NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34: The Flag
With the blue team finishing their base setup, once they were all in position, they waited for Tricky to show up. She looked around their base for a while to check if they were following the rules and see if they were ready. While anxious, everyone gave her a thumbs up and allowed her to return to the center of the field to tell Frost. After doing the same on the opposite side, the three soldiers who would act as hunters assumed their positions. They split up to cover all three major routes, guarding the stream and two paths with fewer trees on the sides where the players would most likely flank. Once they were all ready, the audience separated as well, with some going to the other side of the stream to sit on the edge of the stream so they wouldn’t take up much space. They weren’t obstructing the way, as they were tucked in a spot surrounded by rocks and trees. They still got a good view of the field, so when they took their seats, Frost pulled out a megaphone brought by one of the soldiers to announce the start of the game.
–Everyone is ready! Let the game begin!– Frost announced promptly, not wasting a single second, as he seemed just as eager as everyone in the audience. Since he shouted at the sky to be able to be heard by both teams, his voice fell a bit quiet at the ends of the forest, though the players were still barely able to notice that he had given the signal. With Ace paying close attention, as soon as he heard the mark, he turned to his team with a tenacious expression and gathered the courage to lead them to victory.
–Alright, you know your positions and roles, you just have to be patient and defend the base at all costs. You should only keep them busy while we wait for the best opportunity to sneak into their bases and steal the flag…– Ace ordered firmly and vigorously, not once folding under the pressure of all his teammates relying on him. He did seem to be withholding some emotion to be as clear and precise as Frost, which helped keep his team focused, instilling his fortitude and determination in them. However, he was quite determined to put his plan in motion, so much so that he immediately tried to run back to the stream with his main troop, but Scott prevented him from getting ahead of himself by grabbing his shirt and pulling him back before he could leave his cover.
–Wait, we shouldn’t attack right away, that’s what they are going to do. You said it best, we must be patient. Let’s just wait for them to arrive here and confront them…– Scott proposed resolutely, just as focused as Ace, although he seemed to be thinking of a plan of his own just in case. While Ace seemed adamant about following his not-yet-fully-formed plan, he was convinced to hear Scott out after seeing that he did trust his intuition. But since Scott clearly had other ideas in mind, Ace couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in his mind, just like Zoey, who leaned over Scott to listen to him closely.
–And then what?– Zoey asked curiously, catching Scott off guard, though he cleared her and Ace’s doubt with a simple smirk that apparently was all the assurance they and the rest of the team needed. While they stayed put and waited as Ace ordered, Scott began giving the instructions, which did create a bit of conflict between them to claim leadership. But as they had been through the same predicament many times before, it ended like always, with Scott getting most of the authority but sharing it with Ace and Zoey, exchanging ideas to form an even better plan in the little time they had before their opponents arrived.
On the other side of the field, the red team, led by Shade, was fully prepared when Frost started the game. Once he gave the signal, everyone ran straight to the stream, all carrying swords, with Shade’s main lackeys keeping the heavier weapons to themselves. They did leave three people behind to guard the flags, one of them being Chappy, who was just as thrilled to play as his nervous teammates, meaning not at all. He wandered around the base impatiently, just waiting for the rest of the team to win the game for him, though it seemed like most of the red team wasn’t eager to fight alongside Shade’s group.
Regardless, they were forced to play, although it seemed like just from the brutes’ strength and size, they only needed five people to defeat the blue team, those five being Shade’s friends, who led the group fearlessly to find anyone they could beat up. They were determined to fight, and it showed, much to the audience’s amusement, as they got to see them charge through the stream, heading directly to the other base without bothering with the flanks. But while they did save time by taking the direct path, they soon encountered the first armed soldier, right in the middle of the stream, blocking their way as he quickly noticed them making an advance.
Without hesitating, the hunter opened fire, but as he didn’t have a specific target, he just sprayed at Shade’s group to scare them off. He actually seemed quite nervous to have to face the muscles of the red team, mainly because they actually looked like grown soldiers, capable of winning a one-on-one fight with one mere punch, unlike their teammates, who immediately took cover once they heard the gunfire. Since neither team had a shield, they either had to dodge or hide from the hunter’s bullets, and while the others did the latter, Shade’s group kept charging at the hunter, who missed all his shots by aiming higher than he was supposed to. He panicked as they approached fast, but once they got close enough for him to get a direct shot at them, Shade changed his approach.
