by Robin Roseau
Everyone laughed.
“I am the team captain,” Angel said. “And you’ll follow my strategy whether you like it or not.”
“Perhaps, but the zeal with which I do so would be greatly enhanced if I knew my babies were going to be watched over by your careful eyes.”
There was more laughter.”
“Uh, uh,” Angel said. “We both know you’ll play with every ounce of skill you have, regardless of what I do.”
“Damn it,” Michaela said. “Fine. I’ll be your bait.”
“Questions?”
There weren’t any. We moved to the staging location, indicated we were ready, and then waited for Scarlett’s team.
I moved to stand next to Michaela.
“You aren’t going to want to do be anywhere near me,” she said. “They’ll start shooting at me long before we’re even in range.”
“How is this going to flow?”
“Ah. It tends to be a shootout somewhere near the middle. There will be a few breakthroughs, and the lines will collapse into chaos. But because anyone shot has to be taken to jail, the games don’t tend to get too one-sided. There’s an advantage to being the guard in that you can return to the game sooner. Prisoners have to run around the outside. But that just means the game flows back and forth a bit. If it gets too one sided, the returning prisoners will wait until they can join the game en masse, and then it’s a huge shoot out. If that happens, guards take really small bribes so they can get back into the action immediately, and the game flows back towards the center again.”
“Got it.”
Then the referee counted down, and then “Go! Go! Go!”
I played the first few minutes conservatively, playing to the right side and well back from the main action. I made a number of long distance shots, and a few of them even hit the people I was shooting at, but it was past the effective range, and they must have bounced off, as they didn’t surrender.
Michaela came under heavy fire right from the beginning, eventually crouching behind a barricade about a third of the way down the field. She got pinned there after that. I don’t know if she could have broken free or not. I’d seen her move, and I knew I couldn’t have hit her on the run. But she’d promised to be Angel’s bait.
A minute after that, we began exchanging prisoners. I could only tell a few people, so I didn’t know who was capturing whom. But we took a few prisoners; they took a few prisoners.
The bell rang, and I counted my first point.
I moved closer to the front, coming to a stop perhaps ten yards behind our bulge on the right side. I was close enough that I could be shot there, so I was more careful.
A group of wolves began moving onto Michaela’s position, but they came under heavy fire, and one by one they put their hands up. Other wolves raised their guns and ran forward to claim prisoners.
I even shot one, or thought I did, but he was claimed by someone else, so maybe we both hit him, maybe only she did. I couldn’t tell.
Then I looked right, and I saw three wolves trying to outflank us to the right. I fired and actually got one. She stood up and said, “I’m hit.”
I raised my gun. “Guard!” I yelled. I ran forward and claimed my prisoner.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Ember,” she said.
“Sorry, I can’t tell anyone behind the masks.”
“It’s okay.”
I grabbed her by the arm and began pulling her to the jail.
“What do you want to let me go?”
“An hour helping me work off my service time,” I said immediately.
“Ten minutes,” she countered.”
I began walking more slowly.
“No way!” she said. “You’re supposed to run.”
“I’m a clumsy human,” I said. “I might trip and get hurt. It’s an hour if you agree now or a half hour once we finally arrive at the jail.”
She laughed. “An hour, but I get to pick how I serve it?”
“An hour, but you negotiate with Portia from amongst the things she’s making me do. I want company.”
“Agreed,” she said. “Shake on it, but then I get to run.”
“Forty-five minutes if you know how to help me run fast.”
She laughed. “Forty-five minutes.” We shook on it, then she took my arm. We didn’t run as fast as I had with Portia and Monique, but she was able to pull me along a lot, lot faster than I could have run without her.
At the jail, there was a table with paper. Ember wrote down what she owed me, told me, “Don’t forget you get five points for catching me,” and then she left by the back door.
There were several wolves still in jail, trying to bribe their guards. One of the prisoners said “Zoe! Are you a guard?”
“Um. Sure.”
The wolf moved to me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Kaylee.” She moved closer so we could whisper. “Please let me go.”
“Sure, for an hour helping me work off my sentence.”
She laughed. “Ten minutes.”
“Thirty.”
“That’s too much,” she said. Then the bell rang. I lost the chance for a point, but Kaylee lost a point. “Damn it,” she said. “Come on, Zoe. I helped you scuba diving.”
“You can pick what you do based on the tasks Portia assigns to me,” I said, “but I want a half hour, and it has to be working with me. We can talk while we work.”
She glanced over at one of the other guards. “Eric is trying to make me wash his dishes for a month, and he’s a pig with his dishes.” She stuck out her hand. “Thirty minutes.”
“Thanks, Kaylee,” I said. We shook, she wrote down her debt, and then she was running out the back.
The game had barely begun. I had six points and seventy-five minutes of help with my sentence. I decided I liked this game.
