Pause

by CJ Adler

“Rules?” Benley claps his hands, growing impatient, almost impatient as Max and Oog.

  “No respawning. If you're out, you're out. You can only shoot at kill zones, which in this case are the waist, chest and head area,” Bells explains. “Team A will be dressed in blue and Team B will be dressed in red. Team B are the good guys because I don't want to be a bad guy. I'm not good at it.”

  “Yeah right!” Max snorts, Bells deliberately paying no attention to him. “So, what color will I be dressed in?” Troy asks with furrowed eye-brows. “I wasn't placed in any of the teams.”

  Bells, feigning obliviousness to the situation, shrugs. “Oh, did I forget to place you on a team? Well, each team as seven team members already, so I guess you'll have to sit it out and play with strangers later on.”

  Troy's smile drops at his sister's words. “Strangers would treat me better.”

  I give Bells a look. “Don't be so harsh on him,” I tell her, feeling bad for him.

  “But both teams are full,” Bell protests, defending her harshness.

  “I can be a lone wolf team, a one-man team. I can ride solo. I'll call my team, 'Team Troy',” Troy insists and after much debate, we all finally come to the conclusion to just agree with him because he will not take 'no' for an answer.

  “So original.” Nancy rolls her eyes at Troy's name for his one-man team.

  “Should be called 'Team Devolved'. Now I really know which team is going to lose,” Grey, as always, has to have his say and voice his rude opinions to the public.

  “You can't ever open your mouth to say something nice, can you?” I shake my head at him teasingly.

  “Being nice is ridiculously difficult with you lot,” he defends himself, gesturing to Troy, Max and me. He seriously has something against us.

  “I get you, bro,” Laiken agrees with Grey. He, too, never really has anything nice to say.

  “I can't wait to shoot BoyBand and White Boy,” Gland says with a grin, towering over the two people he hates most in life: Benley and Laiken respectively.

  “Is he always like this?” Laiken asks, his eyes glued to Gland's menacing expression.

  “You get used to it,” Benley reassures him.

  “Team Devolved, I mean, Team Troy, your color is green,” Bell tells her brother.

  Troy's smile falters at the word 'green'. “Does it have to be green? Green is not my color. I can't work green. Green accentuates my curves in a way that makes me look fat. I want to portray my perfect self as a stud muffin, not a muffin top.”

  Bells turns to me with a told-you-so look as she gestures to her brother knowingly. “And this is why I wanted to kick him out.”

  “He's staying in.” I narrow my eyes at Bells, letting her know that I'm not letting up on this.

  “Fine, but then you're dealing with the consequences of mayhem,” Bells warns me in advance as if predicting the outcome.

  “Whoopie doo! 'Team Troy' prospers on! Live long, 'Team Troy'! I can do this all day!” Troy cheers, throwing his fist in the air at being able to play with us. He

  runs into the laser tag maze with both his fists raised high in the air. “All day!” He hollers in a deep manly voice, emphasizing the two words as he shouts it over and over again, moving further and further away from all of us.

  He's Schmidt!

  “He knows that he has to gear up first, right?” Benley asks aloud to no one in particular.

  “It will sink in soon enough,” Bells assures him.

  We wait ten seconds or so and still no Troy.

  “Or maybe not,” Bell concludes sheepishly.

  Troy, eventually, after a full two minutes, runs back our way with his fists still raised high in the air. “First got to get changed and then I will do this all day! All day!” He passes us by with a silly grin on his face.

  Someone's eager.

  Grey shakes his head at Troy as Troy clumsily pushes past him. “So stupid,” he remarks with genuine pity as if truly feeling sorry for him. “So so stupid.”

  ***

  “Let the games begin!” Max cackles wildly while rubbing his hands together like a deranged person.

  I'm assuming that we're the evil team then. It seems Max prefers it this way. I can't fathom him as a good guy in any case, nor can I imagine Jay as a bad guy. It just wouldn't fit.

