• Codi sat on the porch, looking over the lake at the other cabins that had their lights on and glowed like lanterns. He cleaned the shells he found while walking down the beach with a small scrub brush and a bucket of soapy water. He placed the end results on the side of the table, still looking out over the reflective waters.
    Inside, Serup was quietly reading a book on one of the bunk beds that held no occupants. The light from the inside was the only thing that illuminated the porch itself. Codi hadn’t wanted to waste electricity by turning on the outside light. Waffil was hovering in the kitchen, watching Foxy cook one of her favorite meals. Shawn was on the ground floor, talking to HQ about the mission they took Foxy off of. Everyone was curious as to why they did it, but it seemed to take longer than expected to get through from such an isolated area.
    Codi looked up. The moon was full and was bathing the ground in its heavenly glow. The stars were bright and he could see the nebulas and the satellites fly by quickly. There were only the lights provided by the cabin and the stars at night. He always dreamed of camping out in such an area.
    He pulled out one of his hand guns, pulling it apart quickly and polishing it. He remembered, with a laugh, when he and Foxy would race to see who could put their guns back together faster. When she won, it was because she had sensitive fingers that could feel what part went were.
    “What’s so funny,” Foxy closed the door behind her. Codi looked up in shock. She smiled. “I heard you laughing, now tell me.”
    “I was thinking of when we used to race,” he said, holding up his gun.
    Foxy let out a small laugh. She pulled one out of her sleeve and placed it gently on the table. She sat down opposite of him, pulled it apart and placed the parts around the table, taking out a cloth. “So I got Serup and Waffil to agree to a night hike,” she said. “What about you? Are you interested? We could go see the old cemetery and then go down to the beach or something.”
    Codi smiled widely. “Sure, why not?”
    “There may be zombies,” she said, rolling her eyes into the back of her head to give her a dead look. She laughed again. “No. It’ll be fun. We can play a game of tag or hide and seek or man hunt.”
    “A regular game?” He asked.
    She laughed. “When have we played a regular game of anything?”
    Codi put his gun back together quickly, shoving it into its hoister. “I think it would be great if Shawn would come.”
    Foxy sighed. “Yeah, but he’s really curious about why HQ pulled me out of that operation when it was going good. All they said was go on a vacation and relax.’” She looked out toward the lake.
    “Is that why you called us?” Codi asked.
    Foxy turned around quickly. Her face was distraught. “Of course not! You’re my buds, my friends, my boys; I always wanted to be near you guys! It’s fun being with you.”
    Codi stood. He walked into the house, leaving her speechless on the porch. He grabbed his gear; a bullet proof vest, another hoister with a handgun, a box of bullets, and his combat boots. Serup and Waffil were already dressed, eating a quick dinner.
    “Are we going to play on teams or just alone?” Waffil said, face full of food.
    “Alone,” Serup spat. “I don’t care if you whine, I can’t work with you, Codi would team kill me and Foxy…Well, she’d just own everyone. You know what, how about teams?”
    “No teams,” Foxy walked in quickly. For the first time the boys noticed what she was wearing; a shirt, long, with no pants and no shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and she had her reading glasses on. Her tail waved inches above the floor, fur catching the light and giving her an angelic glow. “We work alone, one on one, well, three on one.”
    Serup swallowed hard. “Uh, is there something different about you, Foxy?” he asked. “Did you get a hair cut or something?”
    She looked at him. “I did use this new shampoo, but no. I’m the same girl you’ve known for years.” She walked by. “Why do you ask?”
    “No reason,” He responded quickly.
    “Are you wearing anything under that?” Waffil asked quickly.
    “What?” Foxy shot him a look.
    “I said I forgot to pack my flashlight!” Waffil said, shuffling through his pockets. “Darn! I guess I’ll have to borrow one of yours!”
    Foxy narrowed her eyes at him. “Never mind then. I’ll just get my night vision goggles and some pants on. I’ll be back in a few.”
    She disappeared into her room, leaving the boys looked after her. They let out a loud sigh of relief.
    “Hey,” Codi smiled, jabbing Serup in the ribs. “Looks like someone’s really happy.”
    Serup pulled out a hand gun from his belt loop. “Yeah, and if you play with it enough it explodes.”
    “Ohh,” Codi howled, “a come back from Mr. I’m-afraid-of-water-so-I-can’t-take-baths! Try again, Serup!”
    “Random Ninja Attack-ness!” Foxy jumped from her doorway onto Serups back. He caught her, falling backwards onto the old wood floor. She pressed her small BB gun to his chest. “Are we ready for this?”
    “Of course,” Codi helped her up quickly. She was dressed in all back, a bullet proof vest, with nothing on her feet. She had a black bandana around her orange hair and two black streaks on her cheeks. “Where are we going; war?”
    “Just remember,” Foxy said in a quiet whisper, “if something goes wrong, like you see civilians or you get hurt; just make the Evening Dove call.” She placed her hands above her mouth and made a low sound. Codis’ ears perked at the call, remembering every small detail about it.
    Serup stood slowly, brushing the dust off of his pants. “We’re using our regular guns; won’t they make some noise?”
    “We’re not hunting,” Foxy hissed. She pulled out three other BB guns. “Here, leave the ammo and guns here. We definitely don’t need to hurt anything that doesn’t have something to do with the game.”
    Waffil turned toward the door. “This is a game of extreme Man Hunt. We’re in the forest and on the beach, that’s it. No civilian hits, not civilian contacts. If we spot them; game’s over. We make the call and return home.”
