Chapter 290

“It’s so beautiful,” I gasp, on my knees in front of the newly-opened case that holds my paintball sniper rifle, which is matte black and obviously brand spanking new. The helicopters have just pulled away and we’re in a secluded, thick patch of trees that’s growing on a plateau halfway down the cliff edge of a ravine.

“Could you try to be a little less of a girl?” Rafe murmurs at my side, looking around with a grimace to see whether any of our teammates have noticed me pressing my fingertips delicately to my lips in awe. “For like, one day?”

“I can try,” I sigh, dropping my hands but otherwise ignoring him as I reach out for the gun, picking it up and inspecting all of the details, kind of impressed by the quality of the scope. “Where are the bullets?”

Rafe reaches for another box, pulling out a pair of binoculars and then a couple of magazine cartridges attached to a belt. He hands them all over to me.

“Accessories!” I gasp, putting the gun down and slinging the binoculars over my neck before reaching for the belt, grabbing it and starting to work it around my waist.

Rafe laughs and stops me, helping me rearrange it so that the belt drapes neatly over one shoulder and down to my other hip. “So you don’t have to lay on it,” he murmurs.

“Thanks,” I say, beaming up at him. “Um, can I practice with this?” I pick up and hold out the rifle, which is satisfyingly light.

“As much as you want,” Rafe says, rather passively, standing up and gesturing for me to come with him. “But we need to get everyone in place first. So, patience, all right, trouble?”

“Yes sir yes sir,” I mutter, standing and taking the gun with me, trying to hide my disappointment. Rafe smirks at me and then together we walk through the little patch of forest over to the rest of the team, who are being briefed by Jackson. When we wander over, several cadets raise their eyebrows at the huge gun in my hands, but I just grin at them, knowing that they’re jealous.

“All clear?” Jackson asks, looking around at the group.

As one, they all chant “yes sir!” and break into two smaller groups with Jesse and another Cadet standing to the side.

“What’s happening?” I whisper to Rafe, curious.

“Two strike teams,” he murmurs, bending to the side a little towards me as he gestures towards the two groups of Cadets. “One advance and one reserve. And then Jesse,” he says, pointing to our cousin, who is crouching by the supplies and strapping on his own set of weapons, “is advance scout.”

“Really?” I ask, looking up at Rafe. “All by himself?”

“That’s what he’s trained for,” Rafe says, grinning down at me. “Well, not as a scout – that’s different. But Jesse can move fast and undetected alone, so we’re using him for special projects today.”

I’m still turning over in my mind what the hell special projects means when my eyes turn towards the last Cadet standing alone with Jackson. “Who’s that?” I ask, raising my chin towards him.

“Our singular ambassador,” Rafe says, sounding a little guilty about it. “The other teams are going to negotiate more, but Jacks and I…” he hesitates, glancing at me, “well, we kind of just decided that going scorched earth was going to be more effective.”

I laugh a little, staring up at him. “Seriously?”

He shrugs. “We have a strong team – we’re playing to our strengths.”

“Well, what about you?” I ask, readjusting the rifle slung over my shoulder. “And Jackson? And me?”

“I’m in command,” Rafe says, turning and pointing through the trees towards what looks like a little brown shack that I didn’t notice before. “Going to be directing the troops by radio from in there. And Jackson –“

“Is going with you,” Jacks says, sauntering over to us, slipping a tiny earpiece over his right ear and holding one out to Rafe and to me. “Come on, Clark. Time to get you in position – the Game’s already started.”

I look wide-eyed at Rafe and then back at Jacks as I slip my earpiece on. “Seriously?” I say. “That’s all the briefing I get?”

“You don’t need to get briefed,” Rafe says, clapping me on the shoulder and turning towards the command shack with the reserve group as Jesse and the other group head towards the cliffside. “You just take commands and let us do the thinking.”

“I hate that,” I scowl, glaring at my brother, my hands tightening on the strap of my gun.

“Welcome to the army, sis,” Rafe says, smirking at me and patting me on my cap before turning away, getting started.

“Come on,” Jacks says, grinning at me and nodding towards the forest and the cliffside climbing at our back. “Let’s get you set up.”

I sigh, but nod, following my mate.

