Radio Romance

Chapter 8: Kids with Guns

The next day, I felt much better. It was gonna take some time to accept what happened but thankfully I had plenty to do to keep myself busy. Vaggie invited me to run a few errands with her. I figured it might get my mind off the constant flashbacks from the previous night. It ended up helping some, especially when she took me to a record shop to pick out a few records to get for the hotel. I found a few good ones. The Andrews Sisters, Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, Earth Wind & Fire, Doris Day, The Beatles, Van Halen, and more. I started picking a couple of them when suddenly a familiar sight caught my eye.

I saw a record album with four white squares on it, each one containing a different character facing the right. I knew exactly what album it was. Demon Days by The Gorillaz. My dad loved this album and so did I. He had the CD in his car, he would have it on repeat anywhere he went. I had to get it. I picked it up and went with Vaggie to buy them.

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When we got back, the hotel was oddly quieter than usual. When we walked into the lobby, everyone was sitting there boredly, even Angel. I set the records down in the bit with the others when Angel piped up.

"Hey toots, I think you got a package." He said. A package? I went to the front desk and sure enough, there was a big box with my name on it. I opened it up and on top of a bunch of pink packing peanuts there was a note.

(Y/N),

Since you seemed to enjoy playing air hockey last night, I thought you might enjoy these as well. They've been collecting dust in my game room for years, I hope you can find a good use for these.
-L

I set the note aside and rummaged through the packing peanuts till I saw a hint of orange plastic. I pulled out the item and found that what I was holding in my hands was a nerf gun. One of my favorite toys as a kid. I gasped and dug through the box, finding a huge variety of nerf guns and bullet stock in the box. There was no way in hell I was passing up the opportunity for a nerf war.

"YOU GUYS!" I squealed excitedly dragging the box over to the lobby. I pulled out one of the nerf guns to show them.

"Do you know what this means?!" I asked. Vaggie's eyes lit up because she also knew what these were.

"Nerf gun war?!" She gasped. I nodded.

"Wait what the hell is a nerf gun?" Angel asked. I held the one I had in my hands up for him to observe.

"A toy gun? How the hell could you have fun with tha-" I shot Angel right in the chest where his fluff sat before he could even finish the sentence. He stared blankly at me for a second and I stared back. Next thing I knew he had practically dived head first into the box to grab his weapon of choice.

"What makes you think we'd all play this Kid?" Husker asked, giving the box a grumpy look as he slurped down a large swing of beer.

    "I had a feeling you'd need some motivation hmmm..." I thought for a second. Then suddenly an idea came to me.

"Winner gets to choose dinner for tonight as well as what movie we watch. They also get to make the losers do one thing of their choice and that can be anything. No limits." I said.

Husker's eyes widened for a moment before a sly grin spread across his face. He set his beer down and yoinked a machine gun modeled nerf gun. Vaggie, Charlie and Niffty grabbed their choice guns as well.

"Anything?" I heard from behind me. Al must've just gotten back.

"Yep, grab a nerf gun Al!" I said cocking mine.

"Ok, ladies, gentlemen, Angel." I said preparing to explain how nerf wars work.

     "Ay!" Angel said shooting a dart at me which faintly sailed right over my shoulder.

      "Ok here's how it works. This is gonna be a free for all. Think of it like Hide and Seek Tag, only instead of tagging with your hands, you tag someone by the bullet hitting your opponent. So that being said, everyone needs to spread out and hide. I'm gonna set a timer, when that timer goes off, your time to find cover is up." I explained holding up a kitchen timer.

    "When you hear the timer go off, you can start moving around and hunting each other down or you can stay hidden if you'd prefer. If you're hit by a bullet in any way, you're out and you'll come out here to the lobby and chill till the battle is over. Also before you ask, yes face shots and ricochets count." I see Angel put his hand down.

     "Now, the only rules I have are: if you get shot then you're out and you have to go straight to the losers couch and drop your gun back into the box. If you are out, you are no longer allowed to participate in the game and you are also forbidden from assisting any active players in any way. There are no teams or alliances allowed, no arguing when you've been shot, and absolutely no cheating and that includes supernatural abilities, Al." I said glaring at him playfully.

     "Hmm, fair enough." He agreed. I nodded.

    "Also, if you are caught cheating, you will be disqualified and sent to the losers couch. You'll also be given an additional penalty that will be decided by the winner. We each get the same starting amount of bullets. When you run out, you can either try to pick up bullets you find or hide and hope that you don't get shot. You can't pick up any more bullets than the amount you originally started with. All players must remain on the hotel property, so you can go on any floor including the rooftop and you can also go outside within the perimeter. You're disqualified if you set foot off of the property and the bedrooms are off limits because they're private areas and the doors have locks. Any questions?" I looked around at everyone to make sure everyone understood which they seemed to.

  "Ok. Last man standing wins. Everybody ready?" I asked.

     When everyone took a second to figure out their guns, I had one last little idea.

"Hang on one sec, I'll be right back." I said. I made my way over to the record player, took out the Gorillaz record and skipped to the third track and cranked up the volume.

"Kids with guns
Kids with guns
Taking over
But they won't be long
They're mesmerised
Skeletons
Kids with guns
Kids with guns
Easy does it, easy does it
They got something to say no to"

"Perfect! Now, I'm gonna set the timer. So get ready to hide." I picked up the kitchen timer and twisted it.

"In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....GO!" I shouted slamming the timer down onto the table before taking off towards the dining room.