Free Our Heart by Brian MacLearn Page B

dove forward into a roll. Matt was the first to bounce back up to his feet and let one of his bags fly. At the same time, Jarrod was flinging one at him. Matt had great aim and his bag flew true, hitting Todd Williams square in the chest. Flour exploded and covered Todd’s entire front in purple. He happened to be looking down when it hit and much of it doused his neck and face too. Todd stood there with a dazed look on his face, staring at the purple blotch on his once, clean white shirt. Out of frustration, Todd carelessly tried to respond with his first bag, throwing it wildly at Nick. Nick easily skirted the airborne bag as he raced for cover along the side of the field and behind one of the castle cutouts.
    Matt didn’t have much time to gloat, as Jarrod’s shot hit him perfectly, along side the head. His black hair instantly took on a green tint. When he turned to see who it was that had wasted him, his face had taken on a half-HULK look, as green flour mixed with his perspiration.
    Matt let out a loud war whoop and shook his head while running for cover behind one of the hay bales. When I popped up from my tuck and roll, I took aim at Jarrod and let my baggy fly. My shot flew past him on his right. He glanced my way with a responsive smirk, and then he took off for cover along the side. I saw Zach getting ready to launch one my way, and I managed dodge it by flattening myself behind the center bales just as his bag hit and exploded on the other side. I knew I was pinned in by Zach in front of me and by Jarrod, over to my right.
    I looked around for Allison but didn’t see her. She must have been hiding behind a bale or one of the cutouts. It was never wise to stay put for too long. A moving target was much harder to hit. I stood up to go left when I caught Stephen Demister out of my peripheral vision. He was less than ten feet away and taking aim at me. From out of nowhere a bag hit him flush in the face, and his throw went way over my head. I heard him yell out, “son of a…” stopping short before he finished his exclamation, remembering the posted rules about no swearing on the field. I didn’t see who threw the baggy, but I was grateful to still be clean.
    I made it to the side and spied Allison lying on her stomach peeking around one of the bales. Nick was crouched next to her and wearing a mad man’s grin. He glanced my way, and I pointed to Stephen now running for cover, and he nodded. I gave him my two-finger salute and raised my head to look out over the bale I was hiding behind. As far as I could tell, only Matt on our side had taken a hit, and we’d gotten two of them in the initial foray. Now the cat and mouse game would begin. Luck and patience really played a large part from now on. The best thing to do was to sacrifice one of your teammates. The decoy would draw their fire while giving the rest of the team a chance to gain the upper hand, by throwing at them when they released their shots. We had compensated for this exact maneuver during our strategic planning session a few nights back. The first one hit would be the one to make a mad dash across the center of the playing field. The other team members would try to knock off the enemy as they stood up to fire.
    Nick and I didn’t have to wait long. Matt raced out from behind the cover of the hay bale, yelling at the top of his lungs. Both Stephen and Zach stood up and threw at Matt as he made his way across the field. Matt dodged Stephen’s shot but took another hit on his backside from Zach’s baggy. I threw my baggy with tremendous force and nailed Zach on the side of his leg. As Matt ducked in behind the castle cutout, he lobbed a floater over the backside hay bales, just missing Jarrod, where he lay, holed-up. Matt cursed under his breath for attempting a difficult shot and using up one of his baggies.
    After Matt’s shot exploded behind him, Jarrod stood up and ran towards the center. Nick also stood up and threw one of his baggies at