Beaumont, Texas at XTREME SPORTING CENTER, on Saturday, September 14th, 2030 at 12:00 pm

Lucas

A few of the employees help us get into our protective gear and show us how to use the paintball guns. The man who is running the event is very short and quite angry sounding. He's bald, with very large eyebrows and flushed cheeks. When he finishes giving us all the instructions for the competition his chest is rising and falling quickly like he's out of breath from yelling at us. I didn't realize how intense this thing was going to be.

I look around me in the arena. There's ten teams here and they all appear to be men. I look to my right and see Rachel standing next to me. She looks so cute in her vest and goggles. She has her face shield resting around her neck. It's quite warm out today, so having a piece of fabric over our mouths is going to be uncomfortable while we run around this place.

Whenever I look at her, my heart feels a mixture of adoration, love, sadness, and pain. Dr. Wilson entered us into this competition so that we could prove that we can communicate with each other. Our conversation in the car is not done yet, and I know that I made the tension between us worse by bringing it up. I can tell that she's mad at me for baiting her into answering my questions about it, but I just couldn't hold it in anymore. There's a part of me that wants to know every detail of what she did while I was away, but another part of me doesn't want to know anything out of fear for how much it's going to hurt.

"Alright, folks! Head to your base position with your teammate and wait for the signal!" the bald man yells from the front of the group. I wasn't paying attention to any of the rules or instructions because I'm so distracted by Rachel.

I see other teams looking at the card we were given when we checked in. I look at the number on our card and then around the arena. I see a large number seven written in red towards the left side. It looks like a small bunker hidden in some trees. I reach out and put my hand on Rachel's back to guide her out of habit but she pulls away from me. I can feel my heart sink into my stomach. I didn't do this right.

We walk quietly over to our assigned position. I try to take note of where the other teams are headed on our way; one is behind a mound of sand bags next to another group of trees. I see a team head towards a tunnel of some sort, while another is near a deep looking pit with some rock cover. I'm not sure where everyone else went, but the highest number I can see is twenty-five, so there are plenty of covered areas to move to if necessary.

Rachel probably isn't thinking of this as tactically as I am, but she does play video games online with her friends. I always smile when I listen to her yelling into the headset while they play. I can hear her from my office because it's on the ground floor. They're a great stress reliever and a fun way to catch up.

We get inside our bunker and peer out the small, square windows. There's a doorway on each side and it's made of very old, rusted metal. It looks like it used to be a shipping container, but it's hard to tell with how much paint is splattered on it. Rachel leans out the opposite doorway to look around before the match starts. She has always been thin, but her figure is very defined in her tight athletic ensemble. Her curves are silhouetted by the sunlight coming in through the opening. She zips up her jacket and turns around. She catches me looking at her and quickly avoids my gaze.

"I figured it would hurt pretty bad if I got hit on my bare stomach with a paintball or two," she says awkwardly as she heads back to look out the window. I move to stand next to her.

"Rachel, I know you're mad at me," I say to her softly. She doesn't say anything back. "For a lot of things. But you need to understand that I'm mad at you, too," my voice cracks a little as I finish my sentence. She peers at me without turning her head before glancing back out the window.

"How did you find out?" she asks me, almost in a whisper.

"Does that matter?" I answer her angrily. "Why is that the first thing you have to say about it?" she turns her head to fully look at me. Just as she's about to say something, I hear a loud bell sound go off.

The competition has started. Rachel and I immediately duck below the window and pull our masks up. Looks like we're going to have to pause this, again.

I hear the grass moving to my left. I scoot over quietly and start to peek out of the doorway with my gun raised. A man appears from behind a tree and aims his paintball gun at me. I pull the trigger, missing him and hitting the tree next to him. Whoops. I lean back in just as a paintball whizzes by me and hits the container, adding to the messy splatter. I lean back out of the doorway and aim at him again, when I see a bright pink blob of paint appear on his stomach. I turn to my right and see Rachel aiming her paintball gun at him. The man groans and holds his arms up.

"I got one!" she yells. "Where's his teammate?" I look around quickly, but don't see anyone. Then, I spot them. It's another man hiding behind a wall of sandbags just past the trees. I aimed again, but hit him on the arm. It doesn't count unless you hit their vest. A paintball comes in through the window and lands about a foot away from Rachel. "Lucas? Do you see them?" she asks.

"Oh, yeah, by the sandbags over there," I respond to her as I lean back inside.

"You need to tell me these things!" she shouts at me as she leans against the other side of the doorway. "We are supposed to practice our communication," she hisses. I ignore her and take another shot. I hit him square on his chest.

"I got him," I said quickly to Rachel. "Let's move somewhere else, there's too many blind spots here," I say as I exit the shipping container. I spot a grouping of trees next to some other rocks away from where the other team was and head over there, using obstacles to protect myself. I make it to the position and turn around without being shot at.

