The Sniper

Sergeant Sting found himself on a barren wasteland. The land was dry and cracked, no plants were found growing on top of it. Only dried leafless rotten plants. He thought he might be on a random desert in the middle east or africa. But how he get here was a mystery.

He tried his phone but it didn't have any signal.

Sting still had his Barrett with him hanging on his back. He didn't have the slightest clue where he was. He also had a sling bag that carried his ammo and supplies. So he picked his destination based on his instincts and head towards it.

***

Somewhere nearby, a carriage was heading to the city capital. Inside was a beast-man slave that was about to get transported. There were shackles on her neck, arms and face. She was pinned on the wall with thick chains. Even a lion couldn't break through it.

Beast men were said to be ferocious and their bites were fatal, thus they needed to be restrained more compared to their human counterparts. Five men were accompanying her.

They were the bandits of the wild valley that was offered money to cross it. This place was dangerous since dark hyenas were lurking around. These hyenas could detect any presence even from 3 kilometers away. What's more, their stamina was unparalleled, they could run all day to catch their prey.

But if they were moving they could flee from the hyena's detection.

Inside the carriage, the beast-man was mumbling. She was speaking something but her voice was muffled since her mouth was plugged.

"Shut up, slave. You're annoying." He then hit her on the head, causing her to whimper.

"Hey, don't intimidate her. That's a beast-man you know, she can kill you instantly with just her hands."

"Yup, they're a bunch of savages."

"But she's just a little girl."

"Hey, looks can be deceiving."

Beast-men were looked at as wild animals by humans in any settlement. Thus, they stayed as far away as possible from humans.

She had an ear of a bear, though one of her ears were damaged, like it got sliced a long time ago. She had a smooth and long violet hair. Her eyes looked innocent and her arms were flimsy. Her body was like an ordinary girl.

Though these men stared at her like she was some sort of threat.

On the driver's seat, one bandit yelled. "Hyena! Incoming!"

The four men quickly left the carriage and grabbed their swords and weapons. They were confused why their scent got picked up by these creatures. They took their swords and unsheathed it.

There were two hyenas in total. One hyena engaged at them, while the other went for the driver. It's fangs were as tall and as sharp a dagger. Zipping across the driver, his other arm went missing and blood gushed out. "Ah!"

Three bandits were flustered seeing their comrades getting eaten. They only had limited time so they needed to act fast.

"What should we do?"

"I don't know, how did they get here?"

One bandit returned to the carriage. He grabbed the key, he was unlocking the shackles of the beast-man.

"Hey, what are you doing?" His partner was bothered with his actions.

"This is the only way. We can't defeat those hyenas on our own."

The two bandits were fearfully watching the hyenas feasting their comrade's corpses. Only a little more and it would be there turn.

Afterward, her shackles were removed. The chains fell and the beast-man was free.

The bandit yelled at her face. "Fight for us! Hurry!" They shook her to move but she was in daze. To their surprise, the horses were next. The hyenas feasted upon their horse. Without it, they wouldn't be able to resume their travel.

The bandits were surprised. "Oh no!"

The bandit then slapped her face. She was awake. "Hey! Wench!"

"Uh." She nodded and leaped outward, heading to the hyenas. Her fingers showed a sharp claws, she charged at them while the hyenas were preoccupied eating. She struck them down. With a swing of her claws, she was able to leave a gash on their bodies.

After the battle, the hyenas were now dead. They were relieved. But she was tired and lost most of her energy. She felt like dying since desoite being exhausted she was hungry as well. The bandits never fed her well.

When she returned, the bandits cautiously restrained her with chains and iron shackles. The bandits sighed in relief. But in that split second, they became mad.

When she was helpless, they then decided to hit her with a whip. "You damn slave! If you didn't daydream, you could have saved the horses."

He whipped her skin repeatedly, leaving bruises and redness. She groaned from pain everytime she got hit.

The other two bandits were stepping on her. All she could do was gasp from anguish. Though she was already used to this.

"Forget bringing her to the capital. Let's return her to the base." One bandit suggested.

They dragged her out with the chains and shackles on. They were heading back to their camp where their main base was found. It was closer than the capital.

She was getting dragged while her body rubbed against the rough barren lands.

Due to this, the bandits were given more work out. They were extremely annoyed.

"Damn it! Why won't she stand."

"She's giving us a hard time." They went back to her and began stomping on her. Their boots struck her repeatedly.

"Wait! Why don't we just have her to ourselves." The bandit grinned.

The other two also agreed with the idea. They began stripping her clothes off.

"But won't her value decrease if we do it?"

"Who cares about that? We are bandits we do what we want."

