The Smell of Cheating
They thought he was out of his mind, he could see it in their eyes. They thought it was an attempt of a desperate man. His actions showing without doubt in their minds, just how out of options he thought they were.
Vin looked back at his own team and saw none of this, only absolute faith in his actions. They didn't know why he had taken all their water bottles and poured them over the wall. They hadn't asked, just handed them over when he said he needed them...
They had been getting pounded for close to an hour. The only thing protecting them was the wall that was starting to show cracks.
It was supposed to be a simple challenge between teams of which team could build a better defensive spot out in the field during snowy weather.
But Team Two somewhere along the line decided they were taking out Team Seven and winning at any cost. They had used more than just the paint guns that were issued. They were using firecrackers and M80 cherry bombs as well.
When the first crack appeared, Josiah and Buck packed more snow into it. But with the last four snowballs exploding in the same spot the M80's were embedded, the crack had weakened even more.
Chris was fuming at the way they were cheating, and was about to climb out of the protected area to go show his displeasure to the SAC of Team Two.
Vin stopped him, "Ain't the way, Chris. Know you'll feel better for bashing in that fool's face, but you know they'll all spin it as you're a bad loser over there."
"What? You think I should let them get away with cheating? That last blast came to close to Josiah!" Chris fumed.
"Nope," was all Vin said. He had spotted something earlier and now went to retrieve what he had seen.
They watched Team Two making a move that put them a little closer to their wall, while at the same time watching Vin scoop up a pile of something black with the spade shovel, then several other piles that looked the same. The six men behind the wall watched as he dumped the black mess by their pile of snowballs.
"Chris, Team Two is trying to move closer. I think they're going to run the wall after the next wave," Buck announced as he peeked over the frozen protection.
Ezra had been studying Vin as he poured just a little water out of one of the bottles onto the black pile he had gotten. Vin used a stick to stir the now muddy looking mess. "Mr. Tanner, just what is you are dipping the snowballs in?"
"Wolf droppings."
"Wolf droppings? YOU MEAN WOLF Shi..." Ezra cringed.
"Yep. Looks like a pack was through here just before we got started," Vin calmly explained as he finished what he was doing. Then as he stood up and peeked over the wall he said, "Need all the water we got."
They handing him all the bottles that were left in the case of water, which was half. He opened them all, pouring them on and over the wall. At times he splashed the water out and over as if worried about sticking his head up and getting hit by the other team and not seeing where it landed. As he tossed the last bit of water, Vin looked toward Team Two and could tell they had gained confidence in their victory with his action. They thought he was trying to make the wall harder, more frozen solid with the water.
Vin, squatting back down, said, "Josiah, you Nathan and Ezra take your paint guns to the right edge of the wall. Buck you and JD take yours to the left edge. Wait till ya hear them yelling before opening fire. Nathan, Chris and me are going to need a pair of your surgical gloves. Don't think Larabee here wants the mess on his hands." Vin grinned.
It was only minutes once Team Seven was in their places that Team Two attacked with a full front run.
They began throwing the remaining snow bombs as they ran, with the other members of Team Two firing the paint guns in rapid fire across the top of the wall. Thinking they were pinning down Team Seven, and putting on speed when they were only ten feet away from the wall, all eight members of team two found themselves sliding out of control.
Vin had deliberately thrown most the water out in front of the wall and not on it. With the freezing wind and temperature, he knew it would quickly become icy.
With the first yell, the leader of Team Two went down, and Team Seven came up and out firing, not missing with one shot of paint balls or the dipped snow balls. By the time it was over, Team Two was a pile of colored, smelling, cussing individuals.
Ezra calmly walked around them as they tried to sit up, pulled out their flying flag from their camp and walked back announcing as he passed, "I do believe this means we have conquered these miscreants and can remove our good selves from this horrible winter land and back to the warmth of civilization at once."
Leaving Team Two as they crawled and held on to each other in attempting to get up, the seven men laughed as they heard several of the fallen team members realize what the smelly black substance on the snowballs was.
Vin made a quick detour with JD. They joined the five men waiting for them in Josiah's Suburban. Getting in, they handed out water bottles and placed the rest of the case on the floor.
Vin looking up at Chris, shrugged his shoulders, "'Spoils of war', as Ezra would say. We took all their water. Plus figured they need to drive all the way back with the smell on them for cheating."
The End