Reunited Paintfully 2: Raining Pellets

"Despite all the killing which took place that day, we got closer as we traded stories after the game about what exactly happened during our battles in the field."


My previous victory in the one on one paintball match with my old friend spawned more hunger for the game. I started making phone calls trying to persuade people to play. Persuading people was not that difficult, managing the correct time for everyone to play was the hardest. Nevertheless, with patience, dedication and wisdom, I finally got people to play. There were 11 of us including me and most of them whom turned up were my secondary schoolmates. Basically it was like a school reunion in a violent form since in the next few minutes, we would be shooting each other.

A few minutes before the first round began, I took the last glance at my teammates to see how they were doing. There were 5 of us including me and I wondered whether were they ready to kill. None of them had combat experience which clearly points out that I would be leading a bunch of fresh pups into the battlefield. It's not like as if it was my first time leading such a group after I recalled the previous tournament last year where I led 5 girls ( whom never touched a gun) to battle against 6 guys. Lucky for me, we won. That day I hoped that my luck would strike again.

The team I led for that day was a 5 men squad. On my left flank were both Amanda's. I couldn't remember their surnames so I had to address them by their names followed by the color of their clothes. One was wearing green while the other one was wearing black. The Amanda in the green blouse seemed terrified which reminded me of WW2 American soldiers getting ready to storm the shores of Omaha Beach. As for the Amanda in the black t-shirt, she was impatient for the game to start. The fact that she was staring fiercely at our opponents located on the opposite side of the field gave me the impression that this girl is out for a massive homicide. That's the spirit I wanted from my teammates, unfortunately she was the only one with it. Amanda in the black t-shirt was not only intimidating to her opponents but also to me as well. I remembered a couple of minutes ago before we geared up, when she was assigned to my squad, she expected me to lead my squad to victory seeing that she thinks I'm trained in Special Operations and small group combat. Well I can't really blame her for such misunderstanding, after all those who know me would think the same seeing that I practically talk about Special Forces 24/7. Both of these Amandas were from my secondary school. On my right flank were Han Ming and Ser Yoong. Both of these boys studied in the same secondary school as me. I've known them for more than half a decade and I guess its okay for me to consider them as "old timers". Ser Yoong was my opponent in the previous one on one paintball game. Ever since he lost to me, he insisted that he would fight along side with me. The only person who had experience in paintball was me. Initially, I thought we were going to lose since my teammates were first timers and to make matters worst, we had to go against a group with more members.

On the opposite side of the field were my opponents for the day. There were six of them and they outnumbered my squad by an extra person. The leader (or that's what I think since he's always ordering people around) of that group was a fat boy named Joseph. Like Han Ming and Ser Yoong, he's also from my secondary school. Despite we're schoolmates, I don't know much about this guy and we're just acquaintance. On his left flank was his girlfriend and his girlfriend's elder sister. I didn't know anything about them as it was my first time seeing them. Joseph's right flank comprise Karl Vic. Karl and I knew each other since primary school, we're kinda close but not as close as last time seeing that both of us are studying far away from one another and we hardly contact each other online. He's a nice guy with great sense of humor. Joseph's right flank also consisted of Jacqui and James. Both of them and I served in the same elite regiment, the W.I. 106th Regiment. We've been fighting along side all the while which makes these guys as experienced as me in paintball. The fact that they were my opponent for the day got me worried.

After removing our barrel socks and pushing the fire button of our gun, the field marshal gave a 5 second countdown. Within that 5 seconds, everyone's adrenaline was pumping...including mine. As the marshal shouted game on I rushed for the wooden bunker on the far right where else my right flank boys headed for the center bunkers. Han Ming and Ser Yoong did a quick but accurate recon of what's ahead of us before giving me the green light to advance. The moment I advanced, the enemy started firing on their closest target, which was me. Fortunate for me, I managed to get behind cover before I got my butt filled with pellets. I returned fire to hold the enemy back and at the same time, I ordered Han Ming and Ser Yoong to advance. After I slide to the tire bunkers next to me, I saw both Amanda's still at the same small bunkers sharing them. Bad move I thought, I told the Amanda in the black shirt to regroup at my position. Although we were sharing bunkers, this bunker was big enough for both of us. I told her to move forward while I provided covering fire for her. The moment I gave her the green light to advance, she rushed herself to her designated position with the speed of light. The enemy who concentrated their fire on her didn't noticed my presence, so I saw a window of opportunity for some kills. I popped out from the tire bunkers and released a few shot on my unaware opponents. Yeah! Enemy down. It was Karl who became the victim of my kill. No time to celebrate as there were 5 more enemies whom were pinning my squad down. I moved up to another wooden bunker that looked like a wall. That bunker had a couple of holes big enough to shoot from. I stuck my gun out and released a couple more shots. Bam! There goes another one. My next victim was James, the experienced soldier. With James gone, the enemy became weaker. Somebody then shouted "Man down". I quickly looked around and I saw the Amanda in the green blouse leaving the field. It wasn't long enough when the other Amanda went out of the field the moment she fired her last pellet. There were 3 of us left while the enemy had more. Han Ming and Ser Yoong who were constantly firing got the attention of our enemies. Seeing that I was always hardly noticed, I thought of sneaking up to my opponents. I crawled my way to get closer to the nearest opponent and the moment I heard footsteps, I knew I was closed enough for a kill. Immediately, I popped up and fired a shot to the nearest enemy. Head shot! Yeah! That unlucky guy was Joseph. Seeing I was in a vulnerable position, I immediately rushed to cover but unfortunately, it was time for me to leave the game when Jacqui send a pellet right into my shoulder. I wasn't surprised to get shot by Jacqui...after all she's a soldier from an elite regiment such as the W.I. 106th. After exiting the field, I became an observer like the rest of those who got shot. There were only 2 members left from my squad: Han Ming and Ser Yoong. The enemy had 3 members left and Jacqui was leading them. The 3 opponents were pinning Ser Yoong down forcing him to hide behind cover. Ser Yoong didn't have the chance to return fire as the enemies were fiercely pinning him down. I thought that would be the end of the game but when I noticed Han Ming wasn't with Ser Yoong, instead he was hiding behind a bunker located near the enemies, I knew we could still win. Han Ming came out from his cover and flanked the enemies killing 3 of them at one go and my squad eventually won the round. What a good start!

