Chapter 7 #2
Felicity laughed. It was one of those bright, bubbly laughs that made me feel self-conscious of my obnoxious chortle. “We’re here to celebrate your record label,” she told Alec. “You worked so hard to get everything up and running. You deserve congratulations.”
At first, Alec said nothing. He pressed a hand against his stomach and glanced around, a dazed expression fixed on his face. Slowly, he turned to Felicity. “Did you plan this?”
She shook her head. “It was all Xander.”
“Don’t forget about me,” JJ added. “I came in clutch with this awesome venue.”
“Wow.” Alec shook his head in an I-can’t-believe-this sort of way. “This is amazing. Thank you all so much for being here. I—I’m so overwhelmed, I don’t know what to say.”
Oliver smirked and crossed his arms. “Instead of saying anything, how about you let me kick your ass in a round of laser tag? JJ and I want payback for that water fight.”
“If I remember correctly,” said Alec, “you guys are the ones who ambushed me. Just because you lost doesn’t mean you deserve retribution.”
“Details, schmetails,” JJ said, dismissing Alec with a wave. “You’re going down.”
Alec grinned. “We’ll see about that.”
* * *
Everyone who wanted to play gathered around the front counter.
The boys decided a schoolyard pick would be the fairest method of divvying up players, with Alec and JJ serving as captains.
I ended up on JJ’s team, along with Oliver, Xander, Boomer, and a handful of other guests I didn’t know.
A few minutes later, we stood in an antechamber off the arena while a Zap Zone employee whose name tag read Roger handed out blasters and explained the rules.
“Okay, Blue Team. Who here has played laser tag before?” he asked. All of us had. “Good, that means I don’t have to tell you the number one rule, correct?”
“Kick Alec’s ass at all costs?” Oliver suggested.
“Wrong. Laser tag is a noncontact sport. We’re not playing rugby, okay, folks? Any player who touches an opponent will be banned from the game.” Roger said all this in a flat, my-job-sucks tone of voice.
JJ held up a hand. “But what about an accidental touch? Is that allowed? Because it’s going to be dark in the arena, and adrenaline will be pumping. Hypothetically speaking, what if I round a corner and run smack into another player?”
“Also, you said we couldn’t touch opponents,” Oliver added. “Does that mean we’re allowed to touch our teammates?” Grinning, he reached out and stroked JJ’s arm.
In response, JJ puckered his lips and attempted to kiss Oliver.
“Gentlemen,” Roger said with a practiced patience, “keep your hands to yourself, or I’ll kick you out of the game, got it?”
“Roger that, Roger!” JJ replied with a mocking salute.
Boomer snorted. “You’ve been dying to say that, haven’t you?”
“Oh, you have no idea how badly.”
“Moving on to rule number two,” Roger continued, unfazed by JJ’s and Oliver’s antics.
“The sensor on your blaster must be visible at all times. Covering your sensor to prevent yourself from being tagged is poor sportsmanship and will earn your team an immediate disqualification.” After going over three more Zap Zone rules, Roger explained the type of match we’d be playing.
“There are a handful of different games you can play—immortal arena, civil war, zombie mode, et cetera—but your guest of honor chose capture the flag. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the game, but here’s a quick rundown of how it’s played in our arena.
Each team has a home base with an electronic flag.
If you get within ten feet of your enemy’s base, you can shoot the base to capture its flag.
Once this happens, an alarm will go off announcing the flag has been stolen.
Your blaster will light up and repeat, ‘I have the flag.’ To win, you must return to your home base and shoot it. Does that make sense?”
Oliver’s expression hardened, like this was a life-or-death situation and not a game. “If a player has the flag, can they shoot other players?”
“No, and if a player is shot when they have the flag, it disappears and is returned to its home base. Also, each player only gets three lives. Run out, and your weapon will deactivate.”
“What’s the fire rate on these things?” JJ asked, holding up his blaster.
“Good question. Our rate of fire is set at six hundred RPMs.”
“Stun time?”
“Fifteen seconds.”
“Match length?”
“Normally twenty-five minutes, but since you guys rented out the building, I’ll let you play until someone actually captures the flag.”
Putting a hand in front of my mouth, I whispered to Xander. “Are they being serious right now, or are they still messing with him?”
Xander grinned as his friends continued to barrage Roger with questions. “Deadly serious. Oliver and JJ have a habit of turning everything into a competition, and they don’t like to lose.”
