Pappy grimaced as he made his way through the forest. His gaze went everywhere as he ducked, swiveled, then dropped to the ground. Team Three was still intact, which almost made him proud. He was flat on the ground in a bed of pungent pine needles. The smell was so heady he could almost taste the resin. His hands were sticky and slimy from all the resin on the pine needles around him. He inched backward when he heard a commotion to his left. He rolled to the right, the toes of his boots looking for traction. When he rolled a second time he realized his mistake. His hands grappled for a hold on the slick pine needles and viny undergrowth. Team Three passed him just as another flare went off. That meant he was the only member of the staff still in the game. With that realization, he made his second mistake, and it was a serious one.

Pappy knew exactly where he was and what would happen if he lost his grip on the thick vines he was holding on to. Half his body was over the ledge. If he fell, he would be seriously injured. If he called out, Team Three could pull him to safety. IF.

Pappy grappled with the vine he was holding, but the more weight he put on it, the more it rippled across the space where it was growing. Too much slack. He tried wrapping the thick vine around his wrists, but it just kept ripping from the ground to give him yards of slack. The slick resin from the pine needles wasn’t helping his handholds; in fact, it was making it worse. Think, don’t be stupid, call out. The hardest thing to learn in life was which bridge to cross and which bridge to burn. He opened his mouth to shout when he looked upward as a dark shadow crossed his features.

Sam stood a yard away, the paintball gun pointed at his shoulder. “I thought I heard a noise. Were you about to call out? Looks like you could use some help.”

“Hell, yes. Get Hawkins to pull me out of here!”

“Why should I call Hawkins? Why don’t you ask me? I’m standing right in front of you,” Sam asked curiously.

“Because you hate my guts. You’re happy to see me in this predicament. It’s called getting even.”

Sam kicked Pappy’s paintball gun out of the way. “Really!” She peered over the embankment. “Oooh, this isn’t lookin’ good,” Sam drawled lazily. “So, do you want me to help you or not?”

“I told you to get Hawkins. That’s a goddamn order, Rainford. You don’t have the upper-body strength to pull me up.”