Before the bell could ring again, I began moving forward, moving from cover to cover. I was most of the way back to the main action when I came under fire from the front. I ducked down, making myself look as small as I could, then smaller still as I nearly got shot anyway.
That lasted about fifteen seconds before I got shot from the right. I lifted my hands and called out, “I’m hit,” then slowly stood up, ready to duck again if anyone started shooting at me anyway.
Then I began counting, waiting to see if anyone would come claim me.
“Guard,” came a familiar voice, and when I turned to look, I saw Elisabeth moving quickly towards me. She took my free arm and pulled me towards the edge of the field before coming to a stop.
She leaned down. “I was watching for you. Please don’t be angry.”
I thought about it and shrugged.
“I want something from you,” she said. “Will you let me run us to jail and then give me first shot at accepting a bribe before you ask anyone else?”
I nodded. A moment later, we were running.
Once we arrived at jail, she pulled me towards the back corner. “Do you want me to let you go?”
I nodded. “What do you want?”
“A calm conversation sometime before Thursday.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. You agree to do your best to stay calm and keep an open mind. That’s all I want.”
“An open mind about what? Elisabeth, I won’t let you settle. I won’t be the consolation prize.”
“That’s not it,” she replied. “Just a conversation.”
“Everyone seems to negotiate,” I said. “That seems to be part of the game.”
“I don’t know what room there is to negotiate, Zoe. This is what I want.”
“You can have your conversation on two conditions.”
“What are they?”
“You are also calm. I might have things to say, too, and I don’t want you browbeating me.”
“I have no intention to browbeat you.”
“Condition number two. You run me back to my side.”
She b
arked a quick laugh. “Halfway back.”
“Agreed. Do I write it down?”
“No. Neither of us is going to lose track.” She took my arm, led me out the back door, and then we were running again.
A few minutes later, I took another prisoner. I wasn’t the one who shot him, but he got to twenty-five in his counting, and he was just on the other side of my barricade, so I popped up yelling “Guard” and got to him before he hit thirty. I let him talk me down to thirty minutes if he helped me run back to jail with him.
But then I barely left jail before I got shot. “I’m hit,” and a second later, Monique popped up from the edge of the field yelling “Guard”.
I let her take me prisoner. I let her run me to her jail.
“I love this game,” she said. “I’ve been captured three times, but I finally got you.”
“Yes, you did,” I said. “Good one. Please let me go, Monique.”
“I want a camera like yours,” she said.
“Monique, I can’t pay for that!”
“No, no,” she said. “I’m going to ask my mom. I want you to help me talk to her, and then I want you to teach me how to use it.”
“Oh.” I thought about it. “Monique, I can’t in good conscience tell your mom to get a camera like either of mine. They are both professional cameras and very, very expensive. But they are a few years old, and good quality consumer level cameras have caught up in the most important features.”
“Oh,” she said “I didn’t know. How expensive?”
“Mine are older models, but new, professional cameras similar to mine start at about twenty-five hundred. One of mine was over five grand. And that’s just the camera. The lenses can cost that much or more. That’s way too much camera to start with.”
“Oh,” she said again. “I don’t want that. Now I don’t know what to do.”
“How about we talk to your mom and I’ll talk about the right camera to start with. It will be kind of like mine, but a consumer level camera. And you should know, Michaela asked me to teach a class on all this.”
“Will she let me take it?”
“You’ll have to ask her. But I’ll help you talk to your mom, and if she agrees, I’ll teach you how to use it.”
She smiled and held out her hand.
“But… that’s a huge bribe, Monique.”
“I know.”
“So you have to help me run back to my side.”
She laughed and held out her hand again.
Five minutes later, I found myself exchanging shots with a couple of wolves. We both had good cover, and I wasn’t the only one shooting at them. But then I popped up to take my shot but instead got nailed right between the eyes. I was getting used to it, so while it startled me, I didn’t react poorly. I raised my hands and surrendered.
And was taken prisoner by Portia.
“Finally got me?” I asked her.
“Yep.” She ran me back. I could really get used to that. Once we were at the jail, I asked her to let me go.
“I want hugs.”
“Hugs?”
“Yep. Whenever I want. Forever.”
“Really?” I asked. She nodded. “You’re asking for something you could have anyway.”
She didn’t say anything, and I wondered if she was telling me something.
“Portia, is that what you really want?”
She paused before nodding.
“What did you really want?”
“You’re not willing to give me my hugs?” she asked.
“Of course I am. But you wanted something else and chickened out, didn’t you?”
“Um. No, I want hugs. Whenever I want. That may include times I’m wet and you’re not.”
I laughed. “You may have hugs when we’re either both wet or both dry. If you want them at other times, then I want you to run me back to my side.”
She laughed and agreed.
I barely missed the next bell, and then the referee called out, “Five minute warning.”
