by Devin Hunter
“Shut up!” Hazel yelled back. “You eliminated him before he even had a weapon, right?”
Lorenzo didn’t say anything to that.
“That doesn’t even count!” Hazel shook her head. “Brag about taking him down when they at least have something to fight back with.”
Grey raised an eyebrow. Was Hazel … defending him? It didn’t feel quite like that, but her words were the nicest that had ever come out of her mouth when it came to Grey. It still didn’t make him want to stay there. “Let’s go practice, guys.”
Ben, Tristan, and Kiri looked at each other instead of moving.
“What?” Grey said.
Kiri pursed her lips as she looked around the room. “Maybe we should talk outside. It’s a squad thing.”
“Okay …” For the first time in a few days, Grey wasn’t the one leading his squad outside to practice. It was Kiri in front. And instead of going to the practice area, she moved into the forest by the cabins. They all sat under a tree. And it was quiet for so long Grey began to feel like he was in trouble.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Grey demanded.
“You’re stressed as, mate,” Kiri said. “We just think you might need a second to chill instead of practicing.”
Grey glared at her. “You heard the Admin—we practice more than anyone else. How do you think we got here?”
“There’s such a thing as too much practice, too,” Tristan said. “When I was preparing for a rock-climbing competition, I would want to practice until I couldn’t move. But my coach always made me stop because he didn’t want my strength spent before a competition. You’re pushing too hard, Grey.”
“Yeah, man,” Ben said. “We’re not saying we want to stop practicing, but let’s hang out before the next battle, okay? Let’s think of something else besides Fortnite.”
“Like what?” Even to Grey, his voice sounded stressed, which deflated his desire to defend himself against their claims. He let out a sigh, realizing he felt tense all over. But he didn’t know how to relax. “So much is riding on today, guys. We can’t lose sight of our goals.”
“Talking about something else doesn’t mean we don’t want to win,” Kiri said.
“Yeah,” Ben said. “I was leading before you, right? I know what you’re dealing with. I got so in my head … It wasn’t until you took over that I realized how much pressure I was putting on myself. And it didn’t make me play better. I played worse. I had us all playing scared because of my stress—you can’t deny that, can you?”
Grey didn’t answer, though he did agree.
“We’re a team,” Kiri said. “You don’t have to carry everything on your own. We all want to get home. No one expects you to take us there—we all have a responsibility to pull our weight.”
“Yeah,” Tristan said. “So stop putting all that weight on yourself. It’s not helping any of us.”
Grey got a little choked up, so he couldn’t speak right away. He had been putting the fate of everyone on himself, and it was nice to hear that they didn’t think it was all on him. He was still stressed out, but it felt like he could breathe a bit easier. “Thanks, guys.”
“Thank you,” Kiri said, “for working so hard to make us better.”
Ben nodded. “We’ve all gotten better because of you.”
“You might be a noob to this game,” Tristan said. “But you are good at finding ways to improve skills quickly. Your game knowledge will only improve.”
Ben punched Grey’s shoulder. “Then you might be unstoppable.”
Grey smiled. It was hard to think of himself as some unstoppable player. “I thought we were supposed to be talking about non-Fortnite stuff.”
“Right!” Kiri said. “Shall I teach you about netball?”
“Sure,” Grey replied.
And so they talked, and even laughed. For a very small moment, Grey was able to forget about the battles. It was a small gift, and he was glad for the break when all was said and done.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The break proved to be just what Grey needed to get back on track. Their second game went much better, and they beat Hazel’s squad by five ranks. The third game, they finished just behind them. In the fourth game, Hazel’s team took a low rank loss like Grey’s had in the first game.
So it all came down to the last battle of the day.
The pressure still threatened to consume Grey, but he tried to take a deep breath as they appeared in their Battle Bus seats. Maybe they wouldn’t do well. Maybe Hazel’s squad would still out-rank theirs. Maybe Hans wouldn’t want to practice with them. Grey told himself it would be fine. If they could make this much progress without Hans, then they could keep improving regardless. And then out-ranking Hazel’s squad would naturally follow.
It would be better if it happened today, but it could happen tomorrow or the next day.
Because Grey wouldn’t stop fighting to get home.
“Let’s go to the soccer stadium and rotate to Pleasant Park,” Grey said as he looked over the map. Maybe he didn’t have quite enough courage to face Tilted Towers yet, but he felt like they had figured out how to skirmish at least enough to get closer. And they needed more practice with multi-squad fights anyway. “Spread out and grab the loot you can find, then we’ll meet up.”
“You sure?” Kiri’s voice was laced with nerves. She hated being on her own.
“You can do it,” Grey said. “Call for backup if you get in trouble.”
“Okay.” Kiri took a deep breath.
“Chances are there won’t be many people there,” Tristan offered. “It will gear us up before Pleasant.”
That was the plan at least. The Battle Bus opened, and Grey took the jump with his squad. It was a jump he’d grown to enjoy, a quiet before the storm of the fight. The island looked so nice and peaceful from above, with its bright green terrain and cartoon-style buildings.