“Any other questions?” Roger said then.
Oliver looked at JJ, who shook his head. “Nope, I think we’re good.”
“Awesome. I’m going to start the countdown clock. When the timer reaches zero, the door to my left will unlock, and you can enter the arena directly into your base. At that point, all blasters, sensors, and flags will be live. Have fun.”
Once Roger was gone, JJ gestured for everyone to gather around. “All right, team, listen up. Oliver and I scoped out the arena yesterday, and we managed to get a good lay of the land.”
“Wait a minute,” Boomer said, shooting JJ an incredulous look. “The two of you checked this place out ahead of time just so you could beat Alec at a game of laser tag?”
“Damn straight we did. There’s a L on my record I need to make up for, so you better get your head in the game.
I’m not losing again,” JJ told him. “Now, back to the matter at hand. This arena is two stories. Most people stick to the ground floor since it’s larger, but they don’t realize how difficult it is to capture the flag from there.
Like Roger said, you have to be within ten feet of a base to shoot it, but there’s no cover surrounding it, so basically you’re a sitting duck.
However, thanks to my and Oliver’s groundwork, we know of a better option.
There are balconies overlooking each base, so we can shoot the flag from above and make a clean getaway. ”
Oliver eyed the countdown and rolled two fingers at JJ. “Hurry up. We only have thirty seconds.”
“Okay, okay. Here’s the plan. My good buddy Groot”—JJ patted a scowling Boomer on the shoulder—“will guard our base. We don’t want him running around since his height makes him an easy target.
Oliver and I will take the second floor and attempt to capture the flag.
The rest of you will patrol the first floor and keep Team Evil occupied. ”
Under normal circumstances, I’d be annoyed if a stranger was bossing me around, but I had to admire how dedicated JJ and Oliver were to winning this game. So insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but to them, nothing seemed more important. I could vibe with that.
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” I said, shrugging.
Xander beamed at me, almost as if he’d been afraid of what I’d think of his friends. From what I’d gathered, they were weird and intense and immature, but I didn’t mind. Better to keep life interesting.
“Then let’s do this,” JJ said, sticking his hand out. Oliver put his on top of JJ’s, followed quickly by the rest of the group. “Blue Team on three. One, two—”
“Hold on,” Boomer said, cutting him off. “You of all people can come up with a better team name than that.”
JJ paused and then nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. How does Team Deadeye sound? Or maybe the Laser Legends? That has a nice ring to it.”
Scoffing, Oliver crossed his arms. “You’re joking, right?”
“Okay, not my best material. What do you think of the Power Bolts?”
“I’m thinking our team name will have literally zero effect on whether we win or lose,” Xander pointed out.
“Oh, I know!” JJ said, ignoring him. “We can be the Master Blasters!”
“I’m partial to Oliver’s Super Awesome Sharp Shooters,” Oliver said.
Boomer rolled his eyes. “That’s kind of a mouthful, don’t you think?”
“How about the LED-linquents?” I suggested.
Everyone went silent in consideration.
The countdown buzzer rang.
Grinning, JJ gestured at the door as it swung open to reveal the arena. “Looks like the gods have spoken. LED-linquents it is. Let’s go kick some ass.”
Oliver and JJ plunged inside with a battle cry.
I exchanged a toothy grin with Xander before chasing after them, my blaster raised and ready to shoot.
We were immediately transported into a postapocalyptic city, standing in what appeared to be a bombed-out building.
Black lights illuminated an array of blue graffiti covering the walls, and an electronic song blared from the arena’s sound system.
This might actually be fun, I thought as my pulse picked up.
“Which way should we go?” Xander called over the music.
“You take left,” I said, pointing in the direction his friends had disappeared. “I’ll go right.” Without waiting for his response, I stepped out of our base and into the street.
A labyrinth of broken buildings lay spread out before me.
Presumably, the red team’s base was positioned on the opposite side of the room, which meant there was six thousand square feet of space for me to cover.
I needed to find a hiding spot that had the widest field of view without leaving myself open to ambush.
Bringing my pendant to my lips, I kissed the purple crystal for good luck and took off in what I hoped was the right direction.
After several minutes of jogging the twisting roads without encountering any foe, I nearly ran headfirst into Sofia.
Before she could see me, I ducked behind a barrel of toxic waste and waited until she disappeared around the corner.
When I stood up, I heard a quick burst of laser blasts.
My gun vibrated and flashed in my hands before going dark.