by Robin Roseau
“And then, when you saw someone you thought was me, curled in a ball on the ground, you decided to shoot me a few extra times?”
“Um.”
She turned to me. “Are you angry?”
“No. I’m fine, Michaela.”
“All right.” She looked back at Layton. “I want a paper, due Wednesday before I sit for dinner, on good sportsmanship. If I am dissatisfied, you will not be leaving with us on Thursday.”
“Yes, Ms. Burns!” he said quickly. “Zoe, I’m sorry.”
“I’m fine,” I repeated again.
Michaela cocked her head then looked around, then cocked her head the other way. “We’re being watched.” She raised her voice. “Everyone here retreats to his own side and is safe for thirty seconds or until he turns back to the action, whichever comes first.” She pointed in the direction Monique, Portia and I had been heading. “You six. Go.”
The six wolves took off and were soon out of sight.
“I believe you three need to change your armbands. Zoe, gun up.” She waited until I had my gun over my head — Portia and Monique already did. And then she turned in the other direction and quickly did her own disappearing act.
The game didn’t last much longer. With the exception of Lindsey getting shot early, her strategy was actually effective. Monique got shot once more, but Portia kept me under cover, playing conservatively. By the time Monique got turned around to come back, most of Iris’s original team was on Lindsey’s end of the field. It became a mop-up with a few wolves getting shot and then shot once more. And then the game was over.
We cleared the field and collected in the portion of the picnic area that was reserved for our group. The wolves were all sharing their exploits.
Layton came over to me. Monique and Portia watched him warily, but they didn’t stop him.
“Zoe?” he said. “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s fine, Layton,” I said. I rubbed my ass theatrically. “But if you shot me there one more time, I’d tell Michaela to make you kiss it.”
From around us there were a few scoffs and one or two suggestions of, “Make him kiss it anyway,” and at least one person said, “He’d enjoy that too much.”
“Maybe if it was your ass, Ember!” someone else said. And then Ember received a little teasing.
She waited for a lull and said clearly, “If Layton wants to kiss my ass, I’ll let him.”
That generated more banter, but Layton ignored it and moved closer. “I’m really sorry.”
“Forgiven, Layton, but you can make it up to me by not shooting me again today.”
He chuckled nervously, so I reached out and clasped his arm. “It’s fine. I’m teasing. I bet you want to go share your exploits. You can go tell your friends how you shot an old lady in the ass.”
“You’re not old,” he said. “Well, not that old.”
“Gee. Thanks, Layton.”
“I think you should take off while you’re ahead,” Portia said. He took her advice.
Portia turned me towards her. She touched the side of my head. “Does it still hurt?”
“No,” I said. “I’m fine, Portia.”
After that, I listened to the wolves extoll their paintball virtues, but then Michaela interrupted them. “All right. I think there’s one question that hasn’t been answered.” And as a group, everyone turned to face me. “Zoe, did you have fun?”
“Um, I’m not sure, but I’m not going to ask to sit out. But I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said Karen. “None of us do.”
“But… You and Portia were in the army, weren’t you?”
“It’s not the same,” she said.
“Yeah,” said Portia. “We can’t call in an airstrike.”
There was laughter at that.
“We’re going to buy Zoe a better mask,” Portia added. “She doesn’t have a hard head like the rest of us. Can you give us a few minutes before the next game?”
“Sure,” Michaela said. “We’re at Hopscotch next.”
“Lend a hand, Monique,” Portia said. They each grabbed an arm, and suddenly we were running along the path towards the main building.
“I could get used to that,” I said when we came to a stop at the door. “But isn’t that a little obvious?”
“Naw,” said Portia. She leaned closer. “We can run a lot faster than that.”
After that, it was Monique that led the way into the store. They had all sorts of fancy gear for paintball: several styles of guns, a variety of camouflage gear, sweatshirts, and, of course, masks.
The two of them took turns plopping different masks over my head.
“I like the skull one,” Monique said finally.
“I don’t think so,” I said. I leaned closer. “Shouldn’t we get one that says ‘wimpy human’ on it?”
They both chuckled. In the end, Portia picked the mask for me. It was painted in camouflage and gave me the best protection. She plopped it over my head again then asked if I felt claustrophobic wearing it. I shook my head, so she took it away from me and asked, “Did you want anything else?”
“No, I’m good,” I said. “Thank you.”
* * * *
We played another game of blob, this time on a smaller field. This one didn’t have any trees, just a variety of obstacles you could hide behind. Because of the open nature, it was a lot easier to see what was going on, and the game made more sense.
I got hit early and did without my protective detail for the rest of the game. I hit a few people too, but I got flipped back and forth several times before the game was over.
In all, we played a variety of games. It stung getting hit, but it wasn’t bad. My heart was pounding most of the time, but I decided I had fun, too.
I especially enjoyed it when I shot Elisabeth.
In the afternoon, they ran a tournament. I performed poorly, but I didn’t mind.
We did have one more game of note. This one was organized by Scarlett and Angel, and they called it, “The corrupt guards game”.
“Oh, this one is fun,” Monique whispered to me.
