Warfare…
That's as good a name for it as anything. It's war. It moves fast and it sets you on edge.
My body reacts faster than my mind as person after person runs past me. Endlessly shooting lasers in a desperate attempt to stay alive.
Shit, not stay alive. Why am I thinking that? It's a game. That's all. That's what I'm telling myself anyway. From the looks on the faces of the blue team, they see it as a game as much as I do. In my head, I'm trying to pass gym class. But some primal part of me is telling me they're all after me.
No, they're not. If they knew, I'd be dead by now.
Cry, shut up. It's a game. No one's dying. What's wrong with me?
I finally make it to the base. It looks like Snake was right, which I'm sure Ken is displeased about. There are no traps around the side to slow my run, but there are plenty of other players. Standing in front of the base, I hesitate for a split second, unsure of myself.
That's all the time a blue player needs before he shoots me.
I'll admit, the sound of my armour deactivating startles me and I jump. Maybe it's just nerves but I swear my heart stopped. No Cry, shut up, you're not dying. I shake my head and look over to the mop of sandy hair grinning and waving as he runs past me.
"Sorry Cry!" Pewds calls out as he speeds to the centre of the hourglass. I watch him leave, wondering what the fuck is wrong with me. There's something about this arena that sets me so on edge. Especially the blue base, being surrounded by all this blue, glowing technology. What is it? Eerie..? Or maybe… Nostalgic…?
"Cry."
The whisper in my ear breaks me out of my self-induced trance and makes me jump again. I swing around and find myself face to face with Snake. His dagger is dangerously close to where my abdomen would be under all my armour. "They're rushing us. We need you back at the base." He says in his monotonous voice.
With a shuddering exhale of breath, I nod, press my gun to my chest and run for the base as quickly as I can. Snake's footsteps echo mine so perfectly I can hardly tell them apart. Red wasn't kidding, he really does disappear. I'll have to ask him how he does it when this is over.
When we emerge into our base, I remember that I can't see shit. Fucking fog. There are vague hints of red and blue light, but nothing to show who's standing where. And for a rushed base, it's disturbingly quiet.
I walk through the fog slowly and quietly, trying not to give away my position. I remember the ramp Minx used to get a better sniping angle, maybe I can use that to look around? It's worth a shot. With a grim determination, I creep slowly up, sticking to the walls.
Minx is there, looking right at me, her eyes wide. She's kneeling on the ground with both hands behind her head, and it looks like a girl with a pony tail and one red eye has a gun to her head.
No, her armour. Come on, Cry, you're being weird again.
Minx shakes her head ever so slightly and I take the hint and back away. I can guess that the entire team is in the same position as Minx and I don't know what to do. On the one hand, my armour is active. It'd be easy to slip out and deactivate their base, but something tells me they know that's what I'd do. On the other hand… I didn't see where Snake went. Maybe we can wing it.
I grin madly. Yeah, I'm pretty good at winging it.
Aiming carefully through the fog, my laser hits the mysterious girl's armour. She looks surprised and is about to cry out when Minx springs up and throws a hand over her mouth.
"Shh, baby, just keep quiet." Minx mutters softly. She nods to me and gestures toward the other end of the base. "Red."
I nod and slink away as quietly as possible, toward where there are vague flashes of red. But when I get there, Red is standing triumphantly with her foot pressing Pewdiepie down onto the floor. "Ken already took care of Russ," she says with a smirk. "We were just waiting on you to get Minx out of trouble and take care of Jund."
My heart skips a beat and my hands clench my gun? "Jund?"
And then there's a snicker.