Gāme Ovēr: Azalea Isłand

Chapter 1: Always Losing

11:58pm. It was almost midnight, few clouds shading a full moon that usually shaun down so beautifully. The stars weren't anywhere to be found, making the sky a glum shade of eerie, yet stunning. It was dark out. The place was far out of city bounds. Century-old abandoned buildings were the only place to run to outside of the forest, to take cover. However, I had a better idea. 11:59pm. I always did. In the forest, I sat against an old oak tree. I looked over my shoulder to behind the tree. Even in the dim lighted forest, I noticed movement. I propped myself up onto my feet, crouching down now, staring behind the tree while vision searching frantically. There, in the left. I quickly slid back behind the tree, only to realize I just dodged a bullet. It was loud from behind the tree. I stood up.

"Dammit." I muttered under my breath. Unhooking my handgun, I quickly reloaded it. My back was pressed against the tree so hard that it started to itch against my bare skin. 12:00am. As if on cue, a huge amount of gunfire went off in the distance. Screams, cries of agony and laughter filled the once quiet atmosphere. One.. Two..

"Three." I whispered before breaking off into a run. I couldn't tell which way was which. I ran /away/ from the sounds. I used it to know where I was going. I just kept running. I barely avoided smacking into trees and tripping over fallen branches. The screaming stopped. The gunfire stopped. I knew where they were heading. Dammit. I was finally in a clearing, no more trees. One of the abandoned buildings was only half a mile from me. I could see it. Looking to my watch, it read 12:03am. They were late. Probably dead. So much for my alternate plan.

"Thanks a lot." I muttered to myself, winded from running. I was surprised it wasn't being guarded. Obviously a trap. I started playing out scenarios in my head of where they could be hiding. I heard footsteps behind me. Turning quickly, I shot. Thud. There were four of my enemies standing before me. Well- one wasn't standing before me anymore. More, dead. Laying down. Anyway, there were three.

"Well, well." The middle one spoke. They all immediately drew their weapons, aiming right for me. I drew my second gun, occupying both my hands.
"Look what the Sinc-7Server dragged in." The middle guy began before I shot both men on the sides, leaving just the arrogant Oliver Howles left. I would've shot him as well, but I wanted to hear what he had to say. Hopefully it wasn't the same crap as usual. He really loved to get on my nerves.
"You know, the cowering pleas of your associates were so pathetic, I just /couldn't/ wait to hear yours in comparison." He cackled.

"Uh-Huh." I muttered, cringing slightly. I raised both guns straight forward for him. There was a two metre distance between me and blonde. He just kept laughing. I felt cold metal pressed to my temple.
"Son of a-" I shouted, beginning to turn towards one of Oliver's goons. The trigger was pulled and the bullet violently ripped through my skull, causing my body to collapse quickly to the ground.

"Such a pity." Oliver clicked his tongue, crouching down behind my limp body. I was dead, facedown on the ground. He rolled me over, pulling out his gun. Oliver began shooting my body, over and over until his was bored. The grass around me was red. It kind of reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. You know, where she painted the- you know what? Nevermind.
"Let's go get that flag, Demetri. Also, let's go look for some experienced players. I done with newbs."
Idiot.

--

I awoke at my computer desk, groaning frustratedly. That was the third time wretched Howles had beaten me. He was admittedly good, but somehow I felt the need to stubbornly blame it on having bad teammates. I carefully began disconnecting the wires from my forehead and body. Pulling them out stung like a knife. It was a burning sensation, like you just had a workout. A virtual workout, that is. I looked to the digital clock on my wrist. It read 12:11am. Midnight.

"Alice, let the dog out!" I heard my mother shout from downstairs. My door was left open a crack. My attention was caught abruptly by the cat on my bed, meowing for my attention. I kicked back my chair and walked to the foot of my bed. My room was pretty small. Just my computer system, bed and dresser. Though, my bed started looking less like a bed and more like a cocoon of cat hair. It looked like I shaved a thirty-pound cat on my sheets. I lifted the feline into my arms and pulled her over my shoulder.
She wasn't aloud in my room. I sneezed. I was allergic. Yeah, my bed says a lot to why people think I have Ebola at my constant need to sneeze.

"Alice!" My mother screamed. I mumbled a curse under my breath and pushed my door open.
"I'm doing it mother, jeez." I raised my voice, swinging out of my room and quickly moving down the long set of stairs. I set the cat down at the bottom. Ada wasn't aloud in my room. Shame, too. We loved to cuddle. I finally headed through the living room and kitchen before reaching the door to the back patio. Leon was jumping at the door frequently beside me, the glass bouncing. Somehow I questioned how the glass would hold. Especially how it would in the future. Leon was just a year old German Shepard and was already to my waist, and I was 5'8. Unlatched the door and the dog flew out. You'd think she'd never of seen the outdoors before. Although, she was probably excited to chase a squirrel or something like that. I closed the door and headed back to my room. Whoops, I guess I /forgot/ to wait until the dog needs to come inside again. I really didn't care. I needed to sleep on some ideas to take down Oliver tomorrow. My daily schedule usually looked like this:

8:12am. Wake up- Not happily.
8:30-9:30am. Play against Oliver. Lose.
9:30-10:00am. Scream.
10:00-10:30am. Contemplate life.
10:30am- 8:00pm. Go to school.
8:00pm-12:00am. Play against Oliver. Lose.
12:00am- 8:12am. Scream at Oliver, cry, punch computer, throw cat, let dog out and sleep.

Best life ever, right?
I entered my room, clapped twice and collapsed into my bed. The light flickered off and I groan frustratedly into a pillow. My heart was on fire. The frustration was real. And soon enough, I dreamt of crushing Oliver Howles' heart in my hands. Not that there was much to crush.