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“And you have to aim. Remember.” Cole tapped the large plastic vest he was wearing. The silly thing was that I had one on too.

“Then, once you get hit, the light goes out in the middle?” I questioned again, still only just grasping the idea of this game.

Cole nodded his head and held his gun up in the air. “It resets after about a minute and you get your kill strike on the way out.”

“Sounds easy.”

“I hope you like running, Chloe.” Cole winked at me before slightly backing away. “You’re going down.”

I shook my head with a slight smile and then let my feet carry me through the maze. How had I never been here before?

The gaming room, or the Killing Area, as the sign on the door said, was like a maze, a very large one. It had rooms and funny faces sticking out from everywhere. All the walls were black, and it was extremely bright.

I walked through a tunnel and then glanced between the steps going up to what looked like a platform and then another small passageway. With my gun dangling loosely at my side, I wandered aimlessly up the small passage, glancing at the round holes in the walls. Must be for decorations I muttered to myself.

When Cole said his friends were coming, I thought maybe a few. So I was surprised when I saw close to twenty, and most with girlfriends. We actually had booked out all the spots in Laser Force, which, from what I heard, was ‘totally sick.’

This didn’t seem this exciting. I glanced over my shoulder. Cole wasn’t anywhere in sight. Didn’t he say something about hunting me down? He wasn’t doing a very good job at it.

“LET THE GAMES BEGIN.” An evil laugh boomed though the room. It sounded computer- generated.

Weren’t we already playing though? Frowning, I twisted around to walk back the way I had come, but the lights went out.

Everything went dark. I glanced down at my lit-up vest that matched the colors my gun was now flashing. This felt like something from an Xbox game.

I felt the walls and slowly guided my fingers across them, trying to find the way out. I squealed when something hit my leg. Looking down at what hit me, I saw a freaky baby doll head retreating back in the wall.

As I was squealing from the shock, another one came flying out of the wall from a different angle. And then, all of a sudden, heads were flying out of the holes from every direction. Screaming, I fled up the passageway, squealing and dodging the freaky things at the same time.

My squeal was muffled by the loud music screaming overhead. The music only added to the intense feeling that was boiling through me.

Reaching the end of the passageway, I spun around a corner quickly and then came to a stop when I entered a room. The room was flashing in black light. Different colors splashed across the walls. So that was why we were in darkness. I glanced down at my white socks, which were glowing above my sneakers. I loved black light.

It was beautiful. I walked slowly through the room. A puff of smoke from the wall had me coughing slightly and waving the air in front of me to make it disappear.

Smoke machine, freaky baby doll heads, black light. It was light a house of horrors mixed with an amusement park.

I gasped as a firm arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me back. Another swirl of smoke fogged the air.

His hot breath ran up my neck. I felt his lips brushed teasingly across my ear. Gulping, my grip on my gun got slightly tighter.

“Don’t lose concentration, Chloe.” His voice was thick. I couldn’t keep myself from pushing back into his chest just slightly.

“SHOT!” My vest screamed out. I was slightly startled. I caught Cole grinning as I turned around to face him. His gun was in the air, and he looked rather smug.

“Keep your mind on the game, Chloe.” He winked before running past me.

“Oh, payback is a bitch,” I screamed at his retreating back, and I heard his deep rumble of a laugh.

Grinning like an idiot, I ran after him. Past a wall full of cracked mirrors, he was so going to be owned when I caught up to him.

***

I crept up behind Cole. He had his back to me. He hunched over slightly with his gun through a hole in the wall, clearly having a target lined up.

He had shot me, I reckon, about five more times, each time taking me out smugly. I had also taken a few hits from his friends. I had only got one shot in and it was at his mate’s girlfriend. And the only reason I got it was because, in shock, my finger squeezed the trigger before she could.

We both squealed, both scaring each other. We laughed about it for a few minutes, and then both got shot by her boyfriend, who, just like Cole, was sneaky.