Chapter 8: Paintball Battle Royale.
Declaimer: For the 28th time, I do not own the Fosters.
AN: Please continue to leave reviews. Every one of them helps. In this chapter, I decided to expand on the idea that I mentioned in a previous chapter about Taylor liking paintball and being very talented at it. It starts the Saturday after the end of the previous chapter, and the whole group accompanies Taylor on a paintball trip. I know there probably aren't many paintball parks in San Diego, so it's set it a forest a couple of hours away.
Again, please leave a review.
Connor's POV:
I have never had as much fun, as I am having this weekend.
After a whole four solid days of begging, Taylor had convinced the entire "Mafia" to accompany her on a paintball outing for the entire weekend.
I was a bit cautious at first. Well, okay, more than a bit cautious. More like downright adamant in my opposition. Nobody can really blame me for being weary of any kind of gun given the fact that less than a month ago one of the damned things nearly blew my left foot off.
In the end, everybody else wanted to go, and Jude guilt tripped me into coming along with his infamous sad face.
Now that I am here, however, I cannot believe I had put up such a fight.
It was twenty minutes into the fifth battle of what could only be described as a war, and the hunt for our enemies was well underway. The whole of the "Mafia" was currently scrambling around a forest, hours outside of San Diego. It was Jude, me, Daria, Taylor, Jax, Austin, Taylor's dad, Mariana and Callie, against Carson, Jesus, Brandon, Alex, Castor, Wynston, Ritchie, my dad and Colin.
We had split into three groups of three. Taylor and I had been switching back and forth on leading our side, and she had chosen Jude as our team mate. Taylor's dad was coordinating with Jax and Daria, acting as snipers. They had even brought gillie suits for the hell of it. Austin, Callie and Mariana comprised the final group.
We were going up against my dad, who was leading our enemies into ferocious battle.
I will admit that going into this, I was skeptical about being able to beat him and the others...
...Until I saw Taylor in action.
I have a newfound very healthy respect, and fear, of Taylor Newsome, and now I know why Daria sometimes calls her "Secret Agent Taylor".
She showed up with her dad, dressed in camouflage fatigues, donning a metal helmet with a small camera attached (to record the fun) and goggles, with a paintball pistol on each hip, and a paintball rifle on her back. I remembered her saying she took it too seriously, but I didn't realize just how ridiculously. Even my dad wasn't taking it this seriously. Well, he almost was, but not completely.
Before the start of the first battle, she popped open the back of the SUV to display what could be describes as an armory, and told as to take our pick. I thought my dad's collection was impressive, but this was awe inspiring, as well as a little frightening. Paintball guns in twelve varieties, boxes full of paintballs, and ammo belts and reload cylinders It's the first time I've ever heard Jude cackle, which he did as he picked up a fully automatic paintball gun, and an ammo belt with seven reload cylinders full of ammo, and five paintball grenades.
I may have had a small crisis down south at the sight of him decked out in kit, as well as REAL war paint in addition to his usual war paint.
What? I'm fourteen. I'm allowed to look.
Anyway, afterwards, she explained to us the plan for the first battle. She handed each team leader a walkie talkie and explained proper radio procedure to us. Afterwards, the battle began.
We were in the beginning of our fifth battle of a weekend long trip, and we were tied at two apiece. Taylor and I each had a victory and a loss under our belts, each winning our first battles, and losing our second. My dad's team had claimed an extremely narrow victory in the last two battles, which had Taylor and I cussing up a storm as she ordered a retreat of our forces.
My dad and his team had already fled into the woods and hid. Taylor, Jude and I were crouched in a small wooded bunker on top of a steep hill that overlooked a river with a small wooden bridge.
I was commanding this time.
"Team Two, reporting in. Sector One is cleared. I repeat, Sector One is clear. Do you read?" Austin's voice crackled over the radio.
"This is General Stevens, I read you loud and clear. Keep an eye out. My dad is actually posing a challenge." I barked into the radio, standing at the small window at the front of the bunker. Our team, Team One, stayed in the command post with me, to both guard me and act as my command council.
"With all due respect, Connor. You, Taylor and Jude would probably be pissed off at him if he didn't do that." Austin returned. Taylor smirked at us, and we returned the smirk.
"Command, this is Team Sniper, we've finished our sweep of Sector Two. Moving on towards Sector Seven, requesting backup to move in to assist in sweep. We'll need more men to cover the forest." Jax reported.
"Team Two, this is General Stevens. Proceed to Sector Seven and assist Team Sniper in clearing the forest. Team Sniper, split up and proceed with Operation Huntdown." I ordered.
Ten minutes past, a tense silence blanketing the bunker.
"Team Sniper, calling headquarters, we are in pursuit of two suspects, they are headed straight for you."
"Team Sniper, let us take care of it." Taylor said.
We looked out of the small window and saw Brandon and Jesus scurrying up the hill towards us. Paintballs splattered against the walls of the bunker. Taylor and Jude grabbed one of the paintball grenades each and chucked them down the hill.
We were rewarded with a large bout of obscenities from our two approaching enemies as they were eliminated from the game.