I really wanted to catch one more person. I’d consistently been going to the right, and I was sure anyone after me knew that, so I went left, moving quickly. I managed to work my way to the far edge and had good cover. More importantly, I could just barely see someone’s shoulder while remaining under cover. I lined up and waited for the right moment.
And then I felt the barrel of a gun in my back.
“Surrender.”
“Monique.” I raised my hands.
“Guard!” she yelled, raising her own hands. She ran me back to jail. I knew I wouldn’t get back into the game again, and I knew I didn’t have enough points to remotely come close to winning, so when we arrived, I didn’t ask to be released.
“Aren’t you going to ask me to free you?”
“I won’t get back in time to catch anyone,” I said.
“I’ll meet you in the same place and make sure no one else shoots at you, and we have just enough time for one more round if we hurry.”
“Are you trying to sucker me?”
“No. If anyone else shoots you, or if neither of us manages to shoot the other one before time is over, then you don’t owe me.”
“Please let me go, Monique.”
“A date.”
“Monique!”
“Not for me!” she said. “Someone I pick.”
“Seriously?”
She nodded.
“Not Elisabeth.”
“No, not Elisabeth.”
“A woman.”
“Yes.”
“An adult woman within ten years of my age.”
“Or so.”
I thought quickly. “Agreed.”
“Come on.” She grabbed my arm and then we were running, really running. She brought me most of the way back to my side, along the outside of the arena, then said, “Run! I’ll meet you at the same place.”
I ran.
As I drew close to the old spot, I heard Monique calling out, “No one shoot Zoe! No one shoot Zoe.”
I didn’t make the same request for her, but I saw wolves on both sides moving away from us. I guess they were going to let us have it out sans interference.
“One minute warning!” the referee called.
“Zoe, ten second truce!” Monique called out. We both popped out from cover. I realized she had done it just so we could spot each other, but that was probably for the best, as otherwise we would have run out of time before engaging. “As soon as we duck, I’m coming for you!”
I didn’t wait. I ducked and ran away from her, picking a different obstacle to hide behind. I spun around, and she was running after me, firing wildly. I returned fire, but missed, missed, missed, and then we were both behind cover again.
Then I waited for her.
I was sure she’d try to come in behind me, so I turned my back to the side I’d come from.
She didn’t come from the other side. Instead, she came over the top, leaping over me.
From nearly point blank range, we shot each other. The human briefers had told us to avoid shooting each other from too close of range, but the wolves ignored that guideline; it wasn’t a rule, anyway.
Monique came to a stop. “Um. Now what?” I asked.
“We’re both hit!” she called out. She lifted her hands and stood up. “Start counting. One…”
I lifted my hands and let her count for both of us. She reached fifteen before we were each taken prisoner.
The referee called the game before we reached jail.
“You still have to bribe your way to freedom,” my guard told me. “If you don’t, we get to use you for target practice. The wolves sometimes get stubborn, but you won’t like it.”
“I don’t recognize your voice.”
“I’m Harper Armstrong. We haven’t met. My daughter was one of Michaela’s students. She’s around here somewhere. We get invited to these things and come when we can.”
We reached jail, and I turned to her. “Harper, please let me go.”
She tapped her toe on the ground. “I’m trying to decide what I want.”
“Five points.”
She crossed her arms, looking at me. “I don’t like taking points for bribes, but I’m not sure what I want.”
“Please, Harper. I don’t have anything you want. Twelve points. It’s all I have.”
“No,” she said. “If I take points, I’ll take five. Anyone with zero or negative points gets used for target practice.” She paused. “A date.”
“A date? Seriously?” I thought it was funny right after Monique asked for one. “Am I paying for this date?”
“No. I’ll pay. Dinner and a movie.”
“I’m vegan.”
“I know. You’re quite the talk of the pack.”
“A date,” I agreed, “but I don’t know if I’m allowed to go anywhere until my sentence is paid.”
“I’ll work with Portia. If I have to wait, I’ll wait.”
“Why do you want a date with me, Harper?”
“I haven’t had a date in three years, and it sounds like fun. It’s just a date.”
“Well then, if I’m giving you a date, I want a hug.”
And so I got one.
Movie
Over dinner, the wolves talked about nothing but the games. Michaela gave out a bunch of prizes, most of them small and some of them very amusing. Everyone had a good time.
“How about you, Zoe?”
“I liked that last game the most,” I said. “It was too short.”
Everyone laughed in agreement. Michaela smiled at me, and I felt a few hands clasp my shoulders for a brief moment.
“I want to hear the bribes people paid,” she said. “Raise your hand if you think you have interesting bribes to share.”
A bunch of hands went up, including mine. Michaela looked around. “Ember.”
“I have to let Kimbriella do my makeup every day next week.”
“Oh good one,” Michaela said. “I look forward to seeing what she does. Who else?” She worked her way around the room. The wolves were very creative in the bribes they asked for. She got to Connor.