"Gotcha!" A bot, about 10 years old, sprang around the corner of the house, leveling the barrel of his squirt gun. A girl, roughly his age, squealed as he sprayed her. Too late though, he noticed the other girls hidden from view behind a bush. They sprang up and he howled as three jets of water soaked him.
Across the street, a trio of boys launched an assault against two girls dug in behind a tipped over trash can. Yelling at the top of their lungs, they advanced, hurling water balloons over the cover, before firing their squirt guns at the defenders at point blank range. A cry of "Car!" brought a halt to the fighting, long enough for both sides to clear out of the way of the passing automobile, before going back to it.
"Take that!" Rachel said, spraying one of the boys with her squirt gun. Beside her, Nicole was busily pumping hers up to do the same. The two teenage girls were wearing their swimsuits; Rachel a daring red bikini, Nicole a more modest green one-piece. They'd been lounging by the pool in Rachel's backyard when the battle spilled over into their yard. When one of the boys had sprayed them, whether by accident or not, the two friends had joined in the fighting.
There were no rules to this battle, no goals, apart from running about, spraying each other silly. The neighborhood kids, about a dozen or so altogether, had more or less formed into two teams, boys versus girls. Nicole and Rachel, at 18, were the oldest combatants, most of the rest were in their early teens or younger.
Nicole yelped as a blast of water got the young woman from the side, soaking her. A moment later, Rachel avenged her, getting their attacker with a quick snapshot from the hip. Nicole quickly returned the favor, sending a pair of boys who'd been about to flank them, scurrying for cover. There was a brief lull in the fighting as both sides paused to refill their squirt guns.
Pumping her weapon up, Rachel peered across the street where the boys had dug in behind a makeshift barricade of trashcans, parked cars and lawn chairs. Around her, the rest of the girls were readying their guns, waiting for the order.
"Charge!" Rachel shouted, leaping to her feet. Nicole launched herself forward, a mere second behind her friend. As one, the girls threw themselves forward into the attack. Before they made it halfway, though, a sudden flurry of brightly colored objects flew from the boy's lines.
"Hit the dirt!" Nicole cried out, as the barrage of water balloons burst through the advance with shocking force. Whooping loudly, the boys countercharged, firing wildly into the confused girl lines…
"Cindy!" A voice cut through the din of combat, bringing the battle to a sudden halt. "Come on in, it's time for lunch!"
A young, blonde girl stood up, glancing over her shoulder. "Five more minutes, mom!?!"
"No, now come in! It's getting cold!"
Reluctantly, the girl trudged back to her house. Slowly, the combat broke up as everyone headed for their own houses, promising to meet back up again after lunch to settle things once and for all…or until tomorrow, at the least.
An hour later, the combatants began returning in ones and twos as they finished lunch. There was some minor skirmishing here and there, but most of them held back, conserving their strength for the fight to come. During the break, some kids from the next block over had heard about the fight and arrived, armed with squirt guns and water balloons. They quickly divided amongst the two teams, mingling with their new comrades.
Also during the break, someone had fashioned a pair of flags out of two bandanas and some sticks. Representatives from the two teams were arguing furiously over where they could put their flags. A proposal on whether or not you could bury you flag was shot down, then someone jokingly suggested eating the flag, to keep the other team from stealing it.
Nicole and Rachel walked up to the crowd, back from lunch, just as they finished the discussion, or more accurately, as one of the girls got bored of waiting and threw a water balloon across the street at a boy who'd made a face at her. In a moment, both sides were furiously exchanging fire, or rather water, with each other. The flags lay on the street, completely forgotten, as both sides went back to shooting each other indiscriminately.
Rachel nudged Nicole with her elbow, a mischievous grin on her face. "Come on," She said. "I've got an idea…"
Jimmy, aged 12 and his younger brother Hank, aged 10, charged across the street, yelling at the top of their lungs, like a couple of savages, firing their water pistols wildly. Jimmy glanced over his shoulder just in time to see an older girl with red hair level her gun and spray him in the face. He sputtered, wiping his eyes clear in time to see her make a face at him and run behind a house.
"Come on!" He said, elbowing his brother and pointing. "Let's get her!" They charged across the yard after the older girl. They'd just made it around the corner, when another girl, with brown hair, suddenly came out of nowhere and blasted the two of them.
Giggling, the two girls ran off, pursued by the angry boys. They ran between houses, away from the main group. After a short chase, the four of them pursuers and pursued, suddenly came to a dead end. The girls came to a halt, cut off by fences on three sides. To Jimmy's surprise, the redhead turned around, a sheepish grin on her face. "Alright!" She said, raising her hands. "You got us!" The brunette nodded, raising her hands as well. "That's right! We surrender!"
