Thursday, July 11th, 2013
My legs ache as we climb the stairs to the dorms. The mere thought of running around and trying to shoot people with a bulky laser gun makes me want to shrivel up into a ball. Any other time I'd be excited, but with everything that has happened, I feel more trepidation than anything else.
Those of us who had been drenched in caramel break from the group and head to the showers, leaving behind Gina, Dave, and I to sit on the couch.
"I don't think I deserved to miss out on having caramel dropped on my head." Gina frowns. "I fucked up and didn't get a single food right. Ramsay should have the person tasting the food sit in the chair, not their teammate."
Dave shrugs. "Nah, it feels more intense when someone else is depending on you. It also makes you feel shittier when you fail."
Gina picks up a pillow from the couch and squeezes it to her chest.
"Ugh, I know... I feel awful for failing Red," she laments. "Plus, Taylor and Abel got perfect scores but both got drenched by their teammates. Life is so unfair!" She finishes with a dramatic flail of her arms.
I keep waiting for someone to mention Pietro storming out of the building, but it never comes up. Maybe Dave and Gina are waiting until we all can discuss it. Or maybe they're trying their best to forget it like I am.
Once the showered chefs rejoin us, the blue team members get dressed into something comfortable for our laser tag reward. I pull on a pair of blue jeans and a dark blue tank top with some black high top shoes.
I rejoin the chefs in the dorm and look around. Kalyani looks lovely wearing a red top with jean shorts and white flats while Dave has on a blue t-shirt with white stripes, cargo shorts, and white sneakers. My eyes come to rest on Abel, who's wearing a simple dark green shirt and black pants with what appear to be black combat boots. I do a double-take. Since when did Abel seem the type to own combat-anything?
When everyone is ready, we head downstairs as a group and exit Hell's Kitchen.
The sickeningly sweet smell of caramel hits my nose. The hot July sun has melted the caramel to where it's pooling up in sticky puddles all over the front steps. Sous Chefs Christina and Scott wait outside with buckets, mops, and towels.
"Come on ladies, you have lots of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. The blue team will be expecting their lunch when they get back!" Christina reminds the red team cheerfully as she shoves a mop into Gina's hands.
I mouth 'sorry' at the girls and Gina waves her hand dismissively.
"Go have fun!" she cheerfully says as she wiggles the mop in my direction. I smile and wave bye to the women.
Our limo driver from the first day we'd arrived waits for us with the door to the limo held open. I smile at him as I slide into the seats.
"Hey, Paul!" I greet him. He lights up.
"Hey, good to see you again. There are a lot fewer of you now, huh? Startin' to get tough!"
I nod in agreement and he closes the door before heading to the front and starting the limo.
The ride is ten minutes long before we pull up outside of a warehouse. Kalyani looks confusedly out the window.
"These are what laser tag buildings look like?" She examines the plain-looking exterior. A large sign sporting 'Laser Adventure' hangs above the entrance.
"Must be," Abel says as he opens the door to the limo and holds it open for us to exit before Paul can do so.
Once we're all out of the limo, Paul drives off and leaves us standing in front of the building. A teenager with a 'Laser Adventure' shirt steps out from the main entrance.
"Are you guys the Hell's Kitchen chefs?" he asks in a nasal voice.
"We are," Dave affirms. The kid waves his arm and leads us into the building.
The entrance has a greeting desk at the front, restrooms to the left and a few pinball machines and arcade games to the right. There's an unassuming black door directly next to the greeting desk. A group of six teenage boys and two girls surround one racing simulator, cheering on their friend.
"There's a birthday party going on for a few sixteen-year-olds that will be joining you today. They've already decided on playing with teams of two. Hope you don't mind," the kid says.
I groan. "Guys, I won't be much use. My legs are insanely tired after last night. I should sit out."
Dave pouts. "That won't be very fun. Then one of us will be missing a partner!"
"You don't need to sit out, (Y/N). I'll cover you," Abel offers.
"You can't possibly cover for me, I'm practically dead weight," I object.
"It'll help keep things fair."
Fair?!
"Pfft, yeah, right. OK then Abel, let's do it. But don't say I didn't warn you," I say incredulously.
The nasal-voiced teen– who had been waiting next to the black door beside the desk– opens the door and ushers us inside. He shouts for the birthday-goers and they rush inside after us.
The room is almost completely dark. Once we're all inside, the teen flips a switch and the room fills with purple ultraviolet light from above. As soon as the lights come on, so do the vests along the wall. There's a large steel door two stories tall that glows ominously under the UV lighting at the furthest end of the armory.
Those of us wearing white or light-colored clothes light up purple under the UV rays. I glance at my attire. Aside from my white shoelaces, I'm still quite invisible. Of all of us, Abel seems the most fittingly dressed.
Every two feet there's a long metal bar with a vest hanging from it through the armholes. The vests have a large glowing green target in the center, two lights on the shoulders, and one large green target on the back. All of the lights are flashing rhythmically. Directly above the vests are the laser guns, mounted on the wall. Not all the guns look the same, though. There appear to be laser rifles, laser shotguns, and even a laser sniper rifle.
"So, go on and pick any vest and put it on," the kid instructs us. "You'll notice the green lights, those are your weak points. Since we're playing for an hour, you each have to be hit on all four spots to be out. When hit, the green light will flash red. As soon as we begin, you'll have one minute to get to a position before your guns will activate. You'll know the minute is up when your vest stops flashing green and turns solid green instead."
"How big is the building?" Abel asks the boy.
He shrugs. "Ehh, about three thousand square feet?"
Abel scopes out the rack of guns with a contemplating look.
"Pick a gun now that you've got your vests on, but please don't fight over them," the kid says exasperatedly.
The teenagers scramble to the wall to pick out their guns. Abel reaches an arm right over the top of their heads and lifts the sniper rifle from the wall above them.
"Pick something short to mid-range, OK?" he instructs me.
I look at the wall again, uncertain as to what gun would be best.
"Does the laser shotgun have spread?" Abel asks the teen.
"It does, it's probably the widest shot of the guns, but the range is short."
"Do you think you could cover me with the shotgun?"
"I think I could attempt to cover you, yeah?" I say hesitantly.
Abel pulls the shotgun from the wall and hands it over to me. I link it up to my vest by the attached cord and the gun lights up green. Below the rear sight, there's an LED displaying a digital six.
"Each gun has ammo. In order to reload you have to press and hold the button directly below your LED display. As you hold the button, the LED display will tick upwards until it hits your gun's max capacity. You don't have to fully reload before you can fire again, in case you're wondering. Lastly, a screen right above the entrance will show how many players are still alive. Now, who's ready to get shootin'?" the kid says excitedly.
Most of the teenagers plus Dave raise their guns in the air and whoop.
The instructor pulls a lever beside him. Smoke spills out across the floor as the sound of steam hissing from hydraulic gears fills the room. Slowly, either side of the gigantic steel door roll into crevices in the wall. Inside, the room is black and we are faced with three hallways– one to the left, one to the right, and one straight down the middle.
Abel is beside me with his sniper rifle over his shoulder. He stands taller than everyone else around, and thus watches them all scurry into the darkness. Dave sprints out the door, leaving Kalyani to shout after him and attempt to keep up.
Abel shoots me a glance.
"You ready?"
I nod determinedly. Let's do this.