M3RG3

Chapter 12

Tuesday

"Where are you going?" Lyla rubbed her eyes, staring at my suspicious looking duffel bag. Over the course of a week, Lyla had never slept in earlier than 11:30 and sometimes would go to bed 1 in the morning.

"Out," I muttered, making up another white lie. "Anthony said that I wasn't enthusiastic enough on my last field trip, so I'm going there again to 'learn properly'."

Lyla cocked her head, water dripping out of her dampened brown hair from a recent shower. "The Wastelands are an interesting place. If you don't mind, I would like to join this field trip."

"It's an individual thing, sorry," I replied, watching her lips turn down, disappointed.

"Okay, then when will you be back?"

"In a few hours." I gripped the strap of the duffel bag tightly, staring into her sapphire blue eyes that never lost its tightness and were exhausted from staying alert for a long time. "I think you should catch some sleep."

Lyla smiled bitterly, laughing at her own inside joke. "I'll try."

Fortunately, Karen had taken the time to briefly point out the 'blind spots' in the cameras. My escape route consisted of turning on my earpiece, listening to their instructions, sneaking towards the lower class elevator and finally escaping from the back door. The whole process would take an entire 15 minutes.

During this time, I had blatantly ignored Kyle at all costs, which included simulation practice, breakfast, lunch and dinner. When I saw him taking the same elevator or staircase, I had immediately darted away to take the latter.

I finally reached the ground floor. Once I crawled around the wall, I would be safe from the cameras. Hopefully.

The door was in my sight. I shoved it open, feeling the surge of freedom rushing through my veins. I streaked through the pavement, and into the night.

"I'm taking Arista," Oliver glared at Karen playfully, obviously knowing the benefit of having me on his team.

"Ladies first," Karen smirked as Oliver's shoulders visibly sagged in defeat.

"I thought we were having shooting practice today," I intervened, puzzled at their bickering.

"Before I filed a request to do something a bit more fun," Oliver's tone of fun sounded nothing like its original definition. "We're having a scavenger hunt."

I sensed a but coming. "But," Oliver trailed off to add even more suspense. "We'll have paintball guns. The moment you get shot, you're out. Last standing team that finds the most objects wins."

"What objects will we be scavenging?" I questioned, puzzled.

"Oh right, you're new. The objects you need to find are paintballs. Everyone starts off with three, but when you need a refill, you'll have to scavenge for it. Don't worry, they're placed in stashes of 5 in this entire area." At the phrase 'entire area', my mind instantly turned blank. The Wastelands was massive. There was no way I could run across the entire acre of land within a night.

"When he means the entire area, he means from the locomotive station to the neon yellow paint house, to that tower and that billboard." I quickly sent Karen a silent thanks after mentally marking down my parameters.

"Catch, everyone." The gun was heftier and harder to lift than the simulated guns that I could easily hold for six hours straight. I couldn't even imagine holding this for an entire hour, let alone one entire game.

"We're going to use the same teams as last time. Karen's team will have Arista." I could see Oliver's sulk under the dim glow of his flashlight. "Pass along the flashlights, will you please? I don't want anyone bumping into walls tonight."