Chapter 11: Second Night (Part 2)

Sam was still seething when Carly called everyone to the center of the field.

“So we’ve got a whole bunch of games we can play today, we can start with Zombies again, or some Sprouts, but I was thinking that since we’ve got so many people here, we can play Captains!”

“What’s that?” One of the first-years asked.

“It’s a game where you split up into two teams,” she explained. “So we need an even number of people. It’s not very easy to play with the numbers we had last week, but with 14 it should be perfect!”

She reached into her bag and took out two yellow vests with shiny silver lines, the reflective kind used by workers on the highway.

“The way Captains works is that there are two… well, captains, each one wearing one of these, on opposite sides of the half-court. If you die, then you go to your captain and he touches you or your weapon with his, and you come back to life! So basically, the two teams fight until one side’s captain is killed! Make sense?”

“So it’s like capture the flag?” A girl asked.

“Yes! Exactly like that!” Carly nodded. “Now, Mike and I are going to be the captains for the first round. Since, well… if he’s an attacker then the game’s gonna end fast.”

A shadow crossed her face for a moment and then she was back to her chipper self. “Now then! To start, pick a partner!”

Sam raised her eyebrow, confused, and met Mary’s eyes. The other girl’s face brightened hopefully.

“…Your partner will be on one team, and you’ll be on the other, that way it’s fair!” Carly added.

The color drained from Mary’s face and she shook her head frantically, her eyes filled with terror.

Sam ignored her and turned her attention to a more… suitable target. “You,” she snarled, pointing her sword at Cain.

“Aww, me Sammy? Why thanks, I’d be glad to!” He grinned, and she tamped down the urge to ignore the game and just take him out right here.

“Mike and I’ll head to opposite sides of the field, once everyone’s found a partner, whichever one of you is closer to each of us, come over,” Carly said, shrugging on the vest and heading down the field. Cain followed after her, waving at Sam as he did. She flipped him off.

Mary didn’t have the confidence to ask anyone, so Nick took it easy on her and offered to be her partner. Sam was almost impressed that Mary could spit out a “yes” before running over to her, eyes bright.

“I talked to a boy!” She said proudly, and it Sam felt a great swell of pity welling up for the poor girl.

The teams sorted themselves up pretty nicely. Sam was glad that she was on Mike’s team, as it was a hell of a lot better than trying to hit him, she figured. Carly, at least, she’d seen get killed a few times last week. Mary was on her team as well, of course, as was the redhead Cain had been talking to, who she learned was named Shannon. The only other person on the team she had any interest in was a tall girl named Andrea, and that was only because the dark-haired girl had a look of disdain about her that worthy of respect.

As the captain, Mike was quick to call everyone together.

“Okay, guys, this is going to be a fairly standard game. Usually, the right call is to have some people on the attack, and some people play defense. I think-“

“Defense!” Mary blurted out, her terror at being stuck as an attacker overcoming her terror at speaking up.

“…Okay then, that’s one defender, Mac, I’m guessing you’re gonna be an attacker as usual?”

Mac was a tall junior, with shaggy blonde hair and a lanky physique. Which was why Sam was surprised at how easily he carried such a big weapon, a bizarre spear-battle axe hybrid, with one hand. Impressive.

“You know it,” he grinned, his eyes shining behind his bangs.

“And Andy, you’re gonna want to be an attacker too, right?” Mike turned to Andrea next.

“…Right,” Andy muttered. Her narrow eyes glared across the field at a girl with a short blue dye-job who was chatting up one of the boys on her team.

“Okay, we have the numbers for an even balance, so we need another attacker and then two more-“

“I’ll be the attacker,” Sam volunteered.

“You sure? This is only your second day, right?” Mike asked. Sam didn’t hear any doubt in his question, he almost seemed pleased.

“Well, it’s my first, so I’m happy to let her,” Shannon said, twirling her sword. “I don’t even know how to use this thing.”

“Works for me,” the last member of their team, a first-year boy, agreed.

“Okay then. Willis, you’re with me, Shannon, same, and…” He turned to Mary.

“M-Mary,” she managed to get out.

“Mary. Got it. So you three, you guys want to stick as close to me as possible. If they try to lead you out, don’t fall for it. As for the rest of you-“

“Come on, Mike, we’ve been doing this long enough,” Mac laughed as the three of them headed towards the center of half-court. “An attacker just has to attack!”

He turned to Sam and flashed a grin. “I’m Mac, by the way, don’t know if we’ve met before.”

“Uh-huh,” she grunted.

“I saw you last week, you were really going at it with Cain, huh?”

