Gaffer Tape And A Tire Maze (Part 2)

Signing Up At The Camp

Jumping back on the wagon of Sunday to which we had just arrived at Helensburgh, we jumped out of Shawn’s Ute, grabbed what money we needed and headed over to where everyone was already getting briefed. Through all the army greens, it was hard to tell if we were in the right place but after seeing Binh and Tyler I knew there was no worries. Approached by one of the guys that worked there, he had us sign some documents and when all was done, he took a Polaroid picture of me so that he could stick it on my gun license.

Late as we were, we had to pause for a moment with everyone else to hear a safety speech for five minutes but once that was done, we headed to the correct windows to pay registration. Being a touch oblivious and lost, I relied on their guidance to know exactly what I was doing as I paid my $95 and then received my army gear.

Deciding that there was just too much riding on my not having a ball protector, I decided to fork out an extra $5 for the relief of safety on my hands However, not having any underwear, I also asked for some gaffing tape and heading into the toilets, I changed into my army gear, wrapped the gaffing tape around my hips twice and stuck on the ball protector. Not being too uncomfortable, I stepped back out, grabbed my gun, a backpack that held six containers of pellets and with that I headed to the rest of the group to load up.

A Gun Without A Lever

Excitement was definitely building in the air as I opened the lid on my semi-automatic gun and loaded the paint balls inside. Being my oblivious self, I didn’t realize that my gun was different to everyone else’s until it was pointed out to be my Jett later that day. Their guns had a lever you had to cock back to turn off the safety where mine just had a button you push into the gun where your trigger finger is.

In addition, my gun weighed heaps less as Jett referred to his gun as the ‘Over the shoulder boulder holder’. In our preparations I also noticed that Mike Munro was there to which I’ve been seeing personalities a touch recently. While loading up the guns, I spoke to Silas who was with his girlfriend, she was playing skirmish with us. Explaining how his picture at Wollongong beach turned out great, he sounded eager to see it one of these days.

In all, the whole camp had around one hundred people ready to head out and blast each other but in our group, there was just over thirty people. When our guns were prepped up and we listened to another speech about how to use the guns effectively, we filed off into our groups and headed out through the nets to begin our games.

Learning The Rules Of The Field

One team had orange arm bands on as the other was without bands and as Shawn and Jett tossed me a spare one, I had to make my decision. Seeing that the both of them were without a band and my having to wear one, I decided to stash it in my pocket along with the gaffing tape, both which were lost along with my ball protector in the midst of the action when crawling through the mud.

Taking off the pink caps to our guns, we stood there on top of a hill, capping off a few shots into some burnt out cars down the bottom. The anticipation was looming and the anticipation to feel that first pellet hit me while flying a hundred miles an hour was growing. The first game we ended up playing was in an enclosed area just like all other games through the day.

Resembling a miniature go-kart alley with all the tires stacked onto each other, we were told to separate into our resilient teams and prepare for our first game. The aim of the game was to advance into the enemies territory to steal their flag. Strategy was the key of the game, that and trying not to get shot.

Basically, a hit constitutes the pellet hitting and breaking open on you where you would cop some flak. However, if a ball hit you and bounced off then you don’t signal with your hand that you’ve been hit to which you would walk with your gun in the air to the boundary lines encompassing the field of play. The referees would stand in the midst of the two teams and where no one aimed for them purposefully, they got hit by a stray bullet once or twice. The adrenaline was pumping for the first game as Jett, Shawn and I vowed to stay together for the whole time.

Poking My Head Out

However, as that whistle sounded and the two teams started running for cover behind the stacked tires, I lost sight of the both of them. Being the first time I’ve ever been confronted in any line of fire, I was rather confused in what to do where my brain was running at a million miles an hour but actions were coming out scrambled. However, gathering my thoughts for long enough, I advanced to the next set of tires in front of me acting as a barrack.

I soon learnt through the day that it was much more fun and safer to crawl through the dirt and mud instead of creating an easier object to shoot at. Instead of crawling, I hobbled over as bent over as I could, almost in a Gridiron type three finger stance. Shooting around aimlessly for a while, neither team had direction in calling out shots, asking each other to draw enemy fire or giving cover fire. It was literally every man for themselves as some veterans were hardened in mind response and people like me were learning as we went along.

