I turned the lights on at the last moment as I stepped to the side.
She barely avoided hitting the wall.
I smiled, then shouted, "Found you! Angel!"
After a moment I shook my head, "You are not hurt, are you?"
She shook her head.
"You should not run at a wall like that. You could have hurt yourself." I explained.
She lowered her head as she nodded.
I smiled as I patted her back, "You want to continue playing, right? You will be it this time."
She looked up at me as she nodded. "I'd like that."
That's when I heard the gate open. Looking over, I saw Talor waving, "There you are, I was looking for you."
"What for?" I asked.
"Can't you guess? You're playing hide and seek, right? Mind if I join?"
"Is it alright?" I asked Angel.
She looked at him and shook her head, "I don't mind."
We played until she tired herself out. The sun had already set. The three of us had an early dinner before I took her to the bedroom and put her to sleep.
She held onto my sleeve as she drifted off. After making sure she was fully asleep, I gently moved her hand away. After that I followed Talor to the computer room.
He was looking through each security camera feed. "Are you looking for any mutants?" I asked.
He didn't take his eyes off the screen as he answered, "No. The mutants don't come out this early. I'm checking the feeds to make sure everything is working properly before any mutants start coming out."
I stared at the screen for a moment before asking, "How much do they help?"
"A lot. The large perimeter pulls in plenty of mutants. Mostly normal ones with a few megas. The guns cut their numbers down so Carl can handle the rest."
"These can't take all of them out?"
"No. Even normal animals are hard to hit."
I nodded, "I see."
I watched him work for a few minutes, then asked, "Where's Carl?"
"He is working on those scales you gave him. Best not to disturb him. He might burn himself."
I glanced at him, "And the mutants?"
"Their numbers aren't a problem until after dinner. Carl always finishes his work by then."
I took a moment before saying, "I can handle them for today."
"You can? You sure you won't need help?" He asked finally looking over to me.
"You'll be on the guns. If Carl can do it by himself, I'll be fine."
"If you say so... I'll tell Carl to be ready, just in case."
I nodded and headed to the armoury.
I took a 65mm assault rifle, with 20 rounds of bullets, 50 bullets each. Then a 75mm sniper rifle, with 50 rounds of 10. A bazooka with 4 shells. Military-grade kevlar. A backpack for the heavy gear, and a utility belt for the rifle and ammo.
I climbed out of a second-floor window, onto the overhang walkway. It was built for fire evacuation, but soldiers were trained to move on them, since these made for good vantage points.
After about an hour, I noticed the first mutant climb up the third wall.
I moved fast and shot it down. More would be coming soon.
One bullet was enough for the normal ones. Headshots every time.
By the time I ran out of 75mm rounds, the mutants were close enough for the assault rifle. I switched to it.
I was still able to kill each mutant with one shot.
By the time I killed 700 of them, a large wolf appeared. I emptied the remaining rifle rounds into it, but it kept going.
At least they were in 4 groups.
I put away the rifle and jumped down, absorbing the impact with my legs and rolling out smoothly.
I pulled out the bazooka and loaded it as I ran at the wolf. When I fired, I used its momentum to quickly turn to the next group.
I reloaded the bazooka and took out the other 3 groups the same way.
Firing the bazooka like that left my hands sore.
Talor was waiting for me at the front gate.
"That was incredible! I've never seen anyone land every shot while running like that!"
"Well... I was a sharpshooter on the last war..."
"In the nuclear war?" he asked.
"No... before that."
"You were part of other wars?"
I glanced at him, "Not now."
He nodded and muttered, "Later then."
After putting away the equipment, I went to the bedroom, and took a bed next to Angel's.
As I closed my eyes, I tried to remember the last time I'd fired a gun. Maybe five years... It's still fuzzy after...