Paintball Invasion, page 2
Then there were a few of us who thought there was no reason to give anything up. Those guys wanted to battle it out with the older guys for the rights to the woods.
We weren’t coming to an agreement at all. I didn’t even know what I thought we should do. We sat in the middle of the woods and stared at each other.
Finally, Chad spoke up. He sounded like the voice of reason.
“Look, those were high school guys,” he said. “They aren’t going to play paintball every weekend like we do. I think they were just messing with us. They got their kicks by scaring us, and now they are probably done. I bet if we come back next week, they won’t even be here.”
After we all thought about it, everyone seemed to agree that Chad was right. The older guys didn’t really care about the woods at all. They just wanted to scare us. With that settled, we all slapped hands and said our goodbyes and headed for home.
As Chad and I walked out of the woods, we were able to laugh about the guy in black. We started to make plans for the following weekend.
Then we walked past our hidden fort in the woods. My heart sank.
There, in bright yellow paint, on a side of the hideout that used to be hidden, were these words:
WE FOUND IT!
CHAPTER 7
TRYING AGAIN
Our secret fort wasn’t a secret anymore. But Chad and I still decided to head back to the woods the next Saturday.
We decided that if we didn’t show up, it would seem like we were giving up. We wanted the older guys to know that we were serious.
So on Saturday, we walked together to the woods. There we were, right at the usual meeting place at the usual time.
At first, it was just Chad and me. We wondered if the other guys had chickened out.
Slowly but surely, however, they started to show up. James was next, and a few minutes later, Michael and Ray showed up together.
Three more of our friends walked down the path a few minutes later, giving us a total of eight. We waited a while to see if anyone else would show. Finally, we decided just to play with eight guys.
We threw eight bandanas into a bag, four red and four blue. Then we turned our backs to the bag, reached in one at a time, and each pulled one out.
Chad and I were the first two. We both pulled blue.
I breathed a sign of relief. It was always more fun when we were on the same team.
Then we set up the rules for the day. Each team would head off in different directions, and take 10 minutes to make a plan. Then the game would start at exactly 12:30.
We made sure all of our watches had the same time. Then we headed off.
We had each walked about five steps in different directions when the attack began. They fired and fired.
We were all out in the open on the path. That meant that we were easy to mark.
I dove for the bushes, but it was no use. I was marked right away. In about a minute, we were all lying on the ground, curled up like little balls.
The leader of the guys in black yelled a warning. “Get up and get out of here,” he yelled. “These woods are ours.”
We did as we were told. That was the end of paintball that weekend.
CHAPTER 8
JUST US
After the ambush, Chad and I talked about it. We still believed that older guys would have better things to do than paintball every weekend.
So we went back the next week, and the week after that. Each week, we returned to the woods to try to have a game.
Each week, we were ambushed again. And each week, the number of players for our game got smaller.
Finally, one Saturday, it was just Chad and me. Before the ambush started, he looked at me and said, “Josh, I’m tired of this. Let’s just get out of here.”
It was the first time I ever saw Chad look nervous. But his nervousness didn’t last long. I could tell that he was beginning to come up with a plan.
That night, sitting on the front steps of my house, Chad told me about his idea.
CHAPTER 9
CHAD’S PLAN
Chad had figured out a way to fight back. We knew that it might not get our woods back, but it was a step in the right direction.
The first step was to get some of the guys who usually played with us to help.
That was pretty easy. We talked to all of them at school. Six guys agreed to meet at my house with all their paintball gear at nine o’clock on Saturday morning.
Chad and I had figured everything out in advance. The key to the plan was surprising the older guys. To really surprise them, our ambush had to be different from when they ambushed us.
Also, we had to be spread out all around the woods. That meant each of us would have a good chance of marking one of the older guys.
“Basically, what we’re playing is the paintball game to end all paintball games,” Chad explained. “They have a huge advantage, because they are older than we are. But we have one big thing on our side. We’re the only ones who know we’re playing!”
All our friends laughed. Chad and I explained to each guy where to go, and what his job was.
This was no ordinary ambush. We were going to surprise the high school guys in a way no one had done in any of our games before.
Around 10 o’clock on Saturday morning, we all headed out to the woods.
Each of us was carrying two markers. We were also wearing camouflage clothes so we’d blend into the woods.
Chad wanted us to get to the woods early. That would give us plenty of time to get into our positions.
Then we’d have to stay perfectly still until the older kids showed up to play.