Showing no fear of being shot, Shade’s friends distracted the hunter by surrounding him. He got a shot on both Kenny and Grant, but as soon as they were hit, they realized the hunter’s gun was loaded with soft bullets that only left a bruise on their arms. Seeing this, Shade actually got excited, pulling out the same heavy mace he used in previous games, which appeared to have surprised Tricky as that weapon wasn’t found in the arsenal for this game. But before anyone could realize that he had brought an external weapon, Shade vigorously hurled the mace right at the hunter, flying the few meters between them at full force right as the soldier set his sights on him. But before he got to pull the trigger, the mace struck him right in the face, knocking him out instantly, as well as a couple of teeth.
The audience gasped in horror after seeing one of their own get taken out so violently in front of them. They were distraught to see the hunter lying on the low water of the stream, which began washing away the blood pouring out of his mouth and nose. Shade’s mace did quite the damage to his face, and it seemed like the weapon wasn’t even in a good state. But after seeing how deadly he could be with a subpar weapon, the audience turned their shock around to begin cheering for him. He picked up the hunter’s gun with a fierce grin on his face, flaunting it as he turned to the audience to show off with a smirk. But as they grew louder than the previous gunfire, they alerted the blue team of Shade’s presence, giving them an approximate location, and prompting them to take cover and wait for them to show up.
After beating one of the three soldiers, Kenny and Grant ran back to the base to respawn, but Shade, Cory, and Baby kept running towards the enemy base. The other seven teammates that were accompanying them looked remorseful for something that they didn’t even do, but as they didn’t say anything, they got on the move with their leader. As they caught up to Shade, Baby, and Cory, the other red players passed by the unconscious hunter, looking back apologetically while the audience kept cheering. Even Frost seemed impressed by the red team’s high energy and aggressiveness, though he lost track of the game and focused on something else right as the entire audience lost sight of the red team.
Shade’s team was about to enter the small tree section before the blue team’s base, but as they were too straightforward with their approach, they ruined the surprise factor with their loud footsteps, giving away their arrival immediately. Ace and his teammates on the frontline remained patient, with him checking on the rest of the team to soon give the order. But right as Scott was about to whisper something to him, Shade’s group appeared sooner than expected, entering their base aggressively, ready to strike anyone in sight, which just so happened to be the first line of defense.
–NOW!– Ace shouted to alert his team of Shade’s arrival, although everyone noticed immediately as Baby held the fallen soldier’s gun and began blasting away mindlessly at their base. At first, everyone cowered behind the barriers they had set up, making sure they didn’t leave cover to avoid getting killed. But after hearing Ace’s signal, the two players at the back began shooting back arrows to distract the enemy.
The blue team soon discovered that the bullets coming at them were nothing but softballs, which did seem to hit hard as they began denting the wooden planks they had set up in front of the flags. But as the attack caught them by surprise, the blue players took a while to compose themselves in all the chaos, remaining safe behind their barriers while Shade, Baby, and Cory advanced through their base. Shade and Cory charged directly at the two archers since they were right behind the flags, with Baby staying right outside the trees in the front to shoot at any blue player that popped out. Since they were all hiding, Shade, and Cory just ran through the middle direct path to the flags, unaware that Zoey, Scott, Ace, and another teammate were waiting right behind the first barriers.
Right as they passed by them, Zoey and Scott jumped out to attack Shade and Cory. They had to turn around to confront them, blocking their swords just in time as they struck from both sides. But as Baby was right in front with his gun cocked, before Zoey and Scott could get a chance to properly fight Shade and Cory, they had to jump over the barriers to begin running away. They split up to flank Baby, who couldn’t decide on who to shoot, letting them escape as they disappeared into the trees behind. They ran right past the other red players, who were just now joining the fight. But since they didn’t have time to react to them, they kept going forward to help out Shade and his friends.
Ace and the other blue player on the frontline tried to jump out and run away as well, though Shade and Cory were now aware and reacted quickly, blocking their path with their mace and axe, respectively. Ace instantly became anxious as he lost his window to run with Zoey and Scott, but as the rest of the red team arrived at his base, he quickly regained his tenacity, determined to stand up to Shade and defend his base. Before they got a chance to attack Ace, Cory and Shade were surprised by Jumbo and the second line of defense right in front of the flags. They popped out to start charging before the red players got too close, and with Ace leading them, they began clashing with Shade’s friends, prioritizing them as they had the advantage in weaponry and strength.
