Chad adjusted his uniform, secured the backpack over his shoulders and onto his back. Then he extracted a manila envelope from the back of the locker and behind it he found a paint gun and a cartridge belt filled with paint cartridges.
"Mission: Highlander" was written on the envelope. Previously, Chad would have torn open the envelope, but under the influence of the dogtags, Chad extracted a pocket knife from his back pack , and carefully slit the envelope open.
There were photos, a map, and written orders. It was a war game. Chad versus 6 other recruits. All completely naked, armed only with paint guns. Six paintball hits and soldier is captured. Winner captures other six. Chad recognized three of the photos as athletes from nearby high schools, and one from the Community College. He couldn't place the other two.
He checked his watch. Wargames begin in 2 hours. He had to get to the park, get naked, and get busy. With the envelope stowed in his pack, paint gun catridge belt across his chest and paint gun slung over his shoulder, Chad ran to the wilderness park 5 miles away.
Chad arrived in less than half an hour at his designated coordinates. No one else was in sight. He quickly inventoried his pack, and selected night vision goggles, and camouflage paint. Then he stripped and stowed his gear. Then began applying the green, brown, and black camouflage paint to his naked body. He still had an hour before he was supposed to start. It occurred to Chad that the others might not follow their orders so precisely, so he decided to prepare for attack, and set booby traps. He used his knife, sticks, vines and rocks to make snares, and trip wires. He set his pack half hidden/half visisible on one side of the small glen he had been assigned. Then he hid at about 23 degrees from that location. He figured, his opponents would assume he was near the backpack or at 45, 90, 180 and 270 degrees from it. Then he listened.
He had been right about at least two of the others. It wasn't time, but he heard a twig break to his northwest, and a rustling to the southwest. At least two were on the move. Chad silently picked up a stone, aimed it at the hollow log in the middle of the glen. Precisely at the appointed time. He threw the rock at the log. It was just after sunset.
The impact of the rock on the hollow log produced a loud noise, and the immediate rush of small creatures out of their den inside the log. They fled away from Chad making rustling in the brush.
One of the attackers burst out of hiding firing madly at the sound. Instantly, the guy was hit repeatedly with paintballs fired from at least 3 angles.
SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!
And the guy vanished.
Chad hadn't fired. He calculated the shooters' positions based on where the shots came from. They apparently did the same. Splat! Spl a t! Paintballs flew. Chad remained silent and still. There were still two unaccounted for.
The shooters moved off to the west, sniping at each other. Hidden is blind behind a small boulder and bush branches, Chad was startled when a naked man's ass flashed suddenly appeared in front of him. The man moved stiffly. Chad unloaded 6 rapid blasts in the man's bum. SPLAT! SPLAT! Splat! Splat! splat! splat.
After the first two hits, the man shrank down to GI Joe doll size and lay immobile on the ground. The other shots hit brush. Chad immediately crouched down behind the boulder. He had given away his position.
Splat, splat,splat, splat, splat, splat...
Chad lay hunched down as the boulders, bushes and trees around him were coated with flesh colored paint. Chad held his breath, as he tracked the movements in the brush around him.
Two more volleys of paintballs flew. A soft pair of thuds as another one of his opponents fell followed by their pack.
"Yes!" a nearby shadowy figure said fist pumping the air. He lay flat on the ground, crawling out into the glen to retrieve his trophy.
Chad had a feeling he was the only one left. The lone gunman crawled on his belly toward Chad. Chad could hear him getting closer, but remained hidden. The guy stopped. He was apparently retrieving the doll that Chad had shot earlier.
Chad jumped up fired, spun and fired.
SPLAT! SPLAT! The guy shrank. S-P-LSPLAT! Chad got hit right on his dick. A half dozen more shots flew off into the glen, as Chad emptied his gun.
Chad collected the dollman he shot in the ass, and his second dollman. He opened the nearby pack, and found four more. All targets accounted for, and from the moon's position, it was about 2 am. The Supreme Commander had over or underestimated this batch of soldiers. He had alloted all weekend for the "mission."
Chad patrolled the area. He collected all the packs, and guns. He emptied his pack, ate one of his ration packs. Then stuffed all six GI Joe Soldiers into his pack along with their dogtags and photo IDs. He used his flashlight to examine his captive trophies. He matched faces to the IDs. Emptied the wallets. He put all the empty wallets in one pack, loaded all the cash into his pack, along with phones, rings, watches and keys. He couldn't easily carry 350 lbs of gear, so he stowed the six packs and paintball guns high in a tree concealed by branches. Then he lined up his six dollmen on the ground, reloaded his paint gun, then he emptied six shots into each one.
His orders had six shots designated a loser. Chad wanted to truthfully tell his Supreme Commander he had personally shot each opponent six times. He also was unsure whether the dollman condition was permanent or temporary.
He loaded them all back into his pack. Then he started to dress. His crotch! He knew he'd been hit by a paintball. It had hurt like hell. But he had focused on his mission until now. His crotch was now a smooth solid plastic bulge identical, except in size, to his newly acquired GI Joe dolls. He scratched, and tapped at his hard plastic bulge. He dressed hurriedly. He figured a hot shower and soap should do the trick. Then all suited up, pack and gun slung on his back, Chad jogged home.