I don't see Rachel anywhere. Just then, she peeks out of the bunker at me. Maybe she didn't hear what I said. I start to walk back towards her when a couple of shots fly by my legs. There's a team just down the hill past the bunker hiding behind the same rocks. I wave at Rachel and point to where they are, but she isn't looking at me anymore because another team is firing at her from behind the tunnel structure on the right of the arena.

Shit, we're separated. I duck behind an old rusted car and try to hit the team at the bottom of the hill. They're firing shots like crazy, making loud pinging noises against the metal of the car. They're going to have to reload soon, I just have to wait a moment. I look over to my left at Rachel again. She's standing up on a crate in the bunker and aiming out the window. She looks incredibly hot all of a sudden. I see her pump her fist and shout something, but I can't make it out over the sound of the paintballs slamming into the vehicle I'm leaning against. I'm about to try and move away when the shots stop.

I turn as fast as possible and start firing down the hill. I hit one of them on the leg and then their chest as they tried to reload their gun. Their teammate fires one at me before I manage to duck back. I lean down and see a big blue paint stain on my right leg.

Another paintball flies right by my face and causes me to turn to my right. It's someone from the team Rachel is fighting. I hear another popping sound come from his direction and feel a sharp pain on my left arm. I roll to my right and move to the back side of the car. There's a big purple paint stain on my sleeve. I'm about to peer out again when I hear someone yelling.

"Oh, shit that hurts!" I creep around the side and see the guy who shot me in the arm with a giant pink splat on his back. Rachel got him. I find myself laughing out of relief and amazement that my wife is crushing this paintball competition by herself. My heart feels like it's floating for a moment, just before it falls back down. I just called her my wife. She is legally still my wife, and she has been wearing her ring since I came back. But it just doesn't feel like we're together yet. I need to talk to her; we need to figure this out.

Someone plopping down next to me brings me out of my thoughts. It's Rachel. She pulls her cloth mask down and starts scolding me.

"What is the matter with you?" she shouts. "You just left me there!" her voice is high and I can see that her eyes are becoming watery under her goggles. "Why did you just leave?" her eyes well up and she's about to start crying. I pull my mask down and put my hands on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I said where I was going but you didn't hear me," she glances back and forth between my eyes and sniffles. "I won't leave again, I promise," she smiles at me weakly.

I feel terrible. I know that she's not upset because she was by herself in the shipping container, but because it reminded her of me leaving almost nine months ago. She was afraid. "I'm sorry that I scared you. Let's go somewhere with more shelter," she nods at me. Just as we stand up, round after round of paintballs fly by us. We drop back down to the ground.

"Ouch!" I look over at Rachel to see where she got hit. There's blue, green, and yellow paint on her right arm. There's three teams out there that know where we are.

"Rach, are you okay?" I ask as I grab her arm. She winces a little before nodding at me. "Okay, the blue team only has one person left because I got his teammate," I lean out the opposite side of the car from Rachel. I immediately got shot in the arm again and it's another blue paintball. The pain is only temporary when you get hit. It's a strong burning sensation at first, and then fades to a dull ache.

This guy is persistent. I sit back up against the car. The metal is warm against my shoulders from being in the sun. I hear a loud popping noise from my left. Rachel is firing at someone straight ahead of us. They're behind some sort of fake bushes. She hits one of them in the shoulder right on his vest. He throws his arms up and walks off.

"Lucas, over there!" Rachel points down the hill. There's a team coming up the hill. "They're pushing!" I throw myself down onto my stomach and aim down the hill. We have no cover whatsoever from this side. Rachel follows my lead and lays down next to me. We both start firing at them through the tall blades of grass surrounding the rusted car we're trapped behind. I don't know how many paintballs we shot at them, but they're covered in pink blotches.

"Alright, alright! You guys got us!" they yell out as they put their arms up. Rachel starts laughing next to me.

"Sorry, we can't really see and you scared us!" they threw a thumbs up at us before walking off the field. "Okay, how many have you taken out?" Rachel asks me. "I've got five now," she looks at me, completely serious.

"What? Five?" I exclaim at her. "I have three," she giggles and pats me on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Okay, so that means that there's at most ten other people if no one else has any hits," she scans the field around us.

"I definitely heard shots earlier that weren't close to us, so someone was fighting on the other side of the arena," Rachel nods and looks out past the car. She comes back after a few seconds unharmed.

"Okay, I think the coast is clear. Let's go to that tunnel thing?" she looks at me for confirmation.

"Sounds good," finally, we are communicating on a basic level. The sunlight is reflecting off of the metal of the car and onto Rachel's face. I can see all of her delicate features. She has tiny freckles on her nose and her cheeks. Rachel gets up into a squatting position and notices me staring at her. She blushes and looks away from me as I jump up next to her.

