Freak of Nature

Chapter Sixteen

Mr. Harrington strolled into the laboratory on a wave of expensive-smelling cologne. “Who’s up for paintball?” he boomed, breaking the silence so abruptly that Professor Adams jumped at his desk. “I need to stretch my legs, and we should try out the new equipment.” 

Kaitlyn bit the inside of her lip and looked down at her sneakers to keep from smiling. She loved the rare chances she had to roam in the woods, and playing a true sport instead of staged tests was even better. This only happened when the highly competitive Harrington was around. 

“I’m game,” Lucas said from behind his desk. He snuck a peek at Kate and their eyes met across the room. 

“How about you, Adams?” Harrington asked with a smile. 

The professor chuckled, holding up both hands. “I think I’ll pass this time. My old body can’t keep up with you youngsters. Last time we played, I had bruises for a week. I’m sure Quess would be interested.” 

“Call her. Some of the guards are going to join us as well.” Harrington turned to Kaitlyn, sizing her up. “They like a challenge.”

Adams picked up the phone to call his granddaughter as Lucas asked, “Teams or individual?”

“Individual,” Harrington answered with a wolfish smile.

Lucas groaned. Kaitlyn always won when they played individual. 

“Let’s get suited up.” Harrington rubbed his hands together in front of his face. “Kaitlyn, no body gear for you.”

She nodded. They would have the camouflage to help them, and her pale skin would be like a beacon in the sunlight, giving them somewhat of an edge. Theoretically, she thought with an inward grin, her hard drive already computing the odds. 

Half an hour later, the players gathered in the foyer before making their way outside, deep into the property. It was a crisp fall day, and the sun shone brightly through the bare tree limbs above them as they came to a stop in the area they used for paintball. 

After defining the boundaries, Dr. Harrington laid out some basic ground rules.

“Okay, it’s a free-for-all. Everybody against everybody. If you’re hit and out, move to this area.” He pointed at a spot on the map. “Once there’s only one person left, they’re the winner. We’ll have a three minute ‘get in place’ period, then we’ll start. Any questions?”

Heads shook. A few of the guards had smiles in anticipation of the fun.

Harrington clapped once. “Spread out. Three minutes. Go.” 

There was a mad scuffle as the guards jostled each other and ran off into the forest, but Kaitlyn calmly walked into the nearest grove of trees and stopped. Crouching down, she watched the internal clock in her head count down three minutes as she closed her eyes and focused on the sounds around her. Her built-in tactical computer worked through several different strategies based on her knowledge of the area, and her assessments on all of the various players, as well as what they might do given their backgrounds, physical fitness, injuries, and even attitudes she had observed in the past.

Before the three minutes were up, she had decided on a course of action. Not necessarily the most tactically sound, but given her enhancements, it would be a good test of how much of an advantage she really had. A slow smile spread across her face. She loved the hunt.

Right on the mark, she opened her eyes and took off running at full speed through the shrubs and the trees. She had a mental image of where targets might be, and that image refreshed dozens of times a second as she took in more sights and sounds. They couldn’t have made it too far in three minutes. 

A sense of calm engulfed her body. She was in her element. 

Without breaking stride, she started to engage. One at a time, she took out the enemy. 

The targets didn’t even hear her coming before they felt the sharp sting of paintballs splatting against them. A couple of times, someone saw her before she shot them, but of all the eight other people playing, only one of the guards came remotely close to hitting her, sort of a ‘spray and pray’ style attack when he thought she would expose herself in a gap between some trees.

After a session lasting only nine minutes, Harrington decided to lay out a handicap for Kaitlyn for the next round.

“Well that was interesting. And painful,” Harrington said. “Let’s see if we can prolong the next game just a bit. Kaitlyn, I’m going to pair you with Quess. She’s your principal who you have to protect. Lucas, you’ll be a principal as well, with Tim, Jimmy, and Cal on your team. I’ll be the third principal with Craig and Terry on my team. If you’re hit, you’re out. If your principal is hit, your whole team is out. Three minutes to get set. Questions?”

Again, no one said anything, and the teams moved away from each other into the woods.

“What are we going to do?” Quess asked eagerly. 

“Not get shot.” Kate smiled.

Quess nodded, gripping her paintball gun tightly with both hands.

Kaitlyn ran an analysis on her friend, noting the bead of sweat at her hairline and the pinch between her brows. “You’re nervous.”

Quess laughed. “Don’t do that!”

“Don’t be nervous.” Kaitlyn grinned. “Either way, if we win or lose, this will be fun. Let’s go.”

“I have to say, it’s pretty awesome how badass you are,” Quess muttered as they moved forward. 

Kaitlyn didn’t respond, but at times like this, she almost enjoyed her new body.

With the new team configuration, the second session lasted more than twice as long, twenty-one minutes, but the outcome was the same. Lucas’s team lost a member to an early engagement with Mr. Harrington’s team before they broke contact and sprinted away, but after that, Kaitlyn made short work of the other two teams. 

Instead of running, this time Kaitlyn moved silently forward through the brush with Quess positioned about one meter to her right rear. Every minute they would stop, crouch, and Kaitlyn would take in the sights, sounds, and smells around her, updating her internal tactical “map” and changing direction or the speed of their movement. 

She was crouched at the top of a hill, listening, when she heard the crack of a branch in the distance. Kaitlyn motioned for Quess to lay prone behind a tree and cover her. Studying the most likely avenue of approach, Kaitlyn maintained her crouch and waited. 

After only a few minutes, she saw the first member of Harrington’s team, Terry, cross perpendicular to her position about forty meters away. Not wanting to squander her chance to take out the entire team at once, Kaitlyn waited until she had all three members identified and tracked, then in rapid succession, she shot each one in the chest. Engagement time: three seconds. She heard a few slang words mumbled as they made their way off the playing grounds.

She repeated the same tactic with Lucas’s team, again waiting until the three remaining members were in sight. Right before she fired, a brief thought flashed through her mind: I wonder if Lucas will be upset that I shot him?

Lucas looked up and grinned, shaking his head. 

Before she moved on to the next target, Kaitlyn returned the private smile. 

Once everyone was back at the start point, Harrington wrapped up the game. “While I enjoyed that immensely, it’s time I get back to the lab. I don’t think I’m alone in not wanting to be shot by Kaitlyn anymore?”

Several of the guards looked over at Kaitlyn, nodding in agreement as they murmured their admiration.

Harrington surprised Kaitlyn by draping his arm around her shoulder. “I couldn’t be more proud. You are simply incredible.” 

She wasn’t sure why they were so impressed. She was programmed to be this way.