52 Gun Game

As the timer on their watches hit zero the two human teams entered the door one after another. Jayce blinked back the bright lights of the door as he sized up the room they were in. An endless hallway of all type of weapons stretched before him. Guns, swords, armor, equipment all were meticulously placed on shelves.

A console extended out of the floor next to him with a search box and a keyboard. He glanced to his right as Micu was quickly tapping on the console. "Does it matter what equipment I get?" Micu nodded, "The more you take this round the less you can take later on. So just take the gun and maybe a grenade or two." Jayce quickly began tapping the console before smiling widely to himself. A gun from his dad's favorite video game back on Earth popped up before him. The standard issue assault rifle from the Halo series.

Micu noticed him smiling and became curious about what kind of gun would make him look so self-satisfied. Seeing this gun appear he groaned audibly. "Seriously Jayce? Can't you ever just be normal?" Jayce was cackling with glee. "This is as normal as I could think of!" Micu sighed and continued to inspect the different sniper rifles that were provided by the exam. Finally settling on one he noticed that he was the only member in their group not listed as "ready". He called out a

"Sorry!" before he pressed the ready tab on his console and the room became the desert village he had explored earlier.

"Watch out for any evidence that Micu and Isabel hooked up while we are waiting for the other team!" Ralnas called out teasingly. He felt a tap on his shoulder and whirled around to become face to face with Isabel. "Excuse me?" Ralnas' eyes bulged and he quickly began sprinting towards the area that they had agreed to be their starting position. Micu's face felt hot and he glared at the retreating figure of Ralnas until he couldn't see him anymore. He turned to face Isabel slowly, "Sorry he likes to make terrible jokes. Maybe you remember that from school?" He asked hopefully.

Isabel eyed him suspiciously. Before turning and heading to the east with her team. Micu sighed as he followed after the path Ralnas had taken. "I'm going to kill him." Jayce had watched the exchange breathlessly and once Isabel was out of earshot he had broken down laughing. Jenira hugged Micu, "We'll help you with your love problems. I promise." Micu said nothing as he stalked the tracks of Ralnas through the village.

They finally arrived at their agreed destination and Ralnas was bright-cheeked both from running and embarrassment. He stood as Micu approached, "I swear Micu I had no idea she was right behind me. I swear I am so so sorry." Micu didn't react to his words and instead began climbing up the ladder to his sniping position. Ralnas frowned, "I really didn't mean to..." Jayce sat next to him as he loaded the ammo cartridge into his gun. "I know and so does he. Just let him burn off some steam by melting the other team." Ralnas sighed and began loading his shotgun along with Jayce before noticing his weapon. "Is that from Halo! Wow! I didn't know you could request special guns!" Jayce grinned wickedly, "Neither did I but I feel so badass." The melancholy Ralnas had felt before was completely gone and the two of them mapped out how they were going to completely destroy Isabel's team.

Jenira watched the other side of the village through a window. "How long until the match is live?" She asked into her mic. Micu's strained voice answered her, "15 seconds. Everyone get ready." Jayce and Ralnas fell silent as they waited for the feminine voice to announce the match had begun. Ralnas was crouched against the north wall and Jenira was in the prone position watching the southern corner. Jayce stood right in the middle of the building below Micu ready to react to whatever he told him to do. Micu took a deep breath as the countdown started. "Five, four, three, two, one. The match is now live." That feminine voice Jayce hated more with every exam said.

Jayce grinned and glanced at Ralnas who gave him a thumbs up. He then heard the familiar "pop, pop, pop," of a gun firing and felt a stinging sensation in his torso. Glancing down he almost cried. Large pools of the red paint of the same type as those from the snow planet were spreading through his clothes. "Are you fucking kidding me! We just started!" His body faded and dissolved from the arena.

Micu called out into their team chat. "What the hell Jayce! Shut up! Isabel will hear you!" He waited for a response but none was forthcoming. "Jayce?" Ralnas glanced back to where his friend had just been and gasped, "Jayce is down! I repeat Jayce is down!" Jenira twisted her head around and was struck silent. Micu glanced down from his position and saw three holes piercing the wall that had been protecting Jayce just seconds before. "Shit. Shit shit shit."

Ralnas was quickly watching his side again. "Micu what do we do?" Jenira had also returned to her previous lookout and waited for Micu to respond with their new instructions. Micu was panicking internally. "They've already found us and killed one of our team?" he thought to himself nervously. He glanced around but saw no one within shooting range. He sighed with concern. "We're going to have to try and push to even the odds. I'll cover you two, go through the center of the village." Ralnas waited for Jenira to get up and tap him on the shoulder before moving. "Don't let your girlfriend kill me." Micu responded with a caustic laugh, "Very funny as always Ral." Ralnas smiled to himself but was too focused on advancing towards the other team to reply.

Micu was constantly scanning the other alleyways and buildings looking for traps. "Somethings not right here guys. Be on your guard." In his head, he was more than a little confused. "If they know where we are why haven't they pushed their advantage?" he wondered as his line of fire darted from building to building. Ralnas was nearing the center of the village when he saw a blur of movement. "I got something!" He forcefully whispered into his mic and dove behind a small wall. Jenira kept her gun trained on the alley Ralnas had been looking as she crouched down behind the building she was near. Micu instantly had his finger around the trigger and was scanning the nearby buildings.

