by Devin Hunter
“Run back!” Grey put down his C4 and ran for his life.
He waited until Hazel, Guang, and Sandhya landed, and then he detonated the C4. The explosion rocked them all and blew up anything that Hazel could hope to stand on. They fell, and Grey knew it was too high to survive. He couldn’t help but laugh as all their gear spilled out in the lake below.
“Tae Min gliding!” Tristan yelled out as he fired at one more person in the sky.
Kiri joined in, and Tae Min joined Hazel’s group in the lake.
Victory Royale!
“Now it’s really Loot Lake,” Grey said.
Ben let out a laugh. “Good one.”
As the game ended, the victory began to sink in for Grey. They had done it. They beat Hazel for the day. They’d even gotten a Victory Royale. If that wasn’t a sign of good things to come, he didn’t know what was.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As Grey appeared back in the battle warehouse after a long day of fights, he couldn’t help but smile. It felt good to end a day on a victory. It felt even better to look at the rankings while the Admin said her usual speech—he and all of his friends outranked Hazel and her squad now.
“That was flash as, mate,” Kiri said once the Admin disappeared for the night.
“So flash,” Ben repeated. “If I ever get out of here, I’m bringing ‘flash’ to Utah.”
Kiri laughed. “Good!”
“That’s it!” A loud voice cut off all the other conversations. “I can’t take it anymore!”
Grey would have expected it to be Hazel, but instead it was Sandhya, her squad mate. She looked so angry she could explode, like C4. Jamar and Guang stood by her in like fashion.
“C’mon,” Hazel said. “It was one win. They still suck.”
“You’re the one who sucks!” Sandhya said. “You are so toxic, and you refuse to think you can do any better! We’re done with you.”
Hazel’s eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”
“You heard her,” Jamar said. “You’re out of the squad. You’re all talk, and we’re tired of it.”
Hazel didn’t look upset at all. “Fine! I don’t need any of you anyway! Enjoy losing more ranks without me!”
As Hazel stomped out of the warehouse, Grey felt a shift in the room. People weren’t on her side anymore. He still thought Hazel was a good player, but he was relieved to think that maybe people would stop treating him and his squad like noobs.
Maybe everyone could write off Grey’s first win as a fluke.
But this one?
Grey felt like they’d earned it. And he felt like they could earn more.
After Hazel left, Hans and his squad approached Grey. Hans held out a hand and said, “Ready to practice?”
Grey took Hans’s hand and shook. “Yeah.”
As they moved out to the practice field, Grey felt like all eyes were on him. While he still didn’t like the attention, he was happy that his play spoke for him. For the first time since arriving, he didn’t feel like the noob anymore.
He felt accepted.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