Grey deployed his glider, taking care to notice that a few more people besides his squad were headed in their direction. A handful were also going to Anarchy Acres, which was on the east side of the soccer stadium. While it made him nervous, he told himself they could handle it.
He just needed to get a weapon first.
From the air, he spotted a gun lying out in the stands. He aimed himself so that he’d land right on it even though there was another player trying to do the same thing. He was just slightly ahead, but not far enough that he felt like it was a sure thing. “Grabbing the shotgun. Don’t worry about me. Get. Weapons.”
“Aye, aye, captain,” Ben said. “I see an SMG. I’ll back you up.”
“Going under the stands,” Tristan said. “One went that way.”
“Taking the chest in the semi,” Kiri said.
Grey swooped down on the shotgun and ammo, turning immediately to face his opponent. He took a pickaxe to the face, but he equipped the weapon and let off a few shots. The female avatar fell to the ground crawling. “They’re a duo at least.”
You eliminated Selena.
“Ah!” Kiri’s scream in the comms meant only one thing—someone had found her.
“Jump and shoot!” Grey said. “We are coming!”
Grey ran through the stands, meeting up with Ben on the way. There were a few items lying in the aisles, and he picked them up as he went. The best was a pack of C4, which could take out half a house if needed. Grey almost never got it in battles. He’d save it for when they really needed it.
“No! Sorry!” Kiri’s health bar on the left side of Grey’s vision went red, meaning she’d been knocked down. He wished he could run faster, but the game made all their speeds the same in a battle.
He was starting to regret telling them to split up when a notification popped up: Tristan eliminated Francois.
“I got you,” Tristan said in the comms. When Grey made it to the outside of the stadium, he spotted a metal box where Tristan was protecting Kiri while he revived her.
“Did he go right down?” Grey asked.
“Must have been a duo then,” Grey said with relief. “Think there’s one more solo.”
“Anyone pick up bandages or med kits?” Kiri asked.
“I got a med kit,” Ben said as he dropped it for Kiri to use. “That was close.”
“Too close,” Kiri said.
Grey tried to push off the guilt. He had to remember that his squad didn’t expect him to keep them alive all the time. They had to learn how to survive as well on their own as they could in a group. Kiri was still weak at that, but she would improve with practice in and outside of the battles. “Let’s keep moving.”
They cleared the rest of the stadium with ease, running into the last player in the area who had taken a lot of the loot while they fought. They divided the goods, each of them leaving with a few weapons and shields and bandages. Plus Grey got more C4 and Kiri picked up a grenade launcher. Tristan walked away with traps and Ben took the launch pad.
The first storm was due to come in one minute, but they were well within the radius of the safe zone, so Grey didn’t worry about it too much. He was more concerned by their lack of materials. If they needed to build battle, they were currently at a severe disadvantage.
“Get wood,” Grey said as he used his pickaxe to break down trees. It always felt like it took too much time, but he had yet to regret having extra materials on hand.
When they reached the outskirts of Pleasant Park, it was clear there were players there. Not only from the sounds of gunfire and explosions but from the builds and looted houses. The place didn’t look much like a nice suburban neighborhood anymore but instead like a battle zone.
“Two in the nearest house,” Tristan said.
“Using C4.” Grey threw one at the wall and detonated it. While it wouldn’t damage any of his squad mates, it would hurt him if he was in the fire. So, he stayed back and waited with his gun to see what it would reveal.
The house’s walls exploded, opening a huge cavity. Someone went down in the blast, while another was crawling on the second floor. Kiri eliminated them first, and they all ran inside to get the loot and materials their opponents had dropped.
Even though the storm had shrunk the map just once, there were only thirty people left. Grey assumed there must have been a big fight somewhere, or maybe several somewheres. Usually there were still more people to face. They had only picked up five of those eliminations, and Grey itched to find some more now that he had materials for build battles.
“Hazel’s here!” Ben yelled as he shot out the window. He took damage in return. “Those green pigtails give me nightmares!”
“Roof!” Grey built a floor and walls outside another window. He had faced Hazel’s squad enough at this point to know they wouldn’t just walk through the house when they got there. They would build ramps up to the second story or even to the top to get the jump on them.
So Grey would build higher, and hopefully faster.
Because they were beating Hazel this game. They had the resources, and he was determined to make sure she knew it had nothing to do with cheating. Grey had worked hard, and he wanted to prove that paid off more than bragging, trolling, and reporting people who didn’t deserve it.
Shots fired all over, and it was hard to avoid damage, but Grey put up as many walls as he could to block the incoming hits.
His squad got their own hits on their enemies, but it wasn’t enough to down any of them. As the siren sounded for the next storm, Grey realized this would get sticky soon. Pleasant Park wasn’t in the safe zone.
He thought about using the rest of his C4, but he felt like it wasn’t quite the right time.
A rocket launcher sounded, and it wasn’t from Hazel’s squad. Grey spotted another group across from the open soccer field. They were building over to them. Grey didn’t want to lose the eliminations to another squad, but he decided he needed to act on instinct.
“Retreat!” Grey called. “Dropping one C4!”
