My clothes were dirty and full of dust. My laser gun shook as I held it upright. I could almost imagine myself in a battlefield, fighting for my life. I had seeker refuge behind a pile of tires. I covered my light to avoid being seen. People were getting out left and right, and it was becoming apparent that I was going to outlast everyone else. The only faulty thing about my plan was that I would have to phase my opponent when there were only 2 people left. I listened to people feet scurrying around the building, running from someone. We were all in it for ourselves. One life, that’s it.

I covered my mouth. I watched someone walk past me, there red light shining in my eyes. 

“Where is he?” Someone asked.

“I haven’t been able to see him this entire time. It still says he’s on the game board though,” someone responded.

With that, they exited the small little room I was in. I could here they’re footsteps fade away into nothingness. The only people left were me, my dad, and two other people I didn’t know. I thought they would be able to find me by now. It was dark, but I swear people could see me peeking out from the tires. They had to. 

More times than not I thought I’ve been found but no, even when they glare at me, they don’t see me. How has no one cared to look behind the tires? 

“Player 11, you have been eliminated. Go to the lobby and return your things,” the announcer explained. 

Only 3 people were left now. I had gotten last in almost every other game. Apparently my strategy for this one was working. I was always a clever hider, and I was t the type of person to get physical with people. After all, there were no rules against me hiding until I had to defeat my opponent. I could hear the mechanical hum of the others laser guns. Whenever mine made noise I quickly covered the speaker I had found during the beginning of the match. I was only at my brothers birthday party, but I didn’t expect to go this far. Someone passed me, it was my dad. His blue light shined on the tires. Still, how did no one notice me? I was just behind tired, it was a fairly simple hiding place. Maybe no one expected me to be hiding. No one else even had a strategy. They all just mindlessly shot at people, expecting them to get eliminated. I had 10 health points, but once they were gone, I was done. My dad was understandably one of the best players. He was an adult and he also had lots of experience with these kinds of things. I found it unfair that they let the parents play. It just made it harder for the other kids. I could hear the other parents speaking. 

“Where are they?” One of them asked. 

I wasn’t the most coordinated person in the world either. I was good at reaction time but I wasn’t the best at attacking others. Half the time I didn’t even know where my scope was pointing at. Everything was too fast-paced to really pay any attention to it. I was decent at riding bikes but I had lots of experience. This—this was on a whole other level. It was like multitasking. People were teaming and just when you think you’re safe some other person you didn’t even know was there gets you. This was different. There were no revivals. People couldn’t team, it was against the rules. They had to play the game and betray their friends. I had no friends in this. It was all my brothers friends, so I wasn’t constantly distracted by them. I guess that helped in a way. 

Then I heard the words I didn’t want to hear.

“There are only 2 people left,” the announcer said. 

It looks like I had to come out of hiding. I stood up from my hiding spot and anxiously walked over behind a wall, looking through a small window. There he was, my dad, looking in every which way. I started shooting at him with the laser. My dad immediately turned around and began firing shots right back at me. I ducked behind the window and then peeked out and fired a few more shots at him. 

My dad had one heart left. Then, popping out from the window, I hit him. A defeat noise played through his speakers. I had one. Then, from out of nowhere, my brother who I thought had recently been eliminated popped out from a corner. A target appeared on my chest, and I realized that I was his new target. He quickly shot at me, I fired a few shots back but I quickly ran out of ammo. Then, after what felt like a millisecond, I was defeated. My speaker blared the loud defending note pattern, signaling that I had been defeated. 

My brother patted my shoulder and said “

“Just wait till next round,” I said, a grin plastered on my face. 

He still didn’t know my hiding place. I may have lost the round, but the war was still far from over…