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Souls of the Night – Vol 3

48.

The laser tag area at the far end of the complex was not as dark as I had thought. It was a labyrinth of artificial walls full of graffiti or images in fluorescent colors, all of which were only two and a half yards high and had colorful LED light strips at the top that bathed everything in tinted twilight. There were also breakthroughs - peepholes and openings between the walls through which we could spy our opponents. Or they could spot us.

We played with the simplest rules because Lavonne and I and Lexington and the two beefcake guys on Michelle's team had never played laser tag before. There weren't even any fixed targets or base stations in the maze that could unlock extra features like rapid fire on the phasers. So it was basically catch and hide with the first person shooter component. Team 42 wore the vests with the initial color green (because Lexington's self-brought and now with the server system of Urban Air connected vest had green LEDs). Team 34's initial color was blue. Four diodes on the chest, three on the back. Each player had an infrared phaser. If you tagged another player with it, the green or blue diode changed to red. The first six times, the diode that had been hit flashed for 20 seconds during which the player who had been hit could not shoot at his opponent, but no other diode could be tagged on the player who had been hit. It was like a short time-out in which you could retreat. If all the diodes were red, the player had to leave the pitch - she or he was "dead". Seven lives - more than in most computer games.

There were also areas that were a little more open in the labyrinth or were designed like a cave, a destroyed city or a forest, while elsewhere artificial white smoke was emitted. There were sound and light effects everywhere. Sometimes invisible loudspeakers played the sounds of battles with rattling metal, helicopters or jets, the cacophony of artificial people shouting and running away, but mostly a science fiction-like boom of techno music with interspersed acoustic laser fire. In addition, the laser cannons beeped or buzzed when you shot and when you scored. It was a "feast" for the senses and even my human eyes and ears were a little overwhelmed. How did my friend would feel who, in addition to his own vest, had also brought special eyewear that reminded me a lot of Riddick's goggles? That was clever, he was protecting his sensitive sense of sight, even if I didn't know what the infrared lasers of the phasers or rather the colorful light effects that shone from the ceiling or from individual walls and occasionally reminded me of disco lights were a problem. Some of them were timed with the techno music, which wasn't booming but still swallowed quite a lot of noise - all in all a nightmare for epileptics, which was probably why they were advised not to play and we had also confirmed in our declarations of assignment that we had no pre-existing condition in this regard.

The instructors, who were standing on the upper platform of the iron ladder leading out of the zone and had just introduced us to the rules, closed the doors of the laser tag dungeon with the push of a button. A timer began to start ticking down from 60 seconds - the countdown to the start of the game. We scattered in a hurry.

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Laser tag was a much tougher game than I thought it would be. If I still had my fire powers I would have been fuming with stress. It had been a good stress for the first few minutes. Exciting. But increasingly, the stress took over that came with the feeling of being the hunted more often than the hunter. But neither I nor my team were down yet and I was determined to win. Ant pressed himself against the wall next to me, breathing heavily and sweaty but with a beatific grin on his chubby face.

"I got Michelle twice, one of those big guys once and the other one too."

"Great - I tagged that guy with the mean grin and one of the beefy brothers - but then so did he." I tapped the red sensor on my chest. It could only have been a few minutes, but it was extremely easy to lose not only your bearings but also your sense of time in this game. "Was it such a good idea to split up?" I asked with a pounding heart and peered through a round cut-out in one of the walls decorated with a red LED strip to a small area where several corridors intersected. It was a good place to lurk but we had to move - this passageway where we cowered was straight for several yards to the left and right. If one of the green team came along here we would be sitting ducks. Two of Anthony's diodes were already red. Mine were three.

"The corridors are too narrow for us to move as a team. Guerrilla tactics are better here. Small units, quickly pop up and dive down again," he argued sternly, clearing his throat because the white smoke trickling from the ceiling a yard away irritated him.

I grinned. "You're a real strategist, Anthony," and his smile turned him into more than an overweight "janitor."

We both winced as a computer voice echoed across the area.

"Player green eliminated. Four players remaining."

Ant and I exchanged a high five before we crept on.

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Ant and I studied the game score on one of the flatscreens that were positioned throughout the pitch from the cover of an artificial rock. Everyone wanted to know the score, so the areas around the TVs were highly dangerous.

