by Devin Hunter
“May as well,” Kiri said. “They might not think we’d try the same area twice.”
“It’s a plan then,” Grey said. He tried not to smile, but he liked playing with Ben and Kiri. If in real life he’d gotten to play with them outside of this hacked Battle Royale, he’d want to keep playing with them. It was fun.
And that was something.
CHAPTER 9
It was only the second battle of the day, but Grey had a good feeling about it. Maybe it was the kill on Hazel giving him a confidence boost, or maybe it was just the way his team was working together. While Tristan was a good player, he wasn’t a team player. Now they all were, and it took the edge off of being stuck in a game.
Not that Grey wanted to be trapped in Battle Royale forever, but having a few friends would make the ordeal much more bearable.
The moment the Battle Bus opened, Grey, Ben, and Kiri jumped from the bus with the majority of people. With a handful of others wearing default skins, it was much harder to tell who was who if you weren’t in their squad.
Fatal Fields was on the opposite side of the map from where they soared through the sky, but they covered a lot of ground in flying. Many people dropped to different sites on the map as they continued on their course. Tilted Towers was where half the players went, and the others dropped down in groups after that.
This time, no one followed them like before, so their plan to jump early worked out. Maybe they would have a chance to establish themselves before the fighting began.
Ben pulled out his glider, and Grey did the same. They pushed forward toward Fatal Fields, but this time Grey saw the house on the hill that Ben had mentioned. As usual, Ben aimed for the roof, but then he let out a big gasp.
“What?” Kiri’s voice sounded panicked. “Is someone there already?”
“No! Look!” Ben insisted.
Grey narrowed his eyes, trying to see what Ben could be so worked up about. The house wasn’t broken, nor was anything on the hill. But then he spotted a purple thing on the open lawn in front of the house. Now Grey was the one gasping. “It’s a llama!”
“A llama?” Kiri laughed. “This is about a silly llama?”
“It’s a piñata filled with supplies!” Grey said. “No weapons, but lots of really good stuff and a ton of it! This is our lucky battle!”
“Ohhhh! Okay!” Kiri said. “Let’s bust that open, ay?”
“You bet!” Ben landed in front of the llama and began hitting it with his pickaxe.
Grey joined in, and soon enough the llama broke and gave up its treasures. He couldn’t help but smile as he took in all the ammo, materials, shields, and bandages. There was also a launch pad, which could be used to jump into the air and deploy your glider again, and several traps.
“Kiri, take the heavy bullets,” Ben said. “They go with the sniper weapons. There’s plenty of ammo. What do you want, Grey?”
“Let’s split the medium and hope there are ARs in the house.” Grey picked up the ammo. “You can have that rocket launcher ammo—maybe if we get one, you can show Tristan how to use it.”
“Thanks,” Ben said with a smile. “I’ll take the materials, too, since I guess I can build the fastest.”
“Sounds good, I’ll grab the launch pad and traps,” Grey said. After dividing the ammo and other items, they did the same with the bandages and shields. Grey already felt better equipped than he ever had—except for the fact that they needed weapons—and they hadn’t even looted the house yet. They hurried inside and found three more chests. None were as great as the llama, but they yielded just what they needed.
“A bolt-action sniper!” Ben said with excitement. “That’s the one for you, Kiri.”
Kiri picked it up. “Pretty flash as, ay?”
“One down,” Grey said, “Two or more weapons to go.”
They ransacked the rest of the house, finding the two ARs they needed, although one wasn’t as great as the other one. And then, in the final box, they found something that made Ben laugh.
“Seriously? A rocket launcher? We are so lucky.” He picked it up. Grey and Kiri didn’t argue with him. It felt right that he should have it after the last battle. “No wasting this opportunity, guys.”
“No way,” Grey said. They hadn’t seen a single person yet, but there were already twenty eliminated players.
Storm approaches in two minutes and thirty seconds!
Grey checked the map, and the eye of the storm was perfectly situated over them. He couldn’t help but smile. “We could set up here for a while if we wanted.”
“Let’s build a big tower for Kiri to snipe from,” Ben said.
“We’ll need more mats, even if we got some from the llama,” Kiri said. “I don’t have anything.”
“Better farm up fast and come back,” Ben said.
Grey couldn’t help but feel nervous as they moved down from their high ground toward Fatal Fields. But there were plenty of trees to gather wood from, and they could possibly gather a few more backup weapons if Fatal Fields hadn’t been looted fully.
They beat down trees on their way, and Grey soon had over three hundred wood. As they approached the fields, Grey switched to his AR and kept his eye out for other players.
Sure enough, he spotted someone beyond the barn. Without thinking, he let off shots. Numbers for damage shone, and soon the player was downed.
“Finish them,” Ben said. “I’m looking out for the other ones.”
“Got it.” The extra damage from a good gun made it easy for Grey to take out the player.
You eliminated Martine.
It wasn’t a name he knew, but he’d take any win over any player.
“Roof!” Kiri said. She had her sniper out, and in one shot the enemy fell to the ground. “Oh! Head shot! Ha.”
“Nice!” Ben said as he used his weapon to finish off the roof player.
Ben eliminated Coco.
“Stealing my credit!” Kiri said.
“Sorry.” Ben was already moving toward the building where the eliminated player left their items. He built a ramp so they could get up. “See anyone else?”
“No,” Grey said. Either they were only paired as two, or the rest of their squad had left them for dead. The other loot was in the middle of the field, but he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to go out in the open to get it. Coco had dropped a few rifles and another sniper, so that helped. “We don’t have much time until the storm moves in. Then more people will be here.”
“Yeah, let’s move,” Kiri said. “Do we have enough mats?”
“Could always use more,” Ben said. “Never hurts to be maxed out.”
The three hundred wood Grey had sure felt like enough, but he trusted Ben’s experience. They broke down a few more trees on their way back up to the house on the hill.
As they climbed to their original location, the eye of the storm began to shrink. There was still a lot of space around them, since it was only the first storm movement, but Grey knew this would bring more players to the area. The number of eliminated players quickly rose from twenties to fifties as people tried to get to the safe zone.
But there was still some luck on their side, because the circle for the next storm was right on top of their area. They couldn’t be in a better position.
Now all they needed was a tower.
Grey didn’t have enough experience with the building tools, but he knew to start building four walls to protect them from all sides. Ben added a ramp, and they moved up a level. Kiri kept a lookout from the top, and when she started firing shots Grey began to panic that their tower would get destroyed right from under them.
Kiri eliminated Jamar.
“Great shot!” Ben said.
“Wait …” Grey’s sense of dread only grew. “Wasn’t Jamar on Hazel’s squad?”
“Yeah, they’re here,” Ben said.
Kiri whimpered, “She’s coming for me again.”
“We’re not building fast enough, are we?” Grey asked.
>
“I told you I’m not great at this part,” Ben said nervously. “We just need a few more levels. And Kiri, watch above, too. Sometimes people build sky towers.”
“Sky towers?” she squeaked.
Grey had seen it in videos. “Yeah, they load up on mats and build their stuff out in the sky.”
“These people are mad,” Kiri said as she took another few shots. “Who even thinks to do that?”
“Scrappy people,” Ben said. “Just focus on your shooting, though. You’re doing great.”
Kiri eliminated Guang through head shot.
“See? You’re on fire!” Grey said as he frantically tried to build their tower. He knew at least that no one had made it up their hill, but that didn’t make him feel safe. There were other ways to get up higher. If it wasn’t a sky tower, then it was the launch pad.
“There’s two more, they must be Hazel and Sandhya,” Kiri said. “But they’ve taken cover now. I think