The Sniper of Vlopolis

Chapter 4: Restless

I can't believe she escaped from me. That was the first time someone escaped. She escaped only because I was worried about where the police cars were going. I thought they found me. If they found me they would've died anyway, but still, I was worried. The Vlopolis Special Forces could have been with the police and they are some of the only people that could put me in prison.

Tyler flew into a hole just big enough for him to fit into his cave and landed on the stone floor. His pet raven, Edgar, welcomed him by landing on his right shoulder. He pet him with two fingers, grabbed him gently, and put him on a wooden table. He then took his gear off and locked them up in a closet. He still kept his armor on and sword at his waist so he could practice outside in a small forest area.

Outside, Tyler put watermelons on forty wooden posts and jogged back to where the first post was. He unsheathed his sword and began cutting through every watermelon on all forty posts with great precision and never missing one. When he was finished, he was covered in watermelon juice and had to clean himself off before practicing his hand-to-hand combat.

Under an Oak tree was a physical combat robot that could train the user to fight better. Tyler pressed the button to turn it on. The robot came to life. It stood up and clenched its padded fists into a forward fighting stance. Tyler did the same. He swung with full force at the robot and uppercut it in its jaw. The robot drew back, waiting for the opportunity to strike back. He jabbed the robot, then swept kicked it in its legs. The robot fell over, allowing him to leglock it. It clawed at him, trying to escape his tight grasp. When Tyler squeezed the robot to where it couldn't function anymore, it shut off and rested lifelessly on the grass. "Easy," he derided, kicking the robot to the side. He observed the sky, slowly getting his breath back.

Stars hung above him in the night sky, blinking continually. Tyler found Jupiter and Saturn, brilliantly illuminating in the heavens. He remembered what his mother said about the two planets, that every twenty years, Jupiter and Saturn get very close to each other, which makes it look like a huge star or planet in the sky. She called it the Great Conjunction.

Inside the cave, Edgar pecked at Tyler, begging for food. "I know, I know," he motioned toward the fridge. He grabbed a Tupperware container of chicken and heated it in the microwave, then he gave it to Edgar. He devoured it, leaving nothing but the bone behind. Tyler heated his leftovers and ate. Afterward, he typed an email to a man with something he wanted.

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 𝗝𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗮𝗮,

𝗜'𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗮𝗵𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝟴:𝟬𝟬 𝗽.𝗺. 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩.𝗦.𝗙. 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀.

-𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻

He sent the email and stared at the dark forest out of the window. The reflection of his glowing eyes made it seem like a ghost was staring back at him. He put his right hand on the window and closed his eyes. "Come to me," he thought. A swarm of ravens appeared from the forest and perched on the branches of the trees in front of him. The ravens waited for their next command, but instead, Tyler just said "go back to what you were doing." The ravens flew back into the forest where he couldn't see them anymore.

Walking away from the window, Tyler sat on the couch and checked the time on his phone: 11:43 p.m. "There's still some time. I could go back to Vlopolis for a little bit and hang out until midnight," he thought out loud.