The biggest secret was that we’d be climbing into the trees. The older guys wouldn’t expect to be ambushed from above. They’d expect it from ground level.
As long as we didn’t give away our positions, we’d be in the perfect spot to really get them.
Right on cue, the older guys starting showing up at noon.
After about 15 minutes, they had all arrived. Then they chose their teams and were off to start their planning.
“All right, guys,” their leader said. “Let’s have a good clean game today. At least we don’t have to get rid of those little kids.” I tried really hard not to laugh.
We could have ambushed them all at once, but Chad had other ideas. He wanted to wait until they were all spread out.
That way, none of them would be able to know exactly what was happening. No one could warn the others.
So far, everything was working perfectly.
None of them saw any of us. They were in the middle of preparing for their game. They all thought that they had the woods to themselves.
At exactly 12:30, our attack began.
CHAPTER 10
THE BATTLE
There was a player on the blue team in clear view. Chad fired his marker.
Splat!
The guy was marked in the back of the leg with a bright red blob. “Aw, man!” the player yelled.
He stood up right away. Then he held his marker over his head, showing that he was out.
The guy looked pretty mad that he had been marked. He slowly walked back to the starting point.
Across the clearing, Chad nodded at me. That meant it was my turn. I raised my marker so that I was ready. Then I looked around for a player. After a few minutes, a red-team player walked right past me.
I easily marked him with a blue paintball. He stood up. Then he held up his arms and declared himself out of the game, just like the first player had.
The plan was to mark everyone on the red team. Then we’d mark at least a couple of the guys on the blue team.
The guy who’d ambushed us seemed to be the leader of the older guys. He was on the blue team.
We wouldn’t mark him. Not yet, anyway.
Soon, everyone on the red team would be out. Then the blue team would think they had won. That’s when we’d ambush whoever was left on the field.
If our plan went the way we wanted it to, one of the people left on the field would include the leader. He would be ambushed with the rest of them.
A couple of players called themselves out. Then the rest of the guys in our group knew the plan had been launched perfectly. They all picked out the nearest older guy and marked him with ease.
We were each careful to use the right marker every time. We’d brought two, after all. That was part of Chad’s plan.
If we were marking a person on the blue team, we’d use the marker that had red paintballs. And if we were marking a red player, we’d use blue paintballs. We had to use the right colors to make the players think they were being marked by their opponents, not us.
We had one other advantage: We were in the trees! The players were easy targets from above. Also, we could easily spot them from our perches in the branches.
Finally, only two players were left. They were both on the blue team. One of them was the guy who’d ambushed us in the woods.
Neither of the guys knew that their teammates and opponents were all gone. They hadn’t figured that out yet.
The guys were right in the center of the woods. My friends and I all climbed down from the trees.
We surrounded the older guys. We would wait for the right time to attack.
We had to be ready. Once it was time, we needed to move quickly.
When the last player who’d been marked got back to the starting point, the older guys would all start calling to these two guys to tell them that the blue team had won.
Quietly, we waited for the call.
Finally, someone yelled from the starting point. “Hey, Bill! Harry! You can come in now. We won!”
The two guys stood up straight and yelled in victory.
We stood up straight, too, and marked them both from six different directions.
“Yeah!” Chad screamed. He gave me a high five. We were all jumping for joy.
The rest of the older guys came running when they heard the yelling. When they got a look at Harry and Bill, they all started laughing.
“Hey, nice work, guys!” one of them said. “You beat us at our own game!”
“I told you we should have just joined their game instead of scaring them away,” another one of the older guys said. “These kids are good players.”
Suddenly, I got nervous. The leader of the older guys looked really mad and embarrassed. He frowned and looked at his friends, and then looked over at us.
Chad and I looked at each other. Chad frowned. He seemed worried.
After a few seconds, the older guy shook his head and laughed. “Fine, they can play,” he said. Then he pointed at Chad and me and added, “As long as these two guys are on my team.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Temple lives in Rosemount, Minnesota, with his wife and three children. He has written more than thirty books for children. Over the years, he has coached more than twenty kids’ soccer, basketball, and baseball teams. He also loves visiting classrooms to talk about his writing.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
When Sean Tiffany was growing up, he lived on a small island off the coast of Maine. Every day, from sixth grade until he graduated from high school, he had to take a boat to get to school. When Sean isn’t working on his art, he works on a multimedia project called “OilCan Drive,” which combines music and art. He has a pet cactus named Jim.
