by Melinda Minx
I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I should not have mentioned the kid the way I did. Talking like that is in breach of my contract with the organization. I’m not supposed to ever so much as imply that the kid would belong to me.
And this date? Kissing her just because she looked so delicious, and then showing her something this real about me? It’s just fucking laser tag, but it goes against what the master taught us. I’m on dangerous ground here.
We’re supposed to cultivate a certain persona. We surround ourselves with that persona like a cloak. We can alter our style and appearance however it suits the client’s needs. Madrigal needed someone more casual on the first meeting, and for the second my shirt and tie gave a certain authority to the whole thing.
No matter how we may alter our clothing or the way we act, we’re never supposed to show our true selves. The persona should always be a costume, regardless of how we change that costume.
I’m letting that slip badly tonight, and there’s no real reason I’m taking her here as a client. I’m not trying to find out anything about her, about what is causing her block. I’m simply sharing with her something about me.
Bad. This is bad.
How can I justify it? If I get caught, or questioned, I’ll say that she had a desperate need to connect emotionally. That I didn’t think the block would clear unless I let my guard down just a little. I’ll present it as a tactical reveal—showing something small and ultimately meaningless—just so that she gets the mistaken impression she really knows me.
“Hey,” Madrigal says, pulling at my arm. “What are we waiting for?”
I look up and realize I’m just standing in the lobby and staring up at the sign with the pricing. How long have I been staring?
“Sorry,” I say, smiling. “Was just trying to decide how to do your first time.”
“My first time,” she says, grinning.
“Your first laser tag,” I say. “There’s two ways to go about it.”
“Which are?”
“You can practice in the shallow end,” I say. “Or I can jump into the deep end and pull you down with me.”
“Hmm,” she says. “As a woman who drinks three beers in one sitting, of course I’ll choose the more dangerous and unreserved deep end.”
“Good,” I say. “The shallow end is the kids’ stuff.”
I point toward a group that looks like a bachelor party of drunk dudes pointing the lasers at each other and making pew pew sounds.
“Just shoot at each other, no one really knows what’s going on. You run through this small indoor space with a smoke machine. It’s all over in twelve minutes and everyone has fun.”
She raises her eyebrows at me. “That sounds just awful, everyone having fun?”
I roll my eyes at her and point toward the other end of the lobby. There are guys wearing all black suits. Some even have their faces painted with camouflage. Obviously, very serious players.
I go up to the counter and slap down the money. “Two for the outdoor course.”
The guy eyes Madrigal and me skeptically. “I’d do indoor if it’s your first time. Outdoor is for—”
“It’s for us,” I say, sliding the money toward him.
As Madrigal and I walk toward the staging area with all the guys in black, a few of them stifle laughter at us.
“Indoor course is the other way,” someone says under his breath.
I grab a gun and armor off the rack, and I throw the armor over my head and onto my shoulders with practiced ease. The gun is long like a rifle, but I spin the whole thing around my finger by the trigger guard, catch it by the stock, and cock it. Cocking it turns it on, and it glows red and hums.
Madrigal laughs, and the guys roll their eyes.
“Alright,” one says. “So you’re showing off for your date. I suppose you want to be on her team too?”
“You guys got a fort here?” I ask.
One of them scoffs. “Of course we’ve got a fort. It’s on the high ground, and it’s even got three turrets.”
“Alright,” I say. “How about we do it like this. King of the hill, me and her... against all of you.”
They all laugh.
“I’m not joking,” I say.
One of them steps forward. He’s got big arms, but also a big gut. “Hey man, you may be good at spinning that gun around like fucking Arnold Schwarzenegger, but even if you’re twice as good as your cocky attitude makes you out to be, you can’t take on all of us. Even with the fort.”
“Prove it,” I say. “I bet we can hold.”
“Fine,” he says, throwing up his hands. “Only way it’s going to be fair though, is if we’ve only got one life. You and your lady friend get knocked out of commission for one minute if you’re hit. We win if we capture the fort.”
“Fair enough,” I say.
13
Madrigal
I was “luckily” able to rent a pair of crazy black clothes and sneakers. There’s no way I was going to defend a fort with a laser gun wearing a short skirt and heels. The clothes are a bit big for me—I rented the absolute smallest size they had—but the shoes were luckily a perfect fit.
I thought we were going to do the fun thing. The smoke machines and the cheesy music. I thought we’d be running around shooting with the drunk guys.
Instead, we’re trekking through the dark woods. We enter a forest trail, and Dominick takes me by the hand as we trudge silently into the forest behind the guys who look like veterans from some future war. Their armor and guns are all glowing blue, illuminating the path in front of us.
“We got this,” Dominick whispers to me.
“If you say so.”
“What’s the matter?” he asks, slowing down so the guys can’t hear us.
“I’m worried we’re going to lose because of me, then those guys are going to make fun of you.”
“You think I give two shits what those guys think?” he asks. “I just like a challenge.”
“It’s a challenge because of me?” I ask.
“No,” he says. “It’s two of us versus eight of them. That’s the challenge.”