“This is a timed event,” Scarlett said. “We’re playing for forty-five minutes.”
“If you get shot, you should stand up and say ‘I’m hit’ just like normal,” Angel explained. “At that point, a member of the opposite team is allowed to take you prisoner. Normally, it would be the person who shot you, if there’s agreement on who that is.”
“You have to count out loud to thirty,” Scarlett explained, “and if no one grabs you before you reach thirty, you can retreat to your own starting point and re-enter the game. Otherwise the guard takes you to jail.”
“Guards should raise their guns just like when we get hit, so they can break cover to take a prisoner,” Angel said. “And no shooting a guard until he is back at the jail with his prisoner.”
“It’s a points game, and the alphas have prizes for the top three scores,” Scarlett said.
“We’re playing in one of the arena fields,” Angel explained. “There’s a large bell. Every two minutes, the bell will ring.”
“If you are alive and free when the bell rings, you get a point. If you’re a prisoner, or waiting to be taken prisoner, you lose a point. You get no points while you’re a guard, but you get five points for escorting a prisoner to jail.”
“Everyone keeps track of their own score,” Angel said.
“Now, here’s the fun part, and why they are called corrupt guards.” Scarlett smiled. “You can bribe your guard to let you go. If your guard releases you, you exit the arena through the back door of the jail, run around the outside, and re-enter the game from your starting point.”
“You get no points until you’re back in the playing area again,” Angel said. “But as you’re no longer a prisoner, you don’t lose points, either.”
“You can offer your guard anything you want,” Scarlett said. “You can give up some of your points. You
can offer cash or favors. Anything is fair to offer.”
“The guard must either accept your offer or make a counter offer.”
I raised my hand.
“Zoe?”
“What if your guard doesn’t want to let you go?”
“Ah. Once you’re escorted to jail, you can bribe any of the guards,” said Scarlett. “There must be one guard per prisoner up to five guards. So even if your original guard is stubborn, you can always bribe one of the other guards.”
“And remember, they don’t get any points for holding you,” said Angel, “so they’re motivated to get back into the game where they can earn points.”
“Have you played this before?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s a typical bribe?”
“Anything,” Scarlett said. “I’ve paid as little as one point. The alphas are fond of demanding baby sitting services, and then you’re negotiating how long.”
“Sometimes they make you do something,” Kaylee said. “I had to dance with Elisabeth once. And Mom made me promise to clean my room.”
I laughed at that.
“It can be anything,” Scarlett said. “You aren’t obligated to do what a guard orders. Frankly, some of the guards can be pretty immature.” She reached over and punched Rory in the arm. “This one made Angel and I make out while he watched.”
“You hated it, too,” someone said, and there were snickers.
“You could have counter-offered,” Rory said, rubbing his arm and grinning. “Nora offers dates, but she’s not here today.” He sighed dramatically.
“You can’t offer anything that isn’t yours,” Angel said. “You can’t offer points you haven’t earned yet or if your score is negative. People get really creative.”
I smiled. It actually sounded like fun. “Got it.”
“Any more questions?”
There weren’t.
“All right. Scarlett and I are on opposite teams. We’re going to let each of you pick which team you’re on, but if we decide they aren’t even, we’ll make whatever adjustments we want.”
Portia and Monique both turned to me. “Portia,” said Monique. “May I play opposite Zoe for this game?”
I laughed. “Hoping to catch me?”
“Uh huh,” she said. “Is that all right?”
“Sure. But you know that means I can catch you, too. Portia, can people help me pay my sentence?”
Portia laughed. “Yes.”
“Do you have to ask the alphas?”
“They told me to manage it. I’m managing it. Yes, you can ask for help paying off your service time, but not your normal pack duty hours. No one shirks pack duty.”
I nodded and grinned.
“Zoe,” Portia said. “I want to catch you, too.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” She nodded. “All right.”
“We’ll let you pick which team you’re on, then,” Portia said. She glanced over. Scarlett was standing to the left with a growing group of wolves near her; Angel was on the left. “The teams appear to be roughly equal, but there will be a little shifting around. There always is. If there’s someone you want to play against, then pick the other team.”
I looked between the two teams. Michaela was standing next to Angel, talking to her, and I saw Lara and Elisabeth with Scarlett. I gestured. “Is that normal?”
“Oh yeah,” Portia said. “Those two love playing against the fox. In most games, she kicks their collective asses, but not so much in this game, especially in an open arena. Half of Scarlett’s team will be after her, and if she’s the first capture, I won’t be surprised.”
“Well, I don’t want to compete with everyone else to shoot Michaela, but if I’m on her team, then I have good targets while they’re all focused on her. But before you go, I want to know what fair bribes are.”
“If paying with points,” Monique said, “I’ve never paid more than five and have never received more than three. If you have to pay something that takes time, I’ve never paid more than twenty minutes, unless it was something I’d do anyway. Everyone fights to help babysit the pups, and an hour is a typical bribe for that.”
“So I shouldn’t expect anyone to pay me an hour?”
“Ask for that,” Portia said. “You can probably get twenty minutes easily and an hour from the males. They get pretty gung ho and want to get back into the game quickly.”
