Let the Game Begin

“And now, onto our next round of the competition!” Diane Hatts’ voice boomed over the loudspeaker. “Representing Jameswood High, it’s Leona Teller, Alice Haines, Emily Nader, and Barbara Winters!” The crowd cheered loudly as the four of us took to the field. We waved to the audience and gave them huge smiles.

“Man, it’s suuuuper weird that this school makes Capture the Flag a huge sport,” Emily groaned as she rolled her eyes, “But if I ask Principal Hunt for an e-sports club, suddenly we don’t have the funds or the resources or the desire for it.” At this rate, Emily’s fingers would snap from making too many air quotes.

“Well, all we can do is the best that we can!” Barbara said as she began to take her place on the field.

“And representing the Faraday Academy, it’s Kirsten Schultz, Dina Robbins, Sue Thorton, and Polly Castro!” The crowd cheered, but this time from the section from Faraday Academy. The four of them strolled onto the field, soaking in the admiration from everyone. They blew kisses and waved to the crowd.

“Pompous bitches,” Leona said, crossing her arms and scowling slightly.

“Thank you everyone for coming out to watch us!” Kirsten said, playing up the crowd.

“CRUSH THEM ALL! CRUSH THEM ALL! CRUSH THEM ALL!”

The chanting from the crowd began to overtake the cheers from our side of the bleachers.

“Oh, you all are so going down,” Kirsten said as her posse sneered in our direction.

“Bring it,” I said as my group of girls all began to get ready.

“Now, for those of you coming in, let’s give a brief rundown of the rules again,” Diane’s voice said. “Each team will have three flags! They have five minutes to hide the flags, then 30 minutes to try and capture the other teams flags! If you’re tagged on the enemy side, you’re captured and go to their jail! Other team members can free you if they manage to tag you. The game ends with whichever team has the most flags at the end of the time limit, or manages to capture all of the enemy’s flags wins! If it ends in a tie, then we go to sudden ****! Now, get to hiding!”

We decided to hide our flags near the back corner of the field, and Leona volunteered to be one in charge of protecting them. With her amazonian height and reach, she was the perfect candidate. That means Barbara, Emily, and I were going to be going to be the runners.

We took our spots and spread out, with Emily on the right side, Barbara in the center, and I on the left side. Then, the whistle blew and the game began. Barbara took off, giving us all a thumbs up. Emily stuck around, waiting to see what would go on. Meanwhile, I headed to the wooded area.

There were plenty of trees and blindspots, so I had to be cautious as I ventured forth. I could stay on my side and not risk being tagged, but I had no idea who I could encounter. I was also very limited in my sight, so no idea about what was going on outside other than any announcements from Diane.

Carefully, I walked through, still thinking about what the changes that I did to Kirsten did. It was obvious what the “Bet on It,” did. Any bets made with her, she’d have to take. Given what she said after though, the other person probably didn’t get to say no either. Still, what did the other two do? “Slippery when Wet,” and “Take One for the Team.” Ugh, why didn’t those succubi give me little descriptors?

I looked around, searching for anyone from Kirsten’s team. No one around. This would be the perfect chance to go and explore Kirsten’s side and look for their flags. I peeked around again, seeing no one before slowly sneaking across the border. I wasn’t about to give away my position by rushing through the woods. That’s how someone got caught last game.

There are two main ways you win this game. Either you’re fast enough that you don’t get caught, or you’re sneaky enough you don’t get caught in the first place. I admired the athletic ladies, but I was nowhere near as fit as them, so my only tactic was the latter.

I emerged out from the treeline and looked around quickly. In the middle was a flag, unguarded and ripe for the picking. Standing in the far corner of the playfield, however, was Dina Robbins, one of Faraday Academy’s karate prodigies. She quickly managed to rise up to a red belt, and I even heard that she was already on her way to a brown belt. Behind her was one of the flags. Her eyes were trained ahead, and I turned to see her playing mental chicken with Barbara.

“Hey! Get her!” I froze up as I turned to see that Sue Thorton, a captain of Faraday Academy’s soccer team, was guarding another flag at the corner that was closest to me and was already heading towards me.

“Shit!” I spun around on my heels and booked it back through the woods, hearing the thumping of Sue’s feet behind me getting closer and closer. “Almost!” I lunged and rolled forward, panting and relieved to see that I had landed safely back on my side. Sue scowled a bit as I stuck my tongue out at her.

“Doesn’t matter if you escaped now! We’re still gonna win, and now I know you’re here,” Sue said, looking around for any other of my team members.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, she was right. I had blown my element of surprise and now had Sue in front of me and on guard. I also had no idea right now where Kirsten and Polly were. I could go and help the rest of my team, try and find where the two missing players were, or retry stealing the flag from Sue’s part. After all, I knew where all three flags were.