Page 39 of Soothsayer

“Are you sure?”

“That’s the rules, man. Haven’t you played paintball before?”

“Of course,” I lied, “but it’s kind of important I go in after him now. He’s got a medical condition, and I need to get him his inhaler.”

The guy scowled at me. “What are you, his dad?”

“Just a concerned friend who doesn’t want to have to explain to your boss why my buddy is getting hospitalized on your watch.”

You didn’t have to be psychic to read this guy’s mind. After silently calling me every name in the book, he grunted and vaguely pointed. “Over there. But you have to wear the protective gear, and you have to play by the rules!”

“I’d never dream of doing anything else.” I headed out into the field toward the woods.

“Ha!” A kid who couldn’t be more than twelve suddenly jumped out from behind an abandoned Moon Car and sprayed my right side with paintballs. It stung a bit where they hit me?I’d probably have some lovely bruises tomorrow. “I got you!”

“Nice job.” I kept going.

“You’ve got to be dead now!” she—I think it was a she, it was hard to tell with the mask and heavy camo clothing on—yelled at me.

“I’m the walking dead.”

“Zombie!” I got another spray of paintballs to the back as I walked away. Kids, holyfuck, what little menaces.

I quickly found out there was no way I could just walk over to where Sören was hiding, which was naturally at the top of the damn hill, shooting down on everyone else. If you weren’t wearing camouflage, didn’t run from tree to tree in an effort to avoid getting shot, and didn’t look like you were part of the team? Then you got shot byeverybody. I wouldn’t have minded so much, but some people took the rules really damn seriously. Even the people on the team trying to take the hill looked askance at me after a little while, as covered in paint as I was.

“Fine,” I muttered to myself. I needed to get up that hill and I needed to do it fast, so I’d break a different rule. I took my jacket off and turned it inside out to hide most of the paint, fastened it in the front, and then positioned myself at the back of a wedge of players who seemed to be mustering the nerve to rush the hill.

When one of them glanced at me, I hoisted my gun. “Oo-rah!”

“Oo-rah!” he shouted. “All right, let’s do this, motherfuckers!” With copious yelling and screaming, they started up the hill.

Of course it didn’t work. Everyone got mowed down in a hail of paintballs, but instead of letting the man in front of me fall, I held onto the back of his shirt and used him as a human shield until I got to the very top of the hill, where the bunker that Sören defended was located.

Instead of getting mad, the guy just gave me two thumbs up and said, “Awesome!” Then he fell down in a heap, and I hopped into the bunker.

Sören didn’t instantly shoot me, which was nice. He wasn’t wearing his face mask, and I took my own off, throwing the sweat-saturated accessory aside. “You came to play!” Sören sounded pleased. “Are you defecting to my side?”

“If anyone’s defecting today, it’s you,” I said grimly. “We’ve got to go, now.”

“But I haven’t won the game yet.”

“There isn’t time for the game! Your brothers are here.”

Sören blinked quizzically. “How many of them?”

“At least one, probably more.” How much time had passed since I first entered the park? Were we coming up on fifteen minutes? “Look, cops are going to be showing up soon. We need to be gone before they get here.”

Sören looked on the verge of pouting. “But I want to win the game. I’ve hardly had a chance to do anything fun yet!”

Aaandthere was the youthful rebellion. I should be playing this more cautiously, given that Sören was probably strong enough to rip my head off, but I was at the tail end of my patience.

“You want to do something fun? Here.” I grabbed him by the back of the neck, drew him close, and kissed him.

It wasn’t like I remembered kissing Sören to be. He’d been a good kisser, his lips soft and firm by turns as we played with who was going to be on top. This Sören was mostly still, and when he finally did move, it was with teeth, not lips. He gripped the sleeve of my jacket and bit into my lower lip and then released me only to do it again. It hurt, but it felt strangely good too. I had to stop now that I had Sören’s attention. Doing so was harder than it should have been.

I pulled back. “Please.” My lower lip felt raw, but I didn’t touch it. I let Sören look at it, and me, and come to his own conclusion that yes, I really was this desperate.

“Very well.” He reached over and picked my face protection up off the ground. “Put this back on.”

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