Chapter 100: 100
I then prepared the guns for practice today and then I grabbed a few AR500 steel targets to be placed on the open area. I decided to use this now over the cardboard since you’ll just need to paint over it after using. I hauled them on Raphael’s pickup and I announced that we will be practicing with guns today.
Mark, Dong, Nicole, Alicia, Esther, Jonathan, Lois, Russel, Jay and Daisy came to practice. A few people came to watch and Tatiana always followed behind me.
I drove towards the open area where the squatter area used to be and the distance between the covered court and the DZRH radio station is several times farther than the open court that we used to do practice at.
“Why don’t we just practice at the same place? The larger barn is being built at the plot of land next to the court, right?” Russel asked.
“Well, we don’t want to accidentally shoot the animals, right? The noise could bother them too and it is much better if we made noise farther from our main entrance.” I explained.
“You brought a lot more guns too. There’s more than ten here and it has different kinds of ammo even from other gun types. They’re all just pistols though.” Lois said.
“Yeah, we’d practice with the .22, 9mm and the .45 ACP first. I also brought a few revolvers so you could familiarize yourself with different kinds. They are chambered only for the .38 and .357 calibers though. It would be stupid to be in a pinch if you only know how to use one type of gun.” I explained.
“Hey, will we be able to use rifles and shotguns too?” Daisy asked.
“Yeah, we have a few SMGs, LMGs, SBRs, and other special ones like bows or crossbows but we’ll get to those in the future. It would be bad to just pile everything at once. We need to do everything gradually. Wait, have you shot guns before?” I asked curiously.
“My ex was in the army before; he would take me to ranges a few times so I know a bit.” She replied.
“Oh! That’s good then.” I replied.
We finally reached the place and I positioned the targets on different locations. They were placed properly where no one could be accidentally shot since it’s behind a huge mound of soil which is behind the walls of the covered court. I angled them a bit so the danger of some of the shrapnel going straight back to us will be minimal.
There were targets that is shaped like a human’s head and torso, I placed 5 of them an arm’s length apart from each other. We have a long pole with the targets on the side where if you hit one, it flips to the other side and its different colored side will show. Those have 5 on each side and they are called dueling poles. Pairs would race to hit the targets to send them all in one direction but the bullets are limited to avoid using excess bullets. There is also those that looked like a wooden barricade with 8 plates on top of it that would fall down when you hit one. I placed two of them on the side as well.
That’s all I brought for today even though I have a few more at home and I saw Matthew was with the small crowd with his family.
“Hey Kaley, want to join? This is gonna be a fun exercise.” I asked.
She just shook her head and then his dad walked up.
“Nice setup here, can you shoot good though?” he asked confidently.
I saw Kaley smirking from the corner of my eye.
“Oh, it’s on now. It’ll take years to get to you by finessing it so now I’m using the brute-force method.” I said to myself.
“Why? Want to have a bet with me?” I asked.
“I’ll be really nice with your wife but as she said, you’re a different story.” I said to myself.
“What do you want to wager then?” He said.
“I have pretty much everything I want here. How about you give me your camper van while you could pick anything that you want.” I said confidently.
His eyes burned with excitement but I just stood there nonchalantly.
“I’ll take every gun in this table if I win then.” He said with a loud voice.
“Dad? That’s a bad idea, just saying.” Kaley tried to intervene.
“Bah! I know what I’m doing. Deal?” he said confidently.
“Hah! Deal! This is how we decide it then. I’ll set a timer and this is what we do-” I said as I drew my Glock 19.
I quickly aimed at the right side where the human-shaped targets were. The sound of the gun unloading a bullet and the steel target ringing can be heard at almost the same time.
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
I changed targets. I aimed to the pole at the center and I flipped the 5 ones to the other side to change their color.
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
I went to the last target. The one with the circular targets that are laid a few inches apart. I started from the left side then towards the right.
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
*ba*ting*
Each hit made the plates go down and then I holstered the gun to my torso.
“…” everyone else.
*whistle*
I heard Daisy whistle while everyone is staring in shock. Each hit on the human-shaped targets are located in the head and dead-center. The pole with the targets has all the targets on the right side while one of the targets that looked like a wooden barricade has all its plates down.
“What’s the time?” I asked.
“I didn’t have the timer ready but that’s barely 15 seconds…” Tatiana said.
“I was using one hand, that’s why. I think I could go faster if I use both.” I said.
“F.U.C.K!” Matthew exclaimed.
“Hey, take it easy. We haven’t started yet.” I smirked.
“You’re clearly used to pistols; we’ll use shotguns instead!” he bellowed.
“Dear…” Marisha interjected and her eyebrow is twitching.
“C’mon! How could I beat that? I could at least increase my chances on a gun I’m familiar with!” he defended himself.
“Sure… I hate using shotguns. But I’ll humor you. We each bring our own gun then? You said to use something that we’re familiar with.” I said.
“Deal!” he immediately agreed.
“I thought we we’re training today, what happened?” Jonathan weakly said.
“Forget the training! This is exciting seeing him in action.” Esther said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jonathan replied.
“Why would you even think of training at a time like this?!” Russel interjected.
“Good thing I brought extra shotgun ammo…” I said to myself.
“I’ll go first then!” Matthew walked towards the table where the guns are and he is carrying a Remington 870 while he’s holding a case of slugs.
Tatiana set a timer and he readied himself.
“We just have to hit those right? Is a graze fine?” he asked.
“Yeah, just grazing them is enough, we’re a bit far so it is okay.” I replied and he nodded.
Tatiana went to his side with a timer and we all kept quiet as Matthew gets in the zone.
“Shooter ready?” she said.
He nodded.
“Standby…” she trailed.
“…” he was focused now.
“Go!” Tatiana exclaimed.
*beep*
When the timer beeped, he quickly unloaded each shot to the targets. He hit every target accurately and with speed. After the last shot, when he pumped the shotgun to clear the barrel, he caught the casing with his hand when it flew out since he positioned the shotgun sideways.
“That was fast.” Daisy said.
“I think Sky is faster.” Russel said.
“Hmph!” Matthew snorted with a proud look.
“He’s good.” I said to myself.
After he’s done, we checked the time and it reads 28.3 seconds. That’s pretty quick even if he’s using a pump-action shotgun. He smirked at me and then I called Tatiana over while Russel reset the targets.
“Can I borrow your shotgun? I only brought ammo for it since I was about to teach them about different types later.” I said to Tatiana.
Tatiana handed her Benelli M4 to me without question. “Here, good luck.” she said.
“Hah! Using a semi-auto? Just give up already! I’ve practiced for a long time and the 870 is better!” he heckled from behind.
“Really~?” I trailed and I picked up a few shotgun shells from my pocket. I smirked and Tatiana was shocked when she saw what was in my hands.
Birdshot!
She can’t hold her smile back as she walked behind and set the timer. The rest were confused from her expression and then I heard the timer beep.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
The birdshot pellets flew in a spray and grazed everything. If you look closely, there are small indents on the target’s paintjob. Vastly different from what the slugs did. The paint didn’t even got scr.a.p.ed off unlike what the slugs did which scr.a.p.ed a portion of it.
“Too easy.” I said to myself.
I looked back and I said, “Keys. I won right?”
“…” everybody else.