Lori crouched into one of the corners on the rooftop and waited. She had turned off her headphones so that the signal could not be traced to her exact location. In the distance she could still hear the machine gun rattling off hundreds of rounds that she knew were completely useless at this point now. Ignoring the gunfire she concentrated on listening for any noise that would alert her to Slayer's position. As she sat and listened for the slightest peep her mind started to drift. Why it was drifting she did not know.
Slayer turned his attention to the machine gunner that soon would share his comrades' fate. The gunner had perfect position to cover the entire area outside of the little village, but he had little firing range inside the center. Slayer slowly move from building to building keeping his eyes fixed on the gunner while listening for any movement elsewhere in the village. Once he reached the base of the building where the gunner was located he started in the door but had second thoughts. Picking up a small handful of dust off the ground and tossing it through the doorway, Slayer found what his gut had told him would be there. Laser sensors, of course! Slayer glanced around and found what he wanted.
Pulling the rope from his shoulder, Slayer tied a slipknot at one end. Aiming carefully he tossed the rope up to the second story where a two-by-four was jetting outside the side of the building. Slipping the lope around the two-by-four and pulling the knot tight, Slayer started his climbing. Slipping through a window, Slayer squatted and made his way slowly to the end of the hallway. Climbing to the top of the stairs, he caught his first glance of the gunner. Slayer drew his rifle to his shoulder, flipped the safety off, and stared through the scope, aiming for the gunner's skull.
Lori's mind snapped back to reality when the machine gun went silent. Peeking over the lip of the roof, she watched as the gunner cautiously backed away from the gun with hands in the air. Slowly the last of her unit disappeared down the stair well. She slipped back down into her little corner to think. He's better than I thought he was. Where did he learn all this? She started to peek over the lip once again to see if she could get a clear shot at Slayer. As soon as her eyes cleared the roof, a single shot rang out. The holographic bullet hit the building about two inches to her right. She knew that he did that to test what he was seeing. She froze in her position. The shadow that hid her would make it almost impossible to see her figure clearly and only movement would give her away. Another shot rang by, this time it was only centimeters away.
She's good, Slayer thought to himself, maybe this will persuade her. Slayer returned his rifle to his shoulder and grabbed the machine gun. Starting about two feet below Kitty and a little to her right, Slayer laid open on the building. Slowly moving his way up the building, he carefully watched for any reaction. He got his reaction when the bullets were hitting the ledge of the roof only a foot away from Kitty's head. Slayer released the trigger and watched as Kitty ran across the roof. Pulling the rifle to his eye once more he followed Kitty as she reached the edge of the building and leap right over. "Well I'll be damned. I never thought she would do that."
Kitty stumbled as she hit the ground hard. The height of the building was slightly higher than she had thought it would was. She rolled into some bushes nearby and drew her riffle. As she scanned the rooftop where the machine gun sat she could not find Slayer anywhere. The more see looked the more she worried. Suddenly the cold steel of a knife pressed along her throat a little harder than she wished it would.
"Get up, or the last thing you'll ever see will be your blood on the ground."