  I take charge. “Okay, warriors of Team Elite, this is officially war. There's going to be a bloodbath out there. Aim for their heads to relinquish their lives. Prepare yourselves. Leave every man behind if it means your own survival. This is what our lives have come down to. This has been our purpose all along. Compared to this war, nothing else has ever mattered. If you must go, go with dignity. We go down fighting. It's a do or die!” I finish my speech on a dramatic note.

  “Marvelous! Marvelous!” Max cheers as he and the others clap loudly, all true fighters ready to enter into battle.

  “Move out, troops!” I chant, directing them. “Go, go, go!”

  Max stays behind with me seeing as we're planning on sticking side-by-side. We're going to work together to bring down the dreamcrushers, the realists.

  “Nice touch with the speech. Very serious,” Max compliments me. “I kinda get why we're called dreamers now.”

  The realists definitely did not make a speech, nor did they run into the battlefield like crazy people without a plan. No doubt they're putting heavy strategies into place. My team prefers to play it by ear.

  Max and I catch up with our team only to see our team's attention stuck on someone . I follow their gaze. Benley is out in the open, roaming the center of the maze with 'clueless ' written all over his face . He looks confused , like a wild animal lost in the jungle—all the better for us.

  My team immediately, acting on impulse and natural instinct alone, lift their guns and aim their lasers on his head. Benley looks up, only to see all of us gathered around him in a circle and all aiming at his head. He's been caught like a deer in headlights.

  I motion to my team to get ready. “Ready, aim—”

  A look of dread crosses Benley's dark eyes. “Wait—”

  He doesn't get chance to finish.

  “Fire!” I shout.

  In a matter of seconds, Benley has been hit in the head at least five times by each of us. Benley, frozen in place, blinks slowly, trying to register it all. I hold back my laughter as he finally processes the fact that he's lost before the game has even truly begun.

  He glowers at us as it finally dawns on him. A blank expression morphs over his features as he crosses his arms over his chest, seemingly unfazed by it all. “Screw all of you. You all suck. I didn't even know we had started.”

  We all shoot at him again before he can get to cover.

  “That's for saying that we suck!” I yell at him.

  Benley holds his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay! Jeez, I've been hit multiple times already. Talk about overkill. I have received like a billion headshots.”

  We all shoot at him again for the heck of it.

  He scowls at us as a result. “I'm out!” he says in an angered voice before throwing his gun aside.

  His gun ends up whacking Blubber. Blubber lets out a yelp of pain, thereby giving away his cover. We all shoot at Blubber next.

  “Why is it always me?!” Blubber whines dramatically.

  “Wrong place, wrong time, buddy. Plus, you're an easy target,” Max answers him with an evil grin, showing no mercy as he fires another shot at Blubber to put him in his place.

  “Oh, the pain!” Blubber calls out as he tries to escape our wrath.

  “It's what you get for hiding, you measly coward!” Susie shouts to him as Blubber joins Benley on the sidelines.

  “Thanks for having my back,” Benley retorts to Blubber in a sarcastic tone of voice, unimpressed that Blubber didn't warn him of the incoming danger.

  Benley should make the Guinness World Records for shortest life in the game of laser tag. He was such an easy kill. I will not let him live this day down.


  “Good work, team!” I praise our team, motioning to them to keep moving. Standing still is like begging for death. I raise my fist and cheer in order to encourage them. “Onward, soldiers!”

  “We'll show them that we don't need any strategies to kick ass!” Max, my co-leader, adds as we all race forward into the maze.

  Eventually, we come across Jay and Grey. We try to shoot them but they're both quick on their feet. They duck and dive, taking cover every time we aim at them. Their teamwork is flawless, unstoppable. They even do somersaults from one cover to the next seeing as it's faster than running. It doesn't help that Jay used to do parkour. It makes him virtually untouchable.

  They both have each other’s backs, I'll give them that. They look like pro spies or something, what with all the ducking and all the flipping somersaults. Between the two of them, all I'm able to make out are flashes of red.

  “And they say we take stuff way too seriously,” Max whispers from beside me with a laugh. “When did we sit down to watch 'Flash'?” he jokes, making a good point for once.

  “How are we going to take them out, Aqueela? Their defense is brilliant,” Susie complains, looking to me for guidance when unable to find a weak spot.

