Touch Rugby - Part of Novel 1

Whilst I understand that this might be a bit of a Cliché I wanted people to comment on this piece of writing. Even though the idea might not be "ORIGINAL" I liked it and wanted to make it "South African". I hope you like it. 

.....................................................

Chase decided to entertain Armel and myself one day. He suggested we play a game of touch rugby. I was appalled at the idea since everyone knew my lack of balance … but being competitive was in my nature so I eventually started toying with the idea.

A game of touch rugby might be interesting. Over the last couple of days .... since Damien’s departure groups of vampires started arriving. Word had spread and a gathering had formed from around the globe. We were shocked at first since we decided not to include any external parties. People started arriving though, fearing for their lives and their loved ones. Majority wanted a fight, wanted vengeance for the loved ones they had lost.

I was astounded at the size of the gathering and amazed at some of the gifts that accompanied them. It didn't change the fact that I was disheartened by the fact that so many might fall, so many might perish at the cost of others. 

Armel spoke to me about it a couple of nights before we had left for the clearing. he felt my moping mood and wanted to shed some light on it. You are worth this, and much more - he whispered and someday you might see it. He smiled as he ruffled my hair. Chase is but a speck of love in your ocean and he pointed to the rest of my family. I felt reprehensible by the obvious and sad at their commitment.I didn't understand it. 

My mood was reprehensible yes, but beneficial for the game we where planning before the royal court would meet. I started entertaining the idea more and more and eventually decided that if we are going to do it i wanted to have an all girls group. Doing an all girls group for touch rugby is lame – if you are human. Being a bunch of gifted vampires was a different story. 

Rules where limited after all – it was touch rugby on ice. The ball may be passed, knocked or handed between inside players of the attacking team who may in return run or move with the ball in an attempt to gain territorial advantage and score.

Moral: Whichever team got the ball to the other side – who had the most try’s and did the least cheating would score. I was excited even though I had to admit that I might be the weakest player. the admission was quite embarrassing since my country was world renowned for this game and It made me feel that I had a obligation to honor that .

Being that as it may ( I always manage to over think stuff) I started building my team which required six players. I doubted that we would require reserves ( since it was a game and we were after all immortal). 

My group was made up of Lilith ; Pandora ; Kritney ; Michaela and  myself.  From one of the groups that arrived I had asked Faith to join us. 

Faith arrived two days after Damien’s departure; she arrived with her younger sister. Her lover had been captured by the Oligarchy; he was destroyed shortly after since they felt his gifts to be insufficient for their overall goal, since he was already exposed to their plans and their requirements they had no choice but to disburse of him, silently. There was a letter sent to her stating that he had been investigating some unfamiliar historical burial site in Egypt an unknown mummy had destroyed him upon opening its coffin.

The story was so lame that no one believed it after going over the notice.

Anyway getting back to Faith. Faith happened to be very fast, which I felt was beneficial.

There was supposed to be no shape shifting; morphing; increasing or diminishing of powers, it was supposed to be a clear-cut game. If you have the ball, try to get it to your winning side. We agreed that there would be no kicking since we didn’t want people to have to run too far to obtain it.( Ice was breakable and speed wasn't beneficial if your concentration was otherwise occupied)

The bottom line was that there would be a lot of tackling and a lot of running, a great way to get rid of our pre – war agitation.

Whenever the opposite team was touched, the team had to move back with about two meters and start from scratch.

I went all out – Lilith being exceptionally motherly got involved in the outfits. We went for lots of cerise pink and black. The men landed up being navy blue and black.

The idea had attracted so much news that we even started arranging cheerleaders and fans.

We even had war paint.

The men where all accounted for naturally Walker; Raelen; Ethan; Chiang; Armel and Chase. Chiang not being that much into sports decided to play referee and had been substituted by Aquila.

Chiang – I have to tell you, Chiang … had a fetish to play around with the snowbee’s, … actually, he had a fetish to play around with all kinds of  technology . He made things come to life almost like transformers. 

