That was it.
He ended with, “We cover each other as we fan out just like on the ice.” He looked at me. “You up for going high?”
I nodded. I actually preferred that, and well, that was the team meeting. We went to our end and started running inside. The guys worked well together, teams of three worked as they ‘cleared’ each corner. Cruz moved with me, and I wasn’t surprised that Barclay and Atwater were also with us. When we got as close to the middle as possible, they found a ledge, and all three of them formed half of a human ladder for me to climb up. I stepped up on Cruz’s shoulder and he hoisted me the last of the way, but I’d been on the dance team in high school. I knew how to tuck my body for being thrown in the air. When I got up, I looked over the edge and saw three guys coming their way.
I leaned over and made a motion to get their attention. They looked and I held up three fingers, pointing in the direction they were coming from. The guys immediately got into hiding spots. I went back over to the other side, laying as flat as I could and setting up my position like I was a sniper, my gun on the ground in front of me.
Pow! Pow! Pow!
“Got you–AGH!”
“You’re dead.”
There was cursing, and then the guys moved off to the side. I used to play this with Zeke and our group of friends. Kit and the other girls didn’t like it as much. They mostly went to flirt with the guys or try and rub up against them in the dark corners. Not me. I actually enjoyed this stuff, so I fully got into character.
I could see a farther corner up ahead, so as they came around it and paused before looking around the next turn, I could take them out. They wouldn’t know who shot them.
Two more Alpha Mu guys did just that, and I thumbed off rapid shots, getting hits so fast they couldn’t regroup fast enough. Both were dead.
Two more and I repeated the process, until one guy saw me and dove out of the way. I had to scurry, knowing he’d come for me right away, but as he took two steps my way, Cruz materialized out of the shadows and got his two hits in. The guy growled, but he fell where he was taken out.
Cruz moved back, hiding again, and there was a burst of sounds from the far left. Shouts and curses sounded out, but then out of nowhere, five Alpha Mu guys burst around the corner. I got two. The other three paused, not spotting me, but I couldn’t get to them. They were edging along the wall where I was hiding, but they weren’t looking up. One turned the first corner, and suddenly a barrage of shooting happened. Atwater and Barclay swept in. Cruz was coming up from behind.
Atwater was dead, but Cruz and Barclay were still good to go. They were making some hand gestures to each other, not speaking. Cruz looked up my way, motioning they were going to move ahead. I nodded to let him know I got the message. It was time to advance now.
They were soon around the corner. For the rest of the game, I picked off any Alpha Mu that got past them. I checked my vest to see how many remained for each team. We had eight guys left, and they had two. Gavin was dead. Carrington wasn’t. The other one still going was Leander.
I saw someone going through the maze, but they were too far away. They were going fast and were hunched over so their vest couldn’t get hit so easily. Smart.
Another burst of shots rang out and I looked at my vest.
Leander was dead, but he took Labrowski with him.
Carrington was left.
I was waiting when Cruz and Barclay came back. They looked up and I pointed where Flynn had gone.
They kept going. Three more hockey guys were on the other side of the maze going in the same direction. I kept waiting, expecting to hear a similar sound of shots any second, but it was just quiet.
Then, I felt a ping and rolled more out of instinct than at understanding what just happened.
Someone got me!
I kept moving back, hurrying along the edge of the room. I’d been out on a cut-out section, so I had more room to lay flat, but since I was moving back, it was narrower. There was less room, so I swung my gun around and I started shooting at my equal height. It wasn’t until I got to another corner, and moved in, that I was able to stop and scan my surroundings. Flynn had figured out I had a vantage point, and he’d jumped up too somewhere.
I waited, my breath quiet and even, but then looked at my vest.
He was still alive, but so was I. He hadn’t gotten his second hit in.
I was toward the end of our side, and I saw Cruz and the rest still alive, looking around, but they were waiting back. As Barclay moved around a corner, he was shot dead.
Middle!
He was in the middle, and that meant he couldn’t follow me. He was on a stationary position.
I waved, getting Cruz’s attention, and I motioned, giving him three positions. Right. Middle. Left. He nodded, following me, and I held two fingers up, indicating he was in the middle.
Cruz got it, patting two of his teammates and pointed, but to the other side. They helped him up. I almost started laughing, seeing Cruz trying to be inconspicuous so high up. It was small for me, so it was tiny for him. But when he motioned at me to move forward, I got his understanding. We were going to flank him, and I began edging out, but trying to keep pace with Cruz, who was moving surprisingly fast and stealth at the same time.
Flynn wasn’t looking my way. He was watching beneath him, so we got closer than I thought we could. He saw Cruz first and swung. Cruz began shooting. I joined in.
Ding, ding, ding!
We got him.
My vest lit up, declaring my team the winner.
“We’re done!” someone yelled from the back.
“Victory to the hockey gods!”
I watched as Flynn got down, and Cruz jumped right afterwards, coming over toward me. He held his arms up, and I slid down. Once he had me, I let go of the side and he eased me down to the floor. He didn’t say anything, neither did I, but Flynn was watching us. His head was tipped to the side, his laser gun raised next to his head too, and he had a slight frown on his face.
Cruz didn’t double down. He could’ve eased me ahead of him, a hand on the small of my back, but we both walked side by side.
“Yessss. Hockey rules.” Atwater was going around, fist bumping his teammates. He came to me, holding his fist up and I met it with mine. “Our secret sniper got half those guys for us.”
“We playing again?” Flynn had followed us to our end. Some of his Alpha Mu brothers were with him. Gavin was on the end, his gaze locked on me.
Cruz stepped farther away, moving so it looked like I was standing next to Atwater and not him.
If we played again, my secret was out. They’d be looking at the top for me.
“I’m down. Let’s switch places. You guys come in from the east.”
It was one of the Alpha Mu guys who spoke.
Labrowski jerked his chin up. “We’re down.” He hollered behind him, “We’re switching it up.”
I started trailing after them when Flynn spoke up again. “How about another trade?”
They came to a stop, looking where Flynn was looking. At me.
Labrowski’s eyebrows went up. “You want Mara?”
Flynn’s grin was sly, and his eyes flashed, darkening. “Be nice to have our own little sniper this time. How about it?” His gaze scanned over Labrowski, who was the team captain, but rested on Cruz.
This officially got not-fun.