"That's bad for our reputation, you know. Our chief would get mad."

They used to be Patch bandits who ransacked villages and towns. But they were cornered by the Vallion Knights, the forces of the capital, who banished the rest of them into the wild valley.

They got pardoned by the Lords and given freedom if only they would stay in the valley and stop their loots. In exchange they were given jobs and quotas by the capital so they could earn money.

"Hold her down, I promise, you can have your turn next."

"Fine."

When her clothes were removed, her body was exposed, the other two bandits pinned her arms down while one was pulling his pants down.

The beastman was shedding her tears. She tried to squirm around as she panicked.

The bandit chuckled menacingly. And at that moment, his skull was blown off. Drops of blood got flung outward.

The other bandits jaws fell. They stood up and looked around them. "What, the hell happened!"

One by one, their heads erupted. Their bodies then fell to the ground helplessly.

The beastman was shivering in fear. She stayed in her place and didn't move a muscle. About 10 minutes later, a man with dark jacket and a skull face mask was walking towards her.

Sting was holding his barret M-95 on his chest. "Little girl, where is this place?"

She was silent.

Sting noticed he had iron shackles on. She was a slave but one odd thing was that she had an unusual animal ears. He tried to touch it and it was real. It even reacted with his finger.

"Weird. You aren't a human right?"

He wanted to free her. He guessed the key would be found from their corpses. So he went to look for it. When he found it, he then released her.

Sting tried to talk to her but she didn't respond. He was like talking to a brick wall. Seeing her eyes, a deep trauma was engraved on her. Sting saw these eyes once on the innocent slaves and victims in his mission back on earth then. This was hard to deal with.

Sting sighed. He set up a camp and both of them rested for a moment. He grabbed a hersheys bar and bit it. He was looking around.

The beast man twitched her nose. She then salivated.

"Hmm? You want some?"

Seeing her, it caused Sting to split his chocolate bar into two and gave it to her.

She then took it and munched it. She then smiled and looked happy biting the chocolate. She never tasted like this before, it was like food that descended from the heavens. She could feel her mind exploding from its sweetness.

Sting felt satisfied. "What's your name?"

"Tesha, my lord." Her voice was weak and hoarse.

Sting gave out his arm. "Master sergeant Sting of the sniper team, 1st division."

Tesha didn't know what to do with his arm so he sniffed it. Looks like she didn't know how to shake hands. So he grabbed her palm and shook it gently. "Nice to meet you."

Sting then walked away.

Tesha gasped. She stood up and followed her. He was smiling as he followed him.

"Tesha, huh? So do you have a place to go home?"

Tesha shook her head in disagreement.

As things were now, Sting was feeling thirsty. The searing heat and his outfit made it worse. They then decided to stop by on a cave.

He rested his barrett on the wall. In front of him was Tesha, who was innocently gazing at her. "So how old are you?"

She raised her fingers and she was counting. She then scratched her head while chuckling. "I don't know."

Judging from her looks she was around 13. That's why when he saw her about to get raped he didn't hesitate to shoot them down.

"Do you have any place here where I can get some water?"

She pointed to their left. "The bandit's camp is close. They have food and water there."

"Bandits huh? Then no country will complain if I shoot them down." Sting grabbed his barret. He pulled down the stand and placed it firmly. Looking at his scope he spied upon a distant village. There were look outs on the watchtowers and the people outside were chatting. They had swords hanging on their waists.

"3.. 6... 13... 16 people." He counted. It was 1 and a half kilometers away. Putting his finger on the air there was no wind. An ideal condition for a sniper.

Sting had a box that contained his ammo. His weapon had about 5 rounds per magazine. He estimated once he exhausted his first magazine, the enemy would get confused and try to find him.

"My lord, I think the chief and the alt-mage are not yet back. But do you plan to take over the camp?"

"Yeah."

"Eh?" Tesha came from this camp. She knew how formidable these bandits were with their cutlass and dagger wielding. Even she might have a hard time with their numbers in that camp. What's more if they were captured, death wouldn't be their fate. But gruesome torture for the Bandit Chief and his men to see.

Getting food and water was essential in the wild valley but to just take over the bandit camp alone was suicide.

Sting smiled. "Just watch." With two repeated bangs, the look outs were taken out cleanly. The people didn't even notice. He then aimed at the group. He fired and and the target's head exploded.

The bandit's comrades were confused thus they stood up.

Bang! Bang! Sting then exhausted his rounds and caused the bandits from afar to fall down.

It looks like they were calling for back up and several people were walking around, they showed up in the open. Lucky for him.

Sting quickly reloaded and aimed again. One by one, he managed to kill every last one of them.