Eyes Up

I could feel the weight of the weapon in my hands. It had a bit more heft to it than my previous dreams. I was once more a sniper, walking through the upper hallways of a skyscraper, looking out through the windows and into the deserted city. This area was clear, but I could still hear the distant rumblings of the battle elsewhere.
I continued on and soon came to a bridge that led to a building across the street. Most of the windows were blown out, and I can see a fight raging down below. Somehow, I had ended up behind enemy lines. Convenient, but as I looked down at the shooting, I realized I didn't see any friendlies. So who where they shooting at?
I lifted my rifle to the window and peered through the scope. My hand reached up to adjust the optics, but the thing vibrated in my hands as it focused automatically. I was startled as I felt something start to whirl inside the casing, but I thought it through. Increased weight and mass, auto-focus scope and gyro stabilization. Nice enough, but I missed the feel of that bolt-action I had in a previous dream.
Looking through the scope, I kept my finger off the trigger guard as I zoomed in on the infantry below. I may have the high ground, but I don't want to alert them unnecessarily. I could see them frantically pointing and firing every which way, but there was nothing there. I aimed in close to the one in the lead when he stopped in his tracks and fell back. There was a blade sticking out of his chest. And as I looked on, they each started to fall one by one until there was only a pair of them left.
Zooming in on the bodies of their fallen comrades revealed more blades, some thin and needle like, others in the more classical ninja star shape. My eyes caught a blur as the two remaining soldiers fell, and I looked through the scope, finally seeing who was taking them down.
Shoulder length black hair, hazel eyes, and form fitting tactical gear in a gray urban camo pattern. Quite a good look for her, especially considering the array of blades sheathed along her forearms and on her web gear. She turned her eyes up and looked directly at me, throwing me a wry smirk. I waved. She flipped me off and started walking down the street away from me. Hello to you too, Archer.
Not exactly the setting I had in mind for her, but she has been on my mind a lot lately. Which is strange considering that I won't even get to her part of the story for quite awhile now, assuming I ever finish my first book. Maybe she's getting impatient. Either way, she's going to have to wait.
I continued into the next building, passing by a few upturned desks and scattered chairs. Beyond that office was a hallway that lead to a pair of elevators. Tempting, but I'd be something of a sitting duck in there. Better to take the stairs on the right.
I had the feeling I was supposed to head to the roof. Makes sense with the gear I was carrying. In addition to my sniper rifle I had a set of binoculars hanging off my hip, a sidearm strapped to my right leg with a tactical flashlight behind it's holster, and my pack held a couple of flash grenades and proximity mines. Then there was the laser. Guess I'll know what to do with that later. I also had a large combat knife tucked into my belt as well.
I stepped as softly as I could, but I wasn't able to keep my footfalls from echoing down the stairwell. I hope nobody heard it, but just in case, I set a mine just inside the door. I set one outside as well. Just in case.
Walking over to the edge of the roof, I looked down to see the main enemy encampment. I wasn't expecting to see every structure sitting atop of wheels or treads. Their whole operation was mechanized. I counted at least thirty tanks and there had to be thousands of foot soldiers down there. Maybe a bit less.
There was one structure that seemed a lot more armored than the others. I sighted it through my scope and it zoomed in. There was a small forest of antennas on the roof. Must have been a command structure or communications array.
I reached back into my pack and pulled out the laser. It slid into the rail underneath the barrel of my rifle and locked in place with a light click. Once I had the structure sighted again, I turned on the laser and clicked my radio twice, the signal for my side to start the fireworks.
I felt it more than I saw it at first. There was something in the air that I first shook off as jitters, but then I noticed an increase in activity on the ground. infantry started forming up, the engines of the tanks started turning, and everything that wasn't bolted down started collapsing into their parent structures as the whole base began to move. All except for a few stationary turrets that started scanning the air overhead.
Crap. The radio was encrypted, but they must have picked up the transmission anyway. All I could do was keep the laser aimed and hope whatever happens happens before something else goes wrong.
Thunder rent the sky overhead. It sounded like a sonic boom, but I couldn't look away from my target just yet. Whatever it was, it didn't concern me as much as the next crash from the stairwell. Someone or something tripped the first mine. It would've collapsed the stairs, but it would've also tipped them off to my location.
As if on cue, one of the turrets below swiveled in my direct and opened fire. I cringed as the heavy rounds struck the windows beneath me, but it couldn't angle itself high enough to hit me. All the same, it just needs one round to go wild while I have to keep the target lit.
There wasn't an explosion as much as it looked like a massive impact, but it sure felt like one with the wind that came a second later. The command track disappeared in a gout of dust and smoke, leaving behind a huge mound of twisted metal inside a crater. I broke off the laser and looked up, seeing a gaping hole in the clouds overheard slowly closing off from the wind. A mass driver. Cute.
My radio started squawking loudly, and a harsh voice started barking out orders. I strained to listen. Then said something I probably shouldn't repeat here. Nobody said anything about nukes. But apparently they just shot one into that crater I helped make, and I only had minutes to evacuate.
Not knowing what else to do, I ran to the opposite side of the roof and jumped, letting go of my rifle. Pick your poison, a nuclear blast or going kersplat on the pavement. Neither seemed particularly pleasant, but I had wanted to try something I had seen in a videogame once.
Drawing my combat knife from it's sheathe, I turned my body and jammed the blade into the side of the building. The speed of my fall nearly had the thing yanked from my hands, but I held tight as it penetrated the glass. Instead of shattering, it made a smooth cut, and I slid down along the building. I was still going pretty fast, even for dream physics.
I got stuck about fifty feet from the ground. The sudden lurch of the stop had popped the knife free, and I kicked away from the building as I resumed my fall. I reached out and grabbed a convenient light pole that promptly slipped from my grasp. I landed flat on my back on top of a deserted car. My sniper rifle had left an impressive dent in the hood.
I rolled off and looked across the street to see an antique cafe racer. It looked similar to the one I had ridden in an earlier dream. I only hoped it was just as fast. I hopped on, turned the throttle, and it roared to life. Not knowing how much time I had left, I went down the street towards the most direct way out of town. And the next time I blinked had me seeing the book case in my bedroom.