Who: Amberlee and Jasmine When: Dusk, Day 5 Where: Rooftop
Amberlee fiddled with the adjustments on the scope. It sat rigidly on top of the rifle she had arrived at the hotel with. The little stands were flipped out, propping the barrel of the gun up at the edge of the building. The roof was the perfect vantage point for the surrounding streets.
The day had been a long one for the librarian. It was easily the hardest one she had faced thus far. It wasn’t due to the regular list of things everyone else was going through. The end of days, loss of loved ones, impending threat of death by horrid creature, hopelessness at loss of the good times they’d known. For Amberlee it was the constant unrelenting trip of unending memories. She had found ways to curb the insanity, and tend to the growing need for mental security, but she was aware it was coming at a cost. She had taken to secluded activities. Her very actions drew her off to corners where she had taken to vast strands of seemingly mindless repetition. It was either that or sound crazy speaking inane garble. She tried anything she could to help cull the speed of her racing mind. That’s what lead her to the roof.
The idea had come to her a half hour earlier. The fact she had a gun and lived in a world now populated with monsters, but didn’t know how to shoot seemed a touch backward. The process, she thought, of learning to shoot a high velocity long ranged rifle, and caring for it all the same, seemed something highly focused and time consuming. If she’d be able to manage it was another thing entirely but really, what better option did she have at the moment? She went through the visual checklist of all that she had gathered in her memory to do with manning the rifle and began scanning the streets and surrounding buildings. It seemed the thing to do was find herself a target, and fire.
The power pushed back Amberlee’s shoulder, and the noise bounced around the city blocks. In the distant view of her scope a small puff of dust rose into the air. Below Amberlee, heading to the entrance of the hotel, an empty shell casing fell. She sat back from her rifle, drew in a breath, and steadied herself from the rush she had felt only once before. Once the moment had faded she looked down over the edge to see where the casing had landed, but couldn’t find sight of it from so high up.