Project Battle Royale: A Gamelit Survival Book
Page 16
Grenade Duo ceased fire in response. I allowed myself a glance at the scoreboard to make sure they were actually still alive. Still six left. If they left their post, there was nothing stopping them from heading to my flank and ending me. I held fast anyways, crosshair steady on the window, just waiting for sight of a helmet. My only shot was that Grenade Duo was too scared of abandoning the comfort of their three-story penthouse of a bunker to go out in search of a kill. It was a gamble, but one that I to make.
“I swear I hit him. I swear to everything. But he’s not down,” I said.
“How did you miss? I thought you had the shot.”
“I don’t know. My scope was right on him. I’m covering the window. I’ll still get him. Go for the door.”
Goemon went silent again. If he disagreed he would have said something. The Blue Wall of Death whispered in my ear, an effort by the world to distract me. I would not change my aim. I refused to look anywhere else. I almost had to lock into a mantra. Two duos left. One dead ahead, and soon to be dead altogether. The other was in the tower. If I looked around I would miss my chance and if I missed my chance then the round was over.
Maybe three total seconds ticked by, though it felt stretched out further than my lunch budget. The realization of what was happening dawned on me. The Third Duo was in the corners of the barracks. They were healing. Correction: they were healed by now. I would have to start the battle from scratch, and at a significant positional and health disadvantage.
“We got to make something happen,” I said to Goemon and also to myself.
“Hold,” was all Goemon said. It was enough. The voice of reason. The steady hand. No need to gamble when you know the opponent’s cards. Just let them force their own move.
He was right. My opponent peeked the window. He tried to get crafty by leaning over to the other side. He very easily could have crawled underneath without anyone else seeing. In the end it did not matter for him. One of the dozen or so bullets I fired out of the Para lodged themselves right in the helmet, and he went down. At the same moment, I heard Goemon start firing before he even kicked the door in. He was taking no chances with reaction time firing blind like that.
The scoreboard read four left. The flank maneuver went off without a hitch. Now we had another tricky problem on our hands: assaulting a three story building with no grenades. It was possible we could peek around the corner of the barracks and land a shot through the window. If we did it that way then it all boiled down to who shot a little bit straighter and pulled the trigger a hair faster. I would be fine if it came down to that.
“We flank again,” Goemon said.
“Alright. Let me peek first.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I got this,” I said. I was not feeling so confident. I felt more like all of my luck had been used up throughout the rest of the round. I was hurt bad and tired and shaky. The other duo had the upper hand. The only way to win was to be better, to be the best, and I was never the best. Why should this round be any different?
Because this was the round of destiny. It didn’t matter if Goemon was the better shot. He was locked down in that barracks. If he tried to run out the door now, they would gun him down for sure. Then I would have an unwinnable 2v1 on my hands. I had to peek first, no excuses. It was the only way. Even if it meant the end for me, my partner could still win it all.
“OK,” Goemon said. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Now.”
I was not fool enough, or hardy enough, to run out guns blazing like John Matrix. I peeked a head out around the corner at the monolith we stood to conquer. One shot, but only after I popped back behind the wall. The sound told me second floor, though that was a guess. It also told me something else.
“They’re split, I think. One’s on the second floor. I think. The other is looking for you.”
“Let’s get the clown on the second floor,” Goemon said.
“But the other guy is probably waiting for you to peek.”
“Doesn’t matter. We can take the first down. You take the second, if he shoots me.”
I hated the plan, but we had no more time. The next move of the Blue would place the Safety Circle directly on the other duo’s makeshift base, handing them over the match by strategic position alone. “Fine, let’s GO.”
This time I channeled my inner Arnold and sprinted away from the wall. I figured they would be expecting a subdued peek again, and I wanted to throw them for a loop. I held the trigger fast, aiming from the hip to maximize my speed to try and avoid getting shot. Bullets flew everywhere. My own barrage painted the building so holy it could have been a church. My target shot up the dirt behind me. Goemon did what he needed to and lit up the guy in the window.
“He’s down,” Goemon said. I was elated for one quarter of one second until he continued. “Oh no. He’s out the door. I’m down,” he said with grave intensity. “He’s coming for me but you can get him. He’s going for the kill.”
I shifted the gaze of the Para back towards Goemon and his aggressor. This time I used the scope. I fired at the corner of the building, preparing a stream of bullets to mow down whatever dared come outside. It was a good plan until the gun clicked.
I was out of ammo, and it would take sixteen minutes to load any more rounds into that gun. My mind flashed back to the encounter on the other side of the wall. I never reloaded the auto shotty, either. I switched over to the Revolver, the trusty Revolver, my second best friend who had been with me through it all. I lined up the iron sights and the only other survivor on the entire map spun around the corner. He was not gunning for Goemon, though, he was gunning for me.
My sights aligned on the other player’s broken helmet. I pulled the trigger one time. I did not have the opportunity to pull it again, or worry about recoil or aiming the next shot. Instead, the world spiraled away from me and I left my body. Fireworks exploded into confetti-spilling shooting stars. I was still alive, but now I had a bird’s eye view of the battlefield. I saw how truly small the Safety Circle had become and how close Goemon and I had come to finishing out of the top spot. I saw my own avatar, poised and ready for action that would never come, and that of the final opponent, motionless on the ground.
“What just happened,” Goemon said.
“The Revolver,” I said. “The Revolver happened.”
The two of us screamed for a good half a minute. One hundred other people entered the arena that day. Two walked out. We won.
“I think I’m going to message that girl Elly,” I said.
About The Author
L.S. Halloway
L.S. Halloway is stranded in cyberspace. At least it gives him a chance to cover life in the digital realm from within. He holds a Theoretical Degree in Physics, but found his true passion in the school of Cybergonzo Journalism. His work is best consumed along a steady stream of vaporwave. Check out book 2 in the Terra Reforma series, Side Quest Sideshow. For updates and free DLC, visit the publisher at SavageTikiTime.com.
Books By This Author
Terra Reforma
Terra Reforma. The post apocalyptic game world set in the period after humanity hit the reset button. A time after the bombs dropped and before society reformed into the cyberpunk megacities it consists of now. For many players, the grind of the game is more than just a brief escape from the real world. It is their perfect drug, their only way into the next rung of society or even the answer to the question of their otherwise meaningless life.
Phase Gannon, Job Class Smuggler, is too green to see the malice in NeuroCorp’s game design. He just wants to hit the next quest. Kym Bit, a veteran Hacker, swears to herself and her friends IRL she will take the system down from the inside. But it will have to come after just…one… more… kill.
Phase and Kym are both looking for their own answers. Even though their paths cross in the megacity of New San Diego, the virtual wasteland of Terra Reforma holds vindication for the both of them.
A Post Apocalypti
c LitRPG light and cyberpunk mashup for fans of books like New Vegas or Fallout.
Side Quest Sideshow
Phase Gannon and Kym Bit are not stuck in the game, but they might as well be. Nothing remains for either of them in the cyberpunk dystopia of real life. Besides, the post apocalyptic game world of Terra Reforma continues to boast plenty of comforts from the Old World.
Take the still-mostly-standing WonderL@nd theme park. It needs a new coat of paint or two, but the sights are worth a look so long as your armor is good enough. The park also happens to be the only thing standing between the fledgling Smuggler Phase, veteran Hacker Kym, and the land of opportunity that is Lost Angel City.
All they have to do is party up and fight their way through the four factions that reign over WonderL@nd. Maybe the team would have been better off taking the long way. Too late for that now- besides, more mobs mean more loot, right?
A Post Apocalyptic LitRPG light for fans of books like Fallout, blended with cyberpunk literature.