Abbie’s POV

I know I shouldn’t have, but it felt right. I kissed him back. I pushed back and fought the restraint he had on my arms, hoping he’d free them so I could feel him. This was the first time I’d had a guy interested in me… Not the first guy I’d been interested in, but the first I was kissing and longing to hold… His grip on my hands loosened and I pulled my arms free, placing my hands on his chest as we kissed. But wait? I shouldn’t be doing this… Not now… I used the small amount of strength I had while feeling weak at the knees and shoved Jonny off me.

“What?” He exclaimed as he stumbled backwards.

“Jonny, look…” I began.

“Y-You didn’t want it?” He jumped in.

“No, I do! But Faye needs me. She needs us!” I said, feeling overprotective. I turned round and opened the door.

“I’ll be there in a minute…” He said hesitantly as I walked out of the room. I shook my head. I ran back to the campsite.

“Where the hell have you been?” Luke’s gaze shot over to me.

“We went looking for stuff to help her out. It’s a fluke accident, they don’t just have a first aid kit for fluke shootings!” I shrugged. He seemed to have bought it… Thank God!

“I could sue them!” Faye began. I rolled me eyes. Not ‘oh thanks Abbie for saving me’ or anything… Just talk about suing them…

“Let’s not think about that now, ok? We gotta get some rest for tomorrow. Another mission will come around and you need to be fit and ready to shoot some people!” Tom said enthusiastically.

“Yeah and hope there isn’t a stray bullet!” Faye said sarcastically. Jonny suddenly made an entrance into the campsite clutching an envelope.

“No rest for the wicked guys, another mission is up!” He said, throwing the envelope to Tom, who ripped it open and read it.

“Oh Shit…” He whispered. “It’s a free for all…”

“Like everyone has a gun and everyone can kill anyone?” Luke said, just to check.

“Like we’ve all got the same mission?” I added. Tom nodded.

“Oh shit indeed…” Faye added. “I’m not ready to fight yet!”

“If you’re in the army, that’s not an excuse. You fight when they tell you, for how long they tell you. If this was the Army, Faye, the bullet wouldn’t have missed. The person that shot it wouldn’t have had the choice; they’d have killed you there and then.” The way Jonny spoke this sent a chill down my spine. He said it as if he had loads of experience as the guy pulling the trigger. “Now, you guys better get ready now and sort it out. We can’t lose any of you… Ok?” He paused. “Remember, if you get shot, stay down. We’re trying to find the most hardy, courageous, skilful. If you can get shot, you’re not ready…” There was a pause as Jonny looked at each of us as if this was the last time he was going to see us.

“What about guns?” Tom said, seeming confident.

“You gotta use the ones you had earlier. There’s limited ammo. Some is in the box. I gotta get back.” Jonny winked at me and put his finger to his lips before he ran out of the campsite. Well, I assume that means I can’t tell them about the whole real bullet thing… And it’s probably best that I don’t tell them!

“We better get ready, they’re going to come from every angle !” I said quickly. “They may already be moving!” It had begun to get dark, the sun had set so far it was that dusky, dim time where things begin to become less visible. Great. Not to mention, it feels like it’s beginning to rain. Small drops of rain fall onto the ground around us, seeming to make a noise louder than anything we’d heard in days. As the rain got heavier and bounced off the leaves, the sound almost became deafening.

“Keep listening out for footsteps!” Luke said, though it was difficult to hear anything but the raindrops. I kept a look out, scoping around our camp, hoping someone will make a mistake and I will notice them. It’s amazing how willing you are to kill someone to save people you like – and yourself. A shot suddenly echoes behind me and I jump, spinning my head round to see Tom celebrating.

“I got one!” He whispers. My heart sinks. He still thinks it’s all about paintballs… “You know, this isn’t as bad as I-” Another shot echoes the woods, but this time none of us are celebrating. I check myself, but nothing. Faye seems alright. Luke is still scoping the area with his sniper rifle. I slowly look over to Tom, who puts his hands on his stomach. Looking down at his hands as he removes them, they are covered in blood. He slowly falls to his knees, then falls backwards so he is laying on his back.

“Keep watch!” I order Faye and Luke as I run over to Tom, who is coughing and spluttering blood onto the ground beside him.