Soon after all the red attackers had gathered at the front of the blue base, they were overwhelmed by all their opponents coming at them, not giving them time to react. The red players hesitated to advance, but after seeing that Kenny and Grant had returned to the fight to help out their friends, the rest of the team saw no other option than to fight alongside them. They were outnumbered by one, but as Baby had a better fire rate than the two blue archers, it pretty much balanced the match. And with both teams putting up a fight, the small blue base quickly became a chaotic battlefield as it looked like the blue team had a disadvantage.
Despite not expecting such a large force to come to attack them, Ace was steadfast, refusing to back down to buy Zoey and Scott as much time as possible. They had already escaped the base, running towards the other side of the field after regrouping right before the stream. But instead of taking the straight path like the enemy, they instead took the route on their right, staying hidden in the trees until they stumbled across a thin dirt path that cut across the field. It was darkened by the numerous leaves above, but as the trees around the path were taller, it left enough room for them to run below and follow the alternative route to the red base. While their vision was still obscured, Scott and Zoey kept running without stopping for a single second. They didn’t even exchange any words or look back, though they did seem nervous for their teammates back at the base.
However, they had to focus on their own problems as they reached the halfway point, where there was a larger amount of trees and vegetation, which only made it harder to see what was in front of them. Scott quickly noticed a shadowy figure a couple of minutes ahead, prompting him to halt immediately and ordering Zoey to do the same before they both took cover behind one of the trees on the side of the path. Zoey was confused, but she stayed quiet as Scott peeked out to see who was roaming around ahead. He looked back to check if they were being followed, but since it looked like everyone was busy fighting at the base, they had to hurry up to steal the flag as soon as possible. He turned back to get another look ahead, which was when he noticed that the figure was now approaching them, although it didn’t seem aware of their presence, at least not yet.
–Who is it? Is Chappy coming for us?– Zoey asked in concern, gripping her two swords tightly in anticipation. Scott calmed her down by holding her wrist and pulling her closer to get a better view of the person who walked in their range of vision, which is when she got to see that it was one of the obstacles they would inevitably encounter.
–Look, it’s a soldier. We have to take him down as soon as possible. We should already be at their base by now…– Scott replied quietly, almost whispering as the hunter got closer. Despite agreeing with him, Zoey couldn’t help but turn nervous after seeing the hunter’s gun as he held it ready to open fire, although it seemed like it didn’t scare Scott as much as her.
–How are we supposed to fight him? He’ll shoot us in an instant… We should just distract him while one of us steals the flag– Zoey argued in distress, a little apprehensive of Scott’s idea, who seemingly ignored her as he thought of a plan of action while remaining surprisingly calm.
–No, we better take him out now, so he doesn’t get in the way later…– Scott replied adamantly before proceeding to do as he suggested without even waiting for Zoey. She didn’t get to react when he jumped out of cover and rushed straight at the soldier, alerting him immediately. She followed him reluctantly, but as the hunter responded to his sudden moves with a barrage of bullets in his direction, she had to stay back and to the side to not get hit.
While the hunter didn’t have a lock on Scott, he realized he wasn’t as close as he thought, taking the opportunity to cover behind a tree again while he still could. The disoriented hunter hesitated to approach, but then he began running towards Scott while Zoey watched from a couple of trees behind. Before he got to the tree where Scott was hiding, she popped out to distract the hunter, running straight at him in a similar manner, and as he opened fire, she took cover behind a tree as well. The soldier shifted his attention to her for a brief moment, but before following Zoey, he quickly checked the tree right next to him to catch Scott. However, as he was no longer there, the soldier looked around in confusion until he noticed that Scott was running away in the distance.
Leaving Zoey behind, Scott continued running through the path towards the red base. But as he was running in a straight line and was still in the hunter’s sight, he began getting shot at. The soldier tried to hit a couple of blind shots before fully concentrating to aim properly and take the shot right before Scott could turn a corner and disappear. But right as he locked his sight on Scott’s back, Zoey quietly ran up behind him and tried to tackle him. Since the hunter was much bigger, Zoey first kicked him on the back of his knees to make him lose balance, and before he could turn around, she jumped onto his back to bring him down. She pushed his gun away, and after getting on top of him as she did with Scott in their duel, she pulled out her two daggers to slash the soldier multiple times.
