Birthday Bumps

Disclaimer: All the characters, plot and italicised text belong to Chris Ryan

'I got that bergen for my birthday,' said Alex mildly.
'Your birthday?' repeated Li. She looked mischievously towards the others. They caught her cue.
Four pairs of eyes glared at Alex. He remembered very well e last time they all looked at him like that. It was when they were throwing water on the signal fire in the jungle.
'I think,' said Li, 'we'd better give Alex the bumps.'

For a very brief moment, Alex froze. 'Three...two...one,' a voice that sounded very much like Paulo's boomed behind him. Before Alex realised what was happening, his legs began to instinctually move of their own accord. He was sprinting across the grass patch and could hear several other pounding pairs of legs behind him. 'You can run, but you can't hide!' called Amber from a few meters behind. Within a few seconds, Alex reached the end of the field and stepped onto the road. Although he was having fun, Alex never forgot the dangers of the weak and unstable nearby buildings and skilfully dodged around passing people and buildings while running around the outskirts of the field.

Not wanting to stray too far from the truck, Alex doubled back the way he came, but was soon faced with the determined faces of his fellow members of Alpha Force. He saw two smaller flushed and panting faces. 'Not you too,' Alex called to Jorges and Ana. 'Why is the whole world against me!' He joked before sticking his good arm in the air- a universal sign of surrender. 'That's right, you know you can't escape from the mighty wrath of the Li monster!' the slightly manic voice drew closer to him a Li jumped onto him with an impressive leap.

Li had pinned Alex's arm behind him back and had flipped him over so that he was lying on the grass on his stomach. 'Oomph...' Alex groaned as the wind was knocked out of him. 'Help me,' he semi-mimed to Filipe who was smirking slightly next to the truck. The gang had several onlookers now. Alex tried again, 'I'm an invalid.' He said indicating to the sling on his now-trapped-beneath-him arm. 'You can't do this to me. This is an offence against...An offence against-'Alex trailed of, screwing up his blonde eyebrows in concentration.

'Nice try, mate' Hex's voice loomed over Alex and he craned his neck to look at the brown haired hacker's face. An almost pleading expression crossed Alex's face and he showed it to Jorges and Ana in the hope that they were not as merciless as his so-called friends. Seeing that this was not going to work, Alex gave his best death glare to every one of the people surrounding him. He could hear a slightly muffled giggle that he could not recognise and presumed it was Ana's.

Without warning, Hex and Amber grabbed both of his legs and Li and Paulo had taken his arm and shoulder. 'No, no, no, please?' Alex was begging now. The gang suddenly dropped Alex down- the first bump. For Paulo, it was a bit awkward because he had to move up and down with Alex in order to support his injured hand. 'Is this what you do in Britain? In the US, who give birthday punches. I don't think you should miss out on either, do you Alex?' She smiled down at him. Alex had begun to shake his head frantically, his floppy fair fringe flicking in the air. Amber gave Alex a swift punch on the shoulder blades just as he was being brought up. 'Do you mind?' Alex groaned to Amber.

Alex continued to be lifted up and dropped and punched on the back by Amber with the occasional echo from Paulo. The big Argentinean made mocking remarks to a scowling Alex, but Alex refused to be provoked, even though he could hear laughter above him. He told himself to sit it out and that it would all be over soon enough.

After the bumps (plus an extra one that Li had insisted on, 'For luck,' as she had put it), Alex was lowered onto the ground and lay still for a few seconds. In one swift movement, Alex pulled himself up and stared at Alpha Force, Jorges and Ana. All six of them had tears of mirth escaping the corners of their eyes.

Turning to face Li, Alex stepped forward, 'Revenge is sweet' he started, and then retaliated to the bumps by tickling Li mercilessly. She squealed and shrieked in his arms before he let her go and turned to face the rest of them. 'Now it's your turn,' he whispered sinisterly before taking after and escaping Paulo. This is the life, Alex smiled to himself while the double agent Amber grabbed Paulo and lifted his arms, waiting for Alex to take his legs in order to return the pleasure of the birthday bumps.

Well, that certainly beats homework any day. I am writing this at half-past eleven and so appologise to any mistakes that have been caused sleepiness.

I know people don't usually review One Shots, but I would really appreciate it if you could just give me a tiny comment. Make my day!

As always, thank you to any readers.

Xx-BananaBookworm-xX