The price of WAAR (Book 3)

Chapter 3: The First Round

3rd Person POV

John walked around the crumbled town. It looked like it was once quite peaceful.

Now it was nothing but smoldering ruins.

John continued looking around at the landscape. Next to him was a shallow river, which had concrete barrier built around it. There were also plenty of walls left standing.

All was quiet... but John knew better than to trust the quiet. He could easily be ambushed here. He wasn't looking around to take in the sights. He was looking around for places to take cover should he be ambushed.

He didn't like being here alone, but he had no other choice. He had a partner with him, but he was unfortunately killed. The memory flashed in John's mind briefly, but he shook it off. He didn't grieve when it happened, there wasn't time. And he couldn't grieve now. He had a mission, and thousands of lives were at stake.

John carried on through the ruined town.

*POW*

A bullet missed John by inches. He immediately took cover in the river, narrowly avoiding another bullet. John peeked out from the river to see if he could spot the attacker.

Another gunshot sounded, and the bullet pegged the ground right in front of John's face, the debris from the gunshot hitting his face.

John didn't see the attacker, but he did see the muzzle flash from the attacker's gun on the second story of a building that still stood.

John pulled back the bolt of his rifle, then hopped out from the river, narrowly avoiding another bullet.

John rushed to a wall, where he took cover. Another bullet tore through the wall right next to his face. John swiftly exited his cover, then shot at the attacker. He pulled the bolt back, then fired again. He pulled the bolt back again, then fired again. He repeated this process to keep the attacker pinned down until he reached another wall. John could now see the silhouette of the attacker in the window said attacker was firing from.

John noticed that the clip in his gun was empty, so he loaded another clip, pulled the bolt back, and took a brief deep breath. He peeked out from behind his cover to coax his attacker into firing. When a bullet just missed John's chest, John popped out of his cover and shot at the attacker.

John saw the attacker stumble back, but pulled the bolt back and kept his gun trained on the window.

John reached the door to the building. He opened the door and went inside. When inside, John could here the groaning of the ambusher. John walked up the stairs, then kept his rifle trained on the door of the room the attacker was in.

John finally reached the door. He took a deep breath.

He then opened the door.

The second he opened the door, he and the attacker fired at almost the same time.

???: John!

John snapped out of his memory from the war and looked at the source of the voice, which was his employer. A certain shop owner.

Whiley: Are you alright, young man?
John: Yes sir. I was just... thinking.
Whiley: About your world?
John: Yes... sorry, sir. I'll get back to work.
Whiley: There's no need to apologize.

Mr. Whiley smiled, then left to get the customers' orders. John took a breath and continued making noodles.

He then looked up at the small TV and watched Team RWBY fight Team ABRN from Haven in a half-ice half-lava arena.