“Come on,” she says. “Do you really mean to tell me that the fact that I’ve never laser-tagged or fired a gun of any kind in my life isn’t adding to the challenge?
He laughs and holds up his thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “Maybe that’s making it a little bit harder. You’ve never fired a gun?”
“Why would I have fired a gun?”
“A BB gun?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say.
“Once we’re in the fort I’ll give you a crash course,” he says, and then he takes my hand in his again, which makes everything feel better.
“Here we are,” the guy with the gut says as we enter a clearing. He points up at a large wooden structure. It has various ladders on it, and three fairly high towers forming a triangle on the outer edges. The whole thing is maybe the size of a suburban house, though it doesn’t have a roof. It’s more like a larger version of something a dad would build for his kids in the backyard.
The guy with the gut pulls out a long, spear-like object. “This here’s the beacon, follow me.”
We all follow him toward one of the ladders, and the rest of his team stays back, some pull out cigarettes and start smoking. Dominick climbs the ladder behind him, and I climb up behind Dominick, checking out his ass as we climb. Damn his ass look good in those jeans.
We clear the ladder and exit out onto what feels like the wall of a wooden castle. I look down at the ground and see the orange lights of the guys’ cigarettes below us. We’re actually higher up than it looked like from down below.
The guy with the gut points around for us. “You’re surrounded by woods mostly, so you gotta watch all sides. There and there,” he says, pointing, “The woods are only ten or fifteen feet from the ladders, so those spots are really key.”
He gestures for us to follow, and we walk down a ramp toward a dir
t clearing in the center of the fort. He spikes the spear into the ground and hits a button on it. It lights up red and hums. “This here’s the beacon. If any of my boys touch this, it turns red and we win.”
“They shoot it?” I ask.
“Nah,” he says. “There’s a button on it. They gotta press the button. Shooting it won’t do nothing.”
“Got it,” Dominick says.
“Activate stealth mode,” the guy says, “And then you’ve got five minutes before we attack.”
Dominick nods, and the guy walks back up the ramp, then disappears down the ladder.
“Stealth mode?” I ask.
Dominick points at the men walking away. I see the blue glows on their armor and guns fade down until they become black figures. They become all but invisible as they disappear into the woods. Dominick hits a button somewhere on his gun, and the lights on his armor and gun completely die out. He grabs my gun and does the same for me.
“It still lights up if we shoot,” he says.
He pulls the trigger to demonstrate, and his armor and gun flashes bright red, then fades back to nothing over the next second or two.
“So they can’t be sneaky if they are shooting at us. Probably some are going to put out cover fire and draw our eyes, while others run for the ladders with their guns and armor gone totally dark.”
“How do I shoot?” I ask.
Dominick takes me by the hand up the ramp, then he stands behind me. I feel his body press into me, and I lean back into him.
His hand grips my waist, and I hear him breath heavy.
“Time for that later,” he says, backing up. “Hold your gun up.”
I grab the gun like I saw the men do, and I hold it up in front of me.
“Press the stock into your shoulder.”
He shows me what he means with his own gun, and I copy him.
“Good,” he says. “Now line up the little notch on the end of the barrel with the little groove on the back of the gun.”
I push the stock harder against my shoulder to stabilize the gun. It’s not very heavy, probably because it has no bullets or any actual ammunition to speak of, so I have to brace it harder to keep it stable. I line up the parts like Dominick said.
“Since it’s a laser,” he says, “You don’t have to really lead your target or compensate for gravity.”
“Good,” I say, “Since I have no idea how to do either of those things anyway.”
“Just put one of those guys in your crosshairs when you’re lined up like that and pull the trigger. If you hit one of them one time, they’re out for good.”
“I’ll make that my goal then,” I say. “To hit one of them one time.”
“If you get hit,” he says, “Your gun and armor will start flashing red. You’ll also feel a vibration for a few seconds.”
I giggle at the idea of “feeling a vibration.”
“Not like that,” he says, grinning. “It will go black again after about thirty seconds, and in another thirty seconds it will vibrate without flashing to indicate you’re back in and can shoot again. If you hit an opponent they will flash blue, and that means they are dead. They’ll just walk off the field until the match is over.”
“Got it,” I nod. “My goal is going to be killing one guy.”
“Make it two,” he says. “I should be able to drop six of them.”
“Cocky,” I say.
“You think you can hold that turret?” he says, pointing up.
“Uh,” I say. “I can try.”
I walk toward the ladder and climb up. Once I get to the top, I realize I’m almost three stories up. I’m not exactly afraid of heights, but being in a wooden fort with ladders in the dark of night doesn’t feel safe.
I look out the turret and around to see what I can find. Being higher up helps me to see much further, but I’m further from the ground, and the lack of light makes it harder to make out many details.
I notice the ladder we used to climb up onto the fort below me, and I see how the woods come quite close to it. Based on what the guy said earlier, I should probably just point my gun toward that part of the woods and wait until I see someone move for the ladder.
“Hey,” Dominick’s voice whispers, and I jump back in fear.
“Sorry,” he whispers, and I see his head is just popping up into the turret while he hangs on the ladder. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You scared me.”
