The Silence Between Us

Snatched

Chapter 12

Snatched

We continued walking without communicating with each other, the soft sounds of the forest covering the little noise that we did make. I was getting better at blending in and stepping softer onto the ground so that twigs wouldn't immediately break when I stepped on them.

With Finn and Noah down, all that was left was me, Alex, Clara, and Mae. Truth be told, although the thrill of paintball was still causing adrenaline to run through my veins, I was getting a little bit bored. We had been out in the forest for a very, very long time. I had run into a tree, I was missing Wanda, Alex sort of annoyed the crap out of me, and we still had to shoot two more people to win. This game just seemed to keep going on forever.

I kind of just wanted to be shot already, even though it would probably hurt.

Maybe I spoke too soon.

"What was that?" I asked Alex, stopping briefly. I thought I heard a crack of a twig breaking off to the left. Judging by the fact that my hearing was way sharper than Alex's, I decided to follow my instincts and stop instead of ignoring it.

He took my hand. I don't see anything.

"I think it was over there." I said pointing in the general direction of the sound, giving up on pinpointing the exact location. "Can we go check it out?"

Instead of responding, Alex and I walked over to where I had heard the noise. I held my paintball gun at the ready, I hadn't even shot the thing since the game started, but I was going to be ready for whatever was hiding in the forest.

More twigs broke and I screamed, pulling the trigger of the paintball gun. Next to me, Alex gave a shout of surprise and cursed under his breath, putting his arm on my shoulder soon after to stop me from firing another round of paintballs.

I turned to him, putting my back to the sound coming from the bushes. "What is it?"

That was just a bunny. You don't want to kill a bunny, do you?

I huffed, rolling my eyes. "Of course I don't want to kill a bunny. That's just evil. Do you really think that low of me?"

Well no I-

Alex was cut off when suddenly there was a loud sound coming from the opposite direction of the bunny, the nature shifting as something larger made its way towards us. There was another rustle, closer to the other one, and I moved closer to Alex, not forgetting to point my paintball gun at the sounds. I hesitated only briefly, because if it was a bear I didn't want to aggravate it.

"My name is Clara Shelton. You killed my beloved friends and closest companions. Prepare to die."

After realizing that me and Alex's lives were not in danger, I let out a huge sigh before recognizing the reference Clara made. I tried to stifle a laugh as I gaped at her. "Princess bride, really?"

"Hey, don't insult the best movie of all time!" She responded.

I frowned slightly. "I would've pegged you for a thriller or horror kind of movie girl. Not romance."

There was a slight pause before Clara started talking again, "You know what it doesn't matter! I didn't come here to have a lovely conversation. I came to kill you all and claim my rightful title as paintball champion."

"You guys take this game way too seriously." I muttered under my breath.

"Silence!" Clara's voice boomed.

I could feel the tension in the air, even if we were just talking. We were all pointing our paintball guns at each other, or well, I just assumed, and I was getting ready to fire at any moment. I didn't know who had the upper hand. Clara would have had the element of surprise but she blew it when Clara wanted to be all sassy and announce her presence. Now we were just at a stalemate.