Pause

by CJ Adler

  “You're a hostile. I can't afford to trust you. It's forbidden.” Bells glares at him as she holds her gun tightly in both hands. “Now skid your gun with your foot my way,” she commands, barking out more orders at him.

  I don't know what this game has done to her, but it sure has brought out her scarier side. Her hair is a ginormous mess atop her head, resembling that of a bird's nest, and her nose is flaring as she breathes in and out heavily through her mouth. Her hands are shaking as she contemplates whether to take Max's life or not. If there was blood on her shirt and if I didn't know any better, I'd say she just stepped out of World War II.

  Max sees his opening and quickly makes a move to get his gun back. However, Bells sees it coming and shoots at his chest, exactly where his heart is supposed to be.

  Max glances down at his chest and then to Bells with wide eyes as if feeling betrayed. “You…” He trails off in shock. “You shot me,” he manages to get out.

  He sees the pink laser on his chest, making out as if it's his own blood, as he falls to his knees while clutching onto his chest, feigning agony. He gasps aloud as if struggling to breathe as his face finally meets the floor.

  “I'm hit! I'm hit! Somebody help. I'm bleeding out!” He coughs loudly, looking down at his clear hand, pretending to be coughing up blood.

  I can't bear to watch Max die, I just can't. I end up running straight to him, not caring that Bells is still there. “Man down! Man down!” I shout as I crouch over Max who is now convulsing every so often as if having a fit while dying. “Medic!” I call aloud in desperation to no one in particular. “I need a medic!”

  I flip Max over onto his back so that I can see his face. I keep hovering just above him. “Stay with me. Don't you dare die on me, soldier! I can't do this on my own!”

  Yes, I can.

  “Agent xXx CdbzGj Dope Shadow.” He coughs yet again, “is that you?” I frown a little bit before deciding to go with it. “Yes, it's me,” I confirm. I lift his head up to unblock his airways so that he can breathe a little easier. I take his face into both of my hands and get up close and personal with him. “Speak to me!” I shout into his face without any warning.

  “I am speaking to you, you idiot.” He glares at me slightly for that before transitioning back into his role. He suddenly shoves me aside and sits up slowly, limply reaching out to the ceiling. “I'm entering the light, Dope Shadow,” he tells me in a groggy voice, squinting up at me.

  “The light? That's a mistake. Do you want me to call and tell them that you're at the wrong place?” I tease.

  Max falls back down, choosing to ignore my joke, as he feigns a coughing fit. “I'm fading, Dope Shadow, I'm fading fast,” he wheezes out hoarsely, playing the part well.

  I grab his face again and pull him to me, purposely scrunching up his cheeks just to annoy him. “Don't you dare leave me! You can pull through this, you miserable scumbag!” I try to encourage his weak spirit and give him some hope to hold onto, but his life is just too pathetic.

  Max shakes his head weakly. “Not.” He coughs. “This.” Cough. “Time.” Cough. “When I'm gone—” He starts only for me to intervene.

  “Don't talk like that!” I slap him through the face. “Snap out of it!” I shout at him, trying to revive him. “It's not your time yet!”

  “T-tell,” he stutters weakly, “tell my family...”

  He doesn't even have a family.

  I humor him. “Tell them what?!” I shake his limp body back and forth in order to get a response from him.

  “Tell them I haven't met them yet,” he finishes in a deep, throaty voice as if in pain.

  I shake my head at him. “No! You can tell them that yourself,” I protest, “when you go home a war hero!”

  “You're the hostiles, morons,” Bells interrupts from beside us, still frozen in her place as she waits for the scene to come to a close. “You two really know how to drag out a death. This is agonizing to watch.” She rolls her eyes at us for our immaturity.

  That's just cold.

  “I can fix this,” I mumble to myself in panic as I place my hand over the open wound on Max's chest as if to stop the bleeding. “I can fix this,” I say in a determination, even though deep down I know that he's a goner.

  Max shakes his head as he places his hand over mine. “You need to let go, soldier…” He falters in agony. “For the team, for Frozen,” he adds with much effort and strain. He removes my hand off of his wound, willing me to let him bleed out. He takes his last breath before falling back down, his eyes closing on their own accord.

