Child's Play

Childsplay

The deep green forest was all I needed to see to stop running. I had reached the end and there was no telling what would happen if I continued into the bushes. Yet, there was also no telling what was to come if I stayed and waited for the group that was after me. I was still catching my breath and my heartbeat was viciously pounding in my chest. My eyes flashed from the pavement below my white shoes, back to the trees and my mind wandered only for a moment, curious to how the grass would feel beneath my bare feet. I quickly shook my head to rid myself of these thoughts.

“Over here!” somebody yelled out from behind me. I was at the end indeed, end of the road, end of the game, I was where my termination would take place. It was game over for me in that moment, almost nowhere to go but right into their trap or into the green leaves ahead of me. I had few seconds to think and barely even one to get out of there. I checked over my shoulder to see how far behind me the reds were, and decided that I had enough time to run to their base in attempt to gain back what was left of my friends.

I turned to the right and leapt forward. I started to run as if my life depended on it, and in fact it did. My mind was still racing with the exciting thoughts of the illegal action I had briefly considered, when my right upper thigh was hit with something. It was hard and rough but I disregarded the fact that I was in pain and regained my focus on the real problem in order to keep up my speed. All I could hear was the sound of feet hitting the pavement behind me, and the loud drum of my heart.

By the time I had reached the old building known as the reds base I ran to the side in attempt to hide and quickly looked back to find that they were no longer following me. The reds were nowhere to be seen. Their lack of appearance dug up feelings of regret and hesitance. These specific feelings brought me to the decision that for the first time throughout the chase I would pull out the weapon I had been hiding in the back of my waistband. I needed to rescue the few of my friends that were left, in hopes of us all returning to our families unharmed and alive. I lifted my shirt and grabbed the handle of the very thing that represented death and violence across the world. Now in both of my hands, I put the weapon up in front of my face and made my way across the wall and around the corner. I stopped abruptly when I saw somebody standing there in front of me peering into the window. I started to backup to leave, slowly lifting my right foot and placing it a few inches behind me. Everything was dead silent and as soon as a picked up my left foot, a pile of gravel shifted below me. The man in front of the door quickly shifted his vision to me and gave me a look of worry.

“I’m just looking for my family, I swear.” he pleaded with me, “I wasn’t looking to break in.” he continued, “I-”

“I’m not a red.” I interrupted him, “I thought that you were.” I paused for a moment and sighed in relief. “Charlie.” I introduced myself holding out my hand in attempt to gain a new team mate.

“Eddie” He reached out and lightly shook my hand. Eddie had an odd voice compared to the rest of my team and didn’t talk too loud. His skin was a dark chocolate colour, which was odd to me, considering the fact that most of the town had been like a big bag of marshmallows.

“I haven’t seen anybody in these parts of town for a while now. I could help you find your family if you’re willing to help us win the war.” I offered. “We call ourselves the blues, or the final resistance if you will. I’m on the way to get the rest of us.. That is.. If they’re still alive and well.” I looked back at the ground lost in the thoughts of losing the only people I had left. Eddie nodded at me, accepting the deal, and I handed him the much smaller second weapon I had been hiding underneath my jeans, strapped to my leg.

“I don’t want this!” he loudly exclaimed.

I held my index finger to my lips, “You need it for protection.” I retaliated, not wanting to deal with another anti-war person. Weapons are all we need to defeat the reds.

“I refuse to take this.” he handed me back the weapon and continued on “No way am I using violence to solve this problem. That’s not right.”

I rolled my eyes and shoved the weapon back where I had been hiding it. The both of us slowly walked back over to the edge of the window on the front door where I peered into the empty building. Confused as I was, I took a step back from the door and opened it slightly.

“Jared?” I asked the empty space, but got no reply. The silent building gave off a suspicious feeling, as if the reds were planning something..but it wasn’t going to stop me from searching the place for my partners. My mind was racing, jumping from thought to thought. ‘Did they already rid them of their lives?! I can't make it through this without the very people who saved me..

I entered the first room in the building which included what seemed to be the living space, kitchen, and dining area. I slowly picked up my feet and stepped over to the back of the room where there stood two doors and motioned for Eddie to follow me inside. He had an uneasy look on his face and didn’t seem too sure of my actions. I gently put my ear to the first door and listened for voices. I held my breath and waited for even the most silent of whispers to come through the door. After about two minutes of not hearing anything but my breath I slowly opened the door and peered into the bathroom, bare as a baby’s bottom. Relief quickly washed over me.

I turned to the other door and took in a deep breath of the dusty air. My ear went against the door and I silently begged to hear the friendly voices of Jason, Conrad, and Ari. My heart sunk to the bottom of my stomach when all I heard was the quiet laughter and whispers of an unfamiliar voice. My heart started to beat surprisingly faster and soon I could no long hear anything but the pounding in my chest.

