left or right, all in sync like a symphony or orchestra. Still a bit sleep from the very awesome birthday party that was given to Patty, everyone stumbled every now and then almost falling face first to the floor.

"Well guys, time to test this gun out! Don't wanna start fighting krauts when I don't even know how to use a gun. A silenced rifle is what I need anyway," said Ben while carrying the De Lisle Carbine over his shoulders, with his head held up high as he was proud of this great gun. He heard it was only used by British Special Forces, and only a few were made. This made it even more special, and made him even more proud to hold a weapon that was used by specialized troops that could shoot krauts from 1500 yards away with their eyes closed and their ears ringing with the sound of grenades exploding.

"About time too. I heard Patterson is being cranky with our losses Ben," said Micheal.

"Yes, Yes, I know. I am going to make sure to pay him back, but old grandpa should not bundle up his panties just because of a few losses."

"Lets just get a move on already, you guys move too slow!" exclaimed Joseph, moving ahead of the group along with Raymond and Todd. Seeing as he was supposed to stick with the two, Micheal came running after them with his arms flailing up and down. Soon, everyone else was running after everyone else so that neither would be left behind. Looking like kids running after each other while playing tag, most of them fell to the ground by tripping over a rock or just not watching their step.

All sweating, tired, and breathing heavy, everyone was accounted for when they arrived at the shooting range. With a smile on his face, Ben unstrapped the De Lisle Carbine, bringing it up to his face so he could look down the iron sights. Everyone was quite, so Ben wouldn't lose his concentration. Breathing slowly in and out, he calmed down most of his nerves and released some of his nervousness. Ben didn't know why he was so nervous, it was just a gun like any other, maybe it was because other people were watching him. Shrugging the thought off, the warm but strangely felt cold steel of the trigger touched Ben's index finger, as he pulled the trigger and supposedly shot the bullet. Everyone looked at the target, waiting a few seconds. Then, BAM! the wooden target to the bullet head on at the chest, plowing through it completely.

"Wait, what the hell? I fired the bullet? I didn't hear crap!" said Ben, who was surprised at such a feat.

Soon, there was a big and loud argument over who would use the gun next, and anyone would be able to notice it.

[Mac Bargett]

Staff Sergeant Mac Bargett took a deep breath and smiled as the smell of gunpowder and grease filled his lungs. It was good to be back. He hadn’t target shot for a while, so he took his time to take it all in as he walked from the armory to the rifle range. It seemed pretty empty, just himself at one end, and a small crowd of soldiers a few lanes down, although it looked like that none of them had any weapons for the range. Mac found this particular, but they were probably there just to watch someone fire off some cowboy trick shots or something. If it got interesting , he would probably pop over and watch it himself. But not before shooting a couple of clips through the M1 slung over his shoulder.

As he placed the rifle and a carton of clips onto the table in front of him, Mac reminded himself of the four rules to gun safety; One: All guns are always loaded. Bargett picked up the M1 and inspected the breech, and checked inside the barrel. This was a habit of Mac, he did it anytime he held a gun that had been out of his sight for any length of time. It was especially important now, that he was using a weapon loaned from the armory, who knew the last drafted goldbrick to use the rifle, or whatever he could have left inside. This time however, both the chamber and the barrel was clear.

Two: Never point the muzzle towards anything you don’t want to kill. Mac made sure to keep the most dangerous part of the rifle pointed downrange towards the wooden targets as he picked up an eight round clip and slipped it into the Garand’s internal magazine.

Three: Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire The Staff Sergeant placed his right hand around the rifle’s grip as his left held the front stock and kept the barrel steady. With his right pointer finger resting on the worn walnut above the trigger he slid the butt stock into his shoulder. He then cocked his head to the side, and looked through the rear aperture sight. With his focus on the front sight through the rear, everything else around him went blurry, and his world became just a man and a rifle.

Four: Know your target: Mac lowered his rifle and raised his head again to look over the rows of targets that were laid out before him. They were just simple paper and wooden sheets with the outline of a man’s upper body drawn on them and propped up in front of a hill of dirt, to prevent the bullets from flying off to who-knows-where. And then he returned to his shooting stance, with his rifle up, head down, and left leg out. The front sight danced within the rear, and they both danced over the smart dark patch that was the wooden poster 100 yards away and aligned with his shooting lane. On second thought, 100 yards would be a lucky shot with free aim and iron sights, even for someone who spent every week at the range, and Mac couldn’t remember the last time he held a gun. Besides, pride was a sin.

With the sights wiggling over the 25 yard target, Bargett flicked the safety and placed his pointer over the trigger. His hand clenched, and the gun fired. For a moment he was deaf as the bullet ripped into the paper person’s shoulder. He let his ears clear and the recoil shakes stop before continuing, this time squeezing the trigger enough times to empty the clip and have it pop out with it‘s legendary ping. Bargett then put on the safety again and sat down the rifle to check his aim. The placement of the rounds were ok, most going into a pattern around the target’s shoulders and neck, 2 missing however. They might not be all kill shots, but if that had been a German, he would not be fighting back anytime soon. If only they were fighting a war against paper.

The chitchatting of the group at the other end of the rifle range had quieted down, so Mac assumed the shooter was about to fire, although he couldn’t see the weapon through the crowd surrounding him, which was dangerous and probably a safety violation, but with no one else on the range the Staff Sergeant decided not to call them out on it. He did however decide to “let them play through” and shoot without his firing as a distraction. He was interested in what was the commotion over there anyway, so he just watched them, as a pair of spitfires flew over head and their drone filled the air.

