"Three more coming from the left side!" I turned in time to see three heads duck behind a fallen tree. The area instantly became heavy with commotion as the air was filled with shots from all directions.
"Push forward!" I called out, though it came out as more of a suggestion to the others. I knew I had to make the first move. "Cover me," I told Vick before I ran, serpent-like, to another tree. I heard the shots skip off the ground around me, but none dared to impact my being. Looking back, I could just see the tip of Paul's gun, pointed up awkwardly at God knows what. Frankie was just trying to do what he could with his cumbersome line of sight. Vick just looked pissed off. "C'mon, we're running out of time!" I screamed to them. Vick readied himself.
I gave some covering fire as Vick began his sprint. By now Frankie or Paul (probably Frankie, though) had taken out two of theirs, but the enemy was still firing hard. I could hear Vick nearing me, so I scooted over behind the other half of the tree to give him more room; too little too late.
The heavy thuds the rounds made against Vick's camo-covered chest seemed to freeze the moment, giving him more time to call out things I didn't want to hear him say. Behind me I could hear Paul saying something to no one, but I was too far away to hear it clearly. I didn't have to, though; I knew what he was thinking. The bastards tagged Vick.
With Vick slowly departing from us, the others put heavy fire on me behind my tree. I would poke out now and then to snap off a few shots, but apart from that I was pretty useless. I looked back to my remaining mates.
"You two! Try to get around to their flanks! I'll cover ya best I can!" They both gave a nod and displaced themselves. "Hurry too! We're running on no time!"
I snapped off another pair of rounds and ended up scaring the hell out of one guy. Before I pulled myself back behind the tree I saw one of the guys displacing - pushing forward. I rained hell on him, but missed. We had two minutes left, and Frankie and Paul seemed to have disappeared completely from the engagement.
I gave up on waiting for my colleagues and took flight. I gave a good burst of fire on all three of their positions, but still to no avail. Unfortunately for me, physics also dealt a form of justice in that if I could see them, they could see me. I barely had time to baseball-slide behind a nearby log barrier before the dreaded volley reached me.
I was angry now. No, I wasn't angry; I was pissed off royal! This whole operation was screwed up. Hardly anyone on the team committed to the attack, Vick bought it, and the rest of the damn squad had disappeared! I ducked back down as a shot skimmed past my ear . . . yeah, that did it for me.
I stood straight up and fired madly with the intent of getting some head shots. In its own way, it was a little bit like the movies, but that's why we watch them and not act on them. My uncouth tactics ended up lasting about two seconds before someone hit me. The shot snapped me back to reality like a hard slap in the face. I touched my quivering hand to the side of my neck as I dropped behind the barrier. It stung hard, much worse than lots of people said. That was beside the point, though. My fingertips were still covered in the thick, red liquid . . . . .
A smiling Vick greeted me when I passed through the gate.
"Oh, the neck, you unlucky bastard!" I took off my facemask and smiled back.
"Yeah, they got me."
"Man, we got rocked . . ." Vick trailed off as he took a sip from his water bottle. I just agreed with him again as I towelled the paint off my neck.
"Oh well," I said, "we'll get 'em when we go back out next game . . ."
