The Popstar and the Bodyguard | Septiplier

Chapter 7

"Alrighty guys. Welcome to the Lazer Games! Here are the rules." A man wearing a microphone with a black dad cap says to us, catching our attention. He continues as I scan the room looking at each person here.
"If anyone is younger than 18, you're not allowed here. We have a teenager Lazer competition tomorrow..." He scans the room intently with his hazel eyes and counts under his breath.
"Good we don't need to wait for anyone else. Does anyone not know the rules." He pauses and skids his shoe on the ground. I think we all understand. If not, that sucks for them. He adjusts his clip on black microphone.
"Okay good. So you all need to put on these vests. There are 6 colors for round one. 3 players per team. Each one has a device chip that detects one of the opposing team's lazer. Karen may you please be an example?"
He turns to another worker who has a blue lighted vest on.
"Here ya go." She says, handing him a red colored lazer gun. He grabs it and points it directly at her chest. He doesn't pull the trigger though, he looks to us.
"Okay so usually in any other Lazer Tag place in LA, you are required to stand like 5 feet away for it to hit." He presses the tip of the gun to her vest, pulling the trigger. Her vest flashes white then turns pitch black. Karen turns to us.
"Well here, it doesn't matter how close you shoot them. Whatever distance is fine. Just no more than 11 feet away. You need to hit them on the vest. It counts on the back, sides, and front."
The man nods and starts to speak.
"Yes. Teams Orange, Blue, Green, Purple, Red, and Yellow. Karen will you pick the 6 teams ?"
"Well yeah. What else would I get paid for?" She says with a smile.
"Haha okay everyone go over to the vests."
I take Mark and push through the other people with him as a sheild. I hear mumbles but I don't mind it. We approach Karen and come to a halt. She picks the teams of the other people in front of us, soon getting to Mark and I. She stares for about 10 second solid, flipping her glance between us. She points at Mark.
"Alrighty you're red team because of your hair." She picks up a red vest and commands him to put it on. I reach for a red vest and she playfully slaps the top of my hand.
"No no sir. You're orange team. I wanna see you two in the end. If ya make it that far." Karen hands me a orange vest with a cheeky grin and moves to the next person.

--Slight Time Skip--

"Okay so now that everyone is done, group up with your fellow teammates." The man with the dad hat half shouts. I feel Mark's eyes on me and I turn to finally make eye contact with him. We stop and stare at each other until I feel a tug on my arm. I turn to see a girl with a blonde bun wearing a orange vest. She looks like she low-key just turned 18.
"Oh? You're hot. So let's stay alive this round."
She smiles a little and pulls me off to the other orange team member. The whole time, I felt Mark's gaze burning into my skull.
"Oh.. hey." A shy girl with a brown pixi cut gave me a little wave. She's the other orange team member.
"Oh quit being shy Stephanie. I've known you for 7 years and you still haven't loosened up a little." The
"Well at least I said hey this time. I usually don't talk Kaye ...." She snaps. She catches my glance and lowers her head. Karen claps her hands together trying to catch our attention.
"Alright everyone! You will be released into your sections of the map in 1 minute. Follow one of the workers to your team's assigned starting spot. My team is orange. You will get your guns at the red curtain."
Karen walks up to our group and leads us down multiple hallways.
When we get to the large red curtain, we stand in silence for about 10 solid seconds. Suddenly, a intercom rings on. We listen to hear a buff guy's voice.
"Okay here's some rules. No going off map or you're disqualified, no fighting, no food, and no drinks. Keep your shoes on too. If your group is ready and all guns are in hand, please press the button next to the curtain staff team."
Karen hands us each our gun then leans across the shy girl and presses the button.
Kaye turns to look at me.
"Like I said, you better not die fluffy."
"Did you just call me flu---"
I get cut off by the intercom coming back on, making me fall silent.
"All buttons have been pressed. We will be starting in 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2...1."
The curtains are pulled open and we run into the sort of maze. I look to my left and see a staircase down the hall. I decide not to stick with the other two seeing as it could drag me down. I start to run down the staircase when I hear a buzzer go off. I do a small jump and quickly aim my gun, my reflexes kicking in. Probably because I want to have a Olive Garden card to share with-
"Ladies and gentlemen," the intercom cuts back in. "That buzz was the sound you will hear when a player has been eliminated. You will not know who until the end of the round. No more interruptions, my apologies for not explaining that before."
I shrug and slightly lower my gun but not all the way. I sprint to the stairs and go up one step will little pressure. The stair squeaks but not too loud. So the stairs are rigged so that other players can hear? Wow this is pretty intense for a $75 Olive Garden card.
Slowly climbing the stairs, I come to a halt when I see the back of a confused yellow team member. They look around and I rush to the nearest corner to stay out of sight. I peek my gun around the corner and aim directly for his back, not feeling any sort of sadness for the poor unfortunate soul.