We saw that Ali had already been knocked out - which the computer voice had recently announced as "Player blue eliminated". But so was one of the Beefys (that's what we called the muscular guys now, whereas the grinning face was called Smiley). We saw how many times the others had been tagged and our team wasn't doing too well, even though the second Beefy was only three hits short. But Lex - even his photo on the screen looked smug - hadn't been hit once! A small, crouching shadow - consisting only of blue LEDs - flitted by, its center of gravity so low and it so quiet that it was eerie. I only noticed the being myself because my own being was jerking precognitively on a thread of consciousness in my head. I pushed Anthony to the side, made a swerve between gargoyle and dancer, and Lex tagged me the second I flashed the first diode on his vest red.

My friend and I were very close for a moment, his scent briefly overriding all other sensations and it was beguiling and inciting in equal measure and although I couldn't see his wide surprised eyes because of his sexy Riddick googles, I knew he was perplexed. I stroked his bare skull suggestively while our diodes flashed in time-out mode and I thought I could feel his goosebumps rising.

"There you are, Mr. Wyvern. One of seven - and I was beginning to think the vest you brought with you was modified so that it wouldn't react to the in-house phasers."

He growled playfully.

"Oh, Mr. Sharif, for that blasphemous disbelief in either my mechanical abilities or my morals, I'll have to punish you later." He swooped forward and licked across my lips as he flew past.

I froze for a second before he disappeared behind the next wall.

"OH! Mr. Wyvern! Behave! - I shouted in an Austin Powers cadence - we had only seen the movie two weeks ago - as I regained my composure and continued my quest with a broad grin. He was a hunter and even though this wasn't an archaic hunt, I was finding it easier by the minute to see myself as one (I just blamed it on the echoes).

From somewhere in the darkness I heard his rich, inhuman laugh. Like a ghost. Pleasure and tension were clearly in balance here. Unfortunately, I had lost Anthony.

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With an "oof", I fell onto Smiley who lost his superior grin for the first time with me on top of him. I had just come around a corner too quickly. It was one of the rules in the Maze not to run, kneel or lie down - but ... well, it hadn't been really running either. The guy stared at me in horror for a moment, seemed to find something there he didn't like, then he pushed me off him. We both shot each other down. He looked infinitely old and infinitely inscrutable in the timeout flicker that bathed his light in red. Red like blood. I licked my lips without thinking about it and must have looked hungry.

"Freak," he said coldly and it felt so natural to growl at him in return, baring my non-existent fangs. I felt it prickle behind my eyes like they were glowing ice blue as they had done when I had been a gargoyle. The guy retreated into one of the corridors, his face petrified but not taking his eyes off me. If he had stumbled into a lion's enclosure, he would have looked like that. The thought of being a hunter appealed to me much more than the alternative. But I was still strategist enough to grab the little spray can of deodorant that Smiley had lost.

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Lavonne pushed up my phaser before I could tag her.

She had appeared out of nowhere, her eagerness to kick Michelle's ass and her dark skin tone to her advantage. Even her usually proudly worn gorgeous afro had been tied back with a rubber band.

"Sorry," I mumbled, stiffening as another recording of people screaming and shouting as they fled in whatever war movie was coming through a nearby loudspeaker. I felt increasingly tense. Each of the previously pretty colorful light effects and laser beams and artificial noises made my inner gargoyle (and/or the creature inside me) crawl up the walls. The exuberant artificiality, combined with the stressful hunting simulation, increasingly deprived me of the knowledge that this was just a game. Wasn't time already up?

"Have you seen Lexington yet?" she asked, looking around vigilantly, trying to keep an eye on the six corridors dotted around the artificial forest clearing made of plastic trees and bushes with synthetic leaves.

"Seen and tagged. Several times, by now," I returned and preened under Lavonne's appreciative gaze and smile.

"You did that? Crass! How did it feel?"

"Strangely liberating," I said because I didn't want to say arousing.

"And how do you find him in this madhouse? Gargoyles are lurkers. He must be miles ahead of us. Or is he going easy on us? Is he just on the other team so that we can gain an advantage without anyone noticing?"

"When Lex plays a game, he plays to win. But not at any price. I - let's say I have experience of how gargoyles operate. And there are tricks, too."

"Will you let me in on that?"

I pulled out the can of deodorant spray and handed it to her. "The guy with the stupid grin lost this. If we smell like him, we can go after Lex and he'll think it's someone on his own team."