Satisfied that I had my ball protector on, I was pretty keen about the gas type mask that we had to wear, covering the front of the face to the hairline and exposing the back of the head and side. This was a great bonus as I copped at least five direct hits to the eyes to which the splattered mess looked like a huge pterodactyl had shit on me from afar. Actually, the first couple of shots through the day were nothing but head shots.

At the end of the day I had a bruise on the right hand side of my head and I’d received a couple of shots directly hitting the top of my head as I poked it up over barriers. That was my problem initially, I kept poking my head out. I think after I advanced past three lots of tires I got a shot to the mask and the gun which constituted for a hit to which I had to raise my gun high, hell out “Hit” and walk off the field of play.

Watching From The Dead Zone

Standing outside in the dead man’s territory, we weren’t allowed to give any tactical information to the players still alive. All I could do was watch Shawn and Jett crawling up through the turrets and tires, edging closer to the middle. The playing area was quite large and in the middle there was a little bridge that had a small undulated stream of water flowing below.

When being shot, I surveyed this area and figured that if I could get there and hide out under the bridge, this would be the best position for a sniper to shoot at enemy passing over the bridge. Losing the first game to which the opposing team took our flag, it was time to regather and begin anew on the other side. This time around we had a bit of a plan but mine was the same naïve plan as usual, run headlong into the thicket of things and be a front man who probably gets killed first.

A Commando Leap Over The Stream

In my first game I didn’t shot anyone although I did get close to a hit. In the second game however I had a bit more fun as I knew what to expect. When the whistle sounded, I fired two shots into the opposition and then ran as fast as I could with my weighty backpack to the first barrier. Caring not to stop and figuring everyone would be too busy ducking for cover, I done a Rambo and jumped over the top of the tire stack, gaining some air time and then plunking down into a lying position upon the next barrier.

For the next few seconds I could hear nothing but bullets and flack flying all around me, bouncing onto the tire stacks behind me and creating a big mess to the front of my tire stack. Soon enough, everyone else took the safe option around the tires and joined me at the front. Making another daring move, I took another run over the barriers, caught some more air and then done a huge commando leap over the diving river which was a meter down into slippery rocks if I didn’t make the leap.

Falling to the ground as I did jump over, I was happy that I hadn’t been shot yet considering how daring and foolish I was, being a sitting duck for everyone’s gun.

Grabbing The Flag Too Late

Sitting around and catching my breath for a touch, I took a glance up from my lying position and was amazed to find that I was lying directly under the flag. “Fuck” I said to myself, knowing that I had just made that big run and forgotten about my primary objective. All that was in my head was to just jump over a couple of barriers in style, oblivious to the plan at hand. However, with my surprise that I had finally contributed to a certain win, I ducked up to grab the flag and pulled it down as quick as possible.

However, the enemy was quickly gathering around the far boundaries and as I had seen a head and gun poke out of a far barrier, I knew the evident was sure to follow. “Pop, Pop” was the noise I heard, trying to counter attack but being far too late for such a surprise. I’d retrieved the flag from the middle of the battlefield but it didn’t help anyone considering I didn’t get anywhere with it.

Hunting Tyler And Losing My Box

Standing outside again, I chatted with Jett about the game as we watched Shawn advancing on one of the far corners, popping off one or two players. The whole reason we had decided to be without bands was because we wanted to be against Tyler so we could pop his ass a couple of times but we never seemed to find the cowering vermin. Tyler was always either the first person to go down or the last due to his hiding in the one isolated spot away from fire for the whole game.

The three of us had the odd berserk attributes running through our veins where we would run headlong into the thick of battle but Tyler had no such defiance. During my little sting, I noticed that my box (Which in the first game had seen itself loosen up and fall down to the bottom of my pants) had completely been lost. Now I was without a box and dwelling upon my lost five dollars.

Earlier in the day before paying I asked Shawn if I could lend twenty dollars off him and he was alright with it but at the end of the day, I never did get to see that money. I didn’t want to ask him again and figured he would have remembered something like that considering he was always insisting to pay for me had I not had enough money. Anyway, our second game was won and from there we moved on into another location.