He threw it behind him as they moved toward the storm’s border, detonating it to deter anyone who might follow. The build they’d made crumbled, but it wasn’t tall enough that any of his enemies took fatal damage. Everything about the fight would go wrong if they stayed. He could feel it.
It wasn’t easy to get out, since players fired on them, but his squad used walls to protect their retreat.
The storm would close in on Loot Lake, and Grey wanted to take the northern path to the lake instead of trying to fight their way through the army at Pleasant Park. But it would put them in the storm for a moment.
“Everyone have bandages?” Grey asked. “‘Cause we’ll be in the storm for a bit.”
Everyone replied that they did, and he was also surprised no one argued with him. Grey hated being in the storm, though it was sometimes inevitable. At least this path would put them in a decent position going into Loot Lake, and he hoped they’d have time to recover.
Hans eliminated Jamar.
So it was Hans’s squad at Pleasant Park. Grey was glad they had left. It looked like Hazel had stayed to fight them. At least that meant no one was following them into the storm.
Grey waited to see more eliminations of Hazel’s squad, but none came. Instead, there were different notifications:
Tae Min eliminated Hans by head shot.
Tae Min eliminated Mayumi.
Tae Min eliminated Farrah.
Nothing came after that for a bit, so Grey figured the rest of Hazel’s team had made a run for it with Tae Min in Pleasant Park. He must not have had the resources to run after them, but Grey expected that to change by the time they all made it to Loot Lake.
“Four from Anarchy,” Ben said as they approached the lake. Anarchy Acres was just north of there, so it wasn’t a surprise when so many had landed there this battle.
Shots came in, and Grey was pleased when Kiri threw up some shielding walls to protect them. Grey built a few ramps to get a higher position and then switched to his shotgun. He got a hit down before the other squad replied with their own protective walls.
“Grenade launching!” Kiri announced. The sound wasn’t nearly as loud as a rocket launcher, but it was still enough to make the other team panic. The walls exploded, and at least one player was downed.
“Keep up the pressure!” Grey said as he shot at the fragile wooden walls they kept trying to use for protection.
“Bounce pad?” Ben asked.
“Sure!”
Once Ben set it down, they all bounced on it and flew closer to the enemy team. Grey let off shots in the air, having gotten used to doing it in practice. They were able to down the whole of Lorenzo’s team, and it felt good to have one more behind them before going into the next phase.
Because there were only twelve people left.
That meant it was Grey’s full squad, Hazel’s remaining three members, Tae Min, and another four people he wasn’t sure about.
Grey couldn’t count on another Victory Royale against Tae Min, but he still wanted to beat Hazel.
The house on the north side of Loot Lake appeared to have already been looted, so Grey kept his eyes out for those four remaining mystery players. He wasn’t sure if they were in a squad or not—he couldn’t recall if the other usual top players had already been eliminated.
But something told him there was a player in the house.
“Tris, can you check the house on your own? I feel like we have a hider,” Grey said. “I want to set up on the camp island.”
“Sure.” Tristan moved into the house.
The smaller campsite island, just north of the big house island, wasn’t far from the lake shore. Grey, Ben, and Kiri jumped as they walked through the lake, keeping their eyes out for enemies. “Kiri, keep a lookout while we build.”
“Yeah, mate,” Kiri said.
Tristan eliminated Robert.
“On my way to you,” Tristan said.
“That poor man,” Ben said. “He must have been hidden this whole time. I gu
ess that can get you a good rank if you’re lucky.”
“Boring way to do it, though,” Grey said.
Grey and Ben began to build up, while Kiri stayed by them and peered out her scope occasionally. Grey stopped at five levels, wanting to save the rest of their materials in case they needed to push out onto the lake. It had only been a few days since the last time he faced this scenario, but he already felt better equipped to not choke like he did before.
Besides, this time he had two C4 left. If there was ever a good time to use it, this next fight would be it.
“Tower going up on the west side,” Kiri announced as Tristan met up with them. Kiri was looking through her scope. “It’s Hazel’s squad.”
Grey was already forming a plan. It was risky, but they had the resources to make it happen. “Ben, you’re on bridge building. We’re going to bait them into a fall if we can—gotta put our C4 and grenades to use.”
“Gotcha.” Ben began to build out into the lake area. He used ramps to protect them and offer extra height.
Tae Min eliminated Rosita.
Tae Min eliminated Junnichi.
That was two more of the mystery players. Grey had no idea where they went down, but he had to guess it was on the Pleasant Park side of the map, based on Tae Min’s last location. So maybe his squad was a bit safer where they were.
Hazel eliminated Hui Yin.
And that was the last mystery player. Grey could tell Hazel’s squad had turned their attention to him now, as they began to take more fire and the enemy building moved their direction. Instead of using the sniper, Kiri had the grenade launcher out and was lobbing several in the direction of Hazel’s squad in attempts to break their bridge.
Just when things looked like they were going down, Grey saw the launch pad drop. Hazel, Sandhya, and Guang flew up into the air and deployed their gliders.
Grey instinctively took over the building, constructing walls and a roof in hopes that Hazel would land on it.
“What’re you doing?” Kiri had switched to her sniper, but Grey’s build blocked her shot. “I had that!”
