Chapter 52

: From Noon Until the Break of Dawn (Part 3)

Humans get tired over time. Even for a sniper who could snipe anything all the time, staring at the same location for several hours was hard. It was getting harder and harder to look at the scope for a long time.
And the night would hide the Reavers in the darkness. The Reavers who were looking for a moment to run away and the hunter who was looking to snipe all the Reavers were both waiting for that key moment.
All was quiet and peaceful as the river flowed and a light wind blew through the area.
However, in the midst of the peacefulness, there was a battle of nerves going on. One party was trying to escape, and the hunter was trying to catch them all. The opposition between the two was invisible, but it was real and the pressure was suffocating.
An hour passed, and then a couple more. But there was not a single trace of even an ant. Even though it seemed like nothing was present, there was something going on. As the standoff continued, Leona started to think.
Did the Reavers go underground, or did they run away to another place? What is the point of waiting this long? Can we just charge towards them and exterminate them?
It was very hard to be patient as Leona was thinking all sorts of thoughts. However, Zin was staring at the same location from the same position. And fortunately, Zin and Leona had one more advantage over the Reavers. It was the location that the Reavers were in. They were hiding inside tanks that were made with metal, and the weather was very hot. A tank under the scorching sun was heating up like a grill. The Reavers had to hide in the steaming hot tanks to avoid the sniper.
The temperature in the tanks was rising and getting hotter by the minute. The Reavers had to decide if they were going to get steamed to death in the tanks or get shot by the sniper. There had to be many thoughts going through the minds of the Reavers.
Did the sniper leave the site? Is he still watching us? Is he in the same spot? How can he stay on the same spot in this hot weather? Are we stupid for staying inside the tank for nothing? I think we are going to suffocate and die inside the tank. I think my brain is going to fry from the heat.
The Reavers were holding their breath as they wondered what they needed to do. They were hiding inside different tanks, and they were not able to communicate with each other. It was possible that the sniper had left. If that was the case, staying inside the tanks would be a poor choice.
The four Reavers were wondering if they should run away, as it was getting unbearable inside the tanks. About four hours had passed since the first encounter between the two groups.
The chicken game started.
Someone get out there first.
The four Reavers were thinking the same thing. They hoped that someone would go out to check if the sniper was still around the area. This group of Reavers did not have a leader, and there was no one to order the others.
And the Reavers were also smart about it.
They did not shout out to tell someone to get out of the tank. They knew that the silence would make the sniper confused as well. If the sniper thought that the Reavers died from the heat inside the tanks, he might approach the tanks. And that would be the chance for the Reavers to attack the sniper together.
They had to remain silent and wait for that moment.
But someone had to verify that the sniper was still out there.
It was approaching the sixth hour of the confrontation, and the Reavers could not stand the heat anymore. One of the Reavers started running out of the tank as he thought that he was going to die from the heat.
—Bang! —
Nggggaaaaargh!
The running Reaver was shot in his head before he took three steps out of the tank. It was an amazing reaction time for a sniper holding his position for five straight hours. It didn’t take a single second for Zin to spot the target and snipe the Reaver down.
Zin calmly reloaded his rifle, and continued to observe the opposite side of the river. With the same level of concentration as he had in the beginning, Zin watched the tanks. The Reavers were astonished at the swift sound of the rifle gunshot, but Leona was amazed at Zin. She thought that Zin was truly a monster because he had maintained his alertness for hours straight.
Now, there were three Reavers left, and they had confirmed that the sniper was still out there. Running outside the tank was not an option for them anymore.
As the scorching sun started to set, Leona began to think up other questions while looking at the silent riverside.
She was certain that the Reavers had fried to death in the sizzling tanks. She thought that she would not last even an hour inside the hot tanks.
She wondered if Zin was pointlessly observing when the Reavers were already dead. However, Zin remained silent, and watched the other side.
The sun completely set and evening became night. In the dark night, Zin continued to stare at the tanks. In the midst of the dead silence, he spoke few words.

Eat some potatoes.

It was not the best time to cook anything, and Leona nodded.
She crawled down the hill and took out some potatoes and a knife. She cut the potatoes into small pieces. Then, she crawled her way back up to Zin.
Without a word, Leona pushed the sliced potatoes into Zin’s mouth, and Zin ate them quietly.
—Chomp chomp—
Only the sound of Zin and Leona eating raw potatoes could be heard. Leona cut up two potatoes and ate them with Zin. Leona looked at Zin, and Zin looked at Leona without saying anything. Even though they didn’t speak or make signals, Zin knew what Leona was saying.
Want more?
Leona was meaning to ask that question, and Zin shook his head.
The area near the tanks was silent even though four hours had passed since the two ate the potatoes.
When midnight passed, Leona was certain that the Reavers were dead in the tanks. But she didn’t say anything because it was Zin who made decisions. After 1 AM, Leona became so tired that she fell asleep. It was summer, the temperature wasn’t low, and Leona was very tired after a long day.
In the middle of the long silence, Zin wasn’t sure what happened to the Reavers inside the tanks. Even though he didn’t know if they were alive or dead, he remained still. Besides loading up the magazine, he did not move a muscle.
—Bang! —

Ow!