Lavonne laughed as she sprayed herself. It was kind of cheating. But Lexington's involvement, even though all the opponents were human, was kind of cheating too. I didn't mind using his abilities against him. She was about to give me the can back when we heard loud footsteps during a rare break in the music and noise. Beefy came around the corner, saw us, raised his phaser but it wasn't a phaser and I heard something clink and not a second later something whizzed past me and I felt a breeze brush my cheek. The Entity let me grab Lavonne and we ran into a corridor. I bumped my shoulder on one of the corners and groaned at the pain that ripped through me. We ran even though running was forbidden and somehow we got back out into the artificial forest and I dragged her behind one of the bushes that provided good cover. Beefy ran past but none of us were able to tag him because I protectively snorted at Lavonne not to move. So he disappeared again, his phaser (and this time it was the phaser) in his hands.

Lavonne collapsed against one of the artificial trees, surprised by my bossyness, strength and apparent alarm. She had plastic leaves in her hair and shook herself.

"Fuck. Leafy bastards! Already can't stand the real ones. That bastard. Thanks for dragging me away but next time be a little gentler with a girl, okay?"

"Sorry," I gasped, peeking out from behind our hiding place.

I flexed my aching shoulder. My body was coping remarkably well with the fact that large sections of my skin were bruised. But that didn't mean the hematomas didn't hurt like hell when I bumped into them. Not that that was important right now.

I clung to my phaser even though it was just a pathetic toy and Beefy had - had he?

"What, what are you looking so spooked about?" asked Lavonne.

I bit my lower lip, imagining I could feel my fangs. My gargoyle echo wanted to go after the guy and hunt him down like prey, but my human self was almost trembling- but ... it couldn't be.

"I must have been wrong," I muttered, rubbing my damp forehead. I couldn't tell Lavonne that I thought Beefy had had a REAL gun. The phasers were ridiculously big like the guns from the nineties and had light strips on the sides but were basically just plastic which made them light enough even for kids. Only because I hadn't seen the light strips on his phaser ... and the stress had made me think I was seeing a real weapon, dark and solid and shiny. Another threat in the hands of an opposing hunter. Yeah- my head had to be playing tricks on me. Different tricks than before, but hey- Nathaniel's Sharif's mind was open to all kinds of crap. A real weapon in a laser tag game- nonsense. And why at all? There was no reason to use a real weapon against Lavonne or me.

I smiled at Lavonne and hoped it looked genuine. "This game kind of stresses me out," I admitted.

We both winced as a voice announced:

Player green eliminated.

"Shit," Lavonne groaned, "that was Michelle. She's the last one I saw with only one green diode left. I was hoping I'd make the last shot." She hit the artificial bark and the metal frame in the tree rattled and more artificial leaves trickled onto her. Lavonne looked up as if the man-made tree was to blame for her disappointment. Then she grinned crookedly.

"So the game is about to end. But-," she raised her weapon in best Lara Croft style and gave me a big smile as she broke cover. "- but it's not over until it's over. And by my reckoning, we still have five minutes. Maybe I'll catch Michelle's stud from just now! Wuhuuu, 34 forever!" with that she ran into one of the hallways and I reached out for her, wanting to protect my pack mom, who I nevertheless felt responsible for and wanted to protect because clan (even work clan) was above all else and not every fiber in me was convinced that I had imagined the real gun and had that been the sound effects or had he really shot at us with it? Andandand. But Lavonne was already gone.

I sighed unhappily and rubbed my cheek. I remembered feeling the sharp but only millisecond-long puff of air on my skin. As if only a few millimetres had been missing and a projectile had hit me. My fantasy - my imagination was strong - but something like this was new. Newly disturbing. Probably inspired by the light and sound effects. I was not a laser tag fan. My constitution, both physically and mentally, was too fragile for such scenarios.

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Alone again, I found it harder to stay myself (the human). I grumbled and reluctantly retreated behind a corner as a shadow emerged from the artificial smoke, struggling internally to decide if the thing in my hands would take out this opponent or if it wouldn't be better to rip his throat open and feast on his blood. But it was a clan member. ... Chad ... Yes, his name was Chad. Team. Pack. Clan. I huffed in amusement at my conflicting, mingling impulses between domesticated and savage animalistic rationality and relaxed. I wanted to step forward so that one of my humans could ground me again. But I sensed more than saw or heard an rival hunter approaching. Chad whirled around, raised his phaser, but Beefy rammed him aside like a quarterback would an opposing player.