"Are you ready?" she asks as she gets ready to run.

"Almost," I respond as I reach out and grab her right hand. She smiles at me, embarrassed. "Now I am. Let's go," I say as I pull her towards the tunnel structure in the middle of the arena.

It's nestled in between two large oak trees and sits on the edge of a deep pit. As we get to the edge of the hole I see someone pop out from a different bunker on the far side of the field. Before I know it I'm shoving Rachel into the pit of wet dirt and clay. I get hit twice on my right arm and once square on my chest. I throw my hands up and sigh. I'm covered in red paint now.

"Lucas!" she shouts. Her hair is caked with mud and her clothes are smeared with bright amber streaks. "They got you!" just then, there's a voice that comes on the speakers in the arena.

"Alright, folks, we are down to the final two teams! It's one member of the Pink Team against both members of the Red Team!" oh no. Rachel is up against a full team. The same guy that shot me starts moving out from the bunker.

"Rachel, get behind the tunnel!" I shout at her. "They're moving forward!" she turns away quickly and crawls over to the tunnel.

I am being waved off the field by an employee dressed in full paintball gear. He's probably been walking around and making sure eliminated players leave the field.

"Rachel, I have to head off the field but I promise you that I'm still here!" I start walking away but keep my eyes locked on Rachel. She nods at me and squats on the left side of the tunnel.

It appears to be a dark gray color, and it's covered in even more paint than the car and the bunker. Probably because it's in the middle of the arena. She reaches around the side and fires a few shots. I see the man who was moving out in the open get splattered with bright pink on his vest. "You got him! There's one more Rach, you can do this!" the employee walks out towards me to guide me off of the field. I start to follow him again but look back to watch.

Rachel peeks out again and a few shots go by her immediately. She comes back just as quickly and dodges them. I see the last opponent behind a large rock all the way on the edge of the field on the left. They run out from behind the rock to push Rachel. Before I know it I'm yelling out to her.

"Rachel, they're pushing! On your left by the rock!" I'm not in the competition anymore so I'm not supposed to help her. The employee shushes me hard and grabs my arm to pull me off the field.

Rachel hears me and jumps up from behind the tunnel. She aims out into the field and fires a single shot. The popping sound from her gun echoes through the arena. There's a brief silence before I hear a loud splat noise as the last team member throws their hands up in the air. "Yeah! You did it!" I pull away from the angry employee and run back towards the clay pit. I jump in and trudge my way to the tunnel.

"Did you see me, Lucas?" Rachel yells excitedly as she jumps up and hugs me. "I got them with just one shot from all the way over here!" she continues yelling as she starts to pull away. I tighten my grip on her waist and look at her. Her face is now covered in clay, and she has even more dirt caked in her hair.

"Yes, I saw you, Rach," I'm smiling so wide that my cheeks start to hurt. "But, I'm also pretty sure that it's not going to count because I helped you after I got eliminated," I add. Her face drops a little before she starts laughing.

"That's okay, I still technically won," when she smiles I can see the dirt that's on her teeth. It's probably from when I pushed her into the pit. I start laughing at her. "What is it?" she asks defensively as she crosses her arms.

"Nothing, you're just so beautiful," I answer her as I continue chuckling at her brown teeth. She catches on and reaches up to feel her hair.

"Oh my god, I look awful don't I?" she puts her face in her hands, embarrassed.

"I don't know, let me see you smile again," I say as I lift her chin up. She gives me a big, muddy smile and we both burst out laughing.

"Let's get out of here so I can get cleaned up before we head home," Rachel says as she pulls me towards the exit. I hold her hand as we walk back into the building.

All of the teams are standing together when we get out. About half of them have pink paint on their vests. They all look at us as we join them. A few groups start cheering at us, congratulating us on the match. Their comments and applause are mainly for Rachel. I feel a heavy hand pat me on the shoulder.

"Hey man, that's some wife you've got there," a heavier set man says next to me. "She took me out as soon as I peeked," he adds. I chuckle and shake my head.

"Yeah, I know, she's pretty awesome," I smile at her as she gets compliments from the other players on her combat skills. I'm sure she's going to want to bring her friends to play after this.

"Alright folks, gather around!" the bald man is yelling at us again from the front of the room. "That was quite the match if you ask me!" the crowd started cheering and clapping in agreement. "At the end of the game, it was down to one member of the Pink Team and both members of the Red Team." Rachel pumps her first in the air as she joins in on the cheering. "The Pink Team managed to eliminate both members of the Red Team on her own!" the crowd started cheering even louder.