“Anyway,” he says, laughing, “Remember that as soon as you pull the trigger, you’ll light up. You’ve got a nice vantage point there, but if you light up from the turret they’re all going to unload on you.”
“So I won’t fire until I’ve got a clear shot.”
“Right,” he says, nodding. “Come here.”
I walk over toward him, and his eyes darken.
“On your knees,” he orders.
I fall down onto my knees, the cool wood pressing into my bones. He climbs up a few rungs of the ladder, then presses his lips against mine. Our tongues touch just long enough for an electric heat to pulse through me, and then he breaks the kiss.
“We’ve got this, Madrigal,” he says, and then he slides down the ladder like a firefighter.
I rest the barrel of my gun on the wall of the turret. There are no windows, just a big wall that makes the whole thing look like a big bird’s nest. Rather than keeping the thing sighted, I just keep the gun rested with the barrel mostly pointed toward the woods. I feel like if I keep the thing sighted, I’ll get tunnel vision and miss them coming out of the woods.
Just as I start to lose focus, I see a hint of movement from the edge of the woods. I quickly perk up and sight across the gun.
I’m pretty sure I see him, but I’m not one hundred percent. Oh well, it’s just a game.
I pull the trigger, and my gun and armor pulses red, casting light all along the turret walls.
Nothing lights up through the woods though. I missed.
I pull the trigger again, but the light on my gun is still fading. I keep pulling the trigger as fast as I can while pointing the gun at the dark figure moving through the woods.
Nothing happens until the gun and armor goes totally dark, and then it fires again, lighting up all over again.
This time I see the figure’s armor and gun light up, flashing blue. I killed him!
Just as I feel the excitement of my kill rush through me, three more blue lights erupt from the woods. My armor flashes red rapidly and vibrates.
Shit! They hit me.
My armor and gun keeps flashing even as the vibrations die down.
I watch through the woods as two of the figures who shot at me start blinking. Dominick killed them. Three down, five to go.
“Get down!” I hear Dominick shout. “Reposition yourself for when you are back alive.”
I climb onto the ladder and start my way down. The flashing lights fade as I climb down. “Where do I go?” I shout back.
“Cover the beacon!”
I don’t even see him, but I just assume he’s doing work on the wall of the fort.
As I head for the beacon, I see a red flash, and it illuminates Dominick’s cut, muscular figure standing on the wall. Each time he fires and flashes red, he dives down onto his belly behind the wall. That’s smart. That’s what I should have done to avoid getting hit after I fired. Though my boobs would get in the way if I dove down like that.
I see the red pulsing light of the beacon sticking out of the dirt, and I try to figure out the best place to hide so that I can properly cover it. I look back up at Dominick on the wall, and I assume that he’s covering that whole side. He should have vision of two of the ladders from there, but the ladder in back is wide open now that I’ve climbed down.
I crouch down with my back against the wooden wall. Dominick is now just over my head on the protruding catwalk that gives him the high-ground advantage, and I’m tucked under it, hiding in the darkness with my eyes fixed on the beacon.
; I feel my armor vibrate, which means I’m back alive. I press the stock of the gun onto my shoulder and take aim.
“Shit,” Dominick hisses. “They hit me.”
God. I’m alone now.
Suddenly, and without warning, Dominick’s body falls in front of me. He hits the ground and rolls over his shoulder to absorb the impact. He looks back at me as he climbs back up into a crouching position.
He flashes me a thumbs up. “Good spot, Maddie.”
Jesus. He called me Maddie? He never calls me—
I see a figure move on the wall opposite me—on the catwalk.
I aim upward, and as soon as I see the white of the man’s teeth, I pull the trigger.
My equipment pulses red, but he flashes blue.
“Shit!” the man hisses.
“Move,” Dominick whispers to me, gesturing for me to follow him.
He runs in a low crouch, and I follow him. He points into another nook on the side wall, and I duck down into it. He keeps going without me, and I take aim to cover him. He should be coming back to life any moment now. His armor went dark several seconds ago.
Just as I think that, he takes a dive and his gun flashes blue. I see flashing red out of the corner of my eye, and then I another dark figure appears at the top of the ladder.
I see his armor pulse blue, and I reflexively fire at him even as I see Dominick flashing red once again. Dominick missed, and he got hit too.
My armor slowly fades dark, but my target doesn’t flash. I missed too. At least I didn’t get hit. Yet. They are so close to the beacon now, that I’m pretty sure if I get hit again now they’ll win. Dominick won’t be alive again in time. It’s all up to me.
I try to do like Dominick, and I run full speed along the wall as the red glow from my gun and armor fades down. I realize I’m gasping for breath, and my muscles are burning. I’m out of shape.
The guy I missed—I realize—isn’t even trying to shoot me. He’s sprinting across the dirt straight toward the beacon.
“Just shoot him!” Dominick shouts.
I take careful aim at him as he runs, and I wait until my gun and armor go totally dark, and then I pull the trigger.
His armor and gun flashes blue, and maybe a half second later, the beacon turns blue as well.