The Watch – Part 121:

The paintballing arena was only a bus ride away. Due to it being rather early in the day, the bus was empty save for a few people scattered about here and there. We dived for the back seats where all four of us could sit in a line and chat without having to look backwards. Amy sat next to me whilst Tom sat next to Alex – although Tom had this strange look about him that made me wonder if he would prefer sitting the other side of me instead, as if he was nervous for some reason. Alex was only used to being with Amy only, and so sitting next to – for lack of a better word – a stranger wasn’t what she had expected, but despite that, we ended up having a pretty good conversation about our favourite bands. Alex’s was Within Temptation, Tom’s was Metallica, Amy’s was Lunatica, and mine was Nightwish. Alex liked how we both had the same taste in music, being that both our band's genre is symphonic metal. I really enjoyed how us four were able to connect quickly, and I felt that our game of paintball will benefit from that.

When we got off the bus, we had about a five-minute walk before reaching our destination, but for some reason we didn’t continue our conversation. Instead, we split up into twos. Tom with me, and Amy with Alex, an arrangement that allowed Tom to relax a little.

‘Are you alright?’ I asked him.

‘Oh, I’m fine,’ he said without putting any effort into hiding that there was something weird about him.

‘Because I’ve never really seen you act so nervous,’ I probed.

‘Is that the impression I’ve been giving off,’ he said, ‘I thought I was excited for the day ahead, is all.’ I knew I wouldn’t be able to get the actual explanation now, and so I stopped trying.

‘We’re here,’ Tom said, pointing to the main building across the road. I may be reading too much into this, but I think that was his way of saying we need to stop this conversation now.

Together, all four of us crossed the road and entered the building where we can sort out all of our equipment and paintballs. We gave Amy our portion of the entrance fee and she went off to pay. When she came back, we were ready to pick out our preferred gun and the equipment that best suited us, and because this was my first time, I had not a clue as to what to pick or how to put it on.

‘Is this all we get to protect ourselves?’ I asked, holding up a camouflaged onesie.

‘It’ll protect your clothes from getting paint all over,’ Amy explained.

‘I know that, but I thought we would be getting some actual armour or something, a chest piece for example.’

‘You don’t need one,’ Tom said. ‘The paintballs will sting when they hit you, but you don’t need armour,’ he added, smiling

‘Thanks for the clarification,’ I said, slipping the onesie over my shoes and pulling it up so that I could insert my arms into the sleeves and zip it up.

‘To be honest, though,’ Amy said, ‘you won’t even feel the sting through all the adrenaline pumping through your body. You’ll feel something, but it won’t hurt.’ As we were finishing getting ready, I noticed the other team of four men sitting on the other side of the room. They were talking normally, but due to the natural echoing factor of the room, I could hear what they were saying.

‘I’m telling you. One second he was there, and the next he wasn’t,’ the man who was tying his shoelaces said. He looked in his twenties and had decided to grow his brown hair for a while. There’s no doubt in my mind what the topic of conversation is.

‘No one can move that fast. That’s just impossible,’ the other man, similar age who was already ready and waiting for his other teammates.

‘I’m telling you that’s what I saw,' he insisted.

‘And I’m telling you that no one can run at that kind of speed.’

‘I’m surprised you haven’t seen a news report on the TV or anything on the internet, because it’s ablaze with exactly what I’m telling you now.’

‘You shouldn’t believe everything that you read or watch.’

‘It was on a major news network,’ he raised his voice to try and drive his point home, ‘they don’t display something like that unless there’s sufficient evidence to back it up.’

‘Which means, you will be able to show me that evidence when we get back home,’ the other man said.

‘If that is what you want, then I shall.’

‘Are you two going to keep bickering,’ a third man said. He was also in his twenties, but, unlike the other three, he had a full on beard. The fourth member of their team looked to be the shortest, but even then, they appeared to all be taller than all four of us. And they were treating their equipment and guns with experience, meaning we might be jumping into the deep end.

Next, we had to sit through a safety video that showed someone explaining how best to use certain weapons so not to cause a health and safety nightmare. I found it rather interesting that the man said, ‘and whatever you do, do not hold it when it is ignited,’ whilst holding a paint grenade that had its pin pulled out, but if no one else noticed that, then who am I to bring it up. After the instructional video, we went outside to try out our guns so that we could get a feel for how they are and what to expect when you pull the trigger. Even though I guessed there would be some recall with mine, but I really wasn’t expecting it to come flying towards my face about a hundred miles an hour and hit me in the mask. I look around to see if anyone else noticed that, but no one did. Good. I made a mental note to make sure I hold it tighter next time.

The paintballs shot out of the barrel at an incredible speed, hitting the target at the other end of the range, breaking and creating a very satisfying splat of green paint just to the right of the centre of the score board. I could get quite used to this, I thought. The other team fired a round of paintballs at an incredible rate, hitting the centre of the target every time, making my attempt look pitiful. The last thing I want is to worry about them being more experienced than us and lose the game because of those thoughts getting in the way.

After the officials were happy that we knew the basic stuff and had gotten used to how things work, we were allowed to go out into the arena, which was basically a section of woodland with plenty of overturned cars and huts to hide in or behind. As we made our way to the very end of the arena, we made sure our helmets were firmly on so that they would protect our faces if someone so happens to get lucky and shoots a paintball straight at us. My breathing grew louder as it echoed around my mask and my eyesight was full of many scratches from the many times before when a paintball slammed into it. My heart was racing before the match even begun.

‘Are you alright?’ Tom asked.

‘I think so,’ I said honestly. ‘I… it’s just that I never pictured myself actually doing something like this, let alone actually this,’ I said.

‘You’ll be fine. Have fun and forget about everything for one day. You’ll thank yourself later if you do,’ he smiled comfortingly.

‘Yeah, I shouldn’t let anything get in the way,’ I straightened myself up and held my paintball gun firmly in my hands.

‘It’ll be fun, trust me,’ Tom said, tapping me on the back for moral support. I looked around. Amy nodded. Alex nodded. Tom nodded, which left me to nod to say that I was ready.

‘READY?’ an official yelled.

‘ON THREE, THE MATCH WILL BEGIN AND WON’T END UNTIL THE OTHER TEAM’S MEMEBERS ARE ALL OUT.’ He raised a hand with three fingers sticking upwards ‘ONE.’ He put a finger down. I readied my gun in my hands.

‘TWO.’ I could see the enemy team readying themselves to charge at us.

‘THREE.’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)