Chapter Two
An hour later, the two teams had arrived, been kitted out with guns, goggles and armour and were listening to the event organiser run through the rules and safety instructions. Aaron had stopped listening about ten seconds into the talk, and by the vacant looks on Victoria and Adam's faces, they hadn't fared much better on the concentration front.
The cafe team comprised of Bob, Gennie, Katie, Jimmy, Carl and Alicia. None of the girls looked very impressed to be stood in the middle of a forest at half seven in the morning in the middle of December, but they at least appeared to be listening to the instructor. Carl split his time between trying to stare Aaron down, and giving Alicia flirty sideway glances.
"Muppet" thought Aaron as he shook his head. Two months ago he would have been over there starting a fight. But he realised now that a reaction was exactly what Carl wanted. So he ignored him and tried to concentrate on the talk.
"...you will have two walkie-talkies per team, it's up to you who takes charge of them. The perimeters of the battlefield are clearly marked by a thick, yellow, glow-in-the-dark rope. Under no circumstances should you cross this barrier, as the land isn't ours and hasn't been checked for health and safety. Other than that, have a great day!"
"See you later losers!" shouted Adam to the other team as they started to depart towards their base camp.
"Don't be too sure" returned Jimmy, who seemed to be having the most fun on his team. This was due in most part to the fact that this was his first day away from Dad duties in a month. He was glad Gennie had roped him into joining the team. Nicola wasn't too happy about it, but since it was for charity, she couldn't complain too much. The only thing he was regretting was forcing Carl into joining too. He thought it would take his mind off his ongoing obsession with Chas, not realising that both she and her hot-headed son would be heading up the opposing side.
As they walked towards their base camp, the Woolie team discussed more tactics.
"Who's gonna do what then?" asked Moira.
"Yeah, and who's with who?" asked Victoria.
"Who has the most sponsorship money?" asked Chas.
Everyone was confused. "What's that got to do with the price of fish?" snorted Marlon.
"Well, if we want to raise the most money, we want the people with the most money sponsored per hour to last the longest without being shot. They should be our base camp guards." said Chas, as if she was speaking to a bunch of five year olds.
"Wow, that Business degree has finally come in handy" said Marlon, "I'm getting sixty quid an hour in sponsorship".
"Fifty for me" said Adam.
"Same" added Aaron.
"I'm on for about seventy I think" said Moira, "thanks to the pub patrons and a very kind man at the chippie, who smiles too much, but hey..."
"Victoria? How much have you managed to get signed up?" asked Marlon.
"A hundred and five. What? I have a lot of Facebook friends." She replied.
"Well, that settles that. Moira and Victoria man the camp" said Chas, niftily avoiding disclosing how much she'd got together. The two girls grinned at each other, glad to be able to avoid attempting to navigate the freezing countryside.
"Me and Aaron'll go ahead and see if we can sneak through without being seen then. Can you and Marlon follow a bit behind and cover our backs?" Adam asked Chas.
"Sure, no problem" she said.
"Bring back memories Chas?" Marlon chirped, "me and you and our shotguns stalking prey in the woods". Aaron saw his mum grimace slightly at the memory before flashing a smile at Marlon, who carried on talking, oblivious. "Yeah, Dingle rite of passage is shooting a rifle. You're not officially part of the family until you can knock ten cans off a wall in ten shots. Our Chas was five when she could do it."
"And how old were you?" asked Moira.
"Thirteen" laughed Chas. Everyone snorted, to Marlon's dismay. As Aaron scowled at the floor, he felt a pang of anger rise through him as he listened to this. He'd never been shown how to shoot, not even when he was forced to visit his mum when he was younger. He hated those trips, but they would've been a lot better if he'd have been allowed to go hunting. He looked up to see her watching him and he forced a neutral look onto his face. Now wasn't the time or place to dredge up those old feelings again.