Wilson ran to the other side another tree as quickly as he could. He had identified the tree the sniper was on and using the dark shadows of the trees, he ran towards the tree, weaving his way in a roundabout manner; using the trees in his surroundings as cover. He temporarily stopped and squatted behind two close trees. He tried to use the little space in between to peep at the direction the sniper shot at. The tree he thought the sniper was on wasn't the one.
The issue was the sniper was keeping his eyes on him and never once blinked. As soon as he saw Wilson move, he pulled the trigger.
*Bang*
It hit the tree, very close to Wilson's head. Wilson quickly took a step back and that quick thinking of his was what saved him from the second shot.
*Bang*
The sniper cocked his gun again, eyes never leaving Wilson's position. Another bullet.
*Bang*
'Not safe enough!' Wilson concluded and dashed out of his cover at full speed, his body as low to the ground as he could afford to bend it without losing speed. Another gunshot rang out.
*Bang*
The bullet whizzed over his head and deeply embedded itself into a thick tree stem. Wilson had a sense of foreboding and trusting his instincts, he stopped abruptly; causing a one-second delay in his movement.
*Bang*
That delay was what caused the newly shot bullet to miss his chest. There were barely two seconds between these two last shots. It was bad for Wilson because it showed how fast and accurate the sniper was; but at the same time, was fortunate for him because he had paid close attention to that area and seen the sniper rifle flash and now, he knew exactly where the sniper was - on that big tree with curvy branches the size of a baobab tree.
"Don't let him get away!" The woman yelled at her lover as she took a quick glance at the tree the latter sniped from. She also tried to see where Wilson was at but the trees blocked her line of sight. It was all good though, as long as her love's line of sight wasn't.
She quickly turned back to the tent and immediately noticed that it was wide open.
"Sh*t!"
That was the last thing she ever said. Before she could activate her portable full-body shield, Dash ran at full speed from behind her and separated her head from her shoulders in one clean strike. Blood sprayed out as her body dropped to one side and her head flew in another direction. Without stopping, Dash entered the tent and zipped it close again; activating its defensive system once again. He could have stayed outside and cooperated with Wilson to get rid of the sniper, but he would rather not. He had a sister to take care of and was not willing to risk his life unless it was absolutely necessary. Better safe than sorry.
The sniper reloaded his rifle without taking his eyes off Wilson's current location - a hiding spot created by a depression on the ground with fell logs and still standing trees blocking the latter from the former's line of sight.
He, the sniper, stayed focused on Wilson. Any slight movement was not going to escape his sight. His full attention was on their main target. Fifty thousand was enough to feed him and his beautiful girlfriend for at least a month. Who knew what he had done to offend those he offended.
Originally, he had thought to wait for a little while longer so that the bounty price could rise before they came after Wilson but his babe had gotten some early info on the target's whereabouts and she knew that if he was given time, they might never see him again. So, they chose to come after him now. Half bread is better than none, isn't it?
There was no movement, no noise, nothing. Not from the hunter; not from the hunted; not from the one in the tent; not even from the living things that definitely existed in the forest.
Wilson felt creeped out. Seriously, where are these noisemakers when you need them? The crickets, birds, nocturnal animals, maybe not monkeys but what about the groundhogs, the many species of insects, wolves and other carnivores?
Why was it that, ever since he and Dash killed that huge squirrel, there were no other animals or sounds?
Like seriously, were they on curfew or something?
He grabbed a handful of sand and threw it in the air.
*Bang*
'Goodness! This sniper is really scary!' Wilson thought to himself.
He grabbed a stone and threw it to his right.
*Bang*
A bullet hit the stone in midair, vaporizing it into smithereens.
'Oh dear mother! Such great aim.' Wilson thought. 'Alright then, let's see how many bullets you have.'
And with that thought, Wilson, with the aim of exhausting both sniper and bullets, began throwing things around randomly; stones, handfuls of sand, sticks, tree barks, grass, branches.
And the sniper stupidly sniped everything.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*....
On and on it went. Wilson was having the time of his life; throwing things as quickly as he could and grinning like a fool.
The sniper, on the other hand, finally realized that his target had turned it all into a silly game. The problem is that he only realized it when he had only seven bullets left.
"Sh*t! F*cking bastard! How dare you play me like this? Making me look like a fool, eh? Just watch how I will waste these bullets on you!" The sniper was really irked; vexed like he had not been in a long time.
He wondered what his babe was doing that made her not to have raised her voice to caution him all this while, but he did not dare to look; just in case Wilson chose that time to move away. Losing sight of him would make his girlfriend really mad at him.
Only if he knew that the girlfriend he was so bothered about had already died five minutes ago.