  Before I can answer, Jay and Grey manage to take down Jam with one of their various attack strategies.

  “There goes Jam.” Max sighs in despair. “Even their attacks are planned out to a tee.”

  “We need them to split. We need to create a diversion,” I tell Max and Susie, trying to think of how to go about it without sacrificing one of our own. If necessary, I will do it. Better the one than the many!

  “White Boy!” Gland shouts atop his lungs when spotting Laiken not too far away from Grey and Jay. Before Max or I can stop him, he's racing right past Nancy and Bells in the hopes of getting Laiken out. That's all he cares about. He has some serious vendetta against Lai.

  A gush of wind blows Nancy and Bell's hair astray as Gland passes them at a tremendous speed. He's determined to shoot Laiken. Benley should be grateful that he's out already. In fact, Ben should be kissing the ground we walk on.

  Laiken's eyes widen when he sees the massive frame coming straight at him.

  He doesn't hesitate to run in the opposite direction in fear of getting crushed by Gland.

  “And there's our diversion,” Max says quietly before flashing me a cunning grin.

  I like evil Max. I could get used to this.

  Max runs in, trying to capture Jay's attention as Grey heads out to defend Laiken against Gland. Jay, a step ahead of us, doesn't take the bait and sticks with Grey as they make an attempt to save Lai together.

  “Scratch that! We're going to need a new plan,” I groan, annoyed that we were outsmarted. Jay knew exactly what we were trying to do.

  Gland catches up to Laiken easily and trust me, as a football player, Laiken is pretty fast. However, speed cannot compete with Gland's persistence. Gland doesn't hesitate to aggressively shoot at Laiken's head.

  “I hate this game,” Laiken states, frustrated, kicking up a fuss over his defeat.

  Go, Gland! My boy!

  However, Gland doesn't last much longer either because he's quickly shot down by Grey and Jay who avenge Laiken. They're on a roll.

  “We're losing our men! Code Red!” Max panics at having just lost one of our strongest players. He gathers the last of our troops — that being Susie, Simo, and Oog — in a safe zone. “We need to recon the area and then…”

  I zone out, bored. I decide to go out on my own and keep a lookout while

  Max comes up with an actual game plan. Unfortunately for me, I'm taken off guard when Nancy approaches me from behind. She's awfully sneaky.

  “Say 'night 'night, Aqueela,” she taunts as she prepares to let go of the trigger.

  Out of nowhere, in the blink of an eye, I'm literally swept off my feet and taken out of Nancy's line of shot. I'm lowered down behind cover where it's safe. I don't have to look back to know it's him. I smile to myself, pleased that he saved me from Nancy's disgusting clutches of doom.

  “You owe me,” I hear him whisper before he vanishes, having split from

  Grey unintentionally. Good to know. He just made my job that much easier.

  I regroup with Max and the others, only to see Simo trying to shoot at Bells. The only problem is that his gun is facing his way.

  “Simo, no!” I try to warn him but it's too late. He ends up shooting himself instead of his target. I slap my forehead in frustration. “Idiot.”

  Only Simo.

  Simo glances my way helplessly, confused. “Is Bell dead?”

  I shake my head at him and it clicks.

  “Is Simo dead?” he asks me cautiously.

  I sigh and nod at him. “Yes, Simo. You literally shot yourself in the face.”

  “But Simo gun not working,” Simo complains, trying to stay in the game.

  I shake my head at him. “No, Simo, your gun works fine,” I assure him before adding under my breath, “it's you who doesn't.”

  Simo pulls a face before leaving the game to join the other losers who got shot.

  “This is for setting my mom up with Simo!” Someone, at close range, yells loudly. There are so many people that it's difficult to keep track.

  “Aqueela, watch out!” Susie shouts to me in warning.

  I turn just in time to see Blubber aiming his laser at me. Thankfully, Susie shoots him before he can shoot me.

  “What the hell, Blubber? You were out long ago,” I reprimand when it soon becomes apparent that he purposely snuck back into the game yet again. “We said no respawning. Stop sneaking back into the game the whole time. This is like the tenth time you've done that.”

