The Cold War 2: by Nick Venom (book club reads txt) 📕

“A dumb kid would’ve pointed the barrel at himself. Have you done that?” Wix retorted. Raiz looked away from him, staring through the iron sights. He pointed the barrel at a makeshift target some distance from him and pressed the trigger, emitting dust. He scowled at the dummy pistol in his hand. 

Katrina raised her hand, catching Wix’s attention. “How many bullets are in this pistol?”

“A normal pistol’s magazine is thirty rounds. The dummy pistols carried a little less than that.”

“So we could only press the trigger thirty times before we have to reload?”

Wix shook his head. “Never do that. Unless you’re counting, you would have no idea when you fired off your last bullet. Even if you are counting, a single miscalculation could be the difference between you dying or living.”

“Then reload every few shots?” Katrina asked, tilting her head.

“You can’t carry endless magazines,” Wix told her. “There’s a set amount of magazines you can take. Plus, the more you take, the slower you move.”

“Then… when do we know how to reload?”

“You usually build a feel for when you should reload. That and the gun usually feels lighter without its bullets. That’s why I want to adjust you all to the dummy pistols, so you can understand how heavy these life-takers are. Though, these pistols are a little bulkier than our modern ones, but, at least, everyone here will be able to handle the modern ones with ease.”

“So we guess when we should reload?” She asked.

Wix nodded. “More or so. There’s no other way to reload.” He told her. Katrina nodded, shifting the pistol from one hand to the other. She felt the weight move from palm to palm. She then moved the pistol up and down, careful not to point it anybody else even though they were decommissioned, and played further with the weight and feel of the gun; she wrapped her fingers around the cold metal of the pistol. It was a strange feeling. 

Meanwhile, the others practiced with the pistols with varying degrees of success. Havin, wanting to show his competence, closed one eye to get a better view of the target. He squinted through the iron sights, seeing the target’s belly. He then pressed the trigger, imagining that his imaginary bullet hit the middle of the target. 

“Good form, run it again,” Ash told him, standing by his side. “I think we may move you up.”

Havin smiled, ecstatic at the opportunity to receive a proper gun. “Thank you, sir.” He said, saluting Ash.

Ash nodded back before he pointed at Havin’s side. He looked down and noticed that the barrel of the gun was aimed at him. As he moved to salute Ash, he had, unknowingly, turned the gun on himself. 

“Maybe we’ll hold off on that,” Ash added, spoiling Havin’s mood. He nodded, disappointed in himself before he continued working on his form. He found the most success out of everyone.

Evelyn, on the other hand, struggled with maintaining her form. The gun was unbelievably heavy in her hands, taking more strength to raise it to her eye level. Once she managed that, she then peered through the iron sights at the target some distance from her. She attempted to press the trigger, but it took some considerable force to push the mechanism back. Once she did, she heard the click that signaled a bullet would’ve been fired out of the barrel.

“Not bad, Evelyn. Do it again, but quicker.” Wix said, appearing behind her. “Put more force into it. The enemy won’t wait until you can finally squeeze the trigger to kill you. They’ll see you as an easy target and gun you down before you can even attempt to shoot back.”

Evelyn nodded, trying again. She pressed on the trigger, exerting as much strength as she could, and heard the click as the response to her second attempt. She then turned her head to Wix, who shook his head.

“You got it faster, but you weren’t paying attention to what was in front of you. You need to see where you’re shooting and be faster than the person in front of you. Try again.” He told her in a calm tone. Evelyn nodded her head in acknowledgment, turning back to face the trigger. She pointed it at where she wanted then pressed the trigger, which became easier by now.

Wix smiled. “Good, now repeat what you just did. I want it to be faster.” He told her before moving to the next person. He assisted Katrina, who had gotten down most of what was needed from her. She did well in pressing the trigger, but her hands shook too ferociously. Her aim was swaying and even using both hands didn’t help.

Ash, meanwhile, moved on to Raiz who declared that he knew what he was doing - though, he struggled with pressing the bulky and rusted trigger. Ash stayed behind him, watching as he did his best to press the trigger at the target. However, his attention didn’t stay on Raiz for long as he noticed Gunner staring off in the distance. He wasn’t assisting any of the recruits, simply staring at something that Ash couldn’t see. It was as if he had lost all of his motivation and was now a shell of his former self. 

Ash approached Gunner, tapping him on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” He asked.

Gunner snapped out of his daydreaming, glancing around his surroundings. “W-Where am I?”

Ash furrowed his brows at the strange question. “In Ironclad, at its training grounds. Are you okay, Gunner? Did something happen yesterday? You haven’t been acting the same.”

Gunner shook his head. “Sorry, just a bit tired.”

“You sure?” Ash was doubting Gunner’s story.

Gunner nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that.”