A small burst of fire from a window illuminated the boy who was hiding within it. Micu squared him within his scope and fired. A loud "oof" sounded and they heard a thud as the stinging bullet fired by the rifle struck the boy on Isabel's team. "Everyone still around?" He asked as he emptied his chamber. "I'm here," Ralnas said quietly. "Me too," Jenira replied. Micu nodded, "Be careful now they know where we are."

Ralnas saw another figure dart behind the house that the first person had been in. He glanced both ways down the street and sprinted into the house. Jenira shouted after him to wait but he was already inside. He slid behind a couch as a quick round of fire illuminated the dirty house. He pressed himself against the couch and waited for the clip to empty. The bullets were tearing apart the couch and he steadied his breathing as he clutched the shotgun in his hands. As the bullets ceased he popped out from behind the ruined couch and fired two quick rounds towards where he had heard the bullets coming from.

Both shots missed and he dove towards the nearby dresser as bullets again sprayed the room. He curled himself into as small a ball as he could as bullets tore through the dresser. He felt a stinging sensation in his calf and groaned as he felt the simulation take account of his now hobbled state. He rolled out from the dresser and fired another round towards the boy shooting at him. He heard a pained grunt and the boy slump against the table he had been hiding on top of. "I got one, but I'm crippled. Don't think I can move very much."

He got a "roger" from Micu and he leaned against the wall as he caught his breath. He massaged his paint-covered calf and noticed he couldn't feel his fingers on his skin. "This nerve paint they use here is high-quality stuff." "Yes, it is," a smug Isabel said from the stairs above him and he groaned as a burst of fire peppered his body and caused him to disappear from the simulation.

Jenira saw a burst of fire from the house and called into their team channel," Ral you still there?" After a few seconds of silence, she crouched down lower against the wall. "Micu I think it's just you and I." She didn't hear anything from Micu for a second before a loud "bang" of the rifle firing put a fist-sized hole in the house's exterior. "Dammit." Jenira smiled to herself and readied for anything leaving the house. "Think they've seen me?" "I don't, but don't give yourself away." She crouched as low as she could and prepared to fire.

A hesitant head poked out of the house and Jenira tightened her grip on her gun. After glancing around the boy tried to sprint to the same alley that Jenira was hiding in. She smiled as he turned the corner and noticed her. A quick burst of gunfire eliminated him from the battle and Jenira smirked to herself as she reloaded her gun. "Cover me, I'm reloading!" "You got it."

She was bent down as she removed her half spent clip when she heard a footstep behind her. "Fuck," was all she had time to say before a bullet smacked her in the face and she was dumped out of the battle.

Micu had been watching Jenira when she suddenly vanished. "What the hell?" He had said aloud as she dissolved from the simulation. He steadied his grip on his rifle as he saw the reflection of the sun off a gun muzzle. "So you told everyone we hooked up in here!" An obviously upset voice called out to him from the alley. Micu was caught between a groan and a laugh and it came out as a snort. He didn't answer her though.

"Micu this isn't a trick! I just want to know the truth." Micu rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to chastise her for such a dirty tactic. She poked her gun around the corner and fired wildly. Micu was well out of her gun's range and the bullets splattered into buildings far from where he had hidden. Her face poked out from the corner quickly. Micu resisted the urge to pull the trigger but tightened his finger. She sprinted to the opposite alley and ducked out of his line of sight again.

"I know you have a crush on me!" She tried again. Micu's whole body tightened but he stayed silent. "It's okay I don't judge you! You don't have to be nervous about talking to me." Micu shifted his weight and prepared to shoot her the first moment he felt good about the angle. Her gun popped around the corner again and emptied a clip into the same buildings.

Micu sighed as he felt his hand falling asleep from gripping the gun so tightly. She poked her head around the corner for just a moment again and Micu was growing more and more agitated. As he readied his sights on her his scope rumbled slightly. "Huh?" he said aloud and looked up from the barrel of the rifle. After seeing nothing out of the ordinary he returned to looking through the scope. This time the whole building shook. "What did you do Isabel!" He called out as the simulation rumbled slightly. "I didn't do anything!" She stepped out from the corner with her gun and placed it on the ground. Micu eyed her suspiciously from his vantage point. Just then the whole simulation flickered and he fell through the floor he had been laying on. Landing with a thud he groaned in pain.

Isabel quickly spotted him and sprinted towards him. "Are you okay?" She offered him her hand and he allowed her to pull him to his feet. "What's happening?" He asked as he took off his now cracked glasses. She shrugged and looked around. Another rumble and the simulation half dissolved. The perfectly clean white floor was in stark contrast to the simulated sand. The effect of seeing the two of them beside each other was jarring and both humans were stunned. "We have to get out of here." Micu began hobbling towards the door. Isabel quickly ran under his arm and supported him towards the door as the sandy village continued to phase in and out of existence. They reached the door as the village rumbled for the last time and disappeared altogether.

"This is too crazy," Isabel said as she watched the gleaming white room return to being the only thing they could see. As Micu pulled on the door the ground itself shook violently and they fell to the floor. "What the hell is going on!" Panic making Micu's voice rise to a higher pitch than usual. Isabel helped him up and the two frantically began pulling on the door until they heard the airtight seal break with a hiss. The door opened to five concerned faces. Isabel helped Micu to Ralnas and Jenira's outstretched arms and then turned to face her three teammates. "What's happening?"

Jenira, however, was the one who answered, "Whatever it is, it has something to do with Jayce."