“They didn’t call it in when they got tagged…” Jace observed. “Sadie’s walkie-talkie would’ve gone off, and her hiding space would be revealed.”

“She was the best at sneaking around,” Wes explained. “Half the time, she’d even go radio silent and strike off on her own. Sometimes she’d turn the opposing team into a nervous wreck because they’d never know when or where she’d pop up.”

From there, the game became a constant back and forth. Wes and Jace got a workout as they caught tidbits of it together, always making sure to keep their distance from those playing and the other non-involved adults walking around the neighborhood. They had a few close calls when one of the kids might’ve noticed them, but they always managed to duck into cover or hide behind something before they turned around.

The single round stretched into ten minutes, then fifteen, and then forty-five. The combatants were clearly not used to going this long without a break, and aside from sweat stains, they were also acquiring scuffs and dirty hands, knees, and faces. Ammo caches—which had been hidden in a mailbox, Colin’s treehouse, the back of Jared’s dad’s pickup truck, and inside someone’s curbside junk pile—had all been used up. Bases were temporarily held and then reclaimed. The players worked in teams of three at times, and also split apart entirely. The balance of power always shifted quickly.

Each team whittled down the other to a single player several times, only to have the last survivor stage a dramatic or sneaky rescue, by getting past those searching for them and unfreezing a friend. There were many paths that could be used to cross the arena, and every now and then, a kid would risk it and cut through a lawn—sometimes even when the owner’s family was having dinner feet away. Desperation was setting in.

“It’s almost 6:30,” Jace said, perspiring heavily himself by this point. “What happens if no team wins? Does it go into overtime or something?”

“No, it’s a draw. But this game does end. Pretty sure my team’s about to take it.”

Across the street, Jared, Colin, and Sadie were on the corner, splitting the last drops of their final red-water soda bottle. Once empty, Colin twisted it into some dirt where it stood upright and was easily noticeable. As they strategized, Jace saw the blue team coming in behind them, with a lot of distance to cover and their enemy not yet in their line of sight. The reds split up, with only Jared going in the direction of the blues.

“Let’s keep on Jared,” Wes said. “This might be an interesting confrontation.”

They kept parallel and watched as Jared clearly noticed the blues coming to him. But their eyes were on their sides and back for the most part, so he managed to get out of their path before they saw him by running up into a yard that was elevated and on a shallow hill, two houses away from his own. He then went to the side of the house and peeked over to watch the enemy approach. He held up his gun to again check its supply, and even at a distance, it was easy to see the dark water through the translucent canister.

“He’s barely got any water left,” Wes said. “He should be running away instead of hanging around to maybe take on all three of us. What’s he planning?”

The two watched him suddenly kneel down near the house’s outdoor faucet, look around the place, then unscrew his tank and fill it up to capacity. With the blues almost in his sight, he took a small object out from his pocket and shook it above the tank’s opening. They couldn’t see what he was putting in—but it was obvious enough.

“That cheat,” Wes muttered. “He brought his own food coloring.”

“Geez. That’s lame. Did he ever get caught for cheating?”

“No. No! Not once! I mean, if any of us were gonna do it, it’d be him, but still… Damn it, Jace. He probably bent a lot of games in his favor over the years.”

“Does getting a free refill really matter that much, though?”

“If he was doing that, he could’ve been doing a bunch of other crap, too. Maybe he even monitored the other walkie-talkie channels for all I know. Son of a…”

Under the dusk sky and looking to end a long game, the blues didn’t see Jared in time when he came running out, reinvigorated. Before they could fully react, Zach and Arthur were hit. Wessy backpedaled a few feet before messily returning fire and running away. As Jared laughed and gave chase, Colin came in on the other side, having climbed over the fence of the cheater’s backyard and cutting through the block’s only vacant lot.

Wes muttered, “I remember this… Something… strange happens back there.”

About to be caught in a pincer attack and unable to go past the arena’s boundary and into the road, Wessy made a sharp left and ran into the nearest side yard—the one that belonged to Jared’s house. Jared signaled to his teammates to pursue from their end, so that they could clamp down on Wessy somewhere in the backyard of his home turf.

“Is this game over?” Jace asked. “Wessy’s about to get hit from two sides.”

“I was starting to think we actually won this game,” Wes grumbled. “But, nope.”

“You could still win, you know? Maybe your memory is a little off.”

“Nah, the more I think about it, the more I realize I’m about to get a face full of Red Number 40. But… what’s it matter? It’s just a game. From a quarter-century ago.”

“Well,” Jace shrugged, “that was fun. Do you wanna go eat now?”

Wes looked down at him, blinked, and then ordered, “Go in there and screw things up for Jared anyway you can. Just surprise or distract him or something.”

“Seriously? Why do you need to win a squirt gun battle no even remembers?”

“Because Jared deserves it. And I want Wessy to win, regardless of the risk.”

“Didn’t you just tell me to not be vindictive earlier?”

“He’s a cheater, and it’s a chance to take him down a notch. Go, make us win!”

Wes shoved Jace into the empty road. Mumbling under his breath, he set off.

“This is stupid…” he told himself, his fists clenched as he walked. “Pointless…”

Upon hearing voices, he slowed and crept up to the tall wooden fence, its gate cracked opened. He glanced in and saw Jared, advancing cautiously with Soaker ready. Near him, on the brick under a shaded patio, was his team’s bucket full of red water.

“I don’t see him,” Colin’s voice shouted out from the other, unseen side of the yard. “Do you think he could’ve climbed over the fence?”

“Are you kidding? I can’t even do that, and I tried a lot of times as a kid.”

“So… he’s gotta be somewhere back here.”

“Yeah. Now be quiet and listen for him. He’s hiding somewhere.”

“Where the heck did Sadie go? She gets crazy sometimes in these long games.”

