Berthier Mle 1892 Marksman

BERTHIER MLE 1892 MARKSMAN. (See also, CARBINES, BOLT ACTION) The Berthier Mle 1892 Marksman is a bolt-action rifle with an affixed Marksman telescopic scope. The long range of the Marksman scope pairs with the mobility of the Berthier to form an adaptable sniper s rifle.

The Journal of Harold Black
Undated
Black leather bound, handwritten, 6 x 8.25"
1/1

I do not recall any premonition upon seeing the house, but casting my mind back inserts a memory of deep foreboding.

It was not quiet. A dull, rhythmic thump echoed every few seconds, followed instantly by a metallic rattle. The ground was scorched with fire and, on closer inspection, blackened by copious amounts of blood. Its trail wove through the ash like a snake, beckoning me through the charred front door.

As I approached the rear entrance, I was overpowered by a rancid smell, a cavalcade of rot and infection and death. I readied my weapon as the thumps grew louder, but what I beheld made me lower the rifle. A newborn babe in a cot, dead for what must have been weeks.

Its umbilical cord spilled out of the cot and trailed under the dining table where two husks that were once human lay and then to what was once a mother. Stuck into the wall with a bayonet, it was banging its head backwards, shaking the pots and pans strewn on the floor.

Here it was, gifted to me by an impossible, incomprehensible happenstance. The perfect sample for study.