AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This was why I wanted to be here in person. Watching the women interact, as well as seeing how they handled the pressure of the competition, was very telling about how they’d handle other situations in their lives.
I was pleased to see Kayden so determined, and I couldn’t help but grin as she gave one last bit of advice to Jessica before nodding swiftly and snapping her visor down. Jessica followed suit. Kayden clearly had a plan, and I was excited to see how it played out.
When one of Willow’s assistants fired the starting signal, the women burst through their entrances. Immediately, their paths sent them out in seven different directions, but it was easy to see the bisecting paths from above and anticipate where the first clashes might occur.
Garrett turned to look back at me from where he sat on the bench below me with Kayden’s assistant, Faye. He grinned and gave me two thumbs-up. “Here we go!”
I chuckled at his enthusiasm as I watched the women weave through the pathways, paintball guns at the ready.
Sydnee had darted off, leaving Elana behind to find her own way. She looked swift and stealthy on her feet, moving with grace as she carefully checked corners and intersections on approach, readying herself for an opponent to pop out at any moment.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to find Kayden. Where had she gone off to? I spotted her and Jessica on the opposite side of the maze from lone wolf Sydnee, gesturing to each other with hand signals, working well as a team to clear corners and advance through the maze.
Many of the women came upon dead ends, and before long, the first shots were being fired. The sound of unloading paint guns filled the air, and half the teams were out in a matter of minutes.
Game staff dressed in black with matching headsets darted into the maze and retrieved the six disqualified competitors. All that remained were Kayden and Jessica, Sydnee and Elana—though they were both flying solo—Claudia and Aubrey, and Rosely and Riley.
Despite the first eliminations happening so quickly, there was more room to maneuver along the pathways and spread out within the maze. Kayden and Jessica moved quickly through the twists and turns, making good progress. I could see their path to the exit, though there were a few pitfalls they might encounter if they took a wrong turn—like the giant pit of mud in the center or the stone wall blocking the path near the end.
As I watched, I realized that Jessica and Kayden had worked out a system. It seemed as if Jessica was giving the directions—perhaps she had a good sense of where she was within the maze—while Kayden took out any opponents they came across. She was a good shot, fast enough to get a hit before her opponents even realized she was there.
My mother leaned in. “What do you think of Kayden?”
I kept my eyes on the maze as I replied, “She’s doing quite well.”
“She is,” Mother agreed. “What else do you think of her?”
I glanced over quickly. Mother had a carefully blank expression on her face, and her eyes were sharp as a hawk. I knew that look, so I simply smiled and shrugged.
She sniffed but wasn’t truly offended. She should know better than to try to get me to spill the beans while I was distracted.
“Nice try, Mother,” I murmured.
When I glanced back at the maze, Claudia and Aubrey ran up against Rosely and Riley near the mud pit in the center, each team on opposite sides. Claudia and Aubrey both quickly took cover, and the pop, pop, pop of the guns filled the air, effectively eliminating Rosely and Riley.
I sat forward on the edge of my seat, already able to see the next confrontation before it played out in real time. Elana had found the rock wall. Instead of turning around, she’d chosen to scale the twelve-foot-high structure. But coming around the corner were Kayden and Jessica, armed and ready while Elana’s gun was tucked into her holster. It was a fatal mistake, as Kayden eliminated her before she could even reach for her paint gun.
Garrett turned around to look at me with round eyes, his grin so wide it took up half his face. He was loving this. He gave me a knowing look, and I shook my head.
Jessica and Kayden regrouped, Jessica using her gun to draw something in the dirt. Kayden nodded, then scraped the sketch away with her boot before moving ahead of Jessica. It looked as if they’d figured out the path to the end, and they were jogging now, Kayden’s head swiveling quickly, searching for enemies.
She was good; I had to hand it to her. Even better than I expected her to be at something like this. It had me curious about what kind of training she’d had.
Mother gasped and clutched my arm, drawing my gaze from Kayden.
“What is it?”
She pointed, and I looked to the left. Sydnee was also approaching the exit from a different path that would intersect Kayden and Jessica’s within seconds.
The audience watched with bated breath as Kayden slowed, holding her hand up to Jessica as she paused at a corner, cocking her head like she was listening for something.
Sydnee appeared light on her feet as she ran, but it wasn’t quite enough because Kayden was ready for her as she rounded the corner and picked up speed, hurtling along the path toward the exit. She caught sight of Kayden just as Kayden leveled her gun and aimed. But Sydnee was fast. She charged ahead, ignoring Kayden in favor of getting to the exit first.
It was a mistake. She’d underestimated Kayden’s ability with a gun. All it took was one shot for Kayden to land a hit dead center of Sydnee’s back.
Sydnee spun, outrage clear on her face, even from this distance, and her roar of anger sliced through the air. She raised her paintball gun and fuckingunloadedit into Kayden, knocking her back with shot after shot until she was out of ammo.
Kayden was out, but she looked confident as she stood from where she’d been knocked down on top of Jessica. I was certain she was smiling beneath that visor because Jessica hadn’t taken a single hit.
