Final Bet

A trial to see who could ride a coaster without screaming. Competitive swimming with an Olympic athlete. Kidney trivia. Rock-paper scissors. Gallery shooting. A scavenger hunt. Frankie had been through so many games they’d honestly started to blend together.

“I pick… um…”

And right now, she couldn’t think up a single thing.

But Katie poked and prodded her arm impatiently, desperate to say something.

“What’s up, Kate?”

“S-s-s… snow… snowb…” The sheer excitement of the idea prevented her from actually getting it out of her mouth, just hopping from foot to foot atop the snow like she needed to use the bathroom.

“What is it? Spit it out!”

“Snowball fight!”

Nobody had much to say to argue against the idea.

The marketing team felt like children lining up to pick their two representatives to take down the sisters, but if this is what they had to do to get those two behind bars, they were going to do it and they were going to do it well.

“What’s the matter? Ya scared? Just send up the first two guys who feel like it.” Taunted Frankie.

In time they choose their champions. Denny Adams, a skilled marksman, and Wilton E. Marston.

“We both get three minutes to set up ammo and defenses!” Katie suddenly decreed, seeking to eek more fun out of the premise. Denny sighed, but Wilton started working immediately to construct the most impenetrable snow fort he could.

Katie packed some slow into some cover she could duck behind. Meanwhile, Frankie was forging thick, heavy ballistics to fly straight and hit hard.

“Time’s up!” Katie called when the counter on Frankie’s phone elapsed. They were terrified to see the opposing team’s creation. Denny had majorly slacked off, but they’d still put together an igloo-shaped bunker with thin sniper holes and reinforced walls.

“We hadda place like this in the park I grew up in.” Wilton explained, wiping the snow from his gloves onto his baggy pants. “The snow was wicked cheap an’ felt like mud, but I was the shit back there, I tell you what. Compared to that, this fluff is like clay. I could make the friggin’ statue a’ Venus outta it.”

Frankie facepalmed. How had they not learned by now? The most fun option wasn’t always the most beneficial to their skillset. She sighed. Maybe it just couldn’t be helped. After all, they had a wide selection of people with different talents. Maybe no matter what they’d picked, the opponents would have a specialist to send out. This time, they just had to hope for the best.

The sharp-toothed blonde man took the first ball in hand. “Well? Are we doing this, or…?”

“Okay! Ready? Three hits, and you’re out! Got that?” Katie explained at the last second. Everyone then got behind their cover as she counted down.

“I hope this doesn’t blow up in our face, haha…” Frankie murmured. It was hardly settling in for her how the entire competition was now riding on a 2v2 snowball fight. The absurdity was too much to comprehend.

“…Two! One! Go!” Katie shouted.

Frankie quickly got up to throw her first ball and immediately kissed a massive white boulder as it decked her straight across the face. Denny pumped his fist before Wilton handed him another ball.

“Finally! Serves you right, asshole!”