"Could I perhaps take a seat? I have been traversing for eight consecutive hours..." the female soldier inquired tentatively.
"Sit. But make no untoward movements!" Thirteen executed a lithe somersault from the tree, landing on the ground, his firearm never wavering from its aim.
"Thank you," the female soldier responded with refined politeness, settling onto a large boulder beside the tree.
"I am intrigued. How has someone with your capabilities managed to survive until today?" Thirteen perceived no impropriety in his query.
She remained silent, closing her eyes and placing her hands over her ears.
Thirteen's aim remained fixed on her brow. At the slightest hint of danger, a projectile would instantaneously pierce her skull...
"Do you have faith in animals?" she asked with a faint smile.
"I fail to comprehend your meaning," Thirteen replied, utterly perplexed.
"Danger approaches..." the female soldier's eyes snapped open.
Suddenly, all the avifauna in the adjacent woodland took flight, their chirping cacophony filling the air. Thirteen paid it no heed. His reflex was to seize the sniper rifle from the rock and leap back into the tree with the female soldier.
"Someone's there..." Thirteen holstered his pistol, his gaze intently scanning their surroundings through the scope of the AWP.
The preceding commotion subsided.
"You can communicate with animals?" Although skeptical, Thirteen acknowledged that she had indeed preempted his own prior detection of an approaching presence.
"Not precisely. Merely a heightened intuition," the female soldier demurred.
"Is this the secret to your five-day, unmolested wander through the forest?" Thirteen locked his rifle's aim forward, lying prone and still on a branch, awaiting the emergence of his quarry.
"You..." Thirteen had intended to pose further questions, but a shadow flickered through the foliage before him.
The female soldier understood and fell silent, the forest once more enveloped in tranquility.
Time, once again, slipped by imperceptibly, moment by moment...
"Thirty-three, seems like there's a sniper. What's our course of action?" a low, hushed voice murmured from within the undergrowth.
"No time to waste on him. What are the odds of us encountering a sniper specialist wielding a sniper rifle among the 'students'? Remember, there are only three sniper specialists out of sixty-seven, and only two sniper rifles! Seventy-five, your speed is paramount. Go out and draw fire for two seconds. I guarantee I'll blow his head off!" a burly man with a full beard declared.
"I'll trust you this once. If you miss, I won't kill you!" With that, he swiftly leaped to the right, but before his feet could touch the ground, a gaping hole appeared in his chest.
Thirty-three chuckled and simultaneously emerged from the foliage, his AUG (the B44 from CS) trained on the large tree where the shot originated. He calculated mentally, "Going out there was suicide, you fool! If he's using a semi-automatic sniper rifle, he'll need time to re-aim. If it's a bolt-action, he'll need time to eject the casing. If it's an assault rifle, nothing is more accurate than an AUG with a scope! So, he's dead..." Thirty-three's thoughts were abruptly terminated.
Thirteen deftly ejected the spent casing from the AWP, simultaneously holstering the still-warm Desert Eagle in his other hand.
Everything felt utterly commonplace, as if the demise of the two individuals in the forest had been predetermined before their arrival...
"You... you're incredibly skilled!" the female soldier exclaimed in astonishment.
"It was nothing..." Thirteen leaped down from the tree and approached the two corpses.
"That's not quite right," the female soldier said, following Thirteen down. "Judging by your stance with the sniper rifle, you should be a sniper specialist. Why is your pistol marksmanship also so precise? The first shot didn't even seem aimed, yet it struck him from forty meters away, a single fatal shot!"
"I did aim," Thirteen retorted, glancing back and pointing to his left eye. "I used the corner of my eye to aim. If you hadn't injured my right eye, he would have been neutralized zero point zero eight seconds earlier, with a headshot."
The female soldier, aware that Thirteen was alluding to her earlier embarrassing behavior, looked at the ground and said, "I apologize. I put you in greater danger..."
Thirteen ignored her and continued towards the bodies. The female soldier quickly caught up.
"Here," Thirteen said, picking up the AUG from Thirty-three's grasp and tossing it to her.
"Thank you!" The female soldier's face illuminated with an excited smile, as assault rifles were her forte. And an AUG equipped with a scope was undoubtedly the optimal tool in their current predicament.
Thirteen discovered a private GP228 pistol on the other corpse and, without hesitation, swapped it for the unwieldy Desert Eagle.
"We're even. You can leave now." Thirteen glanced at the GPS watch on his wrist, deciding to move towards the designated rendezvous point.
The female soldier's countenance fell.
"You're not going to kill me? Aren't you afraid I'll shoot you in the back later?"
