Then he heard a rustling noise and turned his head. What the… how did Steve and that snake end up here? You’d think one of them would have won that wrestling match by now. Taylor watched them disappear into the bush and then turned his head to where he last saw Rachel.
She was nowhere to be seen.
*Where’d she go?* Taylor asked himself.
Then he felt something poke him in the back.
*Right here, big boy,* Rachel grinned.
Slowly Taylor turned around. She was standing above him, pointing a spear at his chest. He laughed.
*You think you’re going to hurt me with that little stick?*
And with a swift movement, he fell to the side and dropped off the tree branch. He had disappeared into the underbrush himself by the time Rachel got down from the tree. And when she got down, boy, did she get down. She landed in a great big mass of quicksand that Taylor had just decided to put there.
It was now Taylor’s turn to laugh.
*Ten seconds!* he warned her fiendishly.
*Jerk,* Rachel muttered.
But, try as she might, she couldn’t think of a way out until after the ten seconds were over, and she joined Nate in the spectator stand. Nate looked her over.
*Dang, I was hoping you’d still be muddy,* he teased.
**********
Realising that her teammate was now out of the game, Carla decided a change of tactics was in order.
*Or perhaps,* she said to herself, *an extension of the tactics already used.*
As far as she knew, the ozone layer getting holes meant that radiation should follow. And more to the point, radiation poisoning. She therefore created an underground base that would protect her from radiation. Once inside, she camouflaged the entrance so that Isaac and Taylor wouldn’t find it. Then she settled down to watch using her satellite cameras.
All life outside began to die, something that Isaac and Taylor were quick to notice.
*She’s done something. What has she done?* Taylor asked suspiciously.
*I don’t know. But everything that can die is dying,* Isaac observed. *They question is why? And how can we save ourselves?*
Sadly, they didn’t think of radiation poisoning, and when their bodies started shriveling up, they consented that they had no idea what to do. And so the girls’ team won, and Carla remained the undefeated champion.
*Good game guys,* Carla grinned.
*Well of course you would say so,* Isaac grinned. *So, how did you make everything die anyway?*
*That would be telling,* she grinned deviously.
*What? You’re not even going to tell me?*
*Nope. This way I can use it for another game without being concerned that you might think up a counter plan.*
*Being concerned? You mean worried.*
*No, I mean concern. Come on, Ike, who am I to give my opposition an advantage.*
*I thought I was your boyfriend.*
*Why should that change anything?*