Naturally, when he didn’t focus on these items they would remain lifeless but ...when he had the opportunity … we would end up running up and down the corridors trying to catch our hairdryers & cell phones etc.

Personally I think he loved being here in remote old Antarctica , I think it is the only place where he could let go of his powers and really fool around. I guess it was because he wasn't limited to the space of his home; around here he was limited to the outskirts of Antarctica.

Therefore, when he didn’t go around fooling with the human’s communication or transport equipment he was out pestering us - us being the more fun part of his existence.

I was vaguely happy that he didn’t want to play – but then again having him as a referee might be another issue all together the thought dawned on me. 

Nevertheless, I tried to stay positive.

On the morning of the big day, we all arranged ourselves accordingly. It was the perfect day for something this exciting. The mist started lifting off the snowfield shortly after sunrise. The air was brisk and everything smelled fresh and new.

The men let us kick off - ladies first had been the polite out take.

I knew better though ….

All in all, no one was allowed to use their powers , it was the rule … no one except for me - I had smiled inwardly, by catching their gazes, I was able to see pretty much all the options they wanted to play.

The downfall on the whole story had been the fact that I had no choice but to share it with Chase. Chase was so used to being part of my thoughts that I barely noticed his presence sometimes – in my mind I mean because physically - it was impossible not to be aware of him.

So kickoff started with Michaela, the plan was to attempt the drag scoop method. The drag scoop method was where Michaela would run with the ball; just as Ethan would cut her off, she would pass the ball to Faith. Faith would run the ball forward while Michaela would swing past Ethan’s back. Faith would pass the ball back to Michaela. She would run to the middle of our winning field. Everyone would forget about Faith. – the bottom line - in the last minute, Michaela would pass the ball to Faith and Faith would be clear to a try.

Being vampires it all went extremely fast, being - Touch rugby – you had to know that the slightest touch would halt the game and the teams would have to start again.

So, the drag scoop method worked to our advantage. The men then had a fabulous touch down by attempting a draw and pass method.

The problem we had was that every time there was a try - and everyone tried very hard to dramatize these tri’s, they would crash down into the ground with such force that I was sure we were going to cause earth tremors somewhere on the opposite side of earth. The ice went splitting into a bazillion pieces and the see made small waves that rippled into bigger ones. The crash would rumble into the mountains and echo off into oblivion, similar to Africa’s rolling thunder – the impact’s magnitude would let us skid huge carvings into the thick snow, the force was so affective that once you stopped you, had to literally dig your way out of the heap of snow.  Every time a player popped his head, out of the snow heap, the crowd would go ballistic and Chiang would have his army of radio’s; snowbee’z and cell phones doing the Mexican wave.

Lilith and Pandora tried a split draw; the plot was for Lilith to run the ball and then leave it in the middle of the field. Pandora would then collect it, run it to the opposite side – a pass would be made back to Lilith and she would go in to score. The idea would have worked if Pandora didn’t get so over eager, her legs had managed to transform into horse legs and Chiang penalized us. 

The men landed up gaining territory and scored three more “tri’s”.

Attempting to maintain territory, we decided on trying a bow cut – embarrassing since the plan was for me to do the “tri” - if done correctly – beneficial to the outcome. I stuck my pride in my pocket and started the run. The idea was for me to run to the left, Kritney would come past me in the opposite direction, while meeting in the middle I would pass her the ball, she would continue in the same direction and then come back from behind, I would run into my initial direction also coming back from the back. Logically there should then be a opening and we should be able to run towards the touch down.

The plan went well until I had to come back through the back - remember I have issues walking forward imagine the disaster trying to do it backwards. Yes, I had the ball in site – Kritney was exactly were she was supposed to be. The plan would have worked flawlessly if I had just been where I had to be… I wasn’t, I had stumbled on my way back.

No actually, I had managed to run straight into Armel. Yes … of all people I could run into, I actually had to run into the one person that could physically be affected by my physical marble.