The 2nd round was located at a much smaller field. Unlike the previous field that had wooden walls, steel barrels and tractor tires as bunkers, this field's bunkers were only air bags. A few minutes before the 2nd round began, both teams were planning out their strategies. The second the marshal shouted "Game on", we opened fire at our enemy before moving to our bunkers. This round, the enemy's fire were more intense as most of us had difficulty advancing. I stayed at my current bunker for more than 10 minutes seeing that advancing was just impossible. The Amanda in the green blouse was the first one to be killed, as she advanced recklessly. I ordered my teammates to provide covering fire so that I could advance. Ser Yoong was courageous enough to pop out from his cover and provide covering fire. I immediately advanced but I was forced to retreat back the moment Ser Yoong got shot. Han Ming and Amanda ( black shirt) were waiting for my orders, however I didn't know what to do as our plan were abolished by this unexpected fierce enemy fire. I ordered them to stay put and concealed themselves completely behind the air bunkers. I peeked out to mark my opponents but the charging pellets on my bunker forced me to get back in. Fortunately, I managed to spot the enemy's sneaky strategy---they were quietly sending in assassins to clear us out from our bunker. Karl Vic and Joseph's girlfriend were crawling their way trying to reach us. It was a matter of time before they do therefore, I immediately informed my remaining teammates to watch their sides for incoming assassins. The assassins thought they were quiet enough to keep us unaware but little did they know that we were expecting them. As Karl Vic was close enough, I popped out from my bunker and pulled the trigger. The shocked assassin flew back as he got hit in his chest at close range. "Enemy down!" I informed my team. They informed similarly, the moment they killed the other assassin. With both of their assassins gone, the enemy cease further fire and took cover. This was our chance to advance. While we were advancing, James tried to hold us back by blazing his gun on us. Han Ming became the victim of the W.I. 106th regiment soldier. Lucky for me, I manage to take him out before he wipe us all out. There were just me and Amanda while the enemy had 3 more. Realizing that the enemy was losing members fast, they became desperate and they gave everything they had. They also gave their vulnerable side during this point as one of the did not concealed himself properly behind cover. It was Joseph, he was just standing still not realizing that he was vulnerable to my shot. I aimed my gun at him, looked down the cross air and pulled the trigger. The bullet then ejected from my gun and crashed into his visor the moment he popped out from his bunker. Yeah! Another head shot. One down, two more to go. After taking Joseph out, I advanced to the nearest bunker. The remaining enemies changed bunkers which made my job killing them easier since the bunkers they were hiding at were closer to my position. I took a deep breath and held my gun tighter before I flanked the remaining enemies. The moment I flanked them, I shouted "Freeze!" instead of pulling the trigger since it was Joseph's girlfriend's sister and Jacqui. They were girls, I just couldn't pull the trigger. As both of them lowered their guns, my squad won. 4 kills made and 2 prisoners taken, not bad.

No matter how great the player is, he or she will lose a couple of rounds. I lost the 3rd and 4th round that day. I was disqualified during the 3rd round when some lucky shot hit the hopper of my gun. I was the first one to be disqualified and my squad became chaotic without their leader. The fourth one was plain absurd. This was because Joseph ran towards all of us and told us to drop our weapon. All of us could have just blasted him right on the spot since we outnumbered him and he was barely close to us but the marshal just had to disqualified us because he somehow thought Joseph was fast enough to kill us all if we didn't submit.

After losing 2 rounds in a row, I knew it was time for redemption. My teammates were high on spirit and rumors about Joseph cheating in the previous game by wiping the paint off angered them and boost their spirits more. As the final round began, all of us rushed fiercely to our opponents blazing them with heavy fire. Each of us got a kill. As for me, I managed to pull a head shot on Joseph. The moment I shouted " Joseph's down", everyone started filling Joseph repeatedly with paint to make sure he couldn't wipe anymore. It really sucked to be him for that moment. It was only a matter of time before my squad secured victory. I guess wars can be won with soldiers on high spirits.

The paintball game for the day was like a school reunion in a violent form since we basically shoot each other instead of sitting down together for a drink talking to one another. Despite all the killing which took place that day, we got closer as we traded stories after the game about what exactly happened during our battles in the field. As for me, I felt so good as I managed to play paintball again and improve my skills. I'll be looking forward to the next game.