Chapter Seventeen
Dylan had just jogged back into the park when the glob of blue goo spattered his face.
“This isn’t laser tag!” Natasha yelled with a naughty, gleeful laugh. “And I’ve come for revenge!”
Dylan was laughing as he hit the ground and rolled beneath a nearby bench. He didn’t mind a friendly war. The only problem was he was unarmed.
Or was he?
A moment later, Stryker ran toward him, ducking as low as his tall frame would allow, yelling, “Hang on, buddy! We’re coming!”
He skidded to a stop at the bench and ducked behind it. “Take this.” Stryker held out a gun of some sort.
At first, Dylan froze, not wanting to touch one of those things right now. He then quickly realized that of course it wasn’t a real gun. It was much akin to that laser gun he’d held earlier.
This was Mountainville. He needn’t worry about ugliness and violence.
“What’s this?” he asked, accepting it.
“The Pumpkin Gut Blaster 1000,” Stryker said. “It shoots—“
“Let me guess,” Dylan said. “Pumpkin guts.”
“That’s right,” Stryker said proudly. “I modified some water guns I had. Figured it’s a good way to get rid of all those rotting pumpkins leftover from Halloween. Part of ‘em were blasted out of cannons on our recent contest, but even those left a lot of guts behind when they smashed. So, I figured I’d put it all to good use.”
“And shooting the Black Bears is a good use,” Dylan said, nodding.
“Exactly.”
“I’ll try it out,” Dylan said.
He stood up, drew a bead on the approaching Natasha, and squeezed the trigger. Orange slime jetted out from the barrel, covering her face, and causing her to laugh as she staggered backward.
“Run!” Stryker said. “There’s more of the Bears in the park. The Wildcats are right over there.” He pointed toward a large climbing structure on the playground.
The two took off and reached cover just as more Bears appeared from the distant trees, ready to launch an all-out assault.
“Do you have more guns?” Dylan asked.
His eyes landed on something that answered his own question.
It was huge, like a machine gun, needing a bipod to steady the barrel.
“Oh yeah,” Stryker said. “Meet the Pumpkin Gut Blaster 2000.”
“More like the ten thousand!” Dylan said. “That thing is huge!”
“Hmm. Ten thousand. It has a nice ring to it,” Stryker said. “But right now, we just need to use it.”
The Black Bears were closing in fast. Stryker got on his stomach, behind the gun that rested on the ground, but stood up. “Actually, Dylan, would you like to do the honors?”
“You bet!” Dylan said.
He got down, moving quickly as the “enemies” advanced on their position, and lined up his shot. The other Wildcats lined up their smaller pumpkin guns, too, and waited for his command. He gave it a second later and they all let loose.
Mushy orange goo rocketed toward the incoming invaders. It splashed on their faces and clothes, completely covering them in a sticky mess, and causing them to instantly retreat.
“We did it!” Aurelia yelled. “They’re running away!”
“I say we give ‘em a little taste of what’s to come during the football game and play offense right now!” Eli said.
The others agreed. Like an army of defenders chasing invaders from their shores and back into the ocean, the Wildcats charged forward. They continued shooting the Black Bears.
Natasha turned around and tried to fire her paint blaster at the pursuers, but she was just rewarded by another dose of pumpkin guts right to the face.
Christopher tried to get back into the fight, too, but he gave up the second orange goo shot into his open mouth.
The Bears got out of the park as fast as they could.
The Wildcats had won that round.