Bad A** (UNEDITIED RAW VERSION)

Part One: June-33

When I looked around, it was mostly normal for a volley ball court. There was a net, standard hieght and sand covered the ground. The only abnormal thing was that five red, cylinder like stuck up from the ground. Dasha was on top of the back right one, Missy was in the middle and sporting a pair of dark sunglasses, and Jade stood on the front right pillar glarring at Hannah. Zoe pushed me to the front left one and to the last pillar for herself.

            “So,” I turned to ask her, confused, “Are we playing Volleyball on these things?”

            “No,” Zoe answered as the pillar moved beneath my feet, lowering into the ground. “That’s just so we know where to stand when the game starts.”

            “As the chalengers,” Sam voiced from his spot in the back left, “We will give up first serve to you guys.”

            He threw the bright red ball over the net and right into Zoe’s hands. She nodded and looked at all of us. Her legs spread apart enough for her to be stable, the ball in her outstretched left hand, and she then stepped forward. Her arm arched, hitting the ball and sending it to fly over the net, somewhere between Hannah at the front left and Jed, who stood in the middle.

            Surprisingly, neither of the two moved. What were they thinking? That shot was easy to send back over, possibly even perfect for them to set up a spike!

            The ball hit the sand with a Thump, none of the team moving. A few seconds later, nothing happened still.

            “Point.” Zoe said.

            BOOM! I jumped, watching as shreds of the ball fell to the sandy floor, a collum of fire where it stood only a few seconds before.

            “What was that!” I screamed.

            “A point,” Hannah rolled her eyes, “Jeeze, no one explained to the new kid? There are traps set everywhere! The team with the most points when one team has run out of able players win.”

            “That’s insane!” I scoffed. Why in the world would I play something if I could explode any minute?

            “No,” Missy shook her head, “It’s training. See how they didn’t move from thier spot to get the ball? They saw the trap comming. It was how Zoe aimed it for the sand. In the field, you don’t want to go for things that are just handed to you or you will be killed.”

            I saw the training aspect of it, but not the fun. It seemed more dangerous and risky, or better yet just plain stupid to keep playing the game. However, to get back to the door, I would have to walk across the sand. Not a very smart idea. Then I would have to climb up the six foot wall. Sure, it was easy to come here when the red pillar was right by the wall, now, not so eay.

            “Okay then,” I nodded, “Anything else I should know?”

            “The traps can be anywhere,” Jade said, her hands in position to bump the ball up. “Including the ball.”

            “Our Serve!” Sam yelled, taking another red ball from the rack behind him. He threw it into the air and smaked it over. It was aiming for a little behind Missy. She would have to step back to hit it, and who knows what is under that sand. I assumed she would just let it drop.

            She surprised me by jumping up into the air and head butting the ball towards Jade, who easily bumped it back over the net. It landed on another explosive, sending the ball into shreds.