Zak was closing in on the cliff, and was aware that near Arnie’s dead body, another patrol would be lying in wait. He pulled the rifle from his back-mounted holder and put it by his side. It was bulky, though this was due to its futuristic design rather than for any practical reason. The gunge rifle was another fictional item like the ski-jets, only this time created purely for the junior version of the game. Its white plastic casing suited the camouflage, but on the base was a large sac that emitted a bright blue glow. Zak enjoyed using the rifle, but looked forward to the dramatic effect of a real life gun, with its noise, power and devastation. He wanted to see things ripped apart by bullets.
Suddenly, a Spongeyman stepped out from the cover of a tree ahead, with his rifle aimed at Zak. But Zak was too quick for him, and sent him flying with a shot to the head, the gunge neatly wrapping itself around his face.
Zak was already glancing around and spotted two more either side of him, both lifting their rifles ready to fire. He had to act immediately to deal with them both. He jumped into the air and twisted his body sharply around to the left. Despite being airborne for only a short time, he managed to swivel a full 360 degrees, and shoot first the one to his left, then the one to his right, both with headshots, and land facing forward again.
Adrenaline pumping, he took a quick deep breath.
‘Groovy!’ whined a scratchy voice.
‘Shut up!’ exclaimed Zak.
He continued on, having lost no speed during the encounter.
Within seconds, Zak sped past the prone body of Arnie. His chest had taken several hits, but it looked like a bucket of green gunge had been thrown over him. His face was concealed by a mask, which had bright painted eyes and a big upturned smile. This was a feature of the junior version, to signify that he was dead. Zak regarded such symbols as ridiculous.
He felt another wave of excitement at the prospect of playing the True-To-Life setting and experiencing death. Arnie had experienced a painless end to the game. When the cheat was turned on, death would be painful – so Zak had been promised.
