Capture the Flag

They all stood in one giant circle on the back lawn, face to face. No one moved or made a single sound, barely even breathing. Instead, it was nothing but the most perfect of intense silences. It was like looking at a giant ring of statues. But then one of them, standing at the head of the circle, fired a gun straight into the air. One little movement, one big explosion, then the whole field came to life. All at once, every single body lunged with one accord, away from the giant mansion and into the even bigger forest surrounding it.

War whoops and battle cries filled the midnight air as countless bodies of all type surged through the forest, fighting and searching. Tonight was Capture the Flag night at the Sorceress' magical estate, only this time, the game was far more complicated than usual. Instead of having two teams, there were six. These were the rules that had been agreed upon for this night's match. Every lieutenant that wanted to play was going to lead their own team. The groups that wanted to play were the vampires, the spider-women, the Confederates, the Dark Army, the robots and the werewolves. Each team competed against the other five to have the most flags in their possession by the end of the night.

This time, it wasn't about who could get one or two flags away, nor was it about who could claim all six (if the game ended in a tie, a mini match would be held between the two victors using one flag). Instead, the battle was going to last from midnight until dawn, and until dawn, everything was fair game. A flag could be retaken over and over again. The only time the flags could no longer be retaken was when that first ray of sunlight would rise up over the horizon. Then the game would end. But before that time?

"Brothers! To me!" Cash's southern roar seemed to thunder across the forest as he waved an arm proudly. Running up behind him obediently was a small squadron of other gray-clad soldiers, each wielding some type of firearm. Tonight, however, the bullets were magical ones. They did not kill, only harm, and based on what bullets were being used, they could cause anything from temporary sensory deprivation to temporary paralysis to 10 seconds of what felt like being electrocuted. Cash chose the bullets that inflicted pain. He took a shot at Arlyn, leader of the Dark Army. The man went down with a cry of agony, but his righthand man (woman) was quick to avenge him, using her glowing green bow and arrow to return the favor. Like with the bullets, tonight, the arrows would do no lasting damage, but they would still hurt, as Cash could attest to when one of those green arrowheads buried itself in his chest.

"Arrrrgh!" he cried in anger and pain, trying again to shoot at his attacker, but the pain messed up his aim and he missed his shot.

In the distance, the werewolf team was busy taking on a pack of vampires.

"This will be our victory, bloodsuckers!" the leader of the wolf pack snarled. The five other wolves behind him barked and howled in agreement.

"You wish, flea bag!" the lead vampire cackled. It was Calvin. Orange hair gleaming dimly in the moonlight, he lunged at the alpha wolf and did not hesitate to bite down as hard as he could. The wolf yelped in pain and his comrades quickly came to his aid, clawing mercilessly at Calvin's exposed back as he tried to subdue the alpha wolf. Morgan came to Calvin's rescue, grabbing two of the wolves by the scruffs of their necks and slamming their skulls together. They yelped in pain and when Morgan dropped them, they simply collapsed, unconscious. He repeated this gesture twice more and then all six of the wolves had been properly knocked out.

"Thanks, man!" Calvin grinned, white fangs stained dark with werewolf blood.

"Let's go," Morgan replied, pulling Calvin to his feet and leading him deeper into the forest. "If nothing else, we lay claim to the werewolf flag!" he growled lowly and Calvin had no issue agreeing to this. On their right and left, more vampires came running.