The Weapon (The Hourglass Series Book 2) (6 page)

“Are
you ok?” she asked.

He
looked at her, slightly surprised. “Ah, yeah.  ‘Course.”

She
didn’t believe him.

Sarah
was just about to say something more when a female soldier in her late twenties
strode towards their group.

“My
name is Yuki,” she announced as they all swivelled around to face her. Sarah
noticed the guard straighten up slightly out of the corner of her eye. The
soldier had perfect black hair and smooth, unblemished skin. She looked
beautiful. “I will be teaching you how to shoot. Who has used a firearm
before?”

As
expected, Hutch and Jaz both raised their arms. To Sarah’s surprise, however,
Ian also raised his. Judging by Bettina’s raised eyebrows, this was news to
everyone. A small frown creased Yuki’s smooth forehead as she realised she had
four complete novices to teach.

“Right.
I have three months to teach you how to shoot with effect. The life of yourself
and your teammates will depend on how you use your weapons and your supplies.
Wasted bullets can and will kill you.” She paused to let that sink in. “And I
will not tolerate any dicking around. If I see a single one of you not
following safety procedures or wasting supplies, you will be running laps for
the remainder of the three months. And you better hope you can learn from
observing because you will not touch another weapon again until you are
deployed. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,
ma’am,” said the group in unison, Gillie half a step behind the others.    

“Right.
There are three main weapons that you need to know about and will be using
first hand. Handgun,” she pulled out a handgun from a thigh holster, “knife,”
she pulled out a switchblade from a sheaf on her belt, “and rifle,” she said,
nodding to the guard behind them who was holding one.

Gillie’s
hand shot up into the air. Yuki looked momentarily surprised before nodding at
him. Sarah figured that no one had ever interrupted her before.

“But
there are bullets, flashers, stunners, bees, stingers-” rattled off Gillie, but
he was stopped by Yuki’s raised hand.

“Most
of which are all able to be loaded into either your rifle or gun. Anything more
specialised and we train those who we believe are capable to handle the
different weapons. Understood?” Gillie nodded, his eyes wide and slightly
fanatical looking. Ian was also looking particularly intense. It didn’t take a
psychologist to realise that both those boys were looking to be the teams’
resident weapons expert.

“Today,
however, we are just going to use standard old bullets.”

Yuki
strode over to the building that the guard had unlocked for her in preparation.
Today you’ll get your knife and handgun. Not your rifle. You will look after
them like your life depends on them, because it will. You will not get a
replacement. You will also never leave the firing range with a single bullet
still left in your gun. If you are found anywhere with bullets in your gun, it
will be taken off you and not returned until a week after your deployment.”
Sarah blinked at that one. It was a death sentence. “Rifles you will return to
this building after every session in perfect condition. Am I understood?”

“Yes
ma’am.”

They
all stood in line and received their knife and gun. The knife was identical to Switchblade’s.
All the knives opened and shut easily with a small movement of the wrist that
they quickly mastered, except for Bettina’s, which stuck at 45 degrees. The
guns were all identical. They were squarish and bulky, a dull grey colour. The
Hourglass logo was imprinted on the side. They slowly went through how to load
their guns and were now standing nervously in front of the targets.

“Okay,”
said Yuki. “You three,” she pointed to Hutch, Jaz and Ian. “Show me what you
can do.”

Jaz
and Hutch managed an impressive shot, both just slightly off centre. Ian hit
the centre point. Yuki raised an eyebrow.

“There
may be hope yet,” she muttered.

She
then proceeded to instruct the rest of them. Thirty frustrating minutes later,
Bettina was looking smug as most of her bullets hit the target and Sarah felt
less-than satisfied with only three hits to the outside of her target. She did
a lot better, however, than Finn, who had failed to hit the target at all, and
looked miserable. It was called to a halt when Gillie accidently grazed Ian
with a bullet.

As
Yuki pressed a wad of gauze against Ian’s leg while he glared at a mortified
looking Gillie, Sarah could just make out Yuki muttering, “I was wrong.”

“Ok,”
Yuki yelled out, getting all of their attention. “I’m taking Ian to the
infirmary. Marsdon,” she said, addressing the ammunitions guard, “clean up
here. You,” she said to Gillie, her voice dropping dangerously. “Come with me.”

Gillie
dropped his head and followed behind as she helped support Ian off the firing
range.

“Return
the guns and knives,” said Marsdon.

“But
Yuki said we have to keep ours,” protested Hutch.

“You
didn’t make it to the end of your first session. We haven’t even covered
maintenance. Hand it in, recruit.” His tone brooked no further argument. Hutch
reluctantly handed his weapons over and the rest followed suit.

“Now
what?” asked Jaz.

“Free
time,” muttered Marsdon. He was turned away from them, having already dismissed
them in his mind, and was now focused completely on his weapons.

“Sweet!”
said Bettina enthusiastically.

Sarah
smiled in response and looked around to find Finn, but he was nowhere in sight.

How
was that even possible?
she fumed. He was there only a second ago. But his
white head was nowhere to be seen. Sarah gave an exasperated snort and turned
back to the others.

“So,”
she said, “what should we do?”

They
ended up just strolling around the compound for a while. At one point they
passed the hospital, only to find Ian strolling out with a bandage visible
through the new hole in his pants.

“Are
you alright?” asked Jaz.

“Yeah,
it was only a scratch, really,” said Ian.

“Do
you know what happened to Gillie?”

Ian
rolled his eyes. “They threw him in jail.”
“What?!”

“He
did shoot me, you know,” said Ian sulkily. “It’s a clear violation of the
rules.”

“You’re
fine,” said Bettina, waving a hand dismissively. “And it was an accident.”

