William
William walked softly through the old house. There shouldn’t have been broken glass. He knew the area too well. It was part of his normal route, and plays he ran, but there shouldn’t have been shattered glass on the floor. Not unless someone else had been that way.
William stopped, and dropped to a knee as he scanned the area around him. He couldn’t see anything else that drew his attention, and rose. He walked forward with his rifle forward, and at the ready. He tried to avoid the broken glass to keep from making a noise. None of the squad had made it that far before they were taken out, and he kept more alert than he already was.
The comms were quiet. None of his dead squad mates could see anything on the camera’s which hadn’t already been destroyed. William would have given anything for one of his team members to mention something about the enemy. There was no point in his asking though, they would speak in his ear piece if there was anything, and if he spoke now he only risked giving himself away.
There was less than a minute before the hostage was killed. The HUD on William’s helmet counted down with other relative information. It was down to him, and one lone enemy, and William knew it he was close. He just didn’t know where, and he was quickly running out of time as he slowly pushed forward. The enemy could wait out the clock, William could not.
William peaked his head, and rifle into the hall which led to the room with the hostage. The railgun was already pointed at the security camera in the corner, he knew exactly where it was. He pulled the trigger on his railgun almost a reflex before he could even confirm his aim. He had taken it out too many times before that it almost seemed like second nature.
William fell back into his cover, and waited. He listened for any noise after the falling debris of the security camera fell to the ground, and the wires finished their shorting, and sparks. His weapon at the ready. He moved his eyes from the two entrances to the large room as he waited for the enemy to make a move or sound, but he couldn’t hear anything. He could go around, and enter the hostage room from another location, he might have time if he rushed, but he doubted it.
After a quick moment William decided what to do, and pushed out into the hallway. He scanned the hall with his rifle at the ready as he moved. He already knew the locations he would use for cover, and from which he would launch his attack from. He looked for signs of someone hiding, and waiting as he moved.
William rushed into the hostage room with fifteen seconds remaining. He slid into his cover, and scanned the room. The hostage sat on his knees in the middle of the room with bound hands, and a blindfold. He glanced quickly around but couldn’t see anyone.
Five seconds the display on his HUD showed, and William launched from his cover towards the hostage. He dropped his rifle onto it’s sling, and pulled his pistol out as he grabbed the hostage by the shoulder, and saw the timer stop on one second. He had to hold on to the hostage, no matter what happened, he couldn’t let go.
William gripped tight, and pulled the hostage to his feet. He pulled the hostage with him as he turned, and ran back the way he had entered the room. They were out of the hostage room before the first shoots came out from behind them. He had to keep moving as more shots rang out from behind them, but closer. He retraced his steps the way he had come from as fast as he could pull the blind hostage along with him.
William’s mind raced as he ran. He could continue to run, or he could turn, and fight with his attacker with a pistol in one hand, and the hostage in the other. It was always risky to use the hostage as a shield, but he had done it in the past, and it had worked. He could try it again, and hope for the best.
William took a left into another room before another round of shots sounded off further behind. He couldn’t risk it, he had to keep going. He took another quick left before he turned sharply right down another hallway as he rushed his way through the house. He was running as fast as he could, and was out of breath.
Finally William could see the open window, and reached it with the Hostage, and climbed out. He pulled the hostage with him without letting go, and then ran towards the red flare as more shots came out, and hit the ground beside them. Then the scoreboard came up on his HUD, and William finally heard the voice of his teammates as they shouted in victory.
“Holy fuck we did it,” Anders cried out through the clatter of joyous cheers, and yells from the other squad mates.
William came out of the virtual reality map, and was back into the real world of the cheering stadium that the tournament was held in. He was speechless, and dumbfounded as his teammates pulled out of his reclined chair. They piled around him, and wrapped him in a giant hug as the whole stadium rocked with cheering.
“You legend, you just fucking won the greatest overtime round we have played, and you won it with a damn steal!” Abbey shouted as she tried to make herself heard over the noise of the cheering and congratulations of everyone
“Siege champions baby,” Delroy cheered with a raised fist. “We are the mother fucking siege champions! Can you believe it?”
William couldn’t believe it for a moment, and just looked at the thousands of faces in the stadium. He looked at the scoreboard, and saw the display of the six to seven rounds won in their favor, and then finally let out a cheer in victory himself.
William, and the team finished celebrating before they went over to the other team, and shook the hands of their long time rivals. It had been the hardest match that William had ever played. The entire match they had traded wins and loses with rounds, and each one had been so close that they could have gone either way.
The best of seven match had been pushed into overtime, as neither team could gain the two round lead required for victory. Round thirteen, the final round, and only round which didn’t require a two point lead to claim victory as both teams went into the round tied six to six. Winning round thirteen, that was something he had dreamed of a hundred times before, something thousands of kids dreamed of, and he had just done it.
William looked out into the crowd, and spotted his mother, and siblings, who sat with his girlfriend Samantha, as well as Ander’s girlfriend Zoe. He gave them a grin, and wave, and then felt the pain in his gut with the remembrance that his father had missed it. He let out a sigh as he continued to wave, and tried to keep the smile on his face. That had also been part of most of his dreams. Maybe one day his father would witness it.