A hiss rose in my throat at the sight of Chad falling against one of the walls, holding his side. His rib! It still had to be injured from the fight with the instructors. I dropped my gun and started running while Beefy tagged the hunched over Chad, robbing him of all life. All the lights on Chad's vest turned red. Red like blood. My clan brother dead! I lunged at Beefy and he fell to the side. His phaser slithered away and whatever he'd tried to grab at his hip, I yanked it away too, crushed it and threw it into the darkness. The guy punched me in the jaw, threw me off him, jumped up and ran. The predator in me rejoiced at the opportunity to chase. I left Chad behind me, dead or alive, without a care in the world. But something else jumped into me a few corridors away. I hissed at my new opponent

Everything here was full of unfamiliarity, artificiality. There was noise in the background but it was confusingly fuzzy, mixed and distant as if everything was a mile away and I was pinned to the hard floor, unable to react properly to the situation. I growled, feeling the wind stirring inside me, knowing without a shadow of a doubt I could sweep all this artificiality and falseness around me away in a hurricane. I threatened to explode any second. I was lying on my back, vulnerable, my surroundings full of foes, my mate-

I sucked air through my nose and mouth at the same time and sensed something on my tongue and olfactory receptors that screamed "Lexington". I blinked in confusion and felt the figure on top of me press his claws into my arms again, a colorful beam of light flickering across one side of his face and over his bare skull. The alien assailant ripped the goggles off his head and I looked into my mate's eyes, hearing for the first time what he'd already had to repeat several times.

"Nate, you're in a Hunting Frenzy! Snap out of it!"

I started growling and ended up mewling in bewilderment. I saw in the twilight what he was, I even smelled who he was. But here everything was full of enemies, full of prey and he-!

Kissed me. First on the corner of my mouth because I had opened my mouth to hiss. Then, when the surprise made me close my mouth, on my lips. Only the third time did I remember that I could kiss back. The fourth time I realized what, where and who I was. I gasped for air when he broke away from me and looked at me seriously.

"I'm back," I reassured him with a quick nod and hot cheeks. "Shit, those echoes are gonna kill me soon-"

"Not just you- we should-"

The last green LED on his back went out and all the lights turned red. Chad could be heard cheering from the darkness. I stiffened under Lex, deep resentment welling up because my mate had been "caught" by another hunter. Lex kissed me again, long and lavishly, and as we licked each other's mouths I remembered that this was supposed to be a game and Chad wasn't an enemy who could be shredded. Then a loud horn sounded and a voice announced, " Playtime ends." One by one, the overhead lights came on.

"Are you all right again?" Lex asked as he crawled off me and helped me up. I wanted to say no. But out came "Sure". I was just glad it was over. Laser tag was spooky.

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Neither Lexington nor I cared that we joined the others at the starting point of the game at the exact same time.

My chin was pretty achy from one of the Beefy's punches but after a pretty venomous look at the perpetrator (who I almost killed without him knowing) and a pretty venomous stare back, I turned to Chad who was holding his side but was grinning broadly. Me and Lex went to our teams and despite my worried look, Chad puffed himself up.

"Did you see me give Lexington the kill shot?" he asked, and that's when I knew he hadn't noticed my hunting frenzy (or that I'd wanted to hurt even him for a second for that last shot). I smiled benignly, glad not to have to explain my particular condition to him.

"That was a pretty good shot," I praised, adding. "Wish you could have tagged that jerk who hurt you." Ali and Lavonne, who flanked our battered teammate like she-wolves surrounding their pup, nodded grimly.

"I told you - everyone around Michelle is an asshole or is turning into one," claimed Lavonne, unleashing her afro. And now - after this "game", I couldn't possibly disagree.

The big screen announcing the final score lit up.

Five seconds of icy silence on all sides - before Lavonne almost cracked up from jubilation. We joined in. Anthony was lifted up by Chad, despite his cracked rib, and was cuddled and showered with praise by everyone. He was uncomfortable and almost fell over backwards when Lavonne kissed him on the forehead - but he was beaming and the shy, chubby nobody was the hero of the evening. Four of his LEDs were still green. Whether it was the introverted nerd's video game experience or a special talent despite his unathletic appearance didn't matter. We had won by one diode, so to speak.

Lexington- a boss and good sport (unlike Michelle and her supporters who all looked pretty pissed off- which may have been due to Lavonne's euphoric and totally undignified roaring) joined us and shook everyone's hand.

"Good game. It was fun," and either he was skillfully lying or he really thought so. I could do without a repeat performance. If anyone near me wanted to play laser tag again, I'd be the dull uncle watching the bags.

Thanks for reading, Q.T.