Chapter seventy-nine

Dark tunnels spread out before me, and it's exhilarating to think that anyone could appear at this moment. Fortunately, Lilli's presence beside me is, as always, a comfort.

"Where should we go?" I ask.

"Let's go find those bases that guy mentioned," he replies.

We wind in and out of multiple tunnels, running our hands along the makeshift walls, peering into the blackness all around us. Around corners, right, left, then right again. I'm pretty sure we've passed the same intersection more than three times, but I follow Lilli's footfalls. We both duck and try to flatten ourselves against the walls when we hear people passing, our hearts as loud as their footsteps. We're off again when they pass, but I don't think either of us are making any progress or creating any sort of pattern through this maze.

"He said they were on the –"

"SHOOT!" I scream, meaning the word both literally and as a curse because I had made the terrifying decision of glancing behind me and coming face-to-face with a giant, green-ish shadow. He starts to lean toward me, and the glow of the green lights he wears on his vest casts lime lights over his face. I slam my finger on the trigger and watch the lights snap out and we return to an almost-pitch-blackness.

"Harry?" I whisper. "Is that you?"

"It is me," he replies softly. "I saw your ring flash."

"In the dark?" I question.

"'Cause of your red lights, it looked like a ruby," he explains to me.

"Don't sneak up on me," I tell him, rolling my eyes though I know he can't see me.

"That's the aim of the game, Taz. It is what it is."

"Hmph," I exclaim, turning my head to scan the tunnel for my teammate. When I don't see her I call her name. "Lilli!"

"You probably shouldn't yell unless you want to attract unnecessary attention," Harry informs me like I don't already know.

"And you're standing here distracting –" Zap! My red lights go out just as I see Harry raise his gun. "You traitor –"

"Different teams," he murmurs, drawing nearer.

"Exactly," I agree, then make a dash for another dark aisle, not intending to hang around Harry any longer with the fear that if I do, the darkness and the thought of him right beside me will consume me completely. "Lilli!" I call out again.

I find her firing exceptionally fast at a black cube that's barely visible on the ceiling.

"There you are!" she barks as I join her. "I was looking for you," she says a little softer, realising how loud she was.

"Harry found me," I explain, and feel my cheeks heat up.

"And? Big deal. Just run next time," she chides.

"I did that, but he distracted me," I admit, regretting my words.

"With what? His smile?" she teases, but not in the nicest tone.

I tsk at her. "Shut up and keep shooting."

I run into Harry another three times. He shoots me three out of those three times, and I scamper away each time, laughing, but longing to be closer.

The game whizzes past us and before any of us realise it, our gun lights die and the small bulbs on our vests turn to a dull grey. We hear Mr Bored calling out to us, sounding relieved that the game is finally over, and a thin sheet of light flashes over us; a torch to direct us back.

We're back in the room with the racks full of colourful vests and guns, returning our equipment. Ben's team's boasting about having won by "a mile", and I'm skulking around with Lilli, trying not to think about the number of times I was shot.

"How'd you go, Squashed Tomatoes?" Charlie asks after pulling out his team's ongoing celebrations.

I display my score sheet to him after Lilli, who went surprisingly well, with more than four-hundred points and only fifteen or so times being shot. I didn't go too badly for the points I earned; almost four-hundred. But for the times shot? Well…

"Damn," Charlie exclaims. "I had my bets on you that you'd be the best at dodging the lasers, but it looks like I was wrong." I feel my cheeks heat up, staring embarrassedly at the number '42' written on the score sheet. "I'm guessing most of those shots were from Harry with him following you around the entirety of the match."

"He was?" Lilli and I say in unison.

"Speaking of the devil," Charlie continues, grinning at our reactions. "Where is he?"

Scanning the room hastily, I don't register the familiarity of his wavy brown hair amongst the others, and I don't start worrying until I decide to approach Ben.

"Ben, do you know where Harry is? Did he go to the bathroom or something?"

He's still hyped up from celebrating, but even he realises that his not being here is weird. An unusual frustration spreads over his face.

"He's not here?" he asks briskly. "Maybe he's still in the arena, hey?"

"You think he got lost?"

"Well if he's not here, where else would he be?"

He's not in the arena, and he's not in the equipment room. He's not in the arcade room and he's not anywhere outside. Mr Bored never seemed like the type to panic, but as soon he realised that he carelessly lost one of his customers, he began losing his marbles.

For some reason, I'm not worried. I have a feeling that he is still nearby, perhaps escaping from us a little while, getting some fresh air. Or perhaps that's what I want to be true.

"EVERYBODY, GET IN HERE!" We all return to the equipment room after hearing Ben's voice calling out to us. He, for once, is extremely worried.