On the way, Jackson – I think sensing my frustration, my need to comprehend instead of just following orders – explains some things to me. “The whole point is to see which team is standing in the end,” he says, walking swiftly and obliging me to trot to keep up. “We can either kill everyone by getting paint on them –“

“With guns?” I ask, glancing up at him.

“Or other weapons,” he says with a shrug. “Paint-coated dulled knives, the like. The point is – you get paint on you, you’re dead. We’re watched from above,” he says, pointing up towards the sky, “with cameras. If you die you’ll get a notification to clear the field.” He taps on his earpiece, making it clear where that notification will come from.

“Oh,” I say, glancing up as we reach the wall of rock behind us and Jackson – mountain goat that he is – starts up a very narrow trail that I might not have noticed without him here. I start up after him. “What happens if we kill everyone?”

“Then we win,” Jackson says over his shoulder. “Last team standing takes the victory.”

“So, what’s the strategy?” I ask quietly, looking out over the landscape as we climb. It really is a deep ravine that we’re fighting in, with two sheer cliffsides facing each other and a river at the bottom. Each of the cliffsides has many plateaus built into them like the one that our helicopters landed on. An interesting battlefield, for sure – but one that’s certainly built to favor my own brand of sniping. I smirk, pleased and wondering if the Captain trained me in part with this in mind.

“Our strategy,” Jackson says, continuing to hike up the steep path, “is to let everyone come to us.”

“Really?” I ask, focusing on his powerful shoulders as he moves ahead of me. “Why?”

“Because we’re little,” he says, grinning over his shoulder at me. “And we have you. We’re going to let the enemy come to us and shoot them as they approach.”

“Oh,” I say, my eyes going wide. Because, I mean, I knew they put a lot at stake to get me – but I still didn’t know I was so central to the plan.

Jackson and I finally reach what looks like another plateau, though this one is much, much smaller, and I’m panting a bit as I look around. Jackson, annoyingly, waits for me to catch my breath, looking completely un-winded.

“Our worst case scenario is if the other two teams are clever enough to band together and assault our team together. We won’t last long under that.”

“Oh,” I say, looking up at him, kind of worried now. “So that’s what they’ll do?”

“We think tensions and mistrust will run high enough between the teams that even if they do, it won’t last. Someone will start shooting the other, given enough time. So, we’re not doing a big offensive – just…waiting it out and seeing what happens. And you’re going to be a big part of that.”

I look up at my mate with wide eyes and nod my agreement, perfectly eager to help in whatever way I can. “Um,” I say, glancing around, a little awkward. “How do you want me to do that?”

Jackson grins at me and turns, leading me over to a set of bushes just by the edge of the cliff where he crouches down, waving for me to do the same as he pulls a map and a little red pen out of his pocket. “We’re setting you up here,” he says as I kneel next to him, peering at the paper that he spreads out before me. “The locations of the other bases are marked on the map with red x’s. We want you to take some time to get acclimated with the gun and then the rest of your time scanning with the binoculars.”

“Really?” I ask, looking down at them, wondering what they can do.

“They’re digital - very high powered,” Jackson says, slipping them off of my head and showing me their details, demonstrating the extent to which they can zoom which is seriously impressive. When I understand the basics, he hands them back to me. “You can report where troops are and how you’re seeing them move and we’ll message it down to Rafe – it will be incredibly helpful to be able to mark their movements on the map. And then when they get close enough, you can shoot them.” He shrugs like it’s all very simple.

I pause for a second, looking up at Jackson. “Wait, we’ll message it down?”

Jackson stares at me with a slight frown, not understanding my hesitation.

“Jackson,” I say, quirking my head at him. “What is…your job today?”

“Guarding you, obviously,” he says, settling comfortably down behind the bushes and gesturing out over the ravine.

I just stare at him, my jaw dropping open a bit, a growl growing in my chest. He starts to narrow his eyes at me, not understanding but also not liking my growl.

“And Rafe agreed to this?”

“I didn’t give him much of a choice,” Jackson says, his chin dropping dangerously. “Did I?”

“Jackson,” I snap, glaring at him hard. “Absolutely not.”

“Are you defying your commands, Cadet?” Jackson asks, leaning forward towards me, quirking his eyebrow.

“You’re damn right I am,” I say, leaning forward too to glare up into his face. “Which I am entitled to do, when they’re really stupid.”