“How bad is it?” He croaked. My heart wrenched. He can’t die. He’s fine.

“It’s not too bad!” I lied. “I mean, you were mid celebration, so that sucked, but…” I couldn’t finish my sentence, but he let out a weak laugh. My heart was slowly sinking.

“How is he, Abbie?” Faye sounded like she was choking on her words.

“Alright.” I said, but as she looked over, she knew it wasn’t. I took off my bulletproof jacket and my ripped camo jacket and screwed it up. I uickly chucked my bulletproof jacket back on before making sure I put pressure on his wound with the jacket.

“Where’s Jonny with the first aid?” Luke said, terrified.

“I don’t know!” I shouted.

“Jonny! If you can hear us, we need first aid!” Faye said, a lump in her throat. “Hold on, Luke.” She said as she ran over to us. “I’ll look after him, you watch the area. I’m not in the right state of mind!” She admitted, teary-eyed.

“That’s fine, Faye. Just watch out, yeah?” I stood up and cocked my gun, running over to Luke.

“Any sightings?” I said, almost as if nothing had happened.

“No. Nothing yet. But I didn’t see the one who shot Tom! They’re hiding good…” Luke shook his head. “Is he gonna be alright?” He whispered shortly after.

“No. He’s taken a shot to the stomach.” I looked to the ground.

“But it’s painballs?!” Luke exclaimed. “Isn’t it?” I shook my head.

“Real bullets, Luke.” His gun dropped as he stared in awe at me.

“We’ve been shooting people with real bullets?” I nodded.

“I think so… Faye and Tom have been hit with real bullets. This isn’t a fluke accident…”

“Jes-” He stopped immediately as we heard a rustling in the trees ahead of us.

“I got this one. I think it’s the guy. Just remember; If you don’t shoot to kill, they will.” I said as I ran into the woods. I dodged the branches and jumped over the logs and threw myself at the guy who was aiming at Luke – I’m glad he wasn’t expecting me! We struggled around on the floor in a fight for a few minutes, punches and kicks being thrown everywhere before the guy picked up a small but thick branch and smacked me round the face with it. I stumbled backwards until I backed up against a tree. The guy picked up his gun and walked towards me, holding his gun out. He placed the gun on my forehead and smiled.

“Sorry, but it’s everyone for themselves!” He said evilly. I noticed another camouflaged guy creeping up behind him, but if I was going to die, this guy deserved to die too! The guy behind us cocked his gun and after a swift look around, took a shot which caught the guy in-front of me in the back of the neck. He bent backwards as he fell to the floor, letting out a yelp. I looked up at the guy who had just saved my life, ready to thank him, but he held his gun to my head. I swiftly grabbed mine and shot just behind him, where a woman was creeping up behind him.

“You saved my life, I’ve saved yours. Call it quits this time, yeah?” I shrugged. “By all means shoot me again if you see me…”

“I’d say that was fair enough.” He lowered his gun. “You’ve got 10 seconds.” He looked away and I ran back to the camp site, now covered in blood.

“Holy shit!” Luke exclaimed. “What happened to you?” Faye looked over and let out a scream.

“I’m fine! I’m fine! I killed a couple of people. It was a fight and all, but I won.” Faye smiled and looked back down at Tom, who was looking whiter than when I’d left. I noticed my camo jacket that was on his wound was now turning a deep shade of crimson. He wasn’t going to last much longer…

“Don’t do that again! You scared the shit out of me!” Luke exclaimed, yanking me down to the floor with him.

“Sorry!” I shrugged, confused as to why he even cared.

“Look, three of them there… Conferring.” He pointed at the sight and I peered through it, looking at three people standing planning their actions. “Do I take them out?”

“One each.” I said, not caring about their welfare any more. I’d almost died twice, maybe even three times, in the woods after five seconds. They didn’t care about me, so I wasn’t going to care about them! “Faye, we need you quickly!” We all lay next to each other on the ground.

“I got the one on the left. Luke, the right. Abbie, middle.” Faye ordered. “Three, Two, One.” We all shot simultaneously and watched as all three of them fell to the floor in a thud.

“Good job.” Luke smiled at us. “We’d make a good team if this was real!”