Battle to the Death!

SO you know how in my last post I said I could do whatever I wanted after I get home from work? Apparently the only thing I’ve been wanting to do is sleep! I’m still getting used to my new job; it’s a lot harder than I though it would be and a lot more mentally exhausting. However! I am surviving!

So, I have about four of five short stories from my class left to upload! This one is one of my favorite memories and I was very happy with the reactions I got from my class about it. I hope you enjoy Battle to the Death!

The dull sound of distant gunfire filled my ears as I crawled across the ground. If I had been standing, the grass would have reached my knees. However, I was currently on my hands and knees so the grass poked at my arms, hands, and face as I moved, threatening to stab my eyes out if I wasn’t paying attention. I was in the middle of a field with few trees which offered very little protection, which made my anxiety spike.

My heart was pounding so loud that I feared others could hear it over the gunfire. I was terrified. This was my last chance to get this right, to win this battle once and for all. All we had to do was reach the center.

A loud snap sounded behind me and I jumped, spinning around and pointing my gun, but I stopped myself just in time from firing. I sighed in frustration, trying to calm my racing heart. “Your footsteps are too loud! I thought you were someone else!”

My partner, a woman with a pink asymmetrical hair cut, shot me a sheepish smile. “Sorry,” she said, “I can’t help it!”

I opened my mouth to argue, but a loud engine cut me off. With a scream both of us hit the ground, laying as flat as we possibly could. A jeep sped by us and screeched to a halt a few feet away, four soldiers jumping out.

My heart sank. Crap! They saw us! We’re doomed! I could hear my partner’s ragged breathing behind me, she must have been thinking the same thing. I readied my pistol: if I was going down, I was taking someone with me.

The soldiers ran around the jeep, but instead of heading towards us they ran for a small cluster of buildings in the opposite direction while I watched, jaw open.

“How did they not see us?!” My partner exclaimed. “They literally drove past us! How?!”

I darted my eyes between the jeep and the group. It was risky. We should leave now, while we have the chance. We should- “I’m going for it!” I said my favorite catch phrase and began to army crawl towards the jeep, keeping an eye out for the person that had to have been keeping guard.

I heard my partner crawl behind me. “This is stupid! We’re going to get killed!”

“I know, I know,” I told her, “but I can’t pass this up!” I continued to crawl at an agonizingly slow pace, the sharp grass cutting into my arms and my legs through my combat pants. As soon as I was a few yards away, I continued to be reckless and got up, running the rest of the way to the jeep. “There’s no one here! Get in, get in!” I shouted, leaping into the driver’s seat. I had never driven one of these before, but it shouldn’t be too hard, right?

My partner jumped into the passenger seat and I sped off, waiting for bullets to start flying by, but none came. “We stole a jeep!” I shouted triumphantly, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins. “WE STOLE A FRICKEN JEEP!”

“I know! How did that work??” My partner shouted back, leaning out the window with her shotgun ready.

“I don’t know!” I laughed as we sped over the hills and between the trees. We were making great time getting to our destination and I was thrilled. We finally had a fighting chance!

I drove over a large rock, sending us flying into the air. I heard my partner scream in terror, but I didn’t care. I was excited, thrilled, hopeful! We were finally going to make it.

Then I hit a tree. I felt my whole body jerk forward from the sudden stop and heard the crunch of metal against wood. Maybe driving was a bit harder than I thought.

“DON’T HIT THE TREE!” My partner screamed over the sound of metal crunching. “You’re lucky we didn’t blow up!”

“Don’t worry, we’re fine!” I immediately began to reverse, grateful that the vehicle still moved. “I’m just getting used to this thing, that’s all!”

We continued to drive (albeit a little recklessly) and sped towards our destination; the center of the large island we fought on. I drove us through small towns and past farms, my partner yelling at me the whole time about how we shouldn’t attract so much attention to ourselves. I didn’t care, I felt too invincible!

Then I hit a house. I was starting to think driving wasn’t my strong suit.

A bullet hit me in the shoulder and peppered the side of the jeep. We were under attack! I pulled out my pistol and began firing at the man that had come out from inside the building, but due to my odd position I had poor aim.

“We’re getting surrounded!” My partner yelled. I looked back and saw two more people come out from the other side of the house. Three against one. We’re dead.

I tried to exit the jeep so that I could look for cover, but something went very wrong and I ended up underneath it instead. “CRAP I’M STUCK UNDER THE JEEP!”

“HOW’D YOU PULL THAT OFF?”

“I DON’T KNOW!” I frantically wriggled, trying to free myself from my horrific prison, when suddenly everything went black.

GAME OVER!

I leaned back in my chair and threw up my hands, startling the sleeping cat in my lap. “Gosh dang it!”

I could hear my friend groan through my headphones. “We were so close! There were only 28 people left!”

I looked at the stats on my screen. No kills, that’s not a surprise. “Hey, at least we made it to 18^th place this time! Better than the last round!”

My friend laughed, “Yeah, true. Well, I’d better go. I have work in the morning and my bladder is very mad at me.”

“Aw, dang it!” I lamented. “Come one, just one more round? We can definitely do it this time!”

“Jasmine, I have to go to the bathroom!”

I sighed, “alright fine! Maybe we can play tomorrow?”

“We can sure try!”

“Alright then. Good night!” I told her as I closed the game.

“Night!” The call ended with a familiar chime and I pulled off my headphones, rubbing my face. Sleep was going to be hard to find after that adrenaline rush.