The Recoil Trilogy by Joanne Macgregor

Author:Joanne Macgregor [Macgregor, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Stone cold

I start the rebel shooting lesson by asking if any of them have ever shot before.

“Never,” says Quinn, sounding proud of the fact.

Zonia and Darius shake their heads, but Nicky says, “I’ve been hunting twice, with my uncle. That was way back, though, before the plague began.”

I give an overview of the bare basics of theory — weapon safety, the different parts of the rifle and how it works, how wind, weather, altitude and temperature can affect the speed and trajectory of the round moving through the air. Nicky listens with interest, but Quinn looks uncomfortable. I wonder why Zonia invited him — she must know how he feels about guns and shooting. Maybe that’s why she did. He’s a rival in the leadership stakes, and I’ve noticed she likes to keep him off-balance. Or maybe she just doesn’t want to leave him back at camp while she’s away. He might convert some of her followers to his way of thinking.

I draw circles and crosshairs in the dirt with a stick and explain how to use the scope, then take them through the basic differences between shooting stationary and moving targets, and explain how you have to compensate for moving objects, as rats will likely be, by leading the target.

Soon Zonia is yawning, and a bored-looking Darius asks, “Can’t we just have a go at shooting?”

“Sure.” Let them see for themselves that it’s not as easy as they seem to think.

“I’ll go first. Jinx, come show me how to hold the rifle,” says Zonia, removing her red beret and tossing it to Darius.

I stand behind her and show her the proper grasp. Her movements are too rough and awkward for her to be accurate — her whole hand convulses when she pulls the trigger. Every time the weapon fires, the recoil knocks her back a pace. A dozen shots later she still hasn’t come close to hitting anywhere near the closest target — a dense shrub about twenty meters away.

“Here, Darius, you try,” she says, holding the rifle out to him. “My shoulder is already aching.”

When I try to adjust Darius’s hands on the weapon, he says, “Don’t touch me. Just tell me how.” There’s been no thawing of suspicion here.

“Chill,” I say, and give him instructions from a yard away.

I suspect he’s one of those guys who doesn’t like being told what to do by a girl. Especially when that girl is way better at a skill than he is. Especially when that girl is Jinx E. James.

He’s not much better than Zonia and gets frustrated easily. He’d be better with the shotgun. Now that I think of it, it would probably be a better weapon for everyone — they’d be much more likely to hit a rat with it. I make a mental note to mention it to Zonia tonight.

Nicky is better than both Zonia and Darius. She stays calm, can stand and lie as still as even a sniper needs to, and has the requisite

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.