final round - lrh

sixty-nine.

Approaching the gun range, I tug open the door, immediately being met with the sound of a gun going off. This doesn't catch me off guard as I'm incredibly familiar with the sound and am hardly phased by the noise of it anymore.

However, what does catch me off guard is the sight in front of me.

Lila stands beside Calum, a rifle tucked under her arm as she shoots effortlessly at the targets in front of her, nailing every single one of them in the dead center. She doesn't take a second to breathe, instead, continuing to fire the gun as I stand absolutely astonished.

Calum is beside her, not phased as he keeps his arms crossed over his chest and watches every single shot. He's far from his walkie and clearly is caught up in Lila right now as it's now clear as day why he was ignoring me.

I can't believe the sight in front of me due to the fact that Lila has never shot a gun like this before. With the last gun she worked with, she was good but she was never this exact.

I didn't think to acknowledge the fact that you can shoot a rifle with one arm.

Lila shoots her last target and Calum is quick to instruct her to reload her gun and to start all over again. She doesn't hesitate, neither of them seeming to notice me while Lila picks up the magazine beside her, tucking the rifle between her thighs and picking up the process of loading the gun.

How the fuck did she learn all of this so quickly?

Calum doesn't provide her any instructions, watching her swiftly and skillfully load the gun with her one good arm, leaving the other to the side completely while loading a gun for the first time in front of my eyes. As she does so, Calum switches the target category to one that's much more complicated, Lila not paying him any attention. She follows the instructions a million times quicker than I see from most people, the gun prepared once more while she brings it back up and under her arm, firing immediately.

Once again, she's hitting every single target and not missing a single beat as her body moves to get a better aim at each one, coming off as incredibly skillful which leaves me half speechless. Even Calum looks shocked as he stands off with a smile on his lips, a proud look in his eyes.

It makes me wonder what the hell I missed.

Once she hits every target, Lila lowers the rifle, not wasting the extra bullets, looking to Calum, seeming to anticipate further instruction. However, before either of them can say anything, I decide to make my presence known.

"So that's why everyone's been ignoring me."

Calum and Lila snap their heads in my direction, Lila with a look of fear in hers, recognizing that she's been caught while Calum doesn't seem too phased. I just take the moment to observe the two of them, eyeing them over in a challenging manner as if reprimanding them for hiding from me.

"Would it have killed you to answer the goddamn walkie?" I ask, my words directed towards Calum as I narrow my eyes at him in anger.

"I'm in the middle of training," Calum says simply.

"She's supposed to be packing up to prepare to head back."

"I'm not going anywhere, Luke," Lila immediately challenges, which grabs my attention as I raise an eyebrow at her. "You're going to have to drag me onto that plane to get me on it."

I just watch her, my silent gaze being challenging.

She places the rifle down, probably knowing better than to challenge me while holding a rifle. Regardless of the fact that we both know she'd never use it, the act of it alone would be disrespectful in the sense that she has a gun in her hand and is preparing to argue.