The Special People

Chapter 6

Isaac extended his arms, and they started to get longer and become a pale green.On each arm, the fingers joined together to form what appeared to be a snake's head.The snakes' heads showed small, round eyes, and their mouths opened to show sharp fangs.The snakes continued to spread out at a rapid rate until they encircled two people's necks, twisted and squeezed, and finally bit into their victims with their fangs.The people were nearly dead as soon as Isaac let go of their grip because the venom was so potent.

As every attempt to flee the scene resulted in a fatality, panic set in.Broken glasses and bottles were scattered everywhere, tables were knocked over, and bodies were thrown everywhere.With his snake arms, Isaac moved so quickly, biting and striking with perfect precision, that all movement stopped in less than a minute.

Are you prepared for this?As Kristen and Mike entered a dimly lit, dark room with twenty V-shaped vests hung on the walls, Wilson taunted them.On both the front and back of the vests, there were small, round, illuminated LED sensors at each vertex of the V.A pair of glasses with sensors along the rim and an oddly shaped plastic laser gun with lit-up sensors inside the clear plastic were positioned next to the vests.

"You won't win this time.Just wait,” Kristen said with a sarcastic grin as she slipped a vest over her head from the wall.

After them, seventeen people entered the room, each wearing a different vest, bracelet, and pair of glasses.

“Uh-huh.Sure.”Wilson returned the smile as he picked up his weapon.

He scurried to the door and made his way first into the arena with no lights.His vest, bracelets, and glasses immediately glowed brighter as he went through the door archway, and a holographic suit surrounded his upper body.The glasses-wearing speaker said, "Battle suit armed.Get ready.

A few seconds later, the rest of the group followed suit.They were faced with a maze of strangely shaped walls inside.All of the walls and floor were black, and a bright florescent blue outlined them.Models were hung from the ceiling and everywhere was painted with stars and planets.There were two-foot-tall raised platforms in two opposite corners of the room;Over the room's other two corners, a ramp connected them to a second floor.A bridge connected each of these bases to a cylinder-shaped platform in the arena's center.

Kristen and Mike clearly planned to team up against Wilson as they moved toward one of the upper-level bases as Wilson made his way there.He could almost hear them discussing an attack strategy.Sound effects started blaring out of the arena speakers as soon as he reached the top of the ramp, signaling the start of the game.

Wilson immediately positioned himself near one of the bridges and began firing from his laser gun.Everyone on the lower floor had been shot and was running for cover in a matter of seconds.The suit would power down for four seconds after each hit, then restart.Wilson kept taking them out one at a time.He heard someone ascend the ramp behind Mike as he observed Mike move to the middle platform.He flipped around to zap whoever was behind him after zapping Mike in the chest.The sneak attacker quickly retreated back down the ramp, surprised by Wilson's speed and accuracy.

Wilson fired at the people below as he began to move across the bridge.Wilson zapped Mike before he could fire when he emerged from behind a short wall.To prevent their suits from rebooting, he moved onto the center platform and exchanged shots with everyone in sight, but he narrowly missed Mike as he ran for cover.

“Ha!You stink!Mike made fun of Wilson as he ran to Wilson's starting point on the side of the bridge.

Wilson hid behind one of the short walls after he saw a laser flash toward him;He rose again and defeated his potential attacker.His suit suddenly stopped working.Kristen was pointing a gun at him when he looked to the side where he was exposed to the upper floor by the bridge.He swam to safety.

"He's upset!Take him!”She yelled at Mike.

Mike ran across the bridge quickly, but the employee in the referee vest shot him.As punishment for breaking the rules, the front vest sensor slowly flashed red as his suit shut down once more.

The worker told the employee, "No running."

"Oh, hurry up!"Mike barked.

To get around the punishment, the worker hit him again;He restarted and turned toward Wilson just in time to witness Wilson's laser strike his vest.

"That's nonsense!"Mike barked.

Wilson smiled and turned his attention back to Kristen, who was trying to hide in her base and was heading there when he shot her in the back with ease.

