324 Aim, Fire!

The child whistled in Vy's direction. She turned to face him. 

"Catch!" He shouted as he threw his shooter weapon towards her. 

Vy slashed the legs of one of the spider beasts before she ran forward to catch the shooter weapon just as it was about to hit the ground. 

"Deci, she doesn't know how to use it!" The girl punched his arm. 

"Well, how was I supposed to know that! You wanted me to do something!"

The girl shouted towards Vy, "Just aim, and pull the trigger to shoot them down!"

Vy nodded as she quickly assessed the weapon. Holding it in her hands felt familiar. But there was no time to admire the weapon now! She needed to defend herself. She took aim and pulled the trigger. 

BANG!

She could not track the trajectory of the weapon, but Vy saw where it landed. Her shot hit her target right where she wanted, in between its second pair of eyes. The spinning pellet burrowed through the head of the creature and exited from the other end. 

Blood, tissue and bone splattered across every direction the rest of the creature's body fell to the ground with a thud. If they all had such a weapon in their arsenal, they would never have to worry about the spider beasts every again. 

Just as she turned to face the third one, another three more appeared around her. But Vy had the advantage. With the weapon in her hands, she felt confident in killing all of them. 

She took aim and shot all of them with precision. Each pellet hit the target on the bullseye. Each of their carcasses fell to the ground as blood pooled and spew from the wounds. 

The children watched in awe as Vy dispatched the spider beasts with ease. 

Her aim was unbelievable!

Who knew she was such a sharpshooter? The other children, who heard the shots being fired, stopped in their path to witness what happened. All of them were impressed. 

Vy finally heaved a sigh of relief once she made sure all the spider beasts were dead. She walked up to the two children and thanked them for lending her their weapon. She returned it to them and smiled as she wiped the sweat off her brow. 

"We better get a move on, before more show up," she suggested. 

The other children were hesitant for Vy to follow them back. 

"What if she's dangerous?" One of them asked. 

The oldest child, whom Vy presumed was the leader, looked up at Vy. He was younger than her, probably in his teens. Compared to the rest of the kids, he stood almost a head taller than the tallest child. 

"Let's bring her back," he declared. 

With that, they all turned and went down the path. Vy did not object or protest when the kids pointed their weapons at her again. She understood their worry. After walking quite a distance, they came upon a wall made out of tree branches, leaves and other materials. 

They opened up the wall to allow them to enter. Behind the cover of the wall, they had built was a series of tents on the ground level, followed by a maze of treehouses above. There were at least twenty to thirty children running around, going about their day. 

Vy was impressed. 

Everyone here seemed to be no older than fourteen. How were they able to survive on their own? Vy wondered to herself. Seeing that their leader had returned, most of them dropped what they were doing to run up to them. 

However, apart from the return of their leader, they were more intrigued by Vy. They looked at her as if she was a giant, a freak at the circus. It was as if none of them had ever seen someone much older than them. 

"Who's this grandma?" Someone asked out of curiosity. 

Vy's eyebrow twitched, igniting an involuntary response, "I'm not a grandma, I'm just a few years older than you!" 

The child seemed surprised by her sudden outburst, which received a smirk from the leader of the group. 

"Are you sure you're just a few years older than us?" He sniggered. 

Vy's awkward expression turned cold in a split second. None of them were able to anticipate her next move. She closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. 

She held onto his collar menacingly and said to him in a cold tone, "Don't you know it's rude to make fun of a lady's age?" 

She could see the fear in some of the children around her, some of them were still pointing their weapons at her. But Vy did not care. She did not want to anger them any more than she already had either. 

She quickly let go of their leader and turned her expression back into a smile. The other children were impressed by her sudden change. 

"Miss! Where are you from?" One of the younger children waddled up to her and asked. 

Another was curious at the weapons she carried on her belt, amongst her other belongings. Their curiosity seemed to melt away their general concern of her potentially being a danger. 

It was not until their leader's whistle who regained all of their attention. 

"What is your name, stranger?" The leader asked Vy. 

She introduced herself to them, and he did the same. 

"You can call me Boss."

"Boss? That can't be your real name," Vy asked as she crossed her arms. 

"Everyone calls him Boss! Except for Tizzie!" Maribelle chimed in. 

"What does Tizzie call him?" Vy asked out of curiosity. 

Boss's face turned beet red when Tizzie was mentioned. 

"That is none of your business, Vyrena!" Boss exclaimed. 

Vy grinned at the sight of the teen's beet-red face. She was certain it would be something she could leverage on in the future. After a short chat with the other children, Vy was led to a tent in the middle of the campsite and sat down at a table. 

Boss was seated on one end with some of the other children seated by his side, while Vy sat opposite from him. 

"So where did you come from and how did you end up near our base?" Boss went straight to the point. 

It was difficult to put into words, but Vy answered truthfully. She omitted the detail about her encounter with the Spider Nest for the time being. Right now, it was not of importance to the situation at hand. 

"I came from a different part of the Jungle that we're living in. Hence I carry different weapons from you."