paintballing

Jessica and I, a pair of soft-body hard-asses

This afternoon a bunch of us gathered together for Betsy's birthday and drove to Huber Heights for an afternoon of shooting and cussing and gathering assortments of welts. We had a good crew: Carly, Jessica, Abby, Jordan, Forrest, Asenath, and Betsy of course. I hope I didn't forget anybody, and if so... Apologies. My ability to recall the event is shady at the moment. We did four games, and here's my participation in them:

Game One. Jessica, Carly and I were on the same team. When the game started we went off to the right and assembled ourselves behind a barricade. One-by-one we moved forward, covering each other, picking off anyone we ran into. I got three kills the first game; my demise came after flanking the other team's base and sneaking in from the back. Some sneaky girl was hiding out there and she shot me pretty much point-blank. 

Game Two. The second game we were poised against a team of six guys stationed in the fort at the back of the field. Jessica, Carly and I moved forward but were eventually pinned down by someone with an automatic gun. Bullets spraying everywhere. We'd jump up and give a quick survey before ducking down. Eventually we spied his place and I fired consistent rounds right into his hiding spot in the fort as Jessica and Carly took up a different position. I was stuck there till the end of the game; he moved and I couldn't find him, but he sure knew where the hell I was.

Game Three. This was a double-elimination, meaning that you had to be shot twice before getting booted out. I flanked through the woods and picked off a couple people, then had to hide behind a stump as two people shot at me. I waited there for about ten, maybe fifteen minutes; they kept firing but behind me was thick woods, and because I didn't move, they assumed (I think) that I'd gotten away. They let their guard down and marched forward and I ducked out and shot them, and then I was shot in the arm. Turned out I was the last person on my team to survive; and apparently, my entire team was massacred, because the opposite team had most of their players. Carly was on the other team, and she told me, "No one could find you! We were just wandering around looking for you, and I said you were a sneaky little man." Sneaky, indeed. I got two of their guys before they took me out.

Game Four. Perhaps my favorite game. Jessica, Carly, and Abby were on the opposite team. When the game started, I rushed down the left side of the field. Got a head-shot on someone. Gave covering fire for one of my guys and then he covered me as we went to the right to angle out our field of vision. We reached a high wall with lots of holes and we shot through the holes and I got another head-shot. Jessica was shooting at me off to the right, and I couldn't get to her, so I waited for the other guy with me to pick her off. Then we marched forward. By this time Abby and Carly were crouched behind a barricade; three of us were spread out, me directly ahead of them, one to their right, and one to their left. Carly popped up and I saw it was her, and all common sense failed me. This was our last game, and I had yet to shoot her. The guy on my right said something about outflanking them; I don't really know, because I got tunnel vision and leapt over the barricade and ran straight for her, firing wildly. Little did I know Abby was there, and I got her in the back as she moved into my field-of-vision trying to flee our guy to my right. My attention on Abby, however, took my attention off Carly; and as I got to ten feet away (well outside the legal rules) she popped up from behind her barricade and fired a single shot into my head (she had an elevated position). I literally fell shooting and shot off a few more rounds. 

Carly really loves the fact that she shot me. I just wish I could be in her position. But, hey, at least I got Asenath (even though she was on my team). To suave the pain at my loss, Carly told me, "You're actually really good at that game. You're small and strong and fast and sneaky." Haha.