“According
to the rules…” began Ian, but he was cut off.

“Screw
the rules, it was an accident.”

Ian
and Bettina glared at each other for a moment.

“Fine,
whatever.” Ian strolled past them, not bothering to turn around or say goodbye.

Bettina
blinked, surprised, and then a scowl settled on to her face. “What a jerk.”

“Did
he get sent to the ships?” asked Sarah, appalled that they would send Gillie to
jail.

“What?
No. Military jail. It’s on base.”

“Oh,”
said Sarah, feeling a bit stupid. “How long do you think he’ll be in jail for?”
she asked. Sarah secretly thought that Gillie probably did need to get into at
least some trouble for shooting a fellow team-mate. She wanted someone on her
team she could trust, not someone she had to worry about every time they were
behind her.

“Probably
not long,” said Jaz. “I mean, they still need to train him.”

“Hey,”
said Bettina, a rebellious grin spreading over her face, “let’s go talk to
him.”

“I’m
pretty sure that’s not allowed,” said Jaz.

“We’ll
just see if we can find his window or something,” said Bettina. “What they
don’t see can’t hurt them.” She looked at the reluctant faces around her and
changed tact. “C’mon, we’re meant to be a team. We should find out how he’s
doing and what’s happening to him. How are we going to trust each other on the
field if we can’t even stick up for each other now?” No one said anything but a
change in expression had Bettina grinning again. “I think it’s this way,” she
said, heading off in one direction. The others exchanged glances and then
slowly followed. It’s not like they had anything else to do.

After
leading them in the wrong direction for a good fifteen minutes, Bettina finally
gave up and, against everyone’s advice, asked a passing man who was carrying a
ten kilogram sack of flour to the kitchen. The man swept a quick eye over the
group and then shrugged, like he really couldn’t care.

“Main
field, to the left as you exit the barracks.” He shifted his sack of flour to a
more comfortable position and walked on.

“Seriously?
We’ve been walking everywhere and it was right near the barracks?” said Jaz,
exasperated.

“I
suppose that makes sense,” said Bettina, not put off at all. “I mean, it’s a
visual reminder of what happens to you if you screw up. Why not keep it in the
forefront of everyone’s mind?”

They
reached the main field in two minutes. A quick survey of the surrounding area
pinpointed it as a low set building, two removed from their own barracks. Much
to Bettina’s glee there seemed to be small, rectangular windows, around ankle
height, built in regular intervals along the length of the building.
Unfortunately there were also two guards stationed either end. They milled
about, trying to look uninterested in the building while they formulated a plan.

“Now
what?” hissed Jaz.

“I
don’t know?” replied Bettina, exasperated. “You can’t expect me to do
everything.”

“What?
That’s just,” Jaz rolled her eyes, “completely predictable,” she finished.

“Hey,”
began Bettina hotly, but Hutch shut her up with a raised hand.

He
was staring at the building, his eyes occasionally flickering towards the
guards on either end.

“The
only way in or out is through the doors at the ends,” he said. “The guards
aren’t bothering to check down the sides. If we get close enough to the wall
they probably won’t see us.”

“They’ll
see us making a beeline towards it though,” said Sarah, who had a bit of
experience with escaping the notice of guards.

Hutch
grinned up at her. “Not if we use a distraction.”

“Hey!”
called a voice across the field. They all turned around simultaneously, guilt
written across their faces. They relaxed when they saw who it was. Boulder. He
had separated from them earlier on. He was now munching on an apple. Boulder
joined the group.

“What’s
happening?”

“Did
you nick that apple?” asked Jaz, surprised.

“Um.
No.” He took another bite.

“Bullshit.
You can only get food during meal times.”

Boulder
just shrugged.

Jaz
looked to Hutch for support but he was grinning. “Hey Boulder,” he said. “I
dare you to walk past the military police guards while munching on that apple.”

Sarah
smiled despite herself. The perfect distraction.

“Hell
no,” said Boulder.

“You
chicken?”

“Hell
no!” repeated Boulder again, only this time striding away from them, towards
the closest side of the building.

The
others supressed a giggle.

“C’mon,”
said Hutch. They followed him so that they were now as close as they could get
to the building without looking suspicious.

“What
about the guards on the other end?” whispered Sarah.

“They’re
lazier. They haven’t changed sides in a while, and they never look behind them,”
whispered back Hutch.

Boulder
had now reached the side with the fidgety guards. The guard closest to him
turned his body so that he faced Boulder directly.

“Now!”
whispered Hutch. They darted to the wall, and the guard disappeared from sight.
“Ok, spread out.”

Bettina
and Sarah went one way, Jaz and Hutch the other. They whispered Gillie’s name
into the low set windows. Four windows in and Sarah and Bettina heard a small
voice float back.

“Psst,”
whispered Bettina, making ‘come here’ hand gestures at the other two. Jaz and
Hutch turned around and made their way back.

“Gillie,
are you ok?” asked Sarah. She felt Hutch and Jaz join them behind her.

“Yeah,
I’m fine,” said Gillie. “I’m just in here for three days and then they’ll let
me out.”

“That’s
alright!” said Sarah relieved.

“I
suppose,” said Gillie doubtfully, “but it’s kind of gross in here.”

“You
did shoot someone,” pointed out Hutch, “it’s not meant to be a pleasant stay.”

“By
accident!” replied Gillie, a little too loudly. They glanced around but no one
came around the corner. “And it’s really, really boring.”

“At
least there’s no Sarg down there,” suggested Bettina. “You probably even get to
sleep in,” she sounded wistful now.

Hutch
saw where she was going and frowned at her. “If you shoot someone just to get
to sleep in, I’ll make sure you stay down there forever.”