the brush around them. Their attackers were gaining on them, and the closer they got, the harder the hits were going to land.
“Are you okay, David?” Zeke huffed. He was on his own two feet now, darting along a couple yards away and clutching at his pants to keep them up.
David merely grunted, not having the breath to respond, and ducked beneath a thick branch, just as another ball came whizzing past his head. He was hit by a second ball two seconds later, and then by a third. He cursed, realizing his shirt was half soaked already. He was going to be black and blue by the time this was over.
And he was going to have a flaming wedgie.
“How long is this going to go on for?!” Zeke cried out, wincing as another bullet caught him in the leg.
No response came back from the men behind them, other than a round of snickering.
Until we somehow get out of here, David thought.
He tried to stay focused on his breathing, rather than the discomfort radiating from his lower half (though he couldn’t help but think bitterly now that the outfit switch had been intentional). He had no idea how much farther they’d have to run; so he had to remain steady. David squinted, trying to see what was up ahead, whether there was any end in sight, or at least any sign of the trees thinning.
Then his foot hit an unearthed root, and he almost tripped headfirst into a large pit. He caught his balance just in time and was about to continue darting ahead after Zeke when an idea struck him.
“Zeke, stop!” he hissed.
His friend halted and whirled around, and David immediately dropped into the hole, waving at Zeke to do the same. Zeke was quick to catch on and rushed back, leaping into the hole with David and hunkering down.
David pressed a finger to his lips, trying to quiet his own heavy breathing. Their attackers were still a dozen feet or so behind and might not have been able to catch where David and Zeke had suddenly vanished to. If they could just lure a couple, or even one, this way…
“Where did they go?” David heard one of the boys shout as the sound of crackling twigs grew closer.
There was a brief pause before Max replied, “Spread out a bit. They might’ve ducked behind a bush or something.”
David pushed his back harder against the damp soil as two sets of footsteps grew closer to their hole. He exchanged a glance with Zeke in the gloom, and they both nodded wordlessly, forming a silent understanding.
They tucked their legs and feet as close as they could to their chests and waited until the footsteps reached the pit’s edge.
They had the element of surprise, but only a split-second window to take advantage of it.
David nudged Zeke in the arm. They sprang up as one, reaching for the two visible pairs of ankles and yanking them forward. The men and their weapons tumbled to the ground. They yelped and scrambled to sit up, but, leaping out from the pit, David and Zeke lunged for their weapons and managed to snatch them up first, pointing them straight at their former attackers. Dressed in black protective gear and masks with goggles, they weren’t exactly easy to identify, but it didn’t matter at this point. David was ready to make them pay.
“Breathe a word, and we’ll fire,” David whispered tersely, tightening his grip around the gun. He cast a quick glance around to check if the others had noticed them go down, but it sounded like they were still trudging on through the woods, unaware of the boys’ takeover. David and Zeke had the opening they needed.
Keeping the gun poised threateningly, David backed away around the hole, motioning for Zeke to follow, then broke into a run.
The second the guns were turned away, the boys behind them shouted for their cohorts. An explosion of paintballs came hurtling toward them, but now they could fire back. And fire they did.
Before long, the offending projectiles had reduced significantly as the other boys were forced to duck and dart for cover, allowing David and Zeke to better focus on gaining ground.
“Is it just me, or does it look like the trees are getting thinner?” Zeke panted after a long minute, gazing around wildly as he struggled to hike up his pants with one hand.
“I think you’re right,” David breathed back. It was becoming easier to run, with less low-hanging