    Foxy nodded. “Shawn! We’re leaving!” She shouted toward the kitchen.
    “Have a good time,” Shawn shouted back. “And remember to get a butt shot of Serup for me! He still owes me fifty bucks!”
    Foxy laughed and ran out the house. She disappeared almost instantly into the night. The only thing that was visible on her was the white tips of her tail and ears and her eyes as they reflected the light from the house. But after a second she was gone completely; dashing down the road toward the dense forest surrounding the cabin.
    Codi was heading toward the beach. He figured he would set up his sniper on one of the dunes and get a bird’s eye view of the playing field. He pulled out his GPS and searched the small glowing screen for his position. He was about half a mile from it. He trudged up the steep slopes and found an old watch tower. He smirked, thinking how much of an advantage he’d have being on the top. He set up the sniper and hooked up his night vision.
    Serup was on the main road to the beach. Codi smiled widely. Waffil was in the forest, dashing from tree to tree quickly, his tail twitching every few seconds. Codi looked around for any signs of Foxy, which he knew would be practically impossible to see but it had been so long he thought she might have become a little sloppy.
    “I see you up there with your little sniper, Codi,” Foxys’ voice rang in his ear. He pressed the inter-link softly. “I call that cheating. Pack it up and play fair.”
    “But you’re at an extreme advantage,” Codi said slowly, looking around. “You have training most of us don’t and you’re wearing all black.”
    “The moon is out, idiot,” she said. “I’m as visible as it is.”
    “Codi,” Serup hissed. “Stop cheating. Remember no real-OW! What the h3ll, Foxy!”
    “That was from Shawn,” Foxy said with a giggle. “He wants his money.”
    The link went silent. Codi packed the sniper quickly, placing the parts on his person and moving away from the watch tower. The sound of his combat boots would have alerted Foxy if she was there, but she was somewhere near Serup, about a mile away; or so it seemed.
    He moved quickly for the beach, watching the small night creature’s rush across the sandy ground. After a few minutes he found himself next to the cemetery. There were several small gravestones and what looked like a tepee. As he stood there, looking at it, he heard a small whisper floating on the wind. He crouched low, fearing civilians for he didn’t want to end the game so soon.
    “-are you sure she’s here?” a voice asked, low and excited. “I mean, it would be great if we found her, but what if she’s not here and we came all this way for nothing?”
    “Stop being doubtful, Sergio,” a low hiss whispered. “She’s definitely here.”
    “What are we going to do with her?” the voice called Sergio asked.
    “The same thing we did with that last one,” the hiss said. “We’re going to cut her throat and enjoy her pain. Hopefully she’s the right one. The one with the star birthmark, ya know. So we can finally resurrect HIM.”
    There was silence. A flash of quick light scanned the woods. “This play is gonna be great, ya know. I can’t wait to see it. It’s so cool that they sent you the script before. I think that scene is the most dramatic. You know; when they sacrifice that girl and bring HIM back.”
    The voices trailed off, heading back toward the main path to the beach.
    Waffil was a mile away, trudging through the waist high waters. He moved slowly, being careful not to make noise for he saw a few sleeping horses a few yard away. He was far into the reservation in a place not even the scouts could go. He was extremely careful not to mess anything up for the reservation was sacred. But he heard something before him and froze.
    It started as a low murmur, a small chant of sorts which he couldn’t understand. But the tempo started increasing and so did the volume. Before long it was like the person, or group, was shouting loudly. But the animals were still in a deep sleep. He inched closer to scene in curiosity.
    There, in the center of a huge circle of cloaked people, was a bond fire; most likely illegal. They were chanting loudly, throwing sticks and powders into the fire that changed it different colors. It was difficult to understand but Waffil pressed closer until he could understand what the only person speaking English was saying.
    “-We have fought for this day to come for years!” he shouted over the chanting. “We will find her and we will do what we are meant to do!”
    There were cheers and more chanting in the different language. The man threw more powders into the flame. It danced wildly. “She will give up! There will be another day, HE will come back! We will get HIM back!”
    More cheers. Waffil saw the man in the middle take out a mess of papers. The rest of the circle stopped chanting and laughed. They were playing around. They threw the cloaks off and turned on a radio. The man gave a booming laugh. “I can’t wait to see it.”
    Waffil looked at the papers. On it was the title of a play ‘Resurrecting HIM’. Waffil had been pulled into a pointless act in a play. He rolled his eyes and pressed his inter-link.
    “Hey, guys,” he whispered. “There are too many civilians running around. I think we should end the game.”
    “Yeah,” Serup agreed. “The only one who’s gotten a shot was Foxy.”
    “Civilians and their stupid night hikes,” Codi growled.
    There was silence.
    “Foxy?”
    More silence, a groan and a weak cry. “Hey, I think I just fell out of a tree or something,” she said weakly.
    Codi gave a small laugh. “You; falling out of a tree? Funny, Foxy. Come on; let’s go back to the cabin.”
    She didn’t respond, but her link was still on. There was a soft rustle, a curse and a loud crack. She muffled a scream, hissing loudly. “Alright, I think I’m alright. I guess I tripped and rolled down one of the dunes.”
    Codi laughed. “Getting a little clumsy, I see.”
    “Ha, ha,” Foxy growled. “Let’s see who gets to the house first, then.”
    “You’re on!” Codi said. “Last one there has to take a shower outside, no guaranty that someone won’t take their clothes and throw them into the lake. Ready.”
    There was no response. He heard a sudden rustle behind him and Foxy went running by. She thumbed her nose as Codi watched her pass quickly, vanishing in the dark night.