Mac couldn’t believe his eyes, he saw the bullet impact the target, that was for sure, the wood had the hole right there in the chest. But he heard no bang, saw no muzzle flash, enough though he wasn’t that far away and the planes weren’t that loud. The crowd must have saw it too, because they went crazy, and Mac decided that it was time to approach and figure out what was going on.

“Hey there, corporal“ Mac called out once he saw the chevrons of the man holding the strange rifle with an extra large barrel. “What kind of gun do you have there? It looks like something out of Buck Rogers.”

[Ben Shirley]

Everyone was excited about the gun, shoving and pushing each other to try and grab the weapon so they could practice with it. In other words, they just wanted bragging rights to using a completely silent rifle. They were making a ruckus and Ben didn't like to attract attention, it was bad enough that they got scolded just for being black. Then again, he still kicked anyone's ass for talking shit. Holding up the rifle in the air and stiff armed all of his brothers before creating some space between him and them. Out of the corner of his right eye, Ben noticed a soldier approaching the group and it was a Sergeant. He seriously thought they were knee deep in shit, so he had to calm everyone down.

"Stand down! salute the Staff Sergeant!" ordered Ben with a firm voice, with him and his brothers facing Mac, then they saluted before letting Mac speak. Seems like he wasn't one of the more strict and proper NCOs in the army, so Ben loosened up a bit and gave Mac some information on the gun since he was interesting in it.

"Its the De Lisle Carbine sir, fully silenced rifle that has up to 250 meters of range. An unorthodox sniper rifle in my opinion," said Ben, passing it to Mac while having the barrel facing upwards to the sky so that no accidents would be fatal. Even if there was an accident, no one would hear the shot, but the screams just might be loud enough.

"Sorry for the disorderly conduct, we are all excited about the new weapon, as it was used by British Special Forces and only a few were made," continued Ben, being as friendly as he could. Obviously, he was a bit nervous and his proper disguise wasn't really working in his opinion. But it was all he had and so he ran with it.

[Mac Bargett]

Mac wasn’t really interested in the stats of the silenced rifle, and most of the information the corporal gave him flowed from one ear to out the other, although one bit of info did interest him, because of first hand experience.

“British Special Forces?” In what seemed like a lifetime ago, Mac had briefly served in the English SAS, and he had not see anything like that futuristic firearm he now held in his arms. He was unsure if that was really the place of origin, but if not them, then where?

“I bet the story of how a limited edition silent British rifle came into the possession of a G.I. in the United States Army is pretty interesting. Interesting enough to be worth a round of drinks for you and your boys the next time we go on leave. What do you say?” There was just something about that gun that drew Mac’s complete attention to it, like inside it’s enlarged barrel it held a vortex that sucked in both the sound of it’s gunshots and the focus of everyone around it. Probably because it was special, different from all other firearms, able to do things no other gun could do. When he had first entered the army, the Thompson submachine gun was like that, it’s fully automatic firing trumping all the bolt-action/pump-action rifles and shotguns he had seen in civilian life.

But time in the army caused automatic weapons to become less impressive for the young Staff Sergeant, and now this De Lisle Carbine was the new Holy Grail of rifles. And this corporal was the lucky man who got to sip from it’s mystical basin.

“But today we’re not hear to talk about guns, we’re here to shoot them,” Mac added as he handed over the interesting rifle back to it‘s owner, “And I supposed you’re wanting to sling some more lead through yours, I know I would be if I was equipped with such a rare and exotic weapon. I hope it serves you well in both training and combat.” Mac really wanted to fire the weapon himself, but he was not the kind of person who would just barge in on a subordinate’s firing demonstration, flaunt rank, and hog all the fun. It was better for him to just stand back and let the soldier use the weapon he was qualified for.

[Ben Shirley]

Through careful observation by the soldiers huddled behind Ben, or through blatant and obvious expressions, whichever one you prefer, they noticed that the stats were totally boring Mac. It wasn't too big of a surprise, but it wasn't everyday that the Shirley's didn't see an American who could care less about weapon stats. Scratching the back of his head, Ben was a bit startled when Mac sounded surprised about the SAS, maybe it wasn't information that the Corporal should of released. But his expression lightened when the offer of a drink came to his ears.

"That wouldn't be too bad, it wouldn't hurt to take a break once in awhile. But the story wouldn't be too exciting, I was just in the 49th Infantry Division and since I didn't really feel at home with the British, I asked for a transfer to the Americans. Someone at the previous division put in a good word for me, including Nicholas Ealing from the 3ID, and I got myself the De Lisle Carbine."

A rather boring story, nothing worth a drink of beers over. But maybe the Sergeant had his own experiences that he would like to share? Giving a big ego to higher ranks worked well when you wanted to befriend them, hopefully this one had enough brain to draw the line. But the weapon was really special, with its unusually designed barrel and all. He just basked in the glory, one of the only people in the world to use it in the war. A smirk slowly slithered onto Ben's face, his curiousness peaking.

"Would you want to try it Staff Sergeant? Maybe one day I will fall in the midst of combat and you'll pick up my weapon to use it. Its best to learn it now, if you'd like anyway," Ben posed the question, since how badly the NCO wanted to use the weapon. Kevin jumped out from the middle of the huddled black people, his arm on-top of Ben's shoulder.

"We'd love to have that drink as soon as possible though! It wouldn't hurt to get little rowdy on a single night, with all of this annoying Nazi's trying to shoot at you and all," mentioned Keven, positioning himself ahead of the huddle and right next to Ben to look like his totally badass right-hand man. He always enjoyed the attention, even it would kill him.

[PuNk! ™]

The following CP has been issued, 2CP a post from the new CP rule changes apply:

Mac Bargett: 4CP
Ben Shirley: 6CP

~Danny