Hank glanced over at his brother, confused. "Alright, well what do we do now?" He asked.
"Well…" Rachel said, we're your prisoners. For starters, you should make sure we don't escape."
"How do we do that?" Jimmy asked, wondering where this was going.
The girl shrugged. "You could tie us up, I suppose."
A huge smiled spread across Jimmy's face as he contemplated that possibility. He got an idea. "I'll go get our jump ropes. We can use those to tie them up! And I'll bet dad has some rope in his workshop!" He told his brother. Glancing out of the corner of his eye at the two captives, he added. "You stay here and make sure they don't escape!"
Hank nodded, a seriously look on his face. Turning to the girls, he warned them, "Don't move a muscle, or I'll plug ya!" He held his gun up for emphasis.
Dropping his own squirt gun, Jimmy turned and sprinted for his house as fast as his short legs could carry him. He ran into the garage and grabbed a paper sack. From his dad's workbench, Jimmy found a length of nylon rope and a pair of duct tape. They both went into the sack, along with a pair of scissors. Running up the stairs, the young boy dug through their toy box, until he'd found three jump ropes, belonging to him, his brother and their sister.
Before leaving the house, Jimmy wracked his brain, thinking of anything else he could use to tie two girls up with. He snapped his fingers, getting an idea. In the closet underneath the stairs, Jimmy dug through the piles of winter coats until he found a pair of scarves. Stuffing them in the sack, he slung it over one shoulder and rushed out the door.
He hurried back to where he'd left his brother and their captives. To his relief, they were still there, the girls standing against the fence with their hands up, Hank keeping them covered, should they try and make a break for it!
"Alright…" Jimmy said, setting the bag down and pulling one of the jump ropes out. Hank grabbed the length of nylon rope and walked over the Rachel. He hesitated, looking up at smiling teenager.
"It's alright." She told him, "You can tie us up. After all, we are your prisoners…"
Nodding, Hank looped the rope around her waist, and tried to knot it, clumsily. After slipping a second time, Rachel grabbed the rope. "Here, let me help you." She handed it back to him and turned around, placing her hands behind her back, palm to palm. "Fold the rope in half and stick the free ends through the bend, forming a loop around my wrists. Now pull it snug…" She guided Hank through the process of tying her hands. Jimmy, noticing this, gave up on his own clumsy attempts at tying Nicole and followed her advice as well.
Grabbing the other two jump ropes from the sack, the boys had no trouble binding their prisoner's feet together the same as their hands. "Now what?" Hank asked Rachel. He didn't know exactly what was going on, anymore, but had decided to see things through.
"Well, now you need to make sure we don't call for help." Rachel told him, testing her bonds. They were clumsily done, but snug and unlikely to come off without a good bit of struggling.
"How?" Jimmy asked.
"You'll have to gag us."
"Are you sure?" He asked. The two girls nodded. Jimmy's eyes widened. Grinning, he pulled the roll of duct tape from the sack. Using the scissors, he quickly cut several strips of tape from the roll. Nicole and Rachel bent over, to let the boys stick the tape smoothly across their lips.
Hank smiled, enjoying the funny grunts the two girls made with their gags on. He reached forward and started tickling Rachel's belly, listening to the muffled giggles coming from his captive. Turning, he did the same thing to Nicole.
"Hey!" Jimmy said, interrupting him. "I've got an idea!" Leaning forward, he whispered it to his brother. Hanks eyes went wide, a huge grinned crossed his face.
"Let's do it!" He said, nodding.
"First…" Jimmy said, picking up the sack and his squirt gun. "Let's move these two somewhere else…" Prodding Nicole with the barrel of his pistol, he commanded her to "Start hopping!"
Mrs. Morgan glanced up when she heard the knock at the door. "Laura!" She called upstairs. "Could you answer the door for me? I'm a little…er…tied up at the moment."
"Alright mom!" Laura called back in reply. Mrs. Morgan heard the door open and shut. A moment later, her youngest daughter entered the room, carrying an envelope and two slips of paper. "This was at the front door." Laura said, rolling her eyes. "It's from Rachel."
Mrs. Morgan leaned forward, looking at what was in her daughter's hand. A second later, she broke out laughing. The first slip turned out to be a Polaroid. In the picture, a pair of young boys wearing swim trunks and what appeared to be Halloween masks stood over Nicole and Rachel. The two girls knelt on the ground, in someone's backyard from the looks of things, bound hand and foot. They were gagged with duct tape and blindfolded with scarves. Both had the barrel of a deadly looking water pistol pressed to her head.
The second sheet was a ransom note scrawled in crayon. It read:
"Missus Morgan, WeE hav Yur datter aNd her FriEnd. If Yu want tOo cee dem AGaiN, LeeVe