"You lack the capability to kill me. If you genuinely attempt it, I assure you your demise will be agonizing..." Thirteen stated sternly, looking at the female soldier.
"Is that so?" The female soldier offered a forced smile.
"Indeed!" Thirteen added firmly. "You are the first person in my selective engagements whom I have chosen not to kill. I have no desire for my accurate judgment to become a sacrifice to your attempts."
"If everyone's judgment were accurate, what would be the distinction between humans and machines?" Tears welled in the female soldier's eyes as she raised the AUG, aiming it directly at Thirteen's head.
"Why this? I have not harmed you. I even offered you a chance at survival. Yet, you point a gun at my head?" Thirteen appeared somewhat bewildered.
"Feeling rather let down?" the female soldier asked with a strained smile. "Make me your partner, and I won't kill you."
"That is not feasible. I never yield to threats. Perhaps your heightened intuition could indeed be of assistance to me..." Thirteen met the female soldier's gaze directly. "As an assault specialist, you could serve as a cover operative, but there are two insurmountable issues..."
The female soldier's hand trembled momentarily.
"Firstly, your vigilance is inadequate, and your reaction time in the face of danger is too slow, indirectly jeopardizing my safety.
Secondly, you have pointed a firearm at my head. I cannot entrust my back to you with any peace of mind. If you lower your weapon now, I will still allow you to depart..." Thirteen analyzed accurately.
"Stop talking!" the female soldier unleashed a burst of gunfire at Thirteen's feet before once again aiming the AUG at his head.
"Why? Won't you accept me as your partner? You are strong! Perhaps you can leave alone..." Tears from the female soldier fell onto the black gunstock. "Just take pity on me, take me with you. Please?"
"I have already articulated my stance," Thirteen replied firmly, his eyes devoid of any wavering.
"I had thought you were the deity who would deliver me, but I was mistaken," the female soldier said, pulling the trigger.
Simultaneously, Thirteen seized the barrel of the gun...
One second later...
Blood flowed ceaselessly from Thirteen's left shoulder. He had plunged his thirty-centimeter combat knife fully into the female soldier's body, pinning her firmly to the ground.
"Your aim was to angle the barrel to the right, but I pushed it to the left. The forces partially negated each other, hence my shoulder injury. Once again, my erroneous judgment of you has resulted in my own harm," Thirteen remarked with a helpless self-deprecating chuckle. "You... you simply... overthink things too much..." The female soldier's tears ceased, but blood welled from her chest, her breathing becoming increasingly rapid.
"Why? You didn't want to kill me, so why did you force me to kill you?" Thirteen cried out, attempting to staunch the bleeding, but it was too late...
"Just now... weren't you going to ask me something back in the tree? I'm fading fast... ask quickly," the female soldier said, coughing up blood and continuing to smile.
Thirteen, in the midst of his desperate first aid, paused abruptly and asked, "You could sense nearby enemies? Why did you still approach my position?"
"Knew... you'd ask that," the female soldier said, gazing at the azure sky. "Because you were gentle... the forest told me you weren't a dangerous person... I had intended to team up with you..."
"Are you mocking my ineptitude? Calling a warrior non-threatening?" Thirteen offered an awkward smile.
"I'm sorry..." the female soldier apologized. "That's not what I meant... it's just..."
"Say no more, I understand..." Thirteen smiled again.
"Do you know? Your smile is very... very handsome..." the female soldier's breathing grew more shallow.
Thirteen did not respond, lost in bewilderment. He genuinely wanted to save the person before him, the first person who had harmed him whom he had tried to save. His emotions were a maelstrom of complexity...
"I had even considered being killed by you..." the female soldier said with her last vestiges of strength. "Thought being killed by you wouldn't be so bad..." A wistful smile graced her lips.
"Being alone is truly lonely... I thought even if I couldn't leave... a life with companionship here wouldn't be bad... but I was wrong. You are not someone who can lead an ordinary life..."
The female soldier raised her bloodied hand and touched Thirteen's face.
"Your strength... has destined you for the extraordinary... and also for solitude... You didn't reject me for any particular reason... it's because you have no intention of accepting anyone... right... right?"
"Rest in peace..." Thirteen said quietly, clasping her hand tightly.
The female soldier closed her eyes, gazing at the blue sky. Her hand gradually grew cold.
A single droplet fell onto the bloodstains on the female soldier's chest...
Thirteen wept, the first time he had ever grieved for someone he had killed... He didn't know why. It was as if his heart had been pierced by an anti-materiel rifle.
"You were my teammate..." Thirteen lowered his head. He hoisted the female soldier's body onto his back and began walking towards their destination...