Today after school Jeffrey was going to play airsoft. He had participated in one or two laser tag and paintball games. So he knew roughly how it would go, but Jeffrey was still nervous and a little excited with anticipation for what was coming.
Jeffrey, Melissa, Gavin, Matthew, Harrison, Thompson, Miley, Steven, and Eric were all invited by their classmate Tyler.
Jeffrey arrived at the wooded area with a pair of closed toed shoes, a thick jacket and a pair of warm gloves. Jeffrey was the fifth to arrive.
Slowly the other kids started arriving as well, their parents dropping them off.
Tyler greeted each one of them.
"I was originally going to invite everyone to an alpine slide or go karting, but I heard this would be more fun", Tyler said to the group.
"Anyone play airsoft before?", Tyler asked everyone.
Almost all of them nodded their heads no.
"Well, if you've played paintball or laser tag. It's pretty much the same concept", Tyler tried to explain.
"We'll split up into two teams and shoot each other", Tyler lead the way to the shop.
Tyler got everyone wrist bands and the referee explained the rules. Afterwards they were all equipped with a battery powered gun and a pair of goggles for eye protection.
"Let's starting picking team captains. Who do we want?" Tyler asked the group.
"I'm voting for Miley and Tyler", Eric said out loud.
"I'll vote for Thompson and Tyler, but I'm ok with Miley", Steven said his vote.
They all discussed a little before making Tyler and Miley team captains.
Tyler, Harrison, Thompson, Matthew and Steven were on one team.
Miley, Gavin, Melissa, Eric, and Jeffrey were on the other.
Soon they approached the playing field with Tyler's team on one side and Miley's team on the other. Various wood piles were stacked, nets surrounded the airsoft zone, and a few windowed walls were scattered about.
"Ready? Go", the referee yelled out.
Both teams started running for cover.
Jeffrey ran to the left and ducked behind a tree stump, he saw a group of the opposite team on the right side.
Jeffrey shot at them, the whir of the gun revved up to shoot BBs at them. Hearing the shots land close by they ducked behind cover trying to figure out who was shooting at them.
Jeffrey heard the crunch of leaves behind him, he turned around to see Harrison point his finger at him and saying "Bang"
"Thanks Harrison", Jeffrey said raising his hands in the air.
"No problem", Harrison said back.
At close range, it was bad mannered to shoot someone point blank. So they would say "bang" loud enough instead of shooting the gun.
Jeffrey wasn't as rude as to ghost an opponent so with his gun in the air he ran back to spawn to respawn.
Once he did so however, he yelled out.
"Harrison's on the left, watch out!"
It was up to the rest of his team to decide what they wanted to do. Jeffrey wasn't the only one who was shot as Eric had returned to touch their spawn.
Miley and Melissa had pushed up quite far into enemy territory, but the referee told them to not go past a certain area to prevent spawn camping.
Jeffrey could hear the bullets ricochet from nearby, so Jeffrey ran for the nearest cover.
Looking around he tried to figure out where he was being shot from. He peaked up and immediately ducked back down.
Tyler and Steven had occupied the center of the airsoft zone.
Jeffrey fired a few shots but failed to hit either of them.
Tyler split up headed for cover on their team's right side. Steven stayed to cover him.
The teams were not very well coordinated as everyone just shot at who they saw.
"HIT", Melissa yelled as she got shot raising her hands in the air.
Miley followed suit soon after, but not before taking out Thompson and Matthew.
A few moments later the game had ended and they took a break outside the airsoft zone. They were all breathing hard with their airsoft guns laying on the table.
"That was fun", Gavin said talking about shooting his friends.
"Yeah, I got hit a lot', Thompson said about his experience on the field.
"We were aiming for Melissa and Miley when Eric ambushed us. He's an assassin", Tyler talked about his moments of airsoft.
Huddled in a group, they discussed who was the best marksman and if they were switching teams.
Jeffrey joined in the conversations a few times, but had a pleasant time just spending time in a fun activity. There was more fun to be had as they had more rounds and maps to play.
Soon enough, they were placed in the castle map. A two story building with walkways, ramps, lookout posts, and a building in the center.
Almost immediately everyone rushed toward the second floor and engaged in corridor shootouts. Although some tried to shoot from below, they all realized the second floor was where all the fun and the pain was at.
Jeffrey tried to flank a few times, but got shot and had to return to spawn a few times. However it was definitely more unique as they all tried to find holes in the group to shoot up through or aim at the other teams shoes.
"HIT", Tyler said as he was shot by three different people.
"I'M HIT", he said a little exasperated.
Jeffrey's team stopped shooting at him.
"Thank you", he said as he started to walk back to spawn.
Some people on Jeffrey's team were picked off as they got pushed back. Eric and Gavin had run out of ammo. While Melissa and Miley were prepared to ambush the other team.
Steven, Matthew and Thompson were unloading bullets in their direction before the match ended.
Jeffrey was a little tired from all the running, but they were going to take a lunch break before playing in the afternoon.
Jeffrey stared up at the sky. "Haah that was fun", he thought to himself.