“Chapter 4


“To me! To me!” screamed One More Cup of Coffee as he ran for the gap in the line, deftly avoiding a prone marauder as he passed. He could see a clear field ahead and would just have to hope that So Much for the Afterglow was having a better game than the last one and that he would actually manage to throw the ball for once.

Sure enough the ball sailed above the tangled mess that was the line of scrimmage and One More was able to pluck it safely from the air without even breaking stride. There was a muffled scream from behind him but he ignored it. That wasn’t his business, and anyway, it had sounded gruff and human, so that was fine.

Then there was another sound – one that One More had been dreading.
Bzzzzzz!
Being the underdogs, Chaos Pact Machine had felt it necessary to bolster their ranks with some hired help and they’d succeeded in getting hold of none other than Ugroth Bolgrot and his Chainsaw of Death and Carnage. A pat on the back from that would really spoil the rest of One More’s match… and possibly a great deal of the rest of his life.

“Dive!” screamed Beds are Burning, the team’s wardancer, as he thrust himself between the poorly-armoured catcher and the whizzing teeth of the chainsaw. There was a terrible howl as the blade bit into Beds are Burning’s armoured shoulder pad, and then another terrible howl as it cut its way through to the flesh beneath, but One More had more important things to think about. Chaos Pact Machine’s deep cover were heading his way and he was in no mood to wait and see what they could do. He left Beds are Burning to his fate and sprinted for the endzone…

Chaos Pact Machine were not going to give up without a fight however. Straight away they went on the offensive, their front line charging in fearlessly and pushing the stunned wood elves onto a sudden desperate defence. A quick change of direction made things worse, and suddenly there was the opposition’s lone dark elf, with the ball and a two-man shield on the wrong side of the wood elf defence.

“One More, head him off!” barked Beds are Burning. “I’ll follow. Peace Frog, L&N, take out the cover.
The wood elves sprinted away, desperately grabbing hold of the marauders and doing whatever they could to slow them down. One More Cup of Coffee placed himself directly in front of the dark elf and prepared for the worst, but at the last moment, Beds are Burning threw himself against the ball carrier and knocked him to the ground, forcing the ball to slip free.

Bzzzzzzz!
Not now, cursed Beds are Burning, and he spun round to face the oncoming frenzy of metal teeth, but disaster struck for Bolgrot. As he raised the chainsaw above his head he stumbled and instead of finding some soft wood elf torso, the blade buried itself into its owner’s left shoulder. Relief surged through Beds are Burning and for a few seconds he thought the cheering of the crowd was for the way he had saved himself. But then he glanced behind him. The dark elf had scored.

With the threat of the chainsaw gone, the White Men in Black Suits settled down a little and it wasn’t long before So Much for the Afterglow had thrown a second touchdown pass to One More Cup of Coffee. Chaos Pact Machine fought back, but the luck was not with them and they were denied any chance of a late draw when One More ran in his third touchdown of the day to seal their fate.

“Good work lads! Good work”, said Coach Robsson as the players finally left the field. He was always in a good mood when no one had been seriously injured, and even more so when they’d actually won the match as well.
“Amazing play. Beds, you were a star out there. Taking that chainsaw attack to allow One More to score… pure hero! And One More, how about you? You sprinted and stayed on your feet. Oh, it doesn’t get any better than this!”

And with their next two matches scheduled away from home, Robsson had an idea of how to celebrate their win. He wouldn’t say anything to the lads, just in case, but he had a feeling their next home game was going to be something of a surprise.
”