CHAPTER 3
The eight of us just stared at each other. No one knew what was going on or what to say.
Finally, James looked over at me. “I think I know what’s going on, guys,” he said. “Michael’s got a big box of yellow paintballs at his house. Maybe he ran out of the red ones we were supposed to be using and just started using his yellow ones.”
That made sense to me. It didn’t explain how I got confused about where their team’s players were. But it did explain the yellow splotches on Chad and me.
James called out to his teammates. “Michael! Ray! The game is over. We won, so you can come back to the start!” he yelled.
There was a really long pause, but no noise from the woods.
Then we all started screaming. “Game’s over!” we called. “Red wins! Michael, Ray, come on in.”
Finally, there was a little rustling in the woods. At last, we saw Ray walking down the path. He was holding his marker over his head. That meant that he was out of the game.
As soon as he turned the corner on the path and could see us, Ray put his arms down. His head drooped too.
I could tell that he thought he was out of the game.
No one said a word as Ray got closer. Finally, when he was within shouting distance, Ray called out, “Sorry, guys. I got hit.”
“When?” James asked. I realized that he wanted to know if it was before or after Chad and I had been hit.
“It was just a second ago,” Ray said. “You know the rules. We have to leave the field as soon as we get hit.”
Now we were all confused. If all five players on the blue team were out, how had Ray gotten hit?
“Ray, there wasn’t anybody left on the other team to mark you,” James said.
Ray frowned. “Well, I don’t know how that’s possible,” he said. “I have the mark on my back to prove it.”
James grabbed Ray’s shoulder and swung him around. There, plain as the sun in the sky, was a big yellow splotch on the middle of Ray’s back.
We were all stunned. Finally, James looked around at the rest of us. “Okay,” he said, “now this is just plain weird.”