Page 93 - Musings 2021

know more about the nature of the killing. He was shaken to the core. From the place from
which the man had been shot, there were only two ways in which he could have been killed
and both ways would have exposed the killer to the camera. Yet there was no sign of even a
shadow, let alone a man. As John was looking at the CCTV footage, he heard another
gunshot. Suddenly shifting to live feed, he witnessed another officer falling to the ground.
Reviewing the footage led to the same conclusion; somehow the killer managed to evade the
camera while shooting.

Thinking of any fathomable way in which the perpetrator could have executed this, John got
back to his post. Bang! Bang! Another officer killed. All of them headshots. 3 of the 6
officers in the second layer had been killed without breaking a sweat. His brain froze and his
mind became blank. How was this possible? Could it really be happening? There was only
one plausible way to execute such a shot. Curving bullets! But he refused to believe anyone
else in the world except him would know of this technique. Another loud gunshot made John
come back to his senses. He had no other way but to assume that the killer could curve bullets
and had been using blind spots in the building to take officers down. “I have to act quickly”,
he thought. Never had he thought in his wildest dreams that he would have to encounter
another person who had the same special skill as him. Pew! Pew! One more officer had been
killed! There was just one remaining in the second layer. John ordered him to retreat and join
the first layer officers. John clutched his locket. He had this wild belief that as long as he had
the locket on him, no one could kill him. Frantic running was followed by a muffled murmur
as the last officer joined John and his comrades. “Did you check if someone was following
you?” asked John. “No, sir I panicked and ran for my life, sir; sorry sir”, came the expected
answer. ‘Well, gentlemen get ready! We don't know how many killers are out there but we'll
defend with honour and with our lives! Proclaimed John. All the guns in their possession
were loaded and everyone had taken up their position. “Listen carefully, I have deciphered
that the killer can curve bullets just like me! No questions!! I want you all to act accordingly
and take cover expecting the same!”

There was still one thing he couldn’t believe. How was the killer able to hit the target’s head
without being able to see the target? Perplexed he was, indeed. All 5 people took a crouched
stance as per John’s proclamation. Bam! Gunshot! This time, John didn’t waste any time
checking on who had gotten shot, instead fired in the direction he heard the shot from. He
curved the bullet at a considerable height so as to get a headshot, based on the assumption
that the killer also had been wearing a bulletproof vest. A whole 10 seconds transpired after
the shot and there had been no sign of any killer yet. John grunted with frustration as he
realised he had missed his target. Turning back, he wasn’t shocked this time to find that it had
been another headshot. “He isn’t shooting based on an estimate; he must be knowing exactly
what to aim at”, John thought to himself. But he still had no clue how he was able to locate
the head even when they had been crouching. He felt a flurry of emotions take over him. “I
knew it! Something bad was about to happen, I should have told someone about my
premonitions”, he muttered to himself. “Logically, the killer should target me next”, thought
John as he had witnessed his curving bullet. Being alert as well as having accepted his
forthcoming death, John removed his bulletproof vest and walked forward as if to make a
statement. Having gotten the extra agility after removing the vest, he tried to get into a better
position to curve his shot. But to his surprise, he wasn’t the one who got shot next. Another
one of his officers succumbed to the invisible killer. John saw the sense of despair in the eyes
of others and felt a malevolent quiver take over his body. The feeling of imminent death had
taken over his body. He stood there like a statue, motionless and crippled. The two officers

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