Surviving

Anger and unbridled fury coursed through my body. That, that, THAT THING KILLED MY FATHER!!!!! I wanted to scream with rage and shoot that monster dead.
But my father's lessons were stopping me. Be calm, I heard my father's voice. Never act on emotion, it will blind you, you will never be able to think clearly.
I took trembling breathes and closed my eyes, focusing on my target.
My body was still trembling but I will still capable of pinpointing my target.
I gritted my teeth, remembering that I was supposed to give my target the benefit of the doubt, although the thing had my father's hunting knife sticking out of his body. That last thing he was getting was moral treatment.
I focused in on the center of his head, growling with anger, and pulled the trigger.
The bullets my sniper rifle uses are well, they're the kind that blast massive holes into whatever they hit. It's not the kind of bullet you want to get hit by. And yet, somehow, even with the special bullets my dad made me, this thing, which had been blasted back by my shot and hit square in the hit, managed to get right back up.
Now fear coursed through my body. Holy terror. It looked right at me, marking where I was located. Few people could actually mark a sniper on the first shot. Actually I didn't know a single person that could. And who the hell could stand up after a shot like that?
He starting to move. Towards me. I got to my feet as quickly as I could. There was no way I was staying here. I pulled my bag onto my shoulders and pulled the rifle into my arms. Then turned to climb down the tower. Only there was a bit of a problem. It was right in front of me.
I'd describe its face if I could, but well it had actually taken damage from my bullet and kinda didn't have a face anymore. Just a bloody mangled hole. And it stunk. Like a rotting long dead corpse.
The scream that escaped my lips was a child's scream. I dropped my rifle in surprise, or more rather disgusted shock. The smell was definitely terrible enough to make me want to vomit. It's a miracle I didn't.
With out thinking I unshealthed my sword and slashed in right in half, before it could do anything. It splintered into dust right in front of me.
I didn't understand. My sword wasn't made of anything different from my bullets or my father's knife which had fell to the ground when the beast vanished. It shouldn't have made a difference.
But at the moment, I wasn't sure I wanted to find out. I grabbed my father's knife and my rifle and got the hell out of dodge. I absolutely refused to stay anywhere near what ever that thing was, even if it was gone now.
I didn't have any idea what it was. It wasn't in the myths and legends my dad had told me. No one taught me how to kill those things. Killing Greek monsters sure. A single bullet takes care of those.
But whatever this thing was. Whatever it wanted. It wasn't Greek. And I did not think for a second that I had actually managed to kill it.
So I ran. I ran and I ran and I ran. And I kept going until the sun rose over the horizon.

Notes

Yeah, okay, should probably mention, the how sniping thing sand what not came from SAO II with Sinon, which means that if you're imagining Sarahs rifle as Sinon's Hecate II, you are spot on.

--Kim

(oh and if you don't know what I'm talking about its an awesome anime that you should totally check out...though you might want to watch the first series first)