  “Carpe diem, Aqueela, carpe diem,” he replies smugly. “I didn't choose the respawning life, the respawning life chose me.”

  Susie does exactly what I've just been thinking about doing and shoots him again. “That's for the incredibly lame line!” Susie roars at him, her pigtails flying about. “Go big or go home!”

  Blubber glares at Susie. “I don't like you.”

  “I never said I was likable,” Susie smirks, uncaring. “And don't you dare sneak back in or I'll make your world fill with pain!” she threatens him as he finally submits to her and leaves the game for good.

  I turn to Susie, perplexed, and blink down at her in wonder. “I think you're the first person who has gotten that kid to listen to a direct order,” I tell her. “Impressive!” I clap with pride. “Blubber usually ignores instructions.”

  Susie merely grins up at me as if to say 'I got this' before she's off on her own mission again.

  “There you are!” A voice takes me away from my awesome thoughts. Max sees me lost in my own world and grabs me by the shoulders before shaking me back and forth roughly. “Get your head in the game!” he scolds me, still completely adamant about shooting heads off.

  “I would but I think you just gave me a concussion,” I protest as I lift a hand to my aching head.

  Max ignores my whining as he goes on to say, “We're tied at the moment. They still have Nancy, Bells, Jay and Grey. We have you, me, Lucy and Oog. What's that? Like ten for ten?”

  “Four for four,” I correct him.

  “Whatever,” Max brushes it aside. “Point being, we're losing. I refuse to accept defeat.”

  “You just said we were tied,” I point out, reminding him of his own words.

  “Yeah, well, technically, I was wrong, so to speak,” he says, motioning to Oog who keeps shooting at everything in sight like a demented person. He's gone wild, well, wilder than usual. I'm afraid of him ever getting his hands on a real gun. “The sad thing is that he ran out of ammo a long time ago,” Max clarifies while Oog continues to shoot at the ceiling over and over again.

  “Why's he out of his gear?” I ask, frowning.

  “He's been shot by Jay like a billion times but he refuses to leave the game. He doesn't get the rules,” Max explains. “He took off all of his gear
so that he can't be shot at by anyone anymore. However, he can shoot at everyone else.”

  Oog, much like Blubber, is cheating.

  “So, what you're actually saying is that we're three against four?” I ask him in bewilderment.

  “Uh-huh.” Max nods.

  “On the bright side, I know for a fact that Jay and Grey have split,” I inform him.

  “That's exactly what we need!” Max praises me, a devious grin on his face.

  However, his grin fades when we hear a noise nearby.

  “Did you hear that?” I ask Max, concerned, only then realizing the amateur move I just made.

  “Ssh, woman!” he scolds, slapping his hand over my mouth before I can give away our location.

  We both glance around warily before standing back-to-back against each other with our guns in hand, almost as if in an action movie. Seeing as Max and I are practically the same person , we think exactly alike . We both call out to each other simultaneously, “Cover me!”

  This results in both of us leaving our only cover as both of us run out into the open like idiots with no one to have our backs. “What are you doing?!” We both shout at each other at the same time. “I told you to cover me!” We both yell as it registers in our heads what we just did and what just happened.

  “You two are so loud.”

  Max and I spin around to see that it's Bells who has been following us all along. I, acting faster than Max, make a run for it and leave him behind like the good partner I am. I take new cover and watch from a distance to see how this plays out.

  “Look, I don't want any trouble,” Max tries to talk his way out of it as he takes a step closer to Bells.

  “Don't come any closer!” Bells warns him, giving him her famous stink eye. “Drop your gun and skid it my way.”

  Max doesn't listen, deciding to take his chances.

  “I said, drop your gun,” Bell repeats through gritted teeth before roaring out in fury. “Now! Put it down now! And no funny business!”

  Max slowly lowers his weapon and places it on the floor before him. “Okay. See. I'm cooperating,” he tells her in a calm voice, trying to soothe the paranoid girl before him. “There's no need for violence.” He tries to outsmart her and ultimately win back the upper hand.