“You can accept bribes the minute you take a prisoner,” Monique said. “But you both have to go all the way to your jail anyway. But the guys might pay early so they can run faster.”
I laughed again and nodded.
“People don’t actually offer money very often, but I’ve been offered ten bucks, and I’ve accepted twenty.”
“Really? People would pay twenty bucks just to get back into the game?”
She laughed. “Yeah.”
To me, twenty dollars was a lot, but maybe it wasn’t to everyone.
“I know,” Monique said. “I wouldn’t pay it. But it’s money between friends, you know? We’re all friends here.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of it that way. “Are you guys going to offer me any advice?”
“Hell no,” Monique said. “But if you let me catch you twice, I will.”
I laughed and wondered what she wanted from me. I considered telling her she could have whatever it was, but Portia leaned over to me. “The fun is winning whatever it is she’s after.”
“All right then. I guess we should join our captains.”
A moment later, I was accepting a hug from Michaela. “Tell me the truth,” she whispered into my ear. “Are you having fun?”
“I feel incompetent,” I said. “But otherwise, yes. I wouldn’t mind if we played games I was good at once in a while though.”
“I know what you mean,” she said. “They keep me on my toes, finding ways to twist their games to suit me. In the fields with lots of cover, I do okay at this.” She paused. “You figured out about my hearing, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Not the details, but yeah. Natural foxes hunt by sound and can hear a mouse under the snow.”
“Right. My hearing is better than a natural fox. So when there is deep cover, I can still tell where a lot of people are. But in these arenas, I get clobbered. It’s all in fun.” She paused, still not releasing me. “There will be games you’re good at. Not often. I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s all right, Michaela. Thank you for looking out for me.”
“Speaking of looking out for you… Where are your guards?”
“They each want something from me,” I said with a laugh.
“Ah, of course. I wonder what.”
“They didn’t offer any hints. With half of Scarlett’s team going after you, there won’t be that much competition to take me prisoner, so I suspect I’ll find out soon enough.”
She laughed. “Just so.”
By then, everyone had picked teams. Michaela released me, and we turned to see Scarlett and Angel negotiating.
“You have more enforcers,” Angel said.
I whispered to Michaela, “I thought we weren’t supposed to use titles.”
“We’re alone here,” she whispered back, “but the playing field has a referee.”
“You have the fox,” Scarlett countered, “and two more people than I do. I think the teams are fair.”
“You have Lara, Elisabeth, Portia, Serena, Eric and Monique. I only have Karen and Rory. I want one of your enforcers and you can pick one of my members or I’ll pick two.”
I leaned to Michaela. “Are the teams uneven?”
“Maybe a little, but they’re mostly hamming it up.”
“You have Michaela, too.” Scarlett crossed her arms. “What am I offered?”
“You’re asking for a bribe?” Angel asked her.
“Yep.”
Angel put her hand on her hip and thrust it out. “What do you want?”
Scarlett looked Angel up and down pointedly. “You know exactly
what I want.”
“What?” Angel spat. “No.”
“Fine. We’ll play with these teams.”
“No,” said Angel. “Fine, but I’m only giving you one person and it’s my choice.”
“Fine, but you have to keep anyone who is over there because someone over here wants to shoot her.” She looked pointedly at Michaela, and there were several chuckles.
Angel pulled us into a huddle. “Any volunteers to switch?”
No one spoke up immediately. Finally Connor sighed. “I wanted to catch Monique.”
“I’ll go,” said Ember. “If you guys promise to go a little easy on me.”
“No way,” someone said. “I want my room cleaned.”
Ember laughed. “Gotta catch me.”
“Thanks, Ember,” Angel said. “If I catch you, I won’t ask you to clean my room.”
“Thanks, Angel. If I catch you, I want an airplane ride.”
We broke up the huddle, and then almost as an exchange of prisoners, Eric and Ember traded places. And then we were moving towards our field.
* * * *
The field we played on seemed large, about the size of a soccer field. There were ample obstacles, but not so many that you couldn’t see where people were moving, more or less. We huddled together before the start.
“All right,” Angel said. “Our guns are only good to about a third of the length of the field. You can shoot a pellet from here to the other end, but it probably won’t break when it hits someone, especially against a soft target.” She looked at me. “Your helmet protects you, but the balls also break more easily against it, so people can shoot you from further away.”
“That’s another reason some of us don’t wear them,” Eric said.
I nodded. I wasn’t willing to take it off. I’d gotten shot in the head several more times, and it hadn’t hurt with the helmet in place.
“So we’re going to move forward quickly,” Angel said. “We’re going to advanced as two bulges, one on the left, one on the right. Michaela, you’re in the middle.”
Michaela groaned.
“What?”
“She’s the bait,” Angel said. “Everyone wants her. They want favors from her, but they also like shooting her even more than anyone else.”
“They’re getting even because I win so many of the other games,” Michaela said. “Angel wants me visible, but not too visible. She’s hoping everyone will concentrate on me, and the rest of you can pick people off from the flanks.” She turned to Angel. “I’ll agree to your strategy, but it costs you an hour.”