“He pissed me off.”

“Yeah, he does that. So I take it you’re going after him again, then?”

She gave him a glare for an answer.

“…Right. Well, when that whistle blows, it’s gonna be a wild time. Only thing I know for sure is Tony’s probably coming my way, so just keep your head up and get ready for ‘em, that’s my advice,” he grinned. “But I doubt that guy’s gonna be an attacker.

Sam didn’t care if Cain was an attacker, a defender, or the fucking captain. She’d cut down anyone in her way.

“You guys ready?!” Carly shouted across the field.

“READY!” Mike shouted back. She blew her whistle and the game began.

Mac was right about one thing, it got wild when the whistle blew. Three attackers from the other team came charging right at them.

“MAC!” A deep voice bellowed, and a mountain of a man charged the lanky blonde, swinging a giant spear. Sam took a wild guess that was probably Tony. With a savage grin, Mac raised his shield to block the swing, and the smack was so loud it made her wince.

So much for that “don’t put your whole body into it” BS Carly was spouting last night.

On the other side of her, conversely, Andrea (Andy?) was moving with measured focus. The one-hand spear she used was much finer, thin blade with a body as black as her hair and a cutting edge as pale white as her skin. It gave her the range over her opponent’s sword, which she used to cut the other boy down quick as a whip.

Then there was Sam’s foe. To her displeasure, it wasn’t Cain. No, he was on the defense like Mac predicted, meaning she had to get through the wave of attackers to get to him.

In this case, the attacked was Nick, with his strange blue sword.

“Hey Sam, ready to do this thing?” He grinned, and she swung her sword. She hated when people tried to make small talk.

He blocked her swing and stepped back, readjusting where he was standing to keep at the edge of her range while keeping his sword aimed at her throat. It was the same thing Mike was always doing. But she doubted Nick was as good as he was.

Sam turned her body sideways and held up her sword, keeping her right arm back. It was kind of like fencing, but not perfect. She thrust forward, trying to push him back. He stepped back, as she expected, but she still wasn’t getting anywhere. So she pressed the attack, swinging in from the side next to see if she could draw out his guard.

It… didn’t end up working as she planned. Their swords struck each other, and then, to her shock, she felt a powerful tug on her arm dragging hers down. Like something had grabbed it and-

By the time she put it together, he’d already cut off her arm.

Nick readjusted his posture, a proud smile on his face. “Nice! It worked just like I hoped!”

It was those fucking bumps. His sword’s cutting edge was all wavy, and when their blades struck she’d gotten hers wedged between two of them. Not even tightly, either, she would have easily been able to tug it free, but all it had taken was a flip of his wrist to knock her sword down, and then he skidded along the blade like it was nothing.

“That’s your arm,” he noted, nodding to the hand he’d “cut off”. “Switch it.”

Sam took one glance at her right hand and shook her head. “I’m gonna respawn,” she muttered, turning and trudging back towards their captain.

“You sure? You can use your other arm, you don’t have to…”

She didn’t bother listening, she was already working out a plan for how to take care of that weird wavy sword. New strategy: do not cross blades with him again. Stick to thrusting.

Nick shrugged and pressed his attack, running for their defenders. With a scowl, Sam picked up the pace. That’s right, this wasn’t the time for slacking. She managed to get there ahead of him, touching Mike’s sword. She turned to Nick and raised her blade, and he backed off, giving her a wide berth.

“Sorry big man, they got me too,” Mac called as he jogged up, respawning himself. He turned to Nick and grinned. “Shouldn’t you be on your own side?” He asked, advancing on the shorter boy.

The faintest of smirks crossed Sam’s lips. She doubted he’d be able to lock down Mac’s brute strength so easily, not that huge spear.

Back to the attack! Leaving Nick to his fate, Sam threw herself across the field, and spotted her first target. Andy was being forced back by the big guy, Tony, who was making good use of his shield. She didn’t stand much of a chance with him having the range over her, and was giving up ground fast.

Big as he was, though, he only had one spear, and he couldn’t swing it fast enough at Sam when she got him from the side.

“Thanks,” Andy muttered, and broke into a run to regain the ground she’d lost. Sam came upon another boy, one of the first-years, and cut him down as well. Now there were just the defenders to deal with. And she knew exactly who she was going to-

Something soft hit Sam’s left leg. She looked down and saw the familiar curve of a knife, and she ground her teeth together.

“Cain!” She shouted, waving her sword angrily at him. So much for running. She hobbled forward, dragging her leg behind her. No fucking way was she letting him get away with that.