I set my index finger right on the trigger when the guy gets hit by another player. I peek further around the corner to see a red team memeber standing there with a smirk. The yellow team member walks off and goes down the stairs, not making eyecontact with me as he passes. I feel bad yet I turn my focus back onto the red team member that didn't notice my presence. I aim my gun at their chest as i continue to hover my finger over the trigger. I aim and look at the player. The red hair.
Mark.

Should I really shoot? Shouldn't I give him a chance? I continue to stare, not bothering to check my surroundings.
It would be really rude if I do shoot him. I wouldnt be able to forgive myself. I take a step foward, deciding to go through with it.
The sound of my shoe tapping the floor was audible enough for Mark to whip his head over into my direction. I swiftly throw myself back around the corner in the heat of the moment.
Fuck im such an idiot. I mentally beat the hell out of myself.
"Whoever you are, that wasn't sharp." Mark's deep voice grumbles from a few steps away from me.
No shit Sherlock.
Already knowing that Mark is going to get me, I come around the corner and show myself. Mark makes eyecontact with me and slightly lowers his gun, letting his guard down for a split second. I hear a shuffle beside me and turn around to see a middle aged woman in a Green lighted vest. In that moment, she points her gun at me and places her finger on the trigger. She was a split second from pressing it when her vest lights white. Her cheeky grin dissolves in an instant and we both turn to Mark. His gun is pointed at her, now lowering because he made the shot.
"Wow Jackaboy you better step up your game. She's my third kill." Mark says with a smile. Just then, the intercom goes off.
"Attention all players. Please proceed to the nearest exit of the arena. This round has ended. 8 players have been eliminated and there are now 10 players remaining."

The intercom cuts out and I let out a sigh of relief. So the arena isn't so big to the point where it will take long to find eachother. Me and Mark didn't need to kill eachother. I look at Mark, who is walking towards me, and gave him a smile. He ruffles my hair and nods to the stairs.

Time skip

The other 9 players and I wait for instructions on what next. We're back at the vest room where we started.
"We will be breaking you remaining 10 into two groups. Six players will need to be eliminated for the final 2v2 battle." The man from before states.
Karen puts me into a group with Kaye, the blonde from my old team, Stephanie, the shy girl from my old team, an older man who I believe was on Blue team, and a smaller girl who definitely was on yellow team.
I look across the room to see Mark staring at me with a weak smile. I honestly feel bad for him. He has people in their 40's that all aready know eachother. They all conversate while Mark stands and shuffles awkwardly. I chuckle as my teammates get Orange vests on. Since I have mine on already, I don't need to do the extra work.

Time skip

I've been walking around the arena for 5 minutes and the only people ive bumped into people on my team. Stephanie was eliminated, the younger lady from our team was eliminated, and three members from Mark's team were eliminated.
I still have yet to get a kill. After another minute of walking, I turn the corner and sit down. I doubt that someone will suddenly appear as soon as I get up. I lean my head back onto the wall and take a breath. I move my hair out of my face and close my eyes for a minute. My gun falls out of my hand and hits the floor with a thud.
"Heya Jackaboy. Isn't this the longest round of lazer tag ever?" A deep voice that I recognize says.
"Yeah. Why can't someone just be eliminated already?" I say with a sigh. I open my eyes quickly and see a frustrated Mark there.
"Good question. My teammate just hid. I don't know if this will end unless..."
I nod my head, understanding what he's getting at. We honestly don't want to kill eachother and what we're doing right now probably isn't allowed anyway.
"I understand," I say with a nod. "You need you shoot me." I say with a sigh.
Mark gives a chuckle and rolls his eyes.
"No silly!" Mark says, grabbing my gun from the floor in front of his feet. He points it at himself and shoots. "There isn't any other way." Mark says, his vest flashing white.