Chapter 10: The Game of Tactics
Mitchell
If you thought Jenna was scary around the campus, you've clearly never seen her in practice. The sheer intimidation she imposes when she fights is mainly what makes me lose. Honestly, she has a big head because of it too. She grumpily walked into the training station. Richie, Zach, and Astrid were already there, talking to each other, likely forming a plan. Jenna grumbled under her breath, something about suggestions of where Coach Harley could stick a training dummy. That was good, Jenna getting angry before a game: it normally meant winning. A loud bell sounded from the speaker above. Richie, Zach and Astrid sprinted of into the woods as the computer created the forest around us. Jenna sprinted after them, I wasn't far on her tail. She suddenly took a sharp right, nearly causing me to trip over myself. She didn't even turn around, she just kept moving deeper and deeper into the woods. We ran deep into the woods, probably a long distance from where Astrid, Richie, and Zach made camp.
"Hurry up Mitchell!" Jenna screamed back as she grabbed a small black object out of a tree hole. "Score!" she said slowing down next to a large rock in a small clearing surrounded by the forest.
She showed me her prize, a small taser.
"Great! We should scout around and see if we can find anything else: more tasers and maybe a pair of gloves for you and a bat for me." I said already moving into the woods.
Jenna stuck the flag into a hole in the rock in one swift stick into the ground. She looked around, clearly excited about something.
"No need, Mitchell." she said as she slowly pulled a large pair of gloves out of her jacket.
Shocked I said, "What?! First of all, how did you fit that in your jacket. Second, why are you breaking the rules? We are all going to get in trouble. Third, did you bring my bat?"
A flurry of emotions and thoughts flashed through my mind. I was clearly annoying Jenna by questioning her because she put on her "Bruh" face and looked at me like I had just asked if the ocean was salt water.
"Are you an idiot?! I found them along with the tasers! I had the mechanic guy down stairs, Leo I think, make me a bag. He talked about a ton of technical stuff that I didn't understand. Basically, it can hold almost anything using some super cool spy tech. " she lashed back.
When she said that, it was obvious that she hadn't found them, but her face said, "challenge me if you dare" and you never challenge Jenna, especially in a game. Don't get me wrong, it was ridiculously cool, but Coach Harley gets a little grumpy when her games aren't played correctly. I grabbed the bat she gave me. My arm sagged, I wasn't used to its heavy metal surface with only a rubber handle for me to hold. Electricity arced up the side when I touch the butt of the bat, otherwise it was a heavier, metal slugger like my baby I had left in the training room.
"We need a plan." I said, so blatantly and calmly like in the Academy when an officer greeted us.
I still remember the day Headmistress came to pick me up. I was actually doing something quite similar to this. We had what we call "War Games". Of course, they weren't actual war games, though. Simple childhood games like Freeze Tag, Helicopter, and Red Light Green Light were turned not army activities using various training weapons like bombs, bullets, and wires. They weren't actual wires but they still hurt. I still recall Kernel Pruit yelling in the background, " Hurry up maggots!" as we ran through electrical wires with wet mud causing us to slip and fall. Only I had the bright idea to cover myself in mud and run through. The mud helped to block the shocks. It wasn't a perfect solution but it allowed me to be promoted to Sergeant Major, my current and probably last rank. I was kind of nice to be out of uniform, but I do miss Ringer, Zombie, and Teacup, my friends in my company. The uniform got a little heavy sometimes, especially on hot days. The medals and pendants would hurt in the burning sun and the heavy cotton would stick to my skin as we exercised. However, there was always sometimes joyful about wearing the uniform, something that made me proud. I do wear the uniform sometimes like the first day Richie came. Jenna snapped, waking me from my daydream.
"Well, what’s your brilliant plan, Sergeant Stupid?"
I ignored that comment. Jenna wasn't pushing me around anymore. I didn't want to bully Astrid or Zach, I didn't want to hurt Richie, and I definitely wasn't going to let Jenna win again.
"You stay here and guard the flag while I go scout the area and look for Astrid, Zach, and Richie."
Jenna stared at me for several seconds, processing the plan and probably any outcomes that could possibly happen.
"Okay, but you come back as soon as you find them and we attack. the faster we attack the faster we win."
"Jenna that's not necessarily true. We have to attack tactically and strong. You can't fight intelligence with pure strength."
"We can't or we won't?" she asked, clearly a rhetorical question but I answered back calmer than I ever have before.
"Both."
Jenna stared back with an incredible poker face, clearly mad, but she hid it really well.
"Go before I bash your face in." she snapped back as she turned on her heel, walking towards the flag.
Before she could change her mind, I ran into the woods, pushed leaves and branches aside as I crashed through the forest. I came to a halt with my chest heaving and sweat growing on my forehead; my shirt already soaked. My long black track pants were definitely not helping to keep me cool. I rolled the black fabric up to my mid-calf and began to jog again. I came across a small river, not very wide or deep, in fact, I could probably step over it. I cut around several trees making a little trickle. I scooped some up in my hands, even though it fell through my fingers, I managed to get a good gulp before I heard a familiar voice. It was distant, but distinct, one tat if Jenna heard, she'd run towards it like a rhino with guns blazing. Richie wasn't too far off and hopefully, he could lead me directly to their flag. I carefully followed the sound. It wasn't back and forth like a conversation, more like thinking out loud. Whatever it is, he better keep doing it. Every now and again he would stop as if he was looking at something and then start again. Something about wishing Zach and Astrid would hurry up, wondering how long we were in here, and long the it would last. What is it? I finally got close enough to clearly see Richie standing next to a giant rock. Their flag was nowhere to be found; it must be on the other side of the rock.