I hit Armel with such force that I was flung into the opposite direction of the field. The impact was so intense on his body that it sounded like a bomb exploding. The whole ordeal left a crack in the flat ice field that we where playing on. As soon as my feet touched the ground I flung myself back towards where Armel laid sprawled, half of his body visible the rest buried under a heap of snow.

ARMEL - I screamed, ARMEL; are you okay? He didn’t respond… the whole crowd had now evacuated their comfortable spots and we were surrounded - I stared up at Chase not knowing what to do. I wanted to cry so badly that I even experienced the sensation of a knob in my throat, I was positive that the actual water would start flowing in seconds, but no … nothing.

A relief actually, since I might not only have been the clumsiest vamp alive but with my luck I would also end up being the only one prone to emotional outbursts.

Could Armel die I wondered in shock. Did I kill him? I started shaking.

Focus; focus I told myself. Chase rushed to my side holding me up on my arm.

Ethan grinned as he walked past me.

“Hells bells Snare”,” you sure know how to knock the wind out from underneath your men.”

“Now’s … not ... the time to be funny” I gasped as I stared at Armel’s seemingly lifeless body. Ethan spread his hands over Armel’s body; he moved it up and down.

“He’ll be fine” he said as he got up.

I stuttered, “but his not breathing … I can’t hear his heartbeat …” Ethan stood in front of me grinning …” and in 5, 4, 3... 2 and 1” he said pointing at Armel.

Are you mad I thought still staring at the lifeless body? As Ethan said one, Armel gasped, he started coughing and twitching. I wanted to go to him, comfort him but Chase held me back.

“His bones are shifting into place he said, - give him some space. He might need some air, besides you never know he might shift and then you might land up being too close.”

My hysterical giggle started bubbling up - Armel might be scarred for life and Chase is worried that I might stand to close.

I just shattered every rib in his body and Chase thought that I might be in danger of standing too close when his body tried to fix itself. How ironic can this life get? What is the worst that could happen to me? If he rips off my arms we’d just stick it back together, wont we?

Either way, I failed to care.

Armel’s body twitched, his breathing became more erratic and his heart seemed to be thumping .Thump, thump …. Another three thumps then silence… another two and then silence. The silent periods felt like hours ticking by; realistically I am sure it must have been seconds.

His body twitched and then everything stopped. My hysterical emotions were seriously going to land me in an emotional state I worried; I suddenly wondered whether vampires had shrinks …

My lip started trembling - not only did my best friend run away but now I managed to kill the only one I had left.

Another two seconds of nothing and then I heard a faint thumping, I could see the vibration in his vain running up his neck, and then I felt a rhythm starting to thump underneath my fingers. I was sure that it wasn’t my thumbs pulse – since I didn’t have a pulse.

I took a deep breath focusing on the people around me, smelling the chilled air; listening to the far off sounds of waves crashing into the snowy beach.

Armels eyes fluttered open, he smiled and whispered –

“Why did the blond get fired from the M & M factory?” I looked back at him confused

“I dunno” I muttered worried, maybe he had a concussion.

“Cause she through-out all the W’s” he started coughing

“Funny” I muttered and got up. Ye, Armel seemed fine since he was able to crack crap jokes.

“Snare” he started again- “Why was the blond excited after finishing her jigsaw puzzle in six months?” I just looked at him, hoping that I might be able to change him into a puddle of water. The agony of the moment seemed to be forgotten

“Cause the box said two to four years.”

I slapped him on his shoulder pushing him back into the crack in the snow. He flushed red from the pain and yelped in agony.

“If you say one more word” - I hissed; I will…

“What…” he asked 

“Would you give it a rest?” I muttered as I turned and walked away? The excitement of this day had died down suddenly and I planned to go home. Heaven only new why I even agreed and gave in to this completely stupid touch rugby idea.

I ran off towards the house without glancing back. Chiang was trying to entertain the crowd with his transformer display and I had cell phones flapping around my ears for at least a half a mile.