The Dragunov Rifle, chapter three

The tunnels were deathly quiet as the teens moved toward the exit. Will was in the lead, the sniper rifle slung over his back. He had taken one of the M16's and a couple grenades. Behind him the rest of the crew was strung out at intervals, to prevent presenting an easy target in case of gunplay. "Specs, commo?" he asked.

"No signal. You figure they're waiting on us?"

"They might be. If I were them, I'd split my forces, send one group to cover the other tunnel, if they haven't already got a unit there, and the other would either wait at the main entrance or come hunting for the intruders." He heard a noise, faint, but not natural, from ahead and around a bend in the tunnel. "Hold," he whispered.

"What's up?" asked Sparks.

"I heard something. Spread out across the tunnel and cover both directions. There may be other ways to reach us we don't know about. The signal to fire is me firing. If I pull the trigger, unload your weapon into the first live thing you see. Until then, no noise. Got it?"

The gang was surprised and somewhat scared by Will's seemingly endless knowledge of tactics, and the cold disregard he seemed to have for human life. The spread out, taking up what little cover they could find. The noise came again, a faint shuffle, and then a metallic snapping noise. Will eased his rifle's selector to semi-auto, and aimed at a point in the bend approximately head-height. A man walked around the bend, a Tec-Nine in his hand. He paused and Will yelled, "Drop your weapon and put your hands on your head! We have you covered, and will not hesitate to fire!" The man, instead of complying, spun and started to raise his gun. Will's round took him cleanly in the bridge of the nose and he fell back as if poleaxed. "Be ready to defend yourselves. They probably heard the shot."

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was staring agape at him. They couldn't seem to fathom that their best friend, a guy who regularly took crap about not wanting to fight, had just blown a guy away with seeming ease. They were snapped to immediate attention by the menacing hiss of a bullet passing close by them. Johnny looked at Will. "What now?"

"We need to get to that exit. I want you to take this grenade and when I give you the signal, flick off the thumb clip, pull the pin, let the spoon go, count to two, and throw it as hard as you can around that corner. Then everyone duck. When the grenade goes off we rush them. If it moves, shoot it. Got that?"

The response was a simultaneous nod. They moved into position.