Chapter 18: Training Exercises, Part 1

The subject of Joe's cogitation was being chased by five teens with paint ball guns. He ducked behind a wall and caught his breath. Red's idea of training was to turn him loose in the tunnels and then hunt him down. He had a limited time to find his way to an arbitrary safe zone. Half the time Trey didn't even know how to get to the safe zone. Bruises and welts covered him from head to toe.

He'd learned to avoid most of the team, but Lizzy always found him. She took special delight in gunning him down. Never one shot, but at least half a dozen. The rest of the team just shrugged. He was the new kid, and they didn't know him well enough to be sympathetic. Even Red said he'd have to figure it out.

Trey sat with his back in a corner of a deserted room watching the door. Where the Hell am I? I'm tired of this game. The safe zone might as well have been on the other side of the world for all the good it did him. For the first few days after he arrived, Trey's mind might as well have been packed with cotton balls, but now it was sharp as it had ever been.

I need to change the rules of the game. He created a map in his head of all the places they had trained. It was far from complete, but it did allow him to figure out his probable location, and more importantly where the rest of the team would be. He slipped out of the room and headed back toward some stairs. Jimmy was the most predictable of the team. He liked coming at Trey from above.

Time for a surprise.

Trey quieted his breathing and listened. A telltale scuffing came from around a corner. Jimmy always dragged his feet. Trey smiled, then crouched low and waited for the other boy to come closer. He picked up a small piece of concrete and skipped it down the corridor. As he had hoped, Jimmy leapt around the corner with his gun at the ready. Trey grabbed Jimmy's arm, pulled him off balance and took the gun from him. Trey pointed the gun at him.

"Surrender or I shoot, and let me tell you, these things hurt at this range." Jimmy raised his hands. "Now hand me your equipment." It made an impressive pile. Trey took the walkie-talkie and the extra paintballs. The rest he pushed back to Jimmy. "Let's go." He waggled the gun and made Jimmy walk in front of him.

Listening to the radio he could hear the rest of the group closing in. Just as they came to a cross tunnel Jimmy yelled out. Trey grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to the wall. The first person came around the corner gun blazing, but this time they hit Jimmy, who shouted in anger. Trey fired over his prisoner's shoulder and tagged the first and the second person to charge. Annie and Bert were both down.

Now the team knew something was up. Trey swung Jimmy around just as Red slipped through a utility door behind him. Once again Jimmy took the brunt of the shots. Trey emptied his gun toward his team leader. He thought he hit her twice. Trey didn't wait to find out. He dashed around the corner, ducking and weaving to avoid shots from behind in case his shots hadn't been 'fatal'. He came to a door standing slightly ajar. He almost pushed through it to escape the team behind him. Doors are never left open by accident.

Likely Lizzy was waiting for him to come crashing through and present a target. The radio chatter had stopped with Red informing her team they were all dead and shut up about it. That answered that question. It was down to him, Lizzy and Dan. Lizzy almost never spoke over the radio, so she wasn't likely to give up her position. She knew he was armed, but he didn't think that would stop her. He needed to outmaneuver her.

After reloading his gun, Trey walked quickly down the tunnel and made a left. He continued to the next junction and turned left there as well. He hoped the next turn would put him back in the original corridor, but a little ways up. Sure enough when he peeked around the next corner he could see his disgruntled opponents sitting in the tunnel talking. They weren't looking his way so he slipped across the corridor. After another left, the group he'd already taken out was between him and where he thought Lizzy had set up. Now he just needed a way to draw her out. He sat down with his back to the wall so he could see down the tunnels three ways. It was time to find out how patient she was.

He figured it was about half an hour when he heard the scrape from the tunnel behind him. It would be either Lizzy or Dan, and probably Dan. The "dead" members of the team sat dejectedly at the corner. Jimmy looked toward where Trey was hidden, and brightened. He made a move to wave and Red pointed her finger like a gun at him. But it gave Trey an idea. He whispered into the radio.