“Laser tag,” Nathan announced.
Oh, good. Only my own personal nightmare.
“Are you serious?” Jude asked.
“Of course I am. What better way for us to bond than to pretend to be brothers in arms?”
“Shit.” Leo laughed. “I haven’t done laser tag since I was a kid and I was fucking terrible at it.”
“Well, lucky for you, you have a laser tag regional champion on your team now.”
Jude blinked. “Competitive laser tag exists?”
“I’m pretty sure competitiveeverythingexists in some capacity,” Nathan replied.
“I’ve never done laser tag before,” I said tentatively.
“Shocker.” Nathan chuckled. “You’ll be fine. It’s not like paintball, where getting shot will actually hurt.”
Part of me was tempted to get snarky and ask about the presumed legion of optometrists who might argue otherwise. I was reasonably certain children with lasers couldn’t be trusted not to shine it in each other’s eyes. I stayed quiet instead.
Developing camaraderie between all of us was an important part of building a stable pack for Madison. If this was how they wanted to do it, well, then I would submit to the experiment. For now, anyway. Maybe once they had exhausted themselves sprinting around, we could indulge in some good food and discuss the future.
Nerves shot through me as Nathan parked outside the laser tag building. We followed him in and he got our team registered and outfitted, and then we were thrust onto the course.
My heart pounded so loudly in my ears, I could barely think.
Nathan yanked me behind a pillar as a stream of red light swept past us through the hazy air. “You can’t stand out in the open like that. We should get to some high ground.”
Our fearless leader went first, Leo and Jude making sure I didn’t get left behind. It was strangely impressive to watch Nathan take out the competition—even though many of them were only teenagers—to give us a few seconds to rush to safety.
Far more adults than I expected were scattered throughout. Was this a thing grown people enjoyed? A silly question when it seemed like Nathan was in his glory.
I raised my laser gun on instinct, firing wildly, shocked when the gun rumbled to let me know I had made contact with the person trying to take Nathan out from above.
“Nice save, man.” Nathan beamed at me and waved us forward.
Elation shot through me.
I’dhelped.
Okay, maybe I could understand how this would be fun. Jude and Leo covered Nathan from the side while I kept watch on those above.
The gear on my back rumbled. That meant I had been shot, didn’t it? Jude swung around, taking aim on the person who had hit me, Leo dragging me into cover.
“Am I out?”
“We get a few shots grace,” Nathan explained. “No fun for the kiddos if you’re out on a first shot.”
Thank goodness for that. It wouldn’t have been much of a bonding experience with the three of them running around out here and me waiting for them to get eliminated.
Bit by bit, we worked our way onto higher ground, finding what appeared to be a bachelor party and claiming their vantage point for ourselves.
My heart still pounded, but the anxiety had transitioned to delight. Envious as I was that the others seemed to fall into a unit so easily, I couldn’t help but feel included when they cheered for me or clapped me on the back for saving one of them.
It was almost enough to make me wish I had played this as a child. I wouldn’t have had a team then, though. I had my suspicions that the team was what made the difference, atleast for me. Doing this alone would’ve been an exercise in how stressed I could make myself.
Nathan tugged me down, protecting me from a wayward shot, and took out the person aiming for me.
