Back To You

Vacation For A Day

To the left was the laser tag gear hung up on the wall next to a single black door that led to the laser tag zone. To the right was an arcade filled with lights and games. Little kids and preteens filled the place.

"Come on, the next round is about to start." Cole said.

We walked over to the employee who looked to be in his mid-twenties standing next to the gear, explaining the rules to couple of boys no older than fourteen.

"These guns are for shooting lasers only, you do not hit your opponent with them." The worker said.

"Can we hit our teammate with them?" One of the kids asked and he and his friends laughed.

The worker looked at him unamused.

"You don't hit anyone with the laser gun." He said in a frustrated tone. "You'll pick up your censored vests here. You choose your color according to teams. After you get your guns, there will be a thirty second pause before the game begins for you all to get to your separate sides."

"What if someone shoots me before I get to my side?" A different kid asked.

"Then you're out, loser." The first kid spoke again.

"The censors on the vests don't turn on until the thirty seconds are up, so if you try to shoot someone in that time-span nothing will happen." The employee looked about ready to quit his job.

He looked to me and Cole.

"Did you get all of that?" He asked and we nodded.

I'm almost positive I heard him mutter 'I'm over this job.'

We all got our vests on. We all decided to split into three teams, Cole and I were one team and the group of boys split into two other teams.

I felt excitement flare up inside of me as I slipped on a blue vest. The boys' teams were red and green.

"Time starts now." The guy said as he opened the door.

We all rushed into the arena. The whole room was completely dark, only the glowing strips lining the edges of the floors and walls were visible. Our vests and guns also had glowing strips of tape on them.

"Nat, this way." Cole said disappearing behind a corner. I quickly followed behind him. We just made it in between two walls when our vests buzzed signaling the start of the game.

Cole and I looked at each other.

"If we go through the purple zone we'll be able to get to the green team from behind." I told him.

This wasn't my first time in the war zone. When we were younger Andrew and I always chose to come here for our birthdays.

He raised an eyebrow but grinned and nodded.

We went out from behind one of our walls and swiftly ran over to a different one, keeping our heads low. I peaked out around the edge to see if the coast was clear. I nodded at Cole and he ran past me to the next wall with me following closely behind. We kept repeating this process until about two minutes later when we made it to the purple zone. We ducked behind a wall with a hole in it like a window. I peered through the opening and looked around. I saw someone move past one of the walls and quickly dropped back down.

"There's a kid over there." I whispered to Cole.

He silently stood up and looked through the opening.

"Over there!" I heard a voice yell. Cole ducked down quickly before we heard zapping coming from the other team.

"We've been spotted!" Cole yelled.