I walked through the trees, staying on the edge of the bush and the dense foliage. Richie was still walking along the river and the grass. Just I as was about to be completely out of his sight, red fabric flapped across my peripheral vision. The flag glittered bright red with little water droplets on the pole and the fabric from the flowing river. They stuck it in the center of the river. The water made little ripples as it flowed around the pole while Richie walked back and forth in the grass nearby, occasionally walking into the water. I sat in the brush, moving a little out of cover to get a better view. Suddenly, Richie looked towards me, in fact, directly at me. Oh shit, cover blown. I didn't move, I held my breath, not even flinching as Richie bent down as grabbed the knife from out of his leg pocket. He ducked behind a tree a mere foot away from me. I heard a loud crashing behind me, like someone was running through the woods, only I wasn't and there's no way Jenna would leave the flag unguarded. that meant either Zach or Astrid was charging full speed straight towards me. As fast and silently as I could, I crawl to a deep hole covered by thick enough leaves to hide me. Hopefully, Zach wouldn't fall down a hole, even though it would be funny, it would likely mean my death; not from Zach or Richie or Astrid, but rather Jenna. If I ever got captured in games, Jenna would kill me, quite literally too. Several branches parted to reveal Zach barreling towards the clearing. I breathed a sigh of relief as he ran past me. Then I remembered Richie hiding behind a tree with a very sharp knife as Zach barreled towards him with who knows what! It took all my willpower to hold myself from tackling Zach to the ground. They were my friends but I was still going to win. All of the sudden, Richie jumped out from behind the tree holding a giant stick. He swung it harder and faster than I ever have. If Zach had been a baseball, there was no doubt that Richie would've just hit a home run. Except for the fact Zach sidestepped his shot, whipped out a long-curved sword, and slashed down. It all happened so fast, Richie had barely enough time to jump out of the way to only get a cut across his chest. He stood pinned against the tree, his white shirt growing redder, billowing in the wind with Zach's new sword's point pressed on the center of his chest. I couldn't hear Richie or Zach anymore, they talked in hushed tones, clearly surprised by each other. They moved away from each other with Richie still bleeding. Zach climbed to the lowest part of the tree, ripped off some vines and tried to wrap them around Richie. Richie pushed him away and began to wrap himself in vines as Zach picked up a clump of leaves which he was apparently carrying. Zach put his arm around Richie and began to help him walk towards the rock. Due to all the excitement, I didn't even notice the EMP grenades I was sitting on as I moved to get up. Three EMPs laid below me. Luckily, they weren't motion sensitive otherwise, I’d be either blown to bits or paralyzed. I carefully stood up, stuck the EMPs in my pocket, and climbed out of the crevice, careful to not let Richie or Zach to see me. Although they were kind of preoccupied, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I ducked into the thick trees and began running back towards Jenna and my campsite.
I was probably about half way to camp when everything that could've gone wrong happened.
I was sprinting through the woods still, pushing away thick foliage. It did a great job of hiding me, not too great of making a path though. I pushed away a large branch which was bent towards the ground making an odd upside U shape. How stupid could I be? It was obviously a snare set up by Richie or Zach. I pushed aside the branch still, my foot landing in the center of a tied vine camouflaged on the forest floor. Within a second I was twenty feet of the ground, dangling by my foot. Goddammit! How long have I been gone? Not that it matters, Jenna's reaction would either be anger or excitement whether I came back after 2 minutes or 2 hours. I grabbed the hunted knife out of my pocket. An EMP rolled out of the open pocket. I fumbled in the air struggling to catch it. After several attempts to grab it, only successfully juggling it, the EMP fell to the ground. I didn't move a muscle. Hopefully the EMP wouldn't explode; I'd prefer to not be blinded and possibly even paralyzed. I grabbed foot and began cutting at the rope. No doubt I would've been out of the rope in no time, but cutting a rope while you're dangling 20 feet in the air is about as hard as doing a drill routine and hitting a home run at the same time. After several swipes at the rope, the rope began to fray. Now normally, "fray" isn't a word you want to hear when your dangling 20 feet in the air, but I needed to get down. After one last swipe, the rope finally snapped and I plummeted towards the ground. I rolled into a ball, like in training, and transferred all of the weight of me belly flopping onto the ground, off of me, landing safely. I pulled branches out of my shirt and hair, walking over to the EMP. When I bent down to pick it up, I heard a soft ticking.
"Shit!" I screamed, as I ducked behind a tree. The EMP exploded sending out a shock wave of of electricity and a loud boom. I stepped out from behind the tree, the ground scorched where the EMP was.
"I should hurry up, Jenna is waiting. Hopefully she didn't hear that bang."
I rolled down my pant legs, brushed leaves and branches off of me, and sprinted towards the clearing. My bat clanked against my back. I carefully made sure all of my grenades were carefully secured in their bag. The last thing I needed was an incendiary grenade going off because that would really add some spice to the games.