Jared’s backyard consisted of the patio, a playground fort, some short trees, a row of thick thorn bushes along the left fence, and a square artificial lily pad-filled pond contained by mortar and stone. As Jared and Colin converged to the center, Jace looked for a way to distract them without being seen. The bucket seemed to be the best option.

Once Jared and Colin were out of view, Jace swallowed, tried to let go of his fear and spite for his uncle, and entered the yard. After he sidled along the side of the house, he looked around the corner to see the two back to back near the pond, keeping an eye out, but not covering the direction Jace occupied. Right near him was their bucket.

He grabbed a sturdy branch and poked at it until he hooked its handle. Using both hands, he raised the branch and pulled at the thin curved metal. Just as Jared and Colin turned around together in reaction to the sound of some critter running on the roof, Jace yanked at the bucket to knock it over, spilling its contents into the dirt.

Jace ducked back behind the wall as Jared turned and shouted, “The heck?”

Hearing them come to investigate, Jace made a hasty retreat. But he stopped before getting too far, choosing to slip back through the gate but hide against the other side of the fence for a second. While there, he noticed a small hole in one of the pickets.

“Not cool,” Jared grumbled angrily.

Jace looked through the hole as he and Colin investigated the spill. Before they could try to find the perpetrator and get revenge, their target suddenly jumped out from the thorn bushes. They heard him emerge but were both hit before they could turn.

“Got ya,” Wessy shouted, ignoring the scratches now all over his face and arms.

“Really?” Colin moaned and swiveled around. “You hid in there? Are you crazy?”

“It worked, didn’t it?” He navigated his way out of the bushes. “Ow, ow…”

“This is bull, Wes,” Jared said. “One of your tagged buddies decided to cheat and break the rules. Was that part of your genius plan?”

“What’d’ya mean? I didn’t tell either of them to do that.”

“Look at our bucket! Arty or Zach came over and kicked it or something!”

Wessy came over as Jared pointed at the now glitched crime scene and replied, “Wouldn’t it be empty if that happened? I dunno what you’re playing at…”

“It is empty!” Jared argued and looked down. “See? Uh, wait. H-huh?”

“All the water got dumped out!” Colin exclaimed. “Really! Just… Only, it…”

“You both have been in the sun for too long,” Wessy sighed and put his foot on the red team’s reset bucket. “Like anyone would bother cheating like that just to win.”

“We know what we saw, man,” Jared retorted. “Something weird’s going on.”

“Yeah, yeah. How ‘bout you tell me where Sadie is so we can get this over with?”

Jace caught sight of her coming from behind, looking very different than the other three. She was soaked, her hair dripping from under her cap, also drenched. A pair of pink swimming goggles were slid up above her eyes, and with a determined grin, she was chewing on a bundle of three plastic straws kept together with a rubber band. To keep her shoes from making loud squishes, she was walking very slowly on her tiptoes.

“Hi, Wes,” she said cheekily.

“What the…” Wessy mouthed and then spun around as quickly as he could.

It wasn’t fast enough. She hit him with five rapid-fire shots, spraying red fluid everywhere that almost glistened like actual blood. She then raised her gun in victory.

“What?!” Jared burst out laughing. “You actually did it, Sadie? You’re crazy!”

“What she did?” Wessy complained. “What about what you guys did? Distracting me with your dumb bucket. I can’t believe I fell for something so stupid.”

“Don’t be mad, Wes. It was a good game. A legendary one!” Sadie exclaimed.

Colin added, “Yeah, and after Sadie actually went through with her pond maneuver, maybe we kind of deserve to win. It was really close, though, you know…”

“Yeah, yeah…” Wessy grumbled.

“You didn’t, uh, hide in the water with my walkie-talkie did you?” Jared asked.

“I hid it under a flower pot by the side of the pond,” she assured him.

Wessy spoke into his own, “Game’s over, guys. You can head home.”

Arthur’s voice replied, “What happened? Did we lose? Aw. I thought we had it.”

“I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. I gotta get back for dinner.”

With the game over, Jace had to consider if he had actually just caused the loss.

He watched a moment longer, noticing in full all of the little bruises, scratches, and both grass and food coloring stains on the four, though much of Sadie’s had been washed off. Never had he expected that someone would hide underwater to win.

Still unsure if he had screwed up or only witnessed fate, he backed off—and stepped on a twig. Positive he had just alerted them, he turned and ran. Jace didn’t see it, but Jared checked out the sound. He looked out from the gate just in time to see a boy in blue from behind fleeing the scene, and was instantly suspicious of him.

Jace returned to his uncle, hiding behind a tree on the other side of the street, and caught his breath. Wes looked at him expectantly.

Impatient for news, Wes asked after several seconds, “Well? How’d it go?”

His nephew shook his head. “You… came out of the thorn bushes, but then… uh, Sadie got you from behind… I can’t believe she hid in the pond back there…”

“The pond maneuver! Ah, crap!” Wes smacked his forehead. “The day she went aquatic! Now I remember! But I won that, Jace! I remember seeing her straws poking out, I went over to investigate, I saw her waiting down there on her back, she raised her gun from the water to shoot me, but I ducked… And then I plucked the straws right out of her mouth, forcing her to come up, where I tagged her… It was beautiful.”

“Yeah. It didn’t quite happen that way… I… I think it’s my fault.”

“Nah… It’s mine. I should’ve just left it alone. I was going to tell you all excited-like about how we taught ‘Bullet Water’ to all the kids in the neighborhood, but… Let’s just go eat dinner. It’s okay. Honestly, I originally felt a little guilty that Sadie didn’t win.”

As the tired pair returned to the car, someone else had their eyes on them. Up in the block’s tallest tree, a small figure in all black watched them, still and emotionless.