Age of Death (Taennie)

6

The entrance of laser tag was off in the corner of the arcade and had small wips of smoke leaking out of it. I'd done this a few times before. The room was large, maze-like, filled with smoke, and square-shaped, with several winding hallways connecting scattered open areas. The walls that enclosed the hallways were tall and impossible to see over, but the ones in the open areas were waist-high and could serve as barricades or hiding places. The entrance was in one corner of the room, and in each of the other three, there rested a slightly raised, base -like structure where players could hide out and scope for "enemies."

It was a slow day at the arcade, and so Haneul, Jennie and I were suited up for a three-way-free-for-all match.

"Go easy on me guys," Jennie laughed as her vest was activated by a male employee. "I have no clue what I'm doing."

"We'll team up against Haneul," I joked.

"Fine with me," he said and then darted into the smoky room without further warning, leaving Jennie and i behind.

"You'll know you've been hit when your vest lights up and starts beeping," the man who'd been helping Jennie explained once she'd been strapped into her vest and handed a gun. "For that time, your gun won't work and you can't be shot again. But after fifteen seconds, the oughts will turn off and you'll be back in play. We keep score our herem you guys have twenty minutes starting from when your friend ran inside. Have fun!"

"Sounds easy enough." She adjusted her vest and the smiled over at me. "See you inside!"

And then she was gone. I waited a moment, turning my laser gun over jn my hands, and then, when i was certain I'd given her enough time, rushed into the room.

It was hard to see anything, but I could already hear the sounds of rapid laser-fire. That had to be Haneul. A distant "Dammit!" from Jennie a moment later confirmed it, and i laughed loudly as i ducked around a corner and saw her standing in one of the open areas, her best flashing and beeping wildly. She spun around, free hand on her hips and poised to chastise me for laughing at her, but i ducked behind the wall again as Haneul fired at me from somewhere in the open space.

"Jennie, run!" I reminded her.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks!"

Haneul chuckled as her footsteps faded. He sounded close. I peered around the wall again, keeping my torso and vest behind the wall, and squinted through the smoke. A shadow caught my eye near a short wall than twenty feet away, and I mashed the trigger of my gun several times until Haneul's vest lit up. He murmured a curse and hurried away.

Wd continued like that for a while. Our laser tag match essentially became a competitive hunt for Jennie, who basically ran around like a chicken with her head cut off, best flashing wildly during her fifteen-second cool downs. Occasionally Haneul and I would shoot at each other once Jennie had been hit and had wandered away from us, but that was rare.

I was sure our time would be up soon after my tenth hit on Jennie and third on Haneul, and I was also relatively sure I was in the lead by exactly two shots. The winner got a fifty percent refund on their entry fee, so I was somewhat invested in beating Haneul.

He got a hit on Jennie while i was hiding in one of the corner bases, and I watched her cone barreling in my direction, red lights flashing everywhere. I kept an eye out for Haneul behind her, gun poised, but he played it smart, probably guessing that I'd be looking for him to follow jennie's beacon of red lights. I tried to mentally count up hits in my head, double-checking the scores. He was one down now, so as long as I kept a low profile and he didn't hunt down Jennie again, i was pretty sure I had the win.

I was pretty proud of the stunt I pulled next.

Jennie's lights stopped flashing at last, and i listened to the sound of her footsteps as she came closer, hiding safely in my little base again. And then I heard a second set of footsteps, quieter and smoother, coming from the opposite direction. Haneul doubled back around, and she was going to run straight into him any second now.