I decided that even though it wasn’t who I expected to hear, that I would use my weapon to my advantage and gain knowledge from the reds that sat on the other side of the door. I looked back at Eddie and gave a small nod to ready him for anybody on the other side of the door. I swallowed back my nervous shaky breath and grabbed the door handle with my weapon still in my right hand. I swung the door open and yelled out to show that I was not afraid of using what sat in front of my face in my hand. Eddie jumped to the side, out of the middle of the doorway in attempt to hide himself. I glanced at Eddie, with a confused look when there was nobody to be seen.

“Charlie?” I heard a familiar voice ask. A tall girl with long ginger hair, Ari swung out her head from around the corner. “We’re all over here” she explained. I was relieved to see another friendly face.

Eddie and I followed her back around the corner to the rest of the group, consisting of Conrad and Jarred.

“What’s the plan?” Jarred asked with a questioning look towards Eddie.

“This is Eddie, thought that he could be another valid member of our team.”

“Sounds good” Conrad jumped in the conversation. “What’s the plan Eddie?”

“Well..I-” Eddie stuttered out.

“Well, when we came in, there was nobody out there. Why don’t we just leave through the front?” I cut Eddie off.

“We can’t just assume that they aren’t still out there waiting for us to fall into their trap.” Eddie stepped back in, “I’ve been through this situation before and we should be more careful than just walking out the front door.” He looked around the room at the four of us expecting somebody to protest but nobody not even Conrad, the aggressor of the group, spoke out. “So we’re ALL in agreal then?” The four of us nodded our heads, waiting for the next step. He pointed up at the window in the corner of the room “What about there?” It was almost at the top of the room but I could probably get up and out with the help of Conrad’s height. Conrad was about half a foot taller than me and wore dark wash jeans and a black shirt with a deep blue and black vest for force protection.

“C’mon,” Jason waved for Eddie and I to follow him “they’ve got a bunch of stuff for us to stock up on.” We followed him out of the small room and back into the kitchen and living area. I began to wonder why the reds were using innocent people’s homes as prisons and bases. “Grab some of these.” Jason broke me from my thoughts and gestured to the pile of protective gear and darts. I grabbed a pair of goggles as Eddie reached for a blue vest and a pair of goggles as well.

I grabbed an empty backpack off the floor and slung it over my shoulder as we walked over to the kitchen area. I pulled open the fridge and grabbed a handful of everything that was left. I filled half of my pack with oranges, apples, water bottles, and a tupperware container of what seemed to be leftover food from a meal. We did not know how long we would be out and hunting for the very thing that would end the war. The other half of my pack, I filled up with additions to my weapon from the bin in the living area.

We headed back into the room and shut the door behind us. The rest of the group smiled as we walked towards them. We were now all dressed in the same deep blue vest and goggles. I glanced at the window and back to Eddie with a questioning look. He got up and grabbed a couple of the hefty books from off the shelf in the corner of the condensed room. Conrad joined him in picking the heaviest books from off the shelf and carrying them to the pool table. It seemed as though Conrad and Jarred had both read his mind when the three of them started pushing the pool table to the back wall, underneath the window. Ari and I joined Conrad in getting up on the pool table while Conrad grabbed the two heaviest books and started to beat the bottom right corner of the glass with the spine of the books. I was not too sure that anything could happen, seeing as they were only books. Eddie encouraged me to join in, in banging on the window and I decided that I would at least try in hopes of the glass breaking.

Ari was yelling out words of encouragement when we heard the front door slam shut. Both Ari and Conrad jumped off the pool table and started throwing things around, trying to hide everything they had acquired from around the house. I ignored their fear and continued to hit the window, praying for it break or come out or something! We were trapped and they would punish my three friends once they found that Eddie and I were here.

I was using every ounce of strength in my body to get the window out, my face now soaking wet from sweat. The books in my hands were getting too hard to continue gripping onto when the my arms started to burn, almost convincing me to give up. I started to lessen my force when the window, almost at the last minute, started to move back out of the frame. I continued to pound on the window with everything I had left. I was getting weaker by the second but I couldn’t stop now. If I did not continue I would have to face whatever was to come from outside our small room.

The window slipped out of the frame and hit the ground outside. I dropped the books in relief, and held my chest to catch my breath. My four teammates jumped up onto the table and before I knew it, they had helped each other out and I was the last, along with Conrad in the room. Conrad stuck his hands out in a cupped formation and offered me help getting out. There were footsteps getting closer to the door and we knew that we were moments away from death.