Less than an hour before the break of dawn, Leona woke up screaming to the large bang of the gunshot.
—Clank… Bang! —
Leona was able to figure out what was going on, and she looked around the area. Without hesitation, Zin reloaded his rifle, aimed, and fired the shot.
—Bang! —
Three gunshots were fired, and Zin talked to Leona, who had a very serious look on her face.
After finishing off the remaining three Reavers, Zin spoke shortly,
It’s over.

Looking at the calm Zin, Leona realized that patience was the most important virtue of a hunter.
Zin was in position for a total of thirteen hours. And it took about seven seconds to take out the remaining three Reavers. A hunter was a person who could patiently wait thirteen hours for that seven seconds. Zin stood up, and Leona followed him down the hill.

Why did they all jump out at the same time? Are they stupid?


I let the first one run away for a bit.


Hmm? Oh… I see,
Leona nodded as she realized something else.
One of the Reavers started running out of the tank, and Zin didn’t shoot him on purpose. The dawn was about to break, and it was the only time left for the Reavers to run away in the dark. As the other Reavers heard their friend run without getting shot, they got out of their tanks and started to run away.
When the Reavers were in the open field, Zin took them down one at a time. He let them loose so that they lowered their guards, and he killed them all at once.
It was impossible for ordinary people to stay calm after waiting thirteen hours and spotting their prey. But Zin didn’t complain or appear tired.

Do you know how to swim?


Ah… yes.


Then let’s cross the river.

As the hunt was over, they had to retrieve their prizes. This was the best part of the hunt.
There were seven dead bodies, and two dead scavengers. One died of gunshot wounds, and the other died after losing too much blood from the machete wound. The long streak of blood on the riverbed did not look pretty at all.
Squeezing out the water from her hair, Leona walked towards the destroyed tanks. Zin searched through the dead bodies of the Reavers for valuable items. All of them were killed by gunshots to the head. Leona seemed to be interested in the crappy rifles that the Reavers were using, and she peeked at them.

Mister, are you going to use this?


No way.


Then, can I take one?


… It’ll be too heavy for you.

It wasn’t a big gun. Each gun had different looks, but the guns were reloadable using bolt action. They also used 5.56mm regular ammunition, and they were valuable firearms for most people except Zin.

Stack all the weapons and usable items over here.


Okay.

Leona and Zin diligently searched and found items around the area. Zin looked through the dead bodies, and Leona went towards the junkwagons.
As Leona opened the trunk, she yelled out in fear,
Aaaaah! Crap!


What’s the mat…
Zin rushed over to where Leona was, and he was able to figure out why she screamed. Leona sighed with a big frown.

Crazy bastards. Really.

Inside the trunk, there were dead bodies that were chopped up. The arms and the legs started to decay, and there were many insects on them. Leona covered her mouth as she felt nauseated. Although Leona was used to seeing monster corpses, she got scared when she saw dead bodies in an unexpected place.
And it was her fault for not noticing the blood stains on the junkwagons.

Why the heck do they carry around chopped body parts…?


Probably, they carried them to eat them.


I didn’t ask you… You didn’t have to tell me,
Leona murmured in disgust.
Zin went back to the dead bodies, and Leona took a deep breath before she opened the other trunks one at a time. Fortunately, only two trunks were full of chopped body parts. The other trunks had tools, kits, kitchenware, guns, and gunpowder. Zin finished searching through the dead bodies, and then came to check on the items in the junkwagons.

Hmmm, they were wandering Reavers. That’s better for us.

Reavers who were settled would have stored the loot back in their main base. But these Reavers carried around all their loot, so Zin and Leona were able to take away all their belongings.
Zin laid down all the items on the ground except the corpses.

Hmm… they seem to have a lot of ammunition.

Their rifles used 5.56mm bullets, but some of the others used 7.62mm bullets.
I assume they made the guns based on the bullets.
Zin now had the following items: 13 rifles, tools, kitchenware, eighty-seven 5.56mm bullets, twenty-three 7.62mm bullets, nineteen 9mm bullets, and 293 chips.
Zin was able to gain more gunpowder than the seven 7.62mm bullets that he used, and he gained a good amount of 5.56mm bullets as well. They summed up to less than ten magazines worth of ammunition, but it was important because Zin needed ammunition for fighting in the wilderness. Regardless of the amount of chips he gained, Zin was also able to secure a good supply of firearms.
After taking the ammunition and chips into his possession, Zin started to look at the guns one at a time. He checked the conditions of the rifles and picked out the ones that were in good condition.
The gun that used 5.56mm ammunition had a smooth barrel, and was in good condition. It had the shortest barrel, and weighed the least.
And more importantly, the rifle had a mechanical sight on it.