Scout

“Scout?” You ask, opening the folder at the front. Countless clippings of the client's pre-career days are contained within, but unlike his peers these are mostly mementos from Little League and Cub Scouts. The wide eyed youth is lively. In fact, you cannot find a single picture of him standing still. Most photographs are blurred and contain him in a streak of action.

“Yes,” the Administrator says. “Lively one, a real asset to the team. However, he has no middle range. He is either on top of the world shouting to instigate and demoralize others, or sobbing pitifully in the corner. You don't even want to see the way he sucks his thumb when he realizes he's not as good as he thinks he is.”

You see another picture of the boy in question, a lollipop in his mouth as he carries a briefcase through a hall, running at full speed, oblivious to the gunfire and carnage around him. His expression is blurred, but recognizable as the sort of grin that a boy gets when he doesn't realize how close he is to killing himself with his reckless behavior. You peek over the documents. “How old is this kid exactly?” you query, raising an eyebrow.

The Administrator puffs on her cigarette for a moment, savoring the hot smoke before billowing it out of her nostrils. With the same even tone she states: “Eighteen.”

You return your gaze down to your documents, reading his statistics. He seemed to be a valuable component to the company's plans. "So he just needs a pick me up?" you ask with a smile. "That's an easy job."

The announcer frowns. "It's not that simple," she says with only the slightest elevation of her voice. "If it were, we would have solved it ourselves. The scout is naive and specializes in running away. Your job is to do that easy job, but with the hard part, you'll have to catch him first."

You look back at the blurred pictures. He had to be running faster than you could. This would be tricky after all.

Closing the folders you summarize: "Pin him down, pick him up. Got it."

"Good luck," she mocks you. It was clear that she is getting impatient with the briefing. "Do you have any more questions?"

You bite your lower lip hungrily. "Nope!" After you settle into the dorms, you plan to seek out your target and begin the game. As the Administrator walks away, you eye the rest of the envelopes. You can always get to them later...if you have time. For now, you decide to start with the littlest. You tremble in anticipation, it had been a while since you had such cute prey.

As you walk down the stairway confidently, you blind yourself in the sunlight and nearly misstep. You step off of the landing pad and notice the young secretary running about in the distance, just as frantic as ever. She trips over an uneven split in the sidewalk as you watch and topples to a painful stop, her documents flying all over.

You hesitate for a moment. You have a job to do, but just one distraction wouldn't be bad, would it?