The Race

003 | Harper

"I know that each group will have weapons masters, but I don't want you to be unable individually to defend yourself. Because of this, we will be playing some paintball," Sazcrov said. "We'll go into this simulation room here. It is set up like the corner of a city. If you get shot in the head, you are out of the game. If you are shot in the torso, you are out for five minutes in the dead zone. If you are hit in the arms, legs or other such places, it is not a mortal wound. Splatters of paint do not count. Your objective is to reach the other side of the course while dealing with other obstacles aside from other girls. It's everyone for themselves.

"Let's grab your guns and go," Sazcrov finished. She pulled out two boxes labeled "ammo" and "weapons." We each grabbed a gun that matched the color of our tops, as well as paint and smoke grenades. The color of the paint inside matched our tops too. Whoever made this game must have really loved to color code things.

"Winner must reach the other side with as little paint on them as possible. If no one reaches the other side in the next thirty minutes, whoever has the most of their color on other teammates is the winner. Understand?"

"Understood," we chorused back.

"Begin," Sazcrov called, stepping out of our way as the door swung open. I took off, running as fast as I could. I noticed a rope hanging from a building like structure. I grabbed it using it to propel me forward and pull myself up. I jumped from one roof to the next, jumping and dodging the rain of pellets surrounding me. I noticed that Naomi and Aralee were the ones shooting the most of them.

I ducked behind a chimney and reached around and shot Naomi in the chest. She angrily stormed off. I got lucky a few minutes later when Cami took Aralee out with a wink in my direction. I smiled in thanks.

I moved on to the next roof and started jumping again. I was on the last building and just had to figure out how to make it to the ground. I was just over the base we had to touch to win. I decided to jump, when a rope swung off the building across from me with a grappling hook attached. It hooked onto the base and started dragging it. I backed up and got a running start, flying through the air. I should have landed on the base. Instead, I landed on the rope, stopping it. I threw a paint grenade up and turned and slapped a green hand print on it. When the paint faded, everyone was gathered around the base looking at it. There was a pink and a green handprint, side by side. Who had won?

"Huh," Sazcrov said quietly. Then, to us, all she said was, "as a tiebreaker, we will have to see which out of the two of you has more paint given to you by other opponents." Maybelle and I both stepped in front of her. Maybelle had five pellets dotting her legs and arms, three in the center of her chest over her heart. I had two on my legs and one on my arm.

"Harper has three while Maybelle has eight. Harper is the winner!" Sazcrov announced. Everyone clapped for me besides Maybelle and Naomi. Asia climbed down off of the roof, grappling hook in hand.

"Great job, Harper," she said shyly.

"Thanks," I replied quickly.

Sazcrov gestured for us to all follow her back to the main center. "Everyone circle up!"

We all sat on the floor in a circle around her. "We need to talk about the various strategies used. Harper stuck to the rooftops from the beginning, playing off of her strength on the balance beams and bars. Asia did similarly, using her tools given to her to help with her capability. Asia was too far away to make the jump, so she attempted to move the base to her. This plan was thwarted by Harper's rather ungraceful dismount. Maybelle did not do either of those, instead she waited for Asia to pull the base closer, making her run a little more realistic. Naomi and Aralee relied on their weapons to take everyone out, leaving the base free for the taking. Which strategy do you think was the smartest?"

"I think Maybelle's was the smartest. She didn't exert herself, instead she manipulated unknowing opponents into bringing her what she wanted," Lark said.

"Actually, that strategy has a lot of downfalls. I mean, that relies on both her speed and the speed of the person being manipulated. If she or her opponents weren't fast enough, anyone else could steal it. That plan relies on having someone to manipulate. Say Asia wasn't there and pulling by the time Harper got there. Maybelle wouldn't have come close to winning," Sazcrov said. Lark shrugged. She clearly didn't mind being wrong.

Sazcrov continued. "These are excellent views. As you can see, you shouldn't rely on your competition to bring you what you want. You have to take it for yourself. That is one of the reasons we did not give you the same set of clues as the other team and they are found in different places. Understand?"

"Understood," we replied.

"Good. It has been a long day. Go scrounge up something for supper and get some sleep. You'll find a note in your room telling you when to report for training tomorrow." With that, Sazcrov spun on her heel and walked off. We headed in the opposite direction, down the stairs.

I headed for the fridge and got out bread, peanut butter and jelly for something simple. After I ate, I headed to my room and took a quick shower. I changed into my pjs before I read the note left on the bed.

"Meet me at 5:00 a.m. for training."

Of course it would be that early. Why wouldn't it be? I set an alarm for 4:45 and collapsed on the bed, out before my head hit the pillow.