  Silence.

  “Max!” I shake him, his body completely limp. “Max!” I draw his body to me in a hug — still no response.

  Max opens one eye as he looks up at me. “I'm dead now,” he clarifies before quickly shutting both his eyes again.

  I release him, leaving his body to fall back on the floor as his head hits the tiles — hard.

  “Oww, damn—”

  I slap my hand over his mouth, muffling his words as to prevent him from ruining this beautiful, tragic moment within the flawless scene. I kneel over him before throwing my head up to the sky — ceiling, same difference — as I shout out in despair. “Nooo!” I wail hopelessly over his dead body.

  A loud clapping pulls me from the scene as I turn to see Bells grinning at us. “Bravo,” she says as she wipes a tear from her eye. “That was heartfelt.”

  I take a bow in much pride. “Thank you, thank you.” I curtsy. “Hold your applause; I'll be here all night.”

  “Though, I feel that I should tell you guys that I missed,” Bells informs us.

  My jaw practically hits the floor at hearing this new information. “What?!” I sputter, at a loss for words.

  She tells me this now?!

  She sees my confusion and elaborates. “The laser went straight past him, just missing him. As you said, I have bad aim. The mirror,” Bells points to the gigantic mirror purposely placed in the maze to confuse people, “reflected the laser shot back so that it looked as if I actually hit him in the chest. Technically, he should still be alive and never have died in the first place.”

  Max, upon hearing this, coughs abruptly as his eyes flutter open. He does the whole wheezing fit again before glancing down at his hands, arms, and the rest of his limbs with wide, childlike eyes as if seeing this world through the eyes of another.

  “What's this?” he asks, feigning innocence as he glances down at his 'healed' chest before springing up to his feet with newfound energy and strength. “It seems I've been given a second chance as the fates would have it so: a new earthly vessel, a new body.”

  He stands up on wobbly legs as if he's never walked before, glancing around in wonder. “Such beauty in this new world and this coming of age. Such wisdom and purity above the capability of that of a lesser human mind and—”

  “And end scene!” I cut Max off as I come to realize that we really do have a second chance—Bells is distracted by the chaos. “Max, shut the hell up and run!”

  He doesn't need to be told twice before we both take off running in opposite directions. We've been separated but at least we're both safe from Bell's ruthless attacks. However, it would seem as if I just ran straight into enemy territory. I walk on, glancing back over my shoulder every once in a while in paranoia, an eerie feeling breezing through the atmosphere.

  I'm being watched.

  A gust of wind passes behind me. I jump around, my heart racing, only to find no one in sight. It's quiet, too quiet.

  I suddenly see a flash of red from the corner of my eye. However, when I look that way…nothing.

  I'm being hunted!

  There's yet another flash of red before the intruder bravely makes his appearance, emerging out of nowhere. My eyes immediately fall on his dark, beady eyes and the evil-like shadow that goes with him. “You,” I mutter in dread.

  He casts his gaze to me with a pointed stare. “I've been waiting to run into you,” he admits as a sly smi
rk curves the edges of his lips. “I can finally take you out.”

  I grin at his choice of words, choosing to expose him. “I don't think Jay would be very happy if you did that, let alone Nancy.”

  He groans when he realizes where I'm coming from. “Not take you out like that!” he snaps at me. “I meant, killing you—putting an end to your pointless existence,” he quickly corrects as he aims his laser at my head.

  “You sure don't waste any time,” I tell him, aware that this is my end.

  Grey's about to shoot, only to find himself in quite the predicament when he realizes that he has to reload

  Classic rookie slip-up.

  I grin in victory, taking the opportunity to point my gun at him seeing as the tables have turned. “Any last words?” I ask him, more than prepared to shoot him.

  He fumbles with his gun before offering me a sheepish and completely fake smile. “Happy Birthday?” he says, hoping I will hold back on destroying him.

  I shoot him in the head anyway and enjoy doing it. “Thank you,” I reply, not falling for it, and flash him a prideful smirk before blowing on the tip of my gun as if some pro.

