Never Judge

Cara flinched at the sound of guns shooting.

She hadn't expected that in their group, she was the only one that wouldn't take a gun and join in on target practice.

The instructor seemed to be a strict man, they weren't allowed to take breaks until he said so and he treated the young masters of the Reyes and Chan families as if they were soldiers.

Even little Angelica carried a serious expression as she aimed her gun at the target.

"She's actually the most passionate about the underworld." Al said as he handed Cara a bottle of water and nodded towards Angelica.

They had all been given permission to take a break, but Angelica remained on her spot shooting at the target.

"But she's so young." Cara gasped as she sighed as the adorable expression on Angelica's face as she aimed at the target.

Al simply shrugged as he stood up and went back to resume his target practice.

Since there were more of them today, the instructor wanted them to do a small training session in the mock battle field in the next room.

They would be using rubber bullets, a fact that shocked Cara.

"What if Angelica gets hurt? She's so small!" Cara said in a worried tone as Al helped his younger sister into her gear.

"It's fine Cara." Emilio sighed as he looked at the worried young woman. "We were all doing this exercise at her age. Imagine we were a couple of six year olds running around shooting each other."

"Cara is much more mature than we were at her age, that's for sure." Al said as he did the final checks on her fear.

"Plus she won't be dealing with immature children. We're actually here to train." Eric pointed out.

"Ready Cara?" Al asked as he smiled at his younger sister.

"You will not be grouped into teams." The instructor said as soon as he saw that all of them were ready. "It will be each man or young lady for themselves."

The instructor gave Angelica a wink, surprising Cara. She thought the instructor was a stiff man incapable of showing any emotion.

"You will only have a limited number of bullets, just like in real life." The instructor announced. "I will be giving you each your own starting points and when I blow the whistle you will begin."

They all nodded as they listened to his instructions.

"Since our goal is to imitate real life scenarios, you will be graded on your ability to survive till the end." The instructor added as he went through the different rules.

"How many till we're considered dead?" Eric asked as his hand shot up in the air.

"Three shots, your gear will be able to recognize how many times you were shot and who shot you. Clear?" Everyone nodded as the instructor dismissed them.

Cara joined him and some of the other bodyguards to watch from a mezzanine that gave the spectators a full view of the obstacle course.

It was built to resemble a street in the Capital.

It had small buildings, walls, parks, and even cars that could be used to hide out.

The obstacle course had to take up at least a third of the entire floor, something that shocked Cara.

On the other side, Al ran over to his designated spot and surveyed his surroundings.

This wasn't his first time in the paintball field. They had done this kind of activity multiple times as children and even recently he had even gone against several bodyguards.

He had lost, of course, but the goal was to improve the time he could survive.

The odds were always set against them for those simulations. They were meant to prepare him for what his father, Ray, believed to be the inevitable.

At one point of their lives, Raymond Laurence believed that his children would have to hold out against insurmountable odds, and he wanted them to survive long enough.

In the beginning, Al only managed to last ten minutes against one team of bodyguards hunting him.

Now, his current record was an hour.

It wasn't enough to get help, but he would eventually get there.

"Begin, in 3, 2, 1." A buzzer sounded, prompting Al to quickly search out a strategic location in the field.

One would think that after spending so much time there, training and preparing themselves for the worst, Al and the others would have memorized the layout.

That was the thing. To keep all of them on their toes, the layout was changed after every use.

Al spotted a two storey building and grinned. He quickly walked up to it and searched for another viable location.

He knew that someone would spot it as well and consider it as a hide out.

Al just needed to find a spot where he could wait for someone to stumble on it.

There were no clocks around the paintball field, so Al had no way of figuring out how much time had passed until he spotted some movement in the distance.

The area he was in resembled a row of boutique shops with a small park and several cars.

Al was hidden in the park, behind a bench.

He wasn't sure who it was since the person was using the cars as a shield.

All Al had to do was remain silent and patient, he knew that whoever was approaching would cross from the otherside of the street towards the two story building.

The person's movement was slow, Al assumed it was either Hendrick or Eric. Both men weren't used to the paintball field and would be more cautious.

He also knew that both Angelica and Emilio would have sprinted behind the cars in order to avoid the off chance that someone was close by.

The person paused, seemingly scouting the area.

When the person confirmed that the coast was clear, he popped his head out and ran.

Al grinned as he saw Hendrick's bulky form.

He quickly shot three consecutive times, all hitting Hendrick squarely on the chest.

"Hendrick, you're out!" The instructor's voice boomed as Al moved away.

He knew that he would need to go in search of the others at this point.