"Two down, seven to go." I said into the radio.
"Captain, this is Sniper One, reporting in." Jax's voice crackled
"Read you loud and clear Sniper One, whaddya got for me?" I asked.
"Multiple instances of movement in the tall grass in the forest." Jax reported. Advise Team Two that the enemy might be wearing ghillie suites, so exercise caution."
"Affirmative Sniper One. Team Two, exercise caution when clearing Sector Seven, they may be wearing ghillie suites so watch yourselves." I said.
"Headquarters, this is Team Two we see three enemies approaching from the southwest. Permission to engage."
"Permission to engage granted."
A short silence followed.
"Headquarters, this is Team Two. Enemies eliminated. Zero friendly casualties." Callie's voice answered.
"Five down, four to go." I muttered.
Over the next ten minutes, the members of Team Sniper reported in regularly. It was after about ten minutes of silence from Team Two that Jude started to get antsy.
"Team Two isn't reporting in like they usually do." He pointed out. I nodded in agreement.
"Snipers, this is Command. Have you reached Sector Seven yet?" I asked.
"Negative." Daria answered.
"Nope." Jax responded.
"No sir." Taylor's dad answered
"Good, find cover and stay there to await further orders." Jude said. "Team Two isn't reporting in."
"All units, this is the command post. Radio check, I repeat. Radio check." I said into my mike.
"Command post this is Team Sniper, radio check."
There was no answer from Team Two.
"Command post to Team Sniper, has anybody seen Team Two since they moved into their current Sector?" Jude asked as I took a minute to think.
"Command post this is Team Two, or what's left of it." Callie's voice sounded over the mike.
"Team Two this is command. How many of you are left?" I asked.
"Just me Connor. We were ambushed near that wooden gazebo near the fence. I counted the remaining four of them." Callie responded. Jude and Taylor looked to me and I nodded at them.
"Oh shit. Attention All Units, most of Team Two is down. Only Callie escaped. Withdraw to the secondary command post at the Bridge. I repeat, withdraw. We will rendezvous with you there. I do not want anybody except Sniper One going into Sectors Seven until we get there. Sniper One take up position in the lookout post in the trees at the far South Corner. Snipers Two and Three, meet us at the wooden bridge. Callie, meet is there too. Over and out."
I turned back to the table and picked up my gun and my belt and put it on.
"Team One on me. Double time it."
We ran down the hill to the bridge as fast as we could. The others arrived in a matter of minutes. find most of the others waiting for us. The only ones missing were the lost members of Team Two, who had proceeded to the cabin which we had designated as the "Dead Zone".
"Callie, you're with me. You said you were ambushed." I said.
"Yes General. They dispatched the rest of my team and then fled back into Sector Seven. Half of them were wearing ghillie suites. We never saw it coming." Callie responded. I smirked.
"The enemy is hiding in the woods like cowards." Jude joked.
"Alright everybody listen up! We're gonna ambush these sonsabitches. We're gonna hide under the bridge and wait for them to cross, and when they do, we're gonna mow 'em down."
As soon as everybody else was in position, I radioed the Snipers.
"Sniper One as soon as you have any visual on the enemy, you have permission to fire. Scatter them, and push them toward us. We will be waiting for them." I radioed to the snipers.
"This is Sniper One, I copy General Stevens, with pleasure."
We settled in to wait. We waited for about a half hour, with the snipers reporting in every five minutes. Suddenly Jax's voice screamed to life over the radio.
"Command, this is Sniper One opening fire on lead perp in ghillie suite. I think it's Mr. Stevens. They're scattering, General. They're heading straight for ya."
"Wait for my signal. When I give the signal, you open fire with everything you've got. I don't want to see a single perp left alive. I don't care if they ARE trying to surrender. Show absolutely NO MERCY." I barked the orders at them.
I crouched down under the bridge with the rest of my forces and waited. We could hear their cautious footsteps on the bridge above us.
"Wait for it."
They got closer...
"Wait for it."
And closer...
"Wait for it."
Until finally...
"KILO TANGO MIKE FOXTROT!" I screamed into the mike as they finished crossing the bridge.
I smirked as I said it. It was group code for 'kill those mother fuckers'.
All units rose as one and opened fire, effectively ambushing the enemy. They all dropped like flies. Colin tried to run, but he didn't last long. Ritchie tried to dive behind cover, but he lasted even less. I smirked as my dad fell to the ground with paint splattered over the visor of his helmet, courtesy of a shot from Jude.
Raucous cheers surged from the group in celebration of our victory. Taylor started laughing and fired her paintball gun into the air for a few seconds.
My dad walked up to me out of breath.
"Nice one, son." He told me.
"It's good that you're putting up a challenge. I actually learn from our matches. I think if anybody else was leading them, they would be slaughtered in the first five minutes."
Victory was ours.
AN#2: The funny thing is, that this chapter is actually based off a real paintball experience. I went paintballing for the first time with a friend a few years ago in high school, and he acted like a five star general in his antics. He and his group took it ridiculously seriously, and I remember laughing to myself at the way they were acting.