Abandoned

My mask was starting to fog up again. Juggling the heavy gun in my hands, I did my best to reach underneath the lens and wipe it off enough to be able to see in the dim, green corridor. I started moving forward again, the mask echoing my own breathing in my ear, so loud it was almost deafening, and making the skittering debris on the ground sound miles away at the same time.

I licked my parched lips, feeling dehydrated from running around in heavy clothing while the heat outside sucked the moisture from my body. Inside wasn't so bad, in fact it was kind of a nice temperature, but trying to see in the dark with a paintball mask on was beginning to look like the less appealing option. I couldn't see anything, and I didn't dare take off the mask to wipe it off properly for fear of getting shot in the face by a trigger happy opponent. Airsoft in an abandoned insane asylum had seemed like a great idea when my friends brought it up, but the technical difficulties just kept piling up, making the game almost unplayable.

On top off all that I'd gotten separated from my friends during a firefight where they had urged me to go down to the basement and flank the opponent from behind. In the heat of the moment it sounded reasonable, but I hadn't explored the place as much as my friends, and the complex was huge. After I went down the stairs, I had tried to go as straight as possible, but I couldn't find a staircase, so I'd started taking turns and now I was completely turned around. There were cracks in the flooring in places above me, letting dim sunlight trickle down, but for the most part I was stuck in the dark with nothing but a green glow stick for light.

I took a deep breath, trying to gain my bearing, but I just couldn't remember which way lead out. Holding up the chem light, I squinted down the hall in front of me, then turned around and looked back the way I had just come, but everything looked the same. The entire place was lined with gaping holes in the walls, the doors broken down by delinquents, graffiti and broken glass everywhere. I turned to continue down the hall when I thought I heard something. The mask distorted sounds, but I was pretty sure it came from where I had just come from. Holding up the chem light again I looked into the darkness.

"Flash!" I called out, using our team password. I waited for the proper response, but didn't hear anything. I held my breath, straining my ears for any sound, but nothing. Starting to feel a little creeped out, I moved backwords a few steps, then turned and started walking briskly in the opposite direction.

About a dozen steps ahead of me a soda can rolled slowly out of a door way, coming to rest in the hall. I froze, thinking someone must have accidentally kicked it while trying to position for an ambush. The enemy was waiting for me, but if they thought I suspected them they would probably pop out and start shooting. Better to just spring their trap and maybe catch them in it too.

I started forward, my pace quick, but unhurried, like I was unaware they were there. As I neared the doorway I leaped forward, turning and dropping to a knee, opening up blindly on full-auto because my mask was too foggy to see through again. BB's pinged off my mask and body as the enemy returned fire and I stopped shooting as I raised my gun over my head. "Got me," I laughed, "Did I at least tag anyone?" Reaching up I wiped out my lens again, then looked into the room I had just fired at.

Maybe closet is a better word, actually. It was about three feet deep, with no place to hide. The BB's hitting me had been my own ricochets. Feeling like an idiot, I stood up and looked around to make sure no one had seen my epic failure, but spotted the can as I did. A chill ran up my spine. No one inside, no one to kick it. Maybe it rolled? I pushed it into the closet to see if there was a slope. Sure enough it started rolling again, except it rolled to the back of the closet. The floor tilted the wrong way for that can to have rolled out on its own.

My breathing sped up.