I stepped up on conrads hands, using the wall as support and slid my torso out the window. Jarred and Ari grabbed my hands from the outside and helped pull me through. I flopped out of the window and onto the ground. Conrad was quick to follow my moves and hit the ground right next to me. We gave each other a quick look and got up off the ground to get ourselves figured out. He passed me the backpack I had left laying on the floor and I grabbed out my weapon, slinging the pack back over my shoulder. Ari, and Jarred started to run for the tall wood fence that split the yard from the neighbors yard. I turned back to see two of the reds already chasing after us. I held up my weapon steadying it in front of my face and pulled the trigger. The last of my loaded darts shot out and hit the first red soldier in the chest. I smiled as he fell to the ground and turned to face the fence when Eddie gave me a terrifying look and ran to follow Ari and Jarred. I knew that I had just killed a member of a loving family but I needed to do what was right and if that meant spilling blood, then I would do so.

The five of us climbed over the fence to safety and hid on the back porch, out of sight. Eddie stared at me like I was a monster and I could no longer handle his judgmental looks.

“I was under the impression that you were trying to do the right thing.” Eddie muttered.

“I am.” I snapped back.

“No you’re not. You’re just as bad as them. They’re killing people, and that’s obviously not right. But killing the people who are killing other people still isn’t right. And a war, like many other things, cannot be won with violence.” he retaliated.

I stared down at my shoes and swallowed back my angry words. I didn’t say anything to him. I felt small and stupid. I was in the wrong too. Not only had I accomplished nothing, but I had been taking lives for what reason other than to cause pain for the people who had caused me pain.

“We’re going with the stone. Right now. You could be causing just as much pain as they have and that would make you just as horrible, if not worse.” Eddie continued, “We don’t have much time left..” he muttered under his breath.

I looked back up at my friends and tucked my weapon back into my waistband and grabbed out the item from my back pocket. The smooth, shiny stone that once represented peace and a new, better beginning for us all. I sighed and walked off the back porch and cautiously started around the house. The yellow on the exterior walls was slightly faded and was stained a bright green around the base from the many years of reckless lawn mowing. Now that there hadn’t been a sole that lived in the house for quite some time now, the lawn was overgrown and patches of moss covered the bottom of the fence pickets.

Ari and Eddie followed first, taking their vests off in an attempt to seem more peaceful. Behind Eddie and Ari followed Conrad and Jarred who had also tucked their weapons away.

As soon as I came around the corner of the fence that separated the yards, the reds held up their weapons cautiously. I held up the stone and the reds slowly inched towards us, their faces covered in confusion and concentration.

“Drop it!” the red at the back of the group shouted at me as I tried to grab my weapon from the back of my waistband. As soon as the words escaped his mouth I released it and it fell to the ground. “All of you!” she continued. I heard the sound of the weapons of my teammates hit the ground behind me, along with their vests and goggles that they had already removed.

“ALL of you.” one of her teammates repeated firmly, pointing his weapon at Eddie.

Eddie opened his mouth to speak but to my surprise he had nothing to say.

“He doesn’t have anything on him.” I assured them.

“Then nobody move.” The tall pale girl spoke again. We froze with our hands up near our shoulders, not moving a muscle. Half of the red soldiers went back inside the house and the rest of them continued to keep their eyes on Eddie while the girl checked him for any weapons.

My heart was racing and I was regretting following Eddie’s orders. I saw my chance and decided to take it. While all the soldiers were watching Eddie, I took a small couple of steps away and quickly knelt down and grabbed my weapon. Everybody turned to face me, pointing their weapons towards me. I was still. I had to do something, yet I didn’t know what. I swallowed back my fear and with my shaky hands, I pulled the trigger. The dart fired off and whizzed past the tall girl’s face and with a frightened look on her face, she pulled the trigger on her weapon as well, firing it into Eddies chest.

I yelled out in agony and dropped my weapon with my hands in the air. With the reds all pointed towards me now, I had nothing more I could do to stop them. Eddie had been right..violence was never the answer to any of this. I stared at his body lying in the grass and dropped to my knees in defeat. I no longer wanted to win, I just wanted it to end. I slowly pulled the stone from my pocket and held it up in the sunshine. The reds smiled and laughed looking down at my weak self and the girl proceeded to take the stone from my hand.

“Alright, tie then?” she asked.

“Yeah, tie would be nice.” I responded as I got up off the ground.

“Cool!” she smiled, “My name’s Jenny, wanna come over and hang out for supper? My mom will be home soon and she said she’s making hot dogs.”

“Yah, I love hotdogs.” I replied smiling back. “I’m Charlie. Can Eddie come over too? He’s new, he just moved here.”

“Hi Eddie,” she waved at him, “you can come over too if you want.”

Eddie got up off the ground and nodded his head.

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