The six of us sat in a bright room, all staring at the large TV screen hanging on the wall. A video was playing, listing off the rules and safety hazards of the game.
No contact? Never happening.
Sensors visible the whole time? I doubt that.
No running. Why does that even exist? Even the most goody-two-shoes would run if you were about to be shot.
No taking each other's guns? I'm already scared they'll hit me across the head with it.
No screaming? What if you're a scaredy-cat like me who passes out as soon as a feather lands on your shoulder.
No jumping over the obstacles? I'll either run into them or be thrown against them.
That about summed up the rules, and as soon as the video ended, we were led into a room where we were geared up.
Harry, Lila and I were on the blue team while Ash, James and Cole were on the red team, and as soon as the guns had been attached to our jackets and the jackets onto us, we were ushered into the arena.
They gave us a minute to find where we were meant to be and to strategise a plan before an automated male voice rang around the large, barely yet vibrantly illuminated room.
Neon spray paint decorated various obstacles, and bright origami birds hung high from the ceiling. A soft, rosy hue dusted my cheeks due to the heat, excitement, nerves and fear as we stood, preparing for the game to begin.
The voice was counting down from ten, and when it hit zero, the chaos would start.
"Okay so. Lila, you defend the base and shoot from back here. Harry, you're going to back me up when I go up front." I spoke quietly yet boldly while giving actions with my spare hand.
"Why do you get to dive into the action." Harry whined and I shoved my hand over his mouth, not wanting the others to her our plan.
"Shh! But seriously? Remember what happened last time when you left me in defence."
Memories of previous games flashed through my mind and I physically cringed while remembering being completely flattened.
"Touché." He sighed, and just as he regained his posture, the voice hit zero.
As soon as it did, remix style music began playing from the speakers and I went running to hide behind a dimly lit section of wall, gesturing Harry to go across from me.
I heard a passionate shout erupt from somewhere in the direction of the team, followed by a pair of highly noticeable lights heading straight for us.
I signalled for Harry to stay quiet before peeping my head around the corner and vigorously shooting, aiming straight for the sensors in the middle of their chests.
Harry followed suit, and we managed to hit the pair, meaning they were stunned for a few seconds. A beeping noise erupted from their vests and the two of us went in for the kill, firing wildly at the red flashing beams coming from their chests.
As soon as the siren sounding noise stopped, we bolted away from the scene and took refuge closer to their base.
I tilted my head, telling Harry to fall back towards our base and to shoot them again on the way, while I went for theirs.
Through the darkness, I managed to see him nod in agreement, and we bumped fists as we parted ways.
Nerves began to overtake my mind, and I suddenly felt very wary on my own, afraid of what they would do if they came across me. I half hoped it would be Cole back at their base, and that was saying something. I just wasn't ready to approach Ash and in no way did I want to see James, especially with no one else around.
Why couldn't Alec be here instead?
They told me he insisted on staying at home to finish an art assessment, but he clearly just didn't want to come as I knew we didn't have any due at the moment.
Anyway, as I approached their base, I saw a red light appear before disappearing only a mere few seconds later.
As far as I could tell, the person looked quite tall, meaning it probably wasn't Cole.
Goddamnit.
Their silhouette also seemed to have slightly messy hair, which could have happened during the game, but could also have been Ash since he was the only one with unorganised hair earlier.
Creeping forward, careful to try and keep my sensor hidden from whoever it was, I backed up against the wall with my gun held tight to my chest.
I took in a deep breath before charging out and into their base, shooting the sensor of whoever it was before directing my fire to the flashing red light on the wall of their shelter.
Out of nowhere, I was tackled to the floor, causing me to shout out of shock before someone pressed their hand against my lips.
I dropped my weapon and scrambled to try and get out of their grip, which only resulted in them shoving me harder against the slightly squishy ground.
"Stay down Skyter, wouldn't want me to punch you again." A deep, threatening voice hissed next to my ear.
I stopped breathing, body rigid with anxiety after those words.
Wouldn't want me to punch you again.
He shot my sensor which caused a different sounding buzzer to go off, signalling I had been hit to all the others.
It then went off again.
And again.
And again.
I was too frightened to move, and I knew no one would come to help as almost ten alarms had gone off while I had been pinned to get ground.
I was ready to accept defeat, knowing better than to fight back against the guy who almost broke my ribs, when I was suddenly released from his bruising grasp.
My head smacked into a wall sudden shove, and that's when I saw James also falling backwards.
His jaw was clenched and his eyes were fiery with rage, but those features went blank as he hit the wall across from me with a shockingly loud bang.
He flopped down into a pile, unmoving, and even through all the hatred I had built up towards him over the years, I still felt a pang of worry knowing he could be seriously hurt.
My attention was drawn away from the crumpled boy when a hand gripped my jaw, roughly twisting it so I was facing the person.
I was face to face with Ash, the blazing red, purple and blue rays highlighting every feature on his, in my opinion, perfect face.
His red tinted yet often dark brown hair was messily pushed back, and more strands had fallen down over his face than before, leaving him with a professional yet uncaring aura. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead while his glowing eyes were shaped like cats, harsh and lustrous. The tip of his nose was shining under the purple that fell over it, and his cheeks were tinted red.
I never noticed the small dusting of freckles that were lightly spread over his flushed cheeks and nose.
