Chasing Danger

2- my best friend Chris

I ducked behind a tree and took a deep breath. Paint splattered against the bark in front of me, so close I could see the pink droplets scatter into the wind. I waited crouched until the shots ceased before peaking my head out, aiming my rifle in the shooter's direction. Spotting his dark figure almost immediately, I pulled the trigger and hit him in the arm with my second shot.

"Out!" He yelled while putting his hands over his head, a burst of pink covering the sleeve of his sweatshirt. I watched as he walked off the field before sprinting to the rock wall ten feet away from me. Ducking down for cover, I kneeled next to Chris and caught my breath. 

"How many?"

"Two more." Chris reported. Two of them and two of us.

I signaled for Chris to go to the right while I rushed to the left. The opponents were huddled together in a bunker at the top of the hill, opening fire as soon as we were in range. Balls of paint narrowly missed my body as I sprinted through the woods. I ducked behind a tree and waited for an opening before continuing my advance, heart pounding with adrenaline.

I sprinted along the edge of the map and got to a bunker ten feet away from them. Chris was on the other side behind a tree, meaning we had them right where we wanted them. With most of their shots aimed at Chris, I snuck up behind and popped them right in the back.

"Out." One of the guys mumbled. They both stormed off the field while me and Chris gave each other a high five.

"So how many is that now? Seven wins for the day?" Chris asked, smiling under his paintball mask.

"I think so."

We strode off the field, happily holding our guns and gloating on the inside. It had been a while since we had played paintball, what with school and all, but it seemed like we hadn't lost our stride. We followed the rest of our teammates to the rest area and took off our masks. Even though it was the middle of fall, I was sweating from all of the running.

The rest of the team, whom were complete strangers to us, talked amongst themselves while me and Chris refilled our ammo.

"So how was last night?"

"Oh ya know, the usual." I told him. After spending an hour or so at Dave's, without any more contact with Tyler, we moved on to a club to dance.

"Glad you had fun. Ya know, without me."

I gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Don't even. You had a date last night. Speaking of, how'd it go?"

Chris shrugged. "Meh."

"Just meh?"

"I'm picky."

"That's an understatement." I laughed. Chris had been on numerous dates since we met a year ago, but none of them had lasted past the first one. With him looking quite similar to Enrique Iglesias, and being an engineer, he had more than his fair share of interest but apparently none of them were up to par.

"It's not like you're any better." Chris teased.

"Whatever." I laughed before closing up my ammo container. "Let's go kick some ass."

After a couple more hours of running around and shooting people, Chris and I headed back to the car and threw our gear in the trunk of his beat up Ford Taurus. I sat shotgun and propped my feet up on the dash, causing Chris to tsk at me.

"You're gonna ruin the dashboard, Aly. Can't you see the skuff marks?"

"Actually, under all of this dirt, I can't."