  “I take it back,” he grumbles as he drops his gun, his usual frown back in place, “next time, I'll be sure to have an RPG and blow you all to hell,” he says as he leaves the arena of death to join the other 'dead' whimps. He always has to have the last say in order to be satisfied.

  Max and Susie find me quickly after that as the last of the Dreamers regroup in order to get our bearings straight.

  I pat Max on the back. “Good to see you still alive, soldier.”

  “I wish I could say the same to you,” Max jokes.

  Susie kicks him in the shin in response.

  “Ouch! What the hell?” He glances down at Susie's small frame, beyond angry. “You evil, little vermin!”

  “I just killed Grey. That leaves Nancy, Bells, and Jay. Three for three,” I update my last two remaining teammates, ignoring their bickering.

  “'Bout time you actually shot someone and did something good for this team,” Max insults me instead of congratulating me on my latest achievement: taking down Grey stupid Ferrot.

  “This coming from the guy I risked my life to save just minutes ago,” I remind him with a sharp stare. The power has gone to his gigantic head.

  “You shouldn't have come back for me,” he says in a serious voice as if to find fault with me. “You always leave a man behind. That's our only rule and you broke it!” He hisses at me, his playful side gone as he returns all his focus to the death match at hand.

  Susie glares at Max, not impressed by the attitude he's giving me. I see her lift her gun, and before I can stop her, she shoots Max, her own teammate, right in the head.

  Max, stunned by her actions and her nerve, whips his head to glare at her. She bursts out laughing at his reaction. “No way I'm going out like this!” he complains, infuriated, and shoots at Susie's head over and over again until he wastes all his ammo on her.

  “It's not a machine gun, you idiot,” Susie mocks him at seeing him get trigger-happy.

  Max fires at her in anger one last time just to make his point crystal clear— he never loses.

  I hit Max upside the head. “Now that was overkill.”

  “More like roadkill,” he replies calmly, motioning down to Susie in repulse before turning my way and grinning. “I'm so OP.”

  Susie shoots him in the leg for that. However, that last shot fired is the final straw 'cause next thing I know, Max and Susie are being dragged away from me by the laser tag facilitators.

  Max puts up a fight as he yells out to me in desperation. “Win for the

  Dreamers! Win for me! I deserve this! I deserve this and so much more!”

  Meanwhile, Susie just keeps shooting the facilitator in the head, hoping to see him drop dead.

  Turns out, shooting your own teammates is against the rules. Thus, Max and Susie have been kicked out of the game, thereby leaving me as the last of the Dreamer Squad.

  I wander around the arena aimlessly, on the lookout for Jay. Instead, I come across Bells and Nancy engrossed in an intense argument about Mason. I run past them while shooting at both of them. I manage to hit Bells in the waist and Nancy in the head.

  Bells pouts when she realizes that I hit her. “My own sister,” she jokes with me before leaving the maze of death—this is worse than the maze from Maze Runner.

  “Good game, Lawson,” Nancy acknowledges the facts. “I would have had you if it weren't for your Romeo,” she reminds me before following out after Bells.

  One for one.

  All I have to do is find Jay and shoot him. However, unsurprisingly enough, Jay finds me first.

  I stiffen and stay rooted in place when I feel him come from behind and wrap his arms around my waist. He carefully brushes my hair to one side before kissing me on the nape of my neck. “Miss me, Beautiful?” he whispers.

  A smile spills over my lips as I shake my head. I place my hands over his ones resting on my waist before turning in his arms to face him. I glance up at him to see his gaze already fixated on me. “Not particularly, no,” I lie, teasing him.

  He sees right through me, giving me a suave smirk as his arms tighten around my waist. He tugs me forward so that I go stumbling into his chest. “Liar,” he breathes against me as his eyes flicker down to my own. “You owe me for saving you earlier on. I'm the only reason why you're still in the game. The realists would have won by now if it weren't for me.”

  I ignore his pestering and turn my back on him, ready to walk away. Jay, on the other hand, has plans of his own. He grabs me by my arm and spins me back around to face him. However, this time there is a gun pressed against my head.