The other players quickly realized that Wilson posed the greatest threat to the game.Mike and Kristen began forming a group to oppose him.With several players moving up to the two upper-level bases, he was stuck in the middle.He continued to fight off his attackers despite the fact that he had little cover from either direction.Because no one dared get too close, they kept trading shots from a distance; he killed an average of three people for every time he was shot.

Wilson left the center platform after a few minutes to move to a better position.Kristen and a group of people made it to the center platform behind him with his back turned.He heard them and spun around to drag Kristen down, but she got him first this time.

“Ha!”As he disappeared behind a wall, she yelled joyfully.

Mike led a group of men to the opposite side and launched an attack.Wilson had to flee to the lower level because he was surrounded.He was hit two more times as he rushed behind the closest ramp.While he watched the players above him through a grate on the upper floor, he ducked and hid while he waited for his suit to power back up.

He chuckled quietly to himself, "Oh, this is just too easy."

They were vulnerable to his shots as soon as his suit restarted because they were unaware of their hidden enemy.He went through each of them quickly, one after the other.They were all in a panic, but they remained in Wilson's view and were unaware of the attack's origin.Wilson increased his score with a sly grin.Finally, one of them noticed that his lights were shining through the floor, and he called the others;They dispersed like insects.

Over the speakers, a voice said, "Sixty seconds left."

Wilson charged back up to the base quickly, zapping everyone he came across.

"There are fifteen seconds left."

He returned to the center platform, where he had a better view of the arena, and he killed as many people as he could before time expired.

"Five, four, three, two"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kristen.As she pointed her gun at his chest, he spun around.Although he fired, it was too late;He had already turned off his suit.

“. . .one.It's over.

As they left the arena, Kristen joyfully taunted Wilson with a shout of victory.

"I took the final shot at you!Haa, haa, haa, haa!In a singsong voice, she teased.

"You know you weren't victorious, right?"Wilson said.

I'm not bothered.I fired the final shot at you.There, then!Kristen said, almost sprinting to the wall to hang her gear.

Mike and Wilson followed Kristen into the lobby to view the game's results on the scoreboard after hanging up their glasses, bracelets, and vests.Wilson's highest score came as no surprise, but the magnitude of it shocked many.25,800 points had been scored by him.With 14,200, Kristen came in second, followed by Mike with 10,500;Everyone else's score was lower than 7,000.

"How do you do it so well?"Mike inquired.

Wilson jokingly replied, "Shoot a lot of people."

Mike responded, "I'm serious."

Wilson stated, "Just comes with experience, I guess."

Kristen said eagerly, "Come on, let's go again," as she jogged back to the arena door.

Wilson had not lost a single game by the time the fun center closed, but Kristen's score had significantly improved since the night's first game.In their final match, she was only 2,000 points ahead of Wilson.

Despite their exhaustion, they all left the amusement park beaming.They had all had a wonderful evening.Even Mike, who had shockingly lost every battle against Wilson, was upbeat.They all got back in the car and drove away.They returned to the stadium's parking lot a short time later, where Kristen and Mike had left their vehicles.

"So, are you prepared for tomorrow's field trip?"Kristen posed the question to Wilson as she emerged from the back seat.

Wilson replied, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

"Be sure to arrive on time.We will leave promptly at seven.

Mike said sarcastically, "Don't have too much fun without me," as he got out of the passenger seat.

Wilson said, "I'm sure you'll get to see the ruins eventually."

But not anytime soon.Before we allow anyone in, we still have a lot of work to do,” Kristen stated.

Mike commented, "You know, you can be such a buzzkill at times."I'll see everyone later.He made his way toward his car.

Kristen appeared a little concerned.She stated to Wilson, "I was just being realistic."

He is not irate at all.Don't worry about it, Wilson advised.

She gave him the look and sternly replied, "Seriously, though."Be punctual.

“What?I will attend!7:00 a.m. or earlier!He said, "Don't worry."

Wilson left in the direction of his apartment after they said their final goodbyes.He turned on the television when he got home, entered the living room, and grabbed the remote.He went to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich and turned up the volume on the national news report while still holding the remote control;He started removing bread, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, and deli meat from the refrigerator by reaching into it.