The hunter screamed in horror as Zoey kept ferociously striking him over and over again until he gave up on trying to resist. In reality, he didn’t even make the effort to fight back; in fact, it looked like he enjoyed being straddled by a younger girl half his size. But as he began giggling in joy, he and Zoey shared an awkward moment where she realized she hadn’t hurt him one bit while he had already accepted defeat long ago. She didn’t know what to do after beating him, but as he tried to smile to not make the situation too uncomfortable, he caused the opposite effect, leaving Zoey sickened, prompting her to punch him in the face to knock him out. Finally, the second hunter was out, and with a proud grin on her face, Zoey made her way to Scott as fast as possible, forgetting about the soldier’s gun in her elated moment.
While she did leave an important tool behind, Zoey quickly caught up to Scott right as he was about to cross the stream through the curved section, barely sneaking into the other side without the audience in the middle noticing. The other soldiers were left to wonder what was going on, as there wasn’t anything happening around them. They could definitely hear the struggle at the blue base, but apart from a couple of red players running back to respawn, they didn’t get much to be entertained with. But after Scott and Zoey reunited, they would soon get more action as they were about to enter the red base. Scott almost left the last bit of cover they had to step into the enemy base, but as Zoey was cautious, she stopped him to first scope out the area.
The red base seemed a lot more robust than theirs since the flags were covered by a large wall in front, which seemed to be Shade’s strategy most of the time. It did seem a little empty, but then Scott and Zoey noticed that three players were guarding the flags behind the wall, hiding right next to them. Since the wall only covered the front side of their base, Scott and Zoey carefully approached the flags from both sides, and although they were completely silent, they were inevitably caught by the flag guards as they didn’t have any cover. But luckily for them, the guards were lazily sitting behind the walls with their weapons lying around. They were in the middle of what looked like their sand castle building when Scott and Zoey barged in without warning, though Chappy immediately recognized them and assured his teammates about the situation with a calm gesture.
–Hey guys! How is it going?– Chappy asked casually as he stood up to greet Scott and Zoey with a big, welcoming smile. They laughed for a second before joining them behind the walls in front of the flags, though they remained a bit skeptical as they noticed the other two red players next to Chappy, who were just relaxing and continuing to build their sand castle.
–What are you doing?– Zoey asked with a chuckle, distracting Chappy and the others while Scott subtly inched closer to the flags, even managing to grab one, although Chappy showed no concern for it.
–Sand castles! Wanna join?– Chappy replied playfully, getting a polite negative gesture from Zoey as an answer, as well as a hearty giggle before staring at the other two red players. They noticed her looking and waived in a friendly manner, but after returning the gesture, she turned her attention to Scott, who was about to pull one of the flags from the ground to steal it, though he looked apprehensive about it.
–So, you are not going to play?– Scott asked in a mix of confusion and amusement, to which Chappy shook his head with a carefree smile before leaning on one of the flags as if he owned them.
–Go ahead, take one of them, I just want this to be over… I will kill myself if Shade wins, so just make sure you beat him up good. Now go already!– Chappy responded lightheartedly before urging Zoey to take one of the flags, which he strapped to her back as it was small but heavy enough to carry in hand. Scott made sure she had secured the flag, but before leaving, he fist-bumped Chappy and waved at the other players who allowed him and Zoey to waltz in and out of their base.
–Thank you! We’ll be back soon enough!– Zoey exclaimed gleefully as she walked away with Scott, returning right where they came from. Chappy and his two teammates waved at them until they left their sights, and once they were gone, they resumed their game, now creating a moat around their castle with the mud nearby.
Once they were out of the red base, Scott and Zoey exchanged a relieved smile after the surprisingly easy steal of the first red flag. But with no time to lose, they started heading back, taking the same path from before as it was now clear of any soldier, being able to return safely and quickly to their base without bumping into anyone. But as Zoey had shoved the hunter’s gun into a bush, they didn’t see it when returning to their base. And as much of a pleasant surprise as it was to be given the flag for free, Scott and Zoey returned to a stunningly gruesome scene after entering their base.