Life Without Them (On Hold)

Chapter 23: Nerf War!

"Alright, listen up, cause I'm only gonna explain this once. The name of the game is Nerf Wars. We'll separate into five teams and each start in a different apartment. All doors will be left open. From here, every sixty seconds a team will leave and pick which apartment they want to start in. After five minutes, Phil will randomly text a person on each team every thirty seconds to tell that team when they can begin searching. With the added bonus of the bouncy mats that you encountered in the hallway, the objective of the game is to be the last team standing. In a minute, I'll hand out the chest and back pads. When these get hit, a signal will be sent to my computer that Phil will be monitoring. If you get hit five times, you're out, and Phil will text you to head back here. There's extra ammo hidden in each apartment, so if you run out, you'll have to look for more. Everybody understand? Good. Once everyone is in their teams, you can follow me to get the vests. The teams are as follows: Team 1: Corey, Nathan, Luke. Team 2: Brandon, Axel, Sean. Team 3: Silas, Victor, Marc. Team 4: Raven, Gabriel, Owen. Team 5: North, Kota, munchkins and myself."

"But that's five people, Mommy," Cole argues.

"I know sweetie, but for this game, you and your sister count as one person."

"But that's still more than the other teams," Morgan comments.

"We have an odd number of people munchkin, and Gampa Phil doesn't want to play. Do either of you want to be sent to another team?"

"No!" they quickly say together.

"Good," I say with a strained smile. "Now that we have that settled, Team 1? Follow me."

After everyone has been outfitted in their vests, and synced up to to the monitoring system on my computer, and all the nerf guns have been handed out, it's time to play. Team 3 leaves first, prompting everyone to huddle in their groups to figure out which apartment they want to start in. Since North and Kota don't know the upstairs apartments as well as me and the twins, they leave it to us to decide where to hide. I choose Raven's apartment because if has the best tactical advantage, and once it's our time, we head out.

With the twins quiet, in game mode, we walk out of the apartment and into the hallway, bouncing slightly as we walk down the hall to Raven's open apartment. I guide everyone inside, and into the guest bedroom. The layout of the side apartments are all similar, a small hallway leading into an open living room, the kitchen and dining room to the left, balcony in front, and another hallway to the right. There are four doors down the hallway, two on each side. The right side has the bathroom and a small closet, the left has the two bedrooms; the guest room being the furthest down the hall. Once we're inside the room, everyone relaxes slightly while we wait for Phil to send the text.

"Hey Sang," Kota says quietly. "What happens if two teams choose the same apartment?"

"Everyone in this game, their minds work differently." I respond with a shrug. "Very few of us will have the same ideas and strategies in mind, that coupled with the different personalities on each team, it'll make it difficult for any group to have the same idea in mind. Take us for example. If my apartment were in play, and we could use it, you'd probably think that I'd change our location to there. It's home, we're more comfortable there, you'd be wrong. Raven's apartment is better from a tactical standpoint, only because his place has multiple hiding spots, and can connect to all the other apartments on the floor."

"What does that even mean?" North asks, confused.

"Tell me where Morgan is," I smirk.

"What do you mean? She's right- where did she go?"

Kota and North whip their heads around looking for Morgan, and Cole and I laugh lightly.

"Relax guys, she's still here. She's under the bed."

Kota gets down on his knees and flips up the blanket that skims the floor, looking underneath. "No she isn't."

"Yes I am, Daddy," her little voice reaches my ears.

"What the-"

"There's a trapdoor under the bed. We carved out a little crawl space, small enough for the twins to hide in. There's hideaways, and secret passages all throughout this floor."

"So that's why the apartments downstairs have a lower ceiling," North muses.

"Exactly." My phone buzzes in my sports bra and I pull it out slightly, looking at the illuminated message. "Morgan, time to go."

As Morgan crawls out, I motion for everyone to keep quiet and keep their guns at the ready as I open the door to the walk in closet. Once everyone is in, I shut the door behind us before moving to the back wall and pulling open the hidden door. This passage leads to Axel's apartment next door, the one next to mine.

The twins run ahead of us on silent feet as Kota and North trail behind me and we turn down each corridor.

"How-"

"Shh." I pull out my phone and type a message before showing it to him. The sound in these passages carry into the apartments. I erase it before typing out another one. I'm 95% sure Team 1 is in there.

Putting my cellphone back into my bra, we meet up with the twins at the end of the passageway. This door leads into the kitchens pantry. Putting my ear up against the wall, I hear slight movement on the other side. I grab North's arm, moving him into position so that he can hear it too. The look he gives me questions how I knew someone would be here. I just smirk in response as I open the smaller trap door at the bottom to let the twins in. Kota's eyes widen, but I give him a look that says to trust me.

No sooner than the twins going through the door, do I hear the pap pap pap, of the nerf gun going off.

"Ah, what?" Luke's strangled voice cries out. "Morgan!?"

Her light giggle floats through the wall right before two more shots go off and they're crawling back through the wall.

"There's trap doors!?" Luke shrieks. "Corey! Why didn't you tell me there were trap doors!" Bzzz "Aww man! So not fair!"

"What in the world are you hollering about?" Nathan's voice grunts. "Are you trying to give away our position?"

"I'm out!" Luke yells. "The twins are ninjas!"

"Luke? Nathan?" Corey's voice calls. "Why are you guys standing in the pantry?"

"Why didn't you tell us there were trap doors?" Luke questions.

"Wha-"

Corey cuts himself off at the last minute, and all goes silent. Time to get the rest of them out. I lift Morgan and Cole on top of North and Kota's shoulders, before sending Morgan and Kota down the hall so they have a clear shot from around the corner. North and Cole position themselves behind the door, while I scale the wall to get out of sight.

I'm halfway down the hall, and stretched out near the ceiling when the full door opens and a thin arm comes through the opening, firing off six shots in rapid succession. When nothing hits, Corey's head peaks around the doorframe before stepping out fully.

"They must've left after they got Luke out," Corey tells Nathan, who walks out right behind him.

I tell the twins to hold their fire until they're both in the hallway fully. Once the chest and back plate of Corey and Nathan's vest are revealed, I open fire, signalling for everyone else to do the same. I fire two clear shots at Corey's chest plate before they realize it's an ambush. Once they turn around, North and Cole fire off continuous shots, right before Morgan pops off a couple of shots from around the corner. Within moments, both of them get a text message signalling that they are out. The rest of us get a text message only a few moments later, once they've sulked out of the house, that Team 1 has been eliminated.

"One team down," I smirk.

"Three more to go," North finishes. "Let's do this."