  I narrow my eyes at him. “You would not dare.”

  He offers me an apologetic look, in turn. “Sorry that it has come down to this, Aqueela.”

  Just as he's about to shoot, I react with an ulterior motive and kiss him:

  I stand on my tippy-toes and press my lips against his. An electrifying current rushes through me as Jay drops his head and immediately begins to kiss me back. He never can resist.

  His free hand comes to rest on my hip as he holds me set in place. However, his other hand is still holding the gun pressed against my head. Nonetheless, he forgets his entire goal, his thoughts elsewhere, as he slowly moves his lips against mine.

  I rest my hands on his chest and grab fistfuls of his T-shirt, my heart skipping a few beats. Still focused, more than I can say for Jay, I reach up and place my hand over his one holding the gun. I gently begin unwinding his fingertips from the gun without him noticing, coaxing him to release the gun. It's almost too easy.

  The gun finally drops to the floor and Jay's too adrift sea to even care about the game anymore. He crouches down slightly as both his arms come to engulf me before he lifts me up off of the ground. He makes a move to place me against the wall for support when the wall itself literally jumps out at us.

  “Shazam!” A familiar voice shouts, emerging from the wall.

  Jay and I immediately break apart from each other after, Jay accidentally dropping me in the process, which is nothing I'm not used to.

  “Flip! Sorry, Aqueela,” Jay apologizes, sincere.

  I'm not listening to a word he's saying. I'm too engrossed in the scene unfolding before my very eyes.

  “Greetings, earthlings!” the same voice says as my gaze meets his blue- green eyes.

  I furrow my eyebrows in realization. “Troy?” I question aloud. I — along with everyone else — forgot that 'Team Devolved' is still in the game.

  I can't believe what I'm seeing. Troy has green make-up covering his entire face, thus, blending in with the green wall. He has so much green paint and make-up on that he's barely recognizable to the human eye. He could pass for an alien.

  Before Jay and I can even fully comprehend what's currently happening, Troy acts on instinct (something I didn't know he had) and shoots us both in our
hearts without so much as batting an eyelid. He, now beaming from ear-to-ear at his victory, lets out a booming shout of joy at the very top of his lungs. “Whoohoo! I actually won! I won! Whoop! Whoop!” he cheers himself on.

  Jay and I merely watch him, stunned.

  He goes on chanting in a deep voice like some wild gorilla. “Team Troy! Team Troy! Team Troy!” He repeats, jumping up and down like a caveman who has discovered fire for the first time.

  I blink up at Jay, speechless.

  Troy beats on his chest with his fists like 'King Kong' himself. “Anyone else?!” he challenges. “Is there no one else?!” he shouts again, getting all the more cocky with each passing second – this win has definitely gone straight to his fat head.

  “How long do you think he's going to keep this up?” Jay asks, motioning down to Troy who is now doing somersaults back and forth across the floor while shouting 'Team Troy' over and over again.

  “Knowing Troy, long,” I answer, honest.

  Jay offers me his hand and helps me up from the floor, still apologetic. I brush it off as we both watch Troy play the air guitar while sliding across the floor on his knees like some rock star.

  I glance at the green wall in wonder. Troy was camouflaged against that wall in hiding for who knows how long. No one noticed him. He reminds me of 'Peeta Mellark'. I'm still confused as to how he got the green make-up. It also looks like it's been done by a professional.

  Jay seems to be thinking the exact same thing. “Where the hell did you get the costume make-up?”

  Troy finally breaks out of his victory dance, 'the worm', and pays us some attention. “I made a call to my good hairstylist, Ramos. He's a make-up artist too. He made me look like the green wall that you two were about to make out against.”

  I hate Ramos. He always, somehow, ruins my life.

  “Isn't that cheating, as in, against the rules?” Jay asks, genuinely curious.

  “That's rich coming from the one who had just been fraternizing with the enemy.” Troy gives him an accusing look before shaking his head at us. “It's called laser tag, not laser shag. Hypocrites!”

  I cringe at his words.