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I finish strapping on the kneepads and put the helmet on.
“What are you guys doing?” She’s stopped at the fence, one hand lifted to block the sun from her eyes.
“We’re testing the paintball equipment,” Archer repeats.
She lifts her brows. “Testing, huh?”
“It’s a safety thing,” Jake adds. “We need to make sure all the structures they installed are weight bearing to avoid, you know, accidental injury. It’s for a liability, uh, procedure.”
“It’s standard protocol,” I add.
Jake grins at me and then makes a small movement and yellow explodes across my chest along with the brunt of the impact.
Archer bursts out laughing.
My mouth drops open and I glare at Jake. “Hey! You shot me!”
“Game on!” he yells, sprinting for a nearby wall.
Taylor is forgotten as the battle begins.
I take aim and red paint bursts against the faux rock wall, barely missing Jake’s retreating back as he ducks out of view.
I take off running for a nearby shell of a building, ducking down underneath an open window and leaning my back against the wall. I take a minute to catch my breath before peeking up into the opening.
Everything is perfectly still and quiet, not even the hint of a black vest rustling in the breeze.
I duck back down, out of sight. My ears strain for any hint of movement or footsteps.
A bird caws in the distance. The wind picks up, scattering dried leaves, and I almost jump out of my skin.
I can’t sit here forever, waiting for their inevitable attack. I peer out of the opening again and a blast of blue splatters the wall right under me.
Dropping back out of sight, I leave my hiding spot, staying crouched down and hugging the wall. The lip of Archer’s helmet gleamed when he shot at me. He’s hiding to the north of me, behind a propped-up wooden wall.
Assessing the course in my mind, I devise a strategy to make my way around the south edge and approach him from the rear in a surprise attack.
I’m hunkered down and hiding behind a tree when loud reports pepper the air no more than fifteen feet away.
“I got him!” Archer yells.
I glance around. “Where?” I mutter. I lean out farther, peering around the trunk to get a better view, when something punches me in the back.
“Damn it.”
“Sucker!”
I look up.
Jake climbed into the tree and is sitting on a thick branch about six feet in the air, lifting his gun in victory and shaking it. “I can’t believe you fell for that, it’s the oldest trick in the—oof!” He wavers, losing his balance and falling backward with a thud.
“Oh shit.” I sprint the few steps over to him, tossing my gun to the side.
He’s breathing, but it’s a little labored. I grab his wrist. His pulse is fast but nothing too concerning.
“Jake, you okay?”
Archer kneels on his other side.