GLOSSARY
advantage (ad-VAN-tij)—something that helps you or is useful to you
ambush (AM-bush)—to hide and then attack
attention (uh-TEN-shuhn)—if you pay attention, you concentrate on something
camouflage (KAM-uh-flahzh)—covering that makes people blend in with their surroundings
damage (DAM-ij)—harm or serious hurt
fort (FORT)—a building that was built to be strong during attacks
hideout (HIDE-out)—a place where someone can hide
invasion (in-VAY-zhuhn)—an unwelcome entrance into someone else’s territory
mark (MARK)—to hit with a paintball
marker (MARK-ur)—the piece of equipment used to shoot a paintball
opponent (uh-POH-nuhnt)—someone who is against you
signal (SIG-nuhl)—send a message or warning
splotch (SPLAHCH)—a marking
KEEPING PAINTBALL SAFE AND FUN
Paintball is a very fun sport, but no sport is fun if someone gets hurt.
The best way to enjoy paintball is to play it safely.
Here are some tips from paintball experts that will help you enjoy the game.
Never point your marker at anyone or anything as a joke, or in a careless way.
Keep your “safety” on until it’s time for the game to start.
To store your paintball marker, use a barrel plug and remove the CO2 tank.
Never look down the barrel of your marker, even if it’s not loaded
Always wear a mask and goggles whenever you are around paintball markers.
Never shoot at anyone who is not wearing goggles and a mask.
Never shoot at things that aren’t meant to be shot at, especially animals and people who aren’t playing the game
If you are within five yards of a person, always give them a chance to surrender before you shoot. Close-up shots can be very painful.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why didn’t the older guys want to let the younger guys use the woods for paintball?
Some people think that paintball is a violent sport. What do you think? Explain your thoughts.
The younger guys choose to prove to the older guys that they should all be able to play paintball in the same area. What else could they have done?
WRITING PROMPTS
Do you have a group of people who you play a sport with on the weekend? Write a description of your group. What do you do? What do you like about it?
Have you ever thought that someone was treating you differently because of your age? How did you feel when that happened? What did you do? What are some other things you could have done?
Sometimes it’s interesting to think about a story from someone else’s point of view. Try writing the last chapter from the point of view of the older guys’ leader. What does he think about? What does he see? How does he feel? Write it all down!
OTHER BOOKS BY JAKE MADDOX
Anton loves playing football until Malik, the talented quarterback, starts acting strange. Instead of working with the team, Malik is just showing off. Anton has to fix the problem fast, before the quarterback ruins everything!
Jamie thought everything was perfect on his hockey team. But when the goalie is injured, Jamie has to step in to the unfamiliar position. Can Jamie help his team skate to victory, or are they on thin ice?
INTERNET SITES
Do you want to know more about subjects related to this book? Or are you interested in learning about other topics? Then check out FactHound, a fun, easy way to find Internet sites.
Our investigative staff has already sniffed out great sites for you!
Here’s how to use FactHound:
1. Visit www.facthound.com
2. Select your grade level.
3. To learn more about subjects related to this book, type in the book’s ISBN number: 9781434204660.
4. Click the Fetch It button.
FactHound will fetch the best Internet sites for you!
Jake Maddox Books are published by Stone Arch Books,
A Capstone Imprint
1710 Roe Crest Drive
North Mankato, Minnesota 56003
www.capstonepub.com
Copyright © 2008 by Stone Arch Books
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maddox, Jake.
Paintball Invasion / by Jake Maddox; illustrated by Sean Tiffany.
p. cm. — (Impact Books — A Jake Maddox Sports Story)
ISBN 978-1-4342-0466-0 (library binding)
ISBN 978-1-4342-0516-2 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4342-8864-6 (ebook)
[1. Paintball (Game)—Fiction. 2. Sportsmanship—Fiction.] I. Tiffany, Sean, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.M25643Pii 2008
[Fic]—dc22
2007031258
Summary: Josh and Chad have been using the same place as a paintball field forever. But during one game, something weird happens. As the guys are marked, they realize they haven’t been marked by the opposing team. Instead, someone new is attacking them. Someone unknown. Will they discover who’s out to stop their paintballing fun? It’s going to take all their skills and teamwork to stop the sinister invasion.
Creative Director: Heather Kindseth
Senior Graphic Designer: Kay Fraser
Jake Maddox, Paintball Invasion
