The Masked War

Chapter 7

Though the roof itself was enormous, the flat area of it, as in the area without the old, green tiles was quite small, with barely enough room for the other team and Fox and I, along with the stack of paintball guns heaped in a pile behind the boy.

But, despite the fact that they could easily eliminate us, they make no movement to pull the trigger, to let the paintball dart out of their guns and remove us from the game. Why? I think, frustration lacing my internal voice. Are they playing around with us?

Unless...

My eyes dart to the paintball guns.

They don't have paintballs.

Despite the surge of confidence that rushes through me at the thought, a voice in the back of my head wonders, What if you're wrong, Bryony? What then?

I pause, my body frozen as it leans forward, about to take a step towards the boy standing before the paintball guns.

Fuck it, I scoff. It isn't like I'll die.

It'll hurt, the voice reminds me.

Annoyance rushes through me as I take a step forward, hissing to the voice, Shut the fuck up.

As the doubt dissipates from my mind, a smirk curls on my lips. Stopping as I stand only a few centimeters before the barrel of his gun, adrenaline ricochets through my body, my confidence returning to me. As I make eye contact with the boy, something flickers within his pale blue eyes.

Panic?

Praying that it was, I drew out, "You don't have paintballs, do you?"

He sneers at me, "And how would you know that?"

I grin at him, and a fire sparks within me, reckless and wild.

I lean forward, pressing my head to the gun. The cold metal sends chills through my skin, but I don't shiver. As the barrel nestled into my skin, it pushed against my skull. Ignoring the pointed glares from Fox that I could feel drilling into my back, I stare at the boy, grinning as I say, "Then shoot me."

His eyes widen, as his hand shakes ever-so-slightly. This time, when his confident gaze flickers, I can see exactly what it is.

Panic.

I'm right.

Taking advantage of his instance of fear, I lean back, removing my head from the gun as my hand darts out, wrapping around the cold barrel of the gun. Snatching it from his unsuspecting fingers, I secure my hold on it as I twist around, my body giving my leg momentum as it crashes into the boy's head. A grunt escapes from his lips as he staggers backwards, his eyes distant, clearly dazed. Setting my leg on the ground, I pause, waiting for him to pass out.

Fall unconscious. It would make my job so much easier.

Instead, he clumsily regains his balance as he growls, "Fine, you were right. It doesn't mean we can't crush you."

I cock my head at him. He was still clearly off balance, and dizzy from the hit, yet he still wanted to fight. Sighing, I think to myself, Whatever. I'll just knock him out.

Swinging out, my fist strikes him right in the nose, and a sickening crunch rang through the silent rooftop as he stood there, his ruined face dazed for a moment, staring in shock at the blood dripping from his twisted nose. A waterfall of blood.

Then, he crumpled to the ground, a heap of flesh, bones and blood on the crushed limestone covered ground. Leaning over him, I grab two paintball guns, the cold metal freezing my palm.

Slightly out of breath, I glance at Fox, and nearly flinch from his glare at me, like that of death itself.

The angry message in his eyes is clear: What the fuck were you thinking?

He glances at the girl, a cruel smirk on his lips as he says, "Stay out of our way. Otherwise, she'll kick your ass, too."

Before him, the girl only trembled, looking at us with wide eyes.

Tossing a gun to Fox, he catches it in his left hand, his annoyed eyes fixed on me.

As we make our way down the stairs, he growls to me, "What the fuck were you doing?"

Glaring at him, I step off the last stair turning to face him on the dark intermediate landing, another stairwell behind us, leading to the second floor.

"I was saving our asses!" I snarled.

He faces me, his back to the door that would lead out into the third floor's hallway.

"Because saving us means pressing your head to a gun," he snapped, his eyes livid. "We could've been eliminated, Bry!"

I nearly flinch at the nickname. Bry. Only my parents called me that.

Shaking it off, I continue, "And yet here we are, not at gunpoint because of what I did!"

"Yet you didn't have to press your head against the fucking gun!" he growled, his voice rising. His eyes livid, he roared, "You could've done everything you did without having to do that!"

"It was the only way I could've confirmed my theory!" I snarled. "I did what was needed."

He turns his head to the side, his eyes a bit distant as he hisses, "Shut up."

Fury races through me, burning my insides like a hot fire as I demand, "What the fuck -"

Suddenly, he slams us into the wall, his hand pressed against my mouth, muffling my voice. Shadows fall over us in the small corner between the wall and the door, hidden from the view of the small glass panel towards the top of the dark door. His head is turned, eyes wide as he focuses on the glass panel, as though he was searching for something. I glare at his turned head, squirming beneath his hold.

"Stop moving," he breathes, glancing down at me.

Annoyance floods through me, but I cease my movements, our breaths the only sound within the dark landing.

Then, I hear it.

Thundering footsteps race down the hallway, the sound of gunshots following them.

I cease my breaths as I stay completely still, frozen beneath Fox's warm body. My muscles tense as the sounds become louder, and I grab Fox's arm just as the makers of the sounds come into view; a pairing races for the end of the hallway as a team with guns sprint after them, aimlessly firing.

Paintballs splatter on the white walls of the hallway as they run by, painting the walls with exotic colors. Their sounds fade as Fox lowers his hand from my mouth, his eyes still locked on the hallway, his body tense.

"Okay," he breathes. "I think we're safe."

He turns his head to glance down at me, and, now that the danger had passed, I realized just how close we were.

Slipping out from between him and the cold wall, I glance at the door, focusing my eyes on something other than him as a light blush blankets my cheeks.

"Let's go," I mumble, stepping out into the hallway. "We still have paintballs we need to find."

i want to go swimming hehe - E