Seconds passed, then half a minute, then a full minute, Blake was counting the seconds, each one felt like an hour as he held his rifle. His body shook with every heart beat as adrenaline pumped through him and the cool breeze carried the warmth from his body. Three minutes, that was enough time for the others to position themselves, he thought to himself. His finger wrapped around the trigger, his eye narrowed as he looked down his scope at the bandit, his face was covered by a mask. With a deep breath he prepared to fire before expelling the breath and as he did so he squeezed and the gun fired. 

The gunshot shattered the night's near silence, his bullet hit the bandit in the temple and sent him falling down, the force of the impact knocking him over as his life ended. It took a moment for anyone to realise what had happened but eventually one of the bandits summed the situation up in a single sentence. "They've spotted us! They've got a goddamn sniper!" All at once the bandits broke as the other members of homestead started firing, they ran for cover and returned fire but with the house walls as shields and the darkness providing a veil of shadow along with the panic and surprise they had little accuracy. Blake quickly reloaded his gun and fired another shot from the roof, hitting a man in the arm. The battle of homestead had begun...

-----

"Do you hear that?!" Whispered one of the bandits hiding in the woods. "'Course I do!" Replied one. "Wh-what do we do?!" Asked one, a lot more fear in his voice than he had intended to show. "We gotta' go help 'em! Let's move!" Barked another, authority heavy in his tone. "But what about the signal? T-the signal?" Someone piped up. "Plan's changed! Let's go!" Like a wave the line of marauders swept across the road towards the house, ready to aid their comrades.