"However!" the man shouts at us. The applause dies down as everyone waits in anticipation. "I was informed by an employee in the field that the eliminated player from the Pink Team gave directions to his remaining teammate that helped her win the match." the other teams start mumbling to each other. "Which is against the rules we went over before the competition started. This leaves me no choice but to declare the Red Team the winner, and the Pink Team as runner up." the crowd starts booing as he finishes his speech.

"Justice for the Pink Team!" one man yelled from the right.

"Yeah, she won fair and square!" another man yelled. He was the one who shot me in the leg that Rachel took out by the car. The announcer starts whispering to another employee as the crowd continues to yell in support of our team winning. Well, their support for Rachel to win.

"Okay, settle down folks!" he calls out again. The crowd quiets down and listens. "We cannot bend the rules, even though the performance by the Pink Team was outstanding." the crowd starts booing again but he cuts them off.

"Wait! We would like to offer the final member of the Pink Team one of the sweatshirts that the winning team gets as a notion of her bravery and excellent teamwork on the field today," the crowd begins to go wild as they push Rachel and I towards the front. We step up onto a small stage, just a few inches off the ground. Perhaps the bald man needs it to see the crowd. The men from the Red Team come stand next to us. They offer their hands for us to shake. Rachel quickly shakes their hands as she excitedly bounces in place.

"That was so much fun!" she squeals. "Lucas, wasn't that so much fun?" she turns to look at me. Her skin and hair are still dirty, but her excitement from the competition lights up her face.

"That was a good match, you guys should come out and play more often," one of the men says to us.

"We might have to if she's that good at it," I say as Rachel hides her face in my shoulder.

"Alright folks let's take a picture with your trophies!" the bald man shouts from behind us. Rachel's face changes, as if she's seen a ghost.

"A picture? They want to take a picture?" I start laughing out loud. She is so embarrassed by her messy appearance. Her long curls are matted with clay and there's still some dirt on her teeth. I turn to grab a bottle of water from the table against the wall.

"Here you go, rinse your mouth out with this and then you'll look perfect," I smile as I hand her the bottle of water. I can see her cheeks blushing, even through all of the debris on her face. She rinses her mouth out and we head over to where the bald man is standing with two trophies. The employee next to him is holding a stack of black sweatshirts.

Rachel and I take our place next to the members of the Red Team as flashes of light snap our picture. The employee takes an individual team photo as well.

"We will send the photos to the email you registered with, but you can take a look if you'd like," the employee says to us. Rachel and I are standing together in front of a white background with a sign.

XTREME PAINTBALL CHAMPIONS

It's in bold red letters behind us. Rachel is on the left and has one arm around me while using the other one to make the 'rock on' symbol.

We are the champions!

She has an open mouth smile because she was yelling this as they snapped away. I have one arm around her while holding the trophy with my other. My grin stretches from ear to ear because I was laughing at Rachel's theatrics.

"Oh my god, I love it!" Rachel puts a hand over her mouth. "I can't wait to frame it!" the bald man walks over with a hoodie in his hands.

"I think this belongs to you! It's the only extra small we have," his voice is still so loud even though he's right in front of us. "Good work out there today, you two! I hope to see you both again!" he gives us a giant grin before heading back to talk with other teams. Does he have a normal inside voice?

Rachel holds the sweatshirt out and examines it. It's a black hoodie that says the same thing as the sign behind us in the photos. She smiles and hands it to me.

"Here, I don't want to get it all dirty!" I take it from her and smile. She really is covered head to toe in mud.

"You don't happen to have any towels in the car, do you?" I say as I dramatically look her up and down. She laughs at me and takes the sweatshirt back.

"I guess I have to sit on this and just wash it when we get home," she sighs defeatedly, wishing she could put on her new piece of clothing.

We head out of the sporting center, saying our goodbyes to the other teams as we leave. I help Rachel get situated on the sweatshirt to prevent as much dirt as possible from getting on the seat.

"We will be better prepared next time," she smiles at me sweetly. I place my left hand on the back of her seat and reach across her waist to buckle her in. I can feel her breathing softly on my neck. The tension between us has been almost unbearable.

"Lucas," she whispers in my ear. I lift my head to look at her. I can see tiny freckles on her nose and cheeks under the dirt. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about it when you came back," I can hear the pain behind her words. I move my hand from the seat and place it on the side of her head.

"We'll talk about it when we get home," I say as gently as possible. She nods slightly and our noses touch.

The anticipation of having our first kiss since I returned is killing me. I close the gap and press my lips to hers. The kiss is brief, but full of emotion. Her lips are soft and warm against mine. I struggle to pull away, wishing we weren't in public. She giggles as she wipes some dirt from the top of my lip with her thumb.

"Oops," she says, still giggling. I press another quick kiss to her lips before I close the car door.

I start driving us home and I can see Rachel's head starting to bob out of the corner of my eye. "I had a lot of fun with you today. I missed spending time with you," she whispers to me as she closes her eyes and falls asleep.