Scanning the boulders, I can’t see Tatiana and I curse under my breath. Then she pops up behind a limestone outcropping and deftly shoots an opponent in the shoulder. I suck in a sigh of relief until I see another player creeping up behind her, she dodges his paint bullet and it splatters against the rock. The color is purple, Michael Doyle’s team. He’s just behind us in the rankings, so it looks like he might have had his team target my players, too.
Tatiana darts around another rock outcropping and nails the Doyle player in the chest, he flies backward, dropping his rifle and she takes off for the end of the obstacle course. Just then, Liam gets hit in the neck, the orange paint splattering across his jacket and then a streak of red, too.
“Dr. Giardo!” I shout, he looks up and I point in Liam’s direction. “It’s O'Neill, he took a hit to the neck and he’s bleeding.”
The doctor looks over to where Liam is slumped against the rock. “He’ll be fine until the task is over,” he says dismissively.
“No!” I head for the stairs, “He’s bleeding from a neck wound.” One of the security guards steps in front of me.
“No entering the challenge field,” he recites indifferently. I’m about to punch him and take a leap over the side of the stand when Aleks shouts over to me.
“Toscano! Hold up.” He points to The Barrens and I see Tatiana veer off course, running over to Liam. She takes an impressive side shot, knocking over another player without breaking stride. Kneeling next to him, she pulls off her tank top, pressing it against his neck.
“Der'mo, shit!” I groaned, “She’s trying to drag him out, she’s going to get pummeled with paint bullets.”
“That’s pretty cool, though,” Aleks says, “didn’t you do something similar last year during the mid-winter challenge?”
“That was different,” I said tersely. Folding my arms, I try to look calm, like a leader though I want to vault over this fucking stand and knock the heads off two of Mateo’s players. They’re creeping up on Tatiana, who is still dragging Liam. They step into the path at the same time, one behind her and the other in front.
At first, I’m not sure if Liam collapsed and knocked Tatiana down until I realize she dropped to the ground so that Mateo’s two players would shoot each other in the chest. They’re both flat on their backs and Tati’s back up and heading for the finish. She knocks another player out of their way with a shot to the thigh and they’re across the line. I’m about to roar in triumph when Schmidt races up, shooting Tatiana in the back, knocking her forward into the dirt.
A chorus of shouts and booing rises from the stands as I push past the other students, trying to get to her and Liam.
“Are you all right?” It’s that slick bastard Ronan Cox, dropping his rifle to kneel by Tatiana, trying to help her up.
“I’m fine,” she shrugs, self-consciously wiping at the blood streaming from her nose. “Liam needs help, though.”
Cox hasn’t bothered to look at her bloody teammate, still holding her shoulders.
“Move, both of you.” Dr. Giardo pushes between them to get a look at Liam, still holding Tatiana’s tank top against the wound on his neck. I realize that my girl is standing there in her sports bra and pull off my jacket, putting it over her shoulders.
“Toscano wins the first Leaders challenge of the year!” Dean Christie shouts, firing off her pistol again. Five times. The woman loves her bullets.
“That’s bullshit!” Mateo shouts, “Aslanova was disqualified! You can see my team’s paint color all over her back!”
Professor Suarez steps up. “I saw your player take the shot,” he said coldly. “She was almost two meters past the finish line when he shot her in the back.”
“I didn’t see her pass the finish line,” Schmidt says with a grin that I’m going to punch off his fucking face.
“You lying asshole,” I snarled.
“It’s okay,” Tatiana interrupts us. “Lucca, can you help me give our equipment back to the groundskeeper?”
“Let Dr. Giardo check you first,” I said, softening at the grin on her dirty face.
“It’s okay,” she shrugs, then winces. Those paint bullets hurt like hell, and she wasn’t wearing her jacket, which would have at least given her some protection.
“How are you doing, brother?” I ask Liam, who’s tilting his head so Dr. Giardo can clean the wound.
“I’ll be fine,” he groans.
The rest of the team crowds around us, cheering, and slapping each other on the backs. Tatiana sidesteps a back-slapping attempt by Jun, who puts up his hand in apology. “Sorry!”
“Drinks at my place tonight!” I shout. I say it just to get them the hell out of my way so I can get Tatiana somewhere quiet and check her back.
Tatiana…
Lucca should be happy that we won the challenge, but he looks furious, glaring at Mateo, Schmidt, and even poor Jun who just tried to slap me on the back to congratulate me.