Ash nodded before backing away and re-assisting Raiz. Yet his focus was still on the dazed Gunner… until training for the day was over.

With the daily training over, everyone went their separate ways. Wix went to speak with Berets about Maci, who the other recruits claimed never returned to the dorm, while Ash went to the rooftop and Gunner went to bed. He stayed in bed, faking unconsciousness for hours. Until Wix and Ash returned and after they fell asleep. 

With both of his comrades fast asleep, Gunner slowly unraveled the thin blankets off himself and approached Wix’s bed, on the other side of the room. Ash slept in the bed above Gunner’s. 

Gunner reached Wix’s bed, careful not to disrupt him. He slipped his hand under Wix’s pillow and took out a leather journal. He then flipped to a random page and found a blueprint waiting for him. The blueprint displayed every room in the Lost City Base. 

Found it, he thought to himself before he sneaked away from Wix’s bed and brandished a cellphone, which wasn’t his but loaned to him by Jeff. He began snapping off photos of every page in Wix’s journal before returning it to its rightful place under Wix’s head. 

Thank God he didn’t wake up, Gunner thought as he turned towards his bed. He jumped back into his bed, sitting up. I got the photos… this should be enough. I shouldn’t have to worry about- His thoughts were interrupted by Wix, who had raised his head and stared in his direction.

“Y-You okay?” Wix asked him. “Nightmare?”

Gunner shook his head. “N-No… I haven’t had one of those in years.” He said, lying through his teeth. “Sorry, just kinda… woke up, you know.”

Wix furrowed his brows, doubting Gunner’s words. However, he was half-conscious, so he trusted Gunner. “Oh… before I fall asleep… Maci’s going to be investigated since no one has found her. Well.. good night.” He said before turning to his other side, drifting to sleep quickly.

Gunner let out a sigh of relief before wrapping himself up in the blankets. He turned to face the wall, biting his lip. I’m sorry, Wix. I don’t want to lie to you, but… I can’t go against Jeff. He has too much dirt for me to ignore. I’m sorry. I’ll explain everything once I can.

Then Gunner drifted in and out of sleep for the remainder of the night. His guilt forced him awake whenever his mind finally decided to relax. He couldn’t sleep… but he didn’t mind it. He never had to deal with the nightmare. With the person far scarier than any battle he plunged himself into. Far worse than the worse wound he’d seen on the battlefield. Far crueler than the cruelest of Delta factioners. 

If he couldn’t sleep, he didn’t have to meet with the leader of this old gang. The leader of the Red Killers, the vicious and bloodthirsty bastard. 

TBC…

Havin and the others pressed the trigger, expelling bullets from their pistols. Most of the bullets made contact with the targets while some were a little off. Wix, Ash, and Gunner stood behind them to correct their aim and stance, getting two types of results. Havin, Katrina, and Evelyn were the first type, faring better thanks to the small corrections and their motivation. Raiz, on the other hand, was the second type. He ignored Wix and the others’ advice and refused to be assisted by them, which resulted in poor marksmanship. Even so, they were progressing better than Wix had expected, especially since the training regiment had changed to fit Berets’s order. However, he still wasn’t sure of their abilities on the battlefield. They were faring well for a group of rookies with a week of experience, but they were nowhere close to being fit for war. 

Wix shook his head, dismissing the thought. He didn’t need his negativity to cloud his mind as he taught the rookies. As he shook his head, he noticed Ash approaching him. He turned to face him, addressing his saluting comrade. “What’s wrong?”

“I was given a report from one of Berets’s messenger. They can’t locate Maci anywhere. None of the cameras were working and the bathrooms were clean. All of the stalls were empty, so she can’t be hiding there.”

“It’s unfortunate. I’m sure that she could’ve done more if she had motivation.” Wix added.

Ash nodded in agreement. “Yeah… but here’s a larger problem. Since no one has seen her since the 3rd and the last people she was reported to be with were her teammates and us, they-”

“They want to put us under supervision until they can rule us out?” Wix asked, cutting Ash off. He furrowed his brows, irritated to be a suspect.

“Yes, sir.” 

Wix shook his head disapprovingly. “I see… then let’s-” He was interrupted by an alarm blaring some distance from them. All heads shifted towards the alarm. Men and women in uniforms sprinted out of their dorms and grouped up in their squads. Squad leaders gave out orders to their soldiers, dispersing to complete their task. 

Wix, meanwhile, looked around for any clues of what was happening. He noticed soldiers being armed by their squad leaders and some of them being sent to the front of the fortress, coming to a conclusion. “We must be under attack. Ash, Gunner, stay with the recruits. Take them to the dorm and wait for further instructions.” He ordered. Ash and Gunner nodded, quickly rounding up their recruits and heading off for safety.

With them gone, Wix headed to