Finally, his lips. They were opened slightly as deep intakes of breath were sucked through them, before he swiftly exhaled and began the cycle again. They were perfectly smooth, a soft, pale cherry in colour and clearly shaped by the gods.
Every feature of his was beautiful.
Just as I noticed a darker freckle on the tip of his nose, he released my jaw and jumped back.
"Y-you okay?" He tried to regain his composure that I hadn't realised we had both lost in only a few seconds, and I struggled to get out any words.
"Y-yeah, but why don't you ask the unconscious guy over there." I jabbed my thumb in the direction of James, who was still lying on the floor around a meter away from us.
"I didn't mean to knock him out." Ash mumbled as he went over to the boy, and I couldn't help but crack a slight smile.
"Thanks for jumping in there by the way, I was getting a little uncomfortable trapped on the floor back there." I felt the need to say something as he laid James out straight, checking his pulse and if he had any unusual bumps on his head.
"That's... that's fine. I saw what he did to you the other day and I just knew you didn't... you didn't deserve that." He spoke softly, his deep voice ringing through my ears.
I felt a few butterflies in my stomach until I remembered he was the reason it happened in the first place.
Once he made sure James was at least relatively okay, he picked him up bridal style and I couldn't help but watch the way his muscles flexed through the tight turtleneck he was wearing.
What? He might be both a bully and a complete dickhead, but I have eyes.
And I think his arms are kinda hot, so leave me alone.
We proceeded to walk out of the base, and I was still holding the gun tightly, prepared to fire if anyone tried a sneak attack.
According to the timer on the wall, we had seven minutes left, but we weren't sure where to put James since we couldn't just ditch him against a wall.
"See anyone?" Ash whispered and I shook my head, which he could see since I was in front, when someone came running out from behind a wall.
I pulled the trigger the second I saw them, shots firing three times before I landed one on the sensor.
"Why the fuck are you carrying James?" Cole exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air as the red teams signal went off.
"He's unconscious, but I'm sure he'll wake up soon." Ash spoke calmly, and it sounded way too relaxed under the circumstances.
"And he's knocked out because?" Cole asked, prolonging the last word of the statement. His gaze drifted to me and I swallowed deeply under the intensity of his eyes.
"I, er, pushed him and he hit the wall." Ash bit the inside of his cheek and Cole gave an unbelieving look before sighing and saying,
"Okay, fine. You're going to tell me the full story later though."
With that, he began to walk in the other direction, our only aim to now find the other two.
The timer was slowly ticking off the seconds, and we had three minutes remaining in the arena. We walked in silence, the only noise being the quiet pop music in the background.
I saw two blue lights fly from the left to the right, and I went running after them, ignoring the shouts of the others. Rounding the corner, I stopped dead in my tracks with the gun held high, and saw Harry and Lila in the same exact position.
"Bro you scared me." Lila lifted a hand over her heart and laughed softly, her long brown hair, which had been tied up since I saw her, was cascading down in waves over her shoulders.
Harry looked worn out with his scruffy dark locks poking out in various directions, a slight shine to his skin from the sweat.
"Okay well, I have a lot of tea. But for now, don't shoot anyone because James is unconscious." I held my hand out to settle them before turning and heading back to the other three.
"Wait what?" Lila shouted and I silenced her, sneaking around the corner just in case they were to try anything.
I heard soft talking coming from my right, so I shuffled along with the other two before seeing that James was just recovering from the hit and was now wobbling around on his feet.
So he woke up.
Signalling the others that we could now release fire, I lifted the gun silently and aimed directly for the sensor on Ashs chest.
I shot once and a beep sounded, showing I hit. Harry and Lila jumped out from behind the wall and simultaneously shot both James and Cole.
However, just as they were about to shoot back, the timer hit zero and a loud voice reverberated around the arena.
"That's the end teams! Head towards the exit and see your scores!"
I already wanted to punch whoever's voice that was.
The other team shouted with frustration while we cheered, glorifying the three final shots we got in at the end. As we walked towards the exit, I looked back and saw the reds talking about something, but it was too quiet for me to pick up what it was.
Stepping outside, our results popped up on the screen, and we won with a huge score 65,000, while there's was 45,000.
We all squealed with happiness, jumping around in a circle and giving each other high fives. Yet I couldn't help wonder what the others were talking about.
Once we checked out the number count, they kindly told us to never come back again as we violated almost every rule there was of such a simple game.
Harry apologises while the rest of us grumbled various curses under our breath while storming out of the building.
However, as soon as we were outside and a few steps away from the still luminous gaming centre, James pushed Ash and send him falling into the wall of a shutdown shop.
"Why'd you do that, huh? Want to protect the gay fag over your own mate do you? What, you want to fuck him too?" James seethed, his hand clutching harshly onto Ashs throat as he taunted the now weak looking male.
"What the hell are you doing?" Cole grabbed and pulled him by his collar, forcing him to release Ash and to stumble backwards.
Ash was gasping for breath, yet had fury blazing in his eyes when he lunged forward, fist held tight as he did so.
As the two ran at each other, hatred seeping from their every move, I just stood questioning what I ever did to warrant this being over me.
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Just a quick warning that there may be a little bit more adult-like content in the next chapter... not too much though.
Anyway! What do you think of this chapter? And more importantly, how much of a dickhead do you think James is?
I hope you enjoyed and please don't be a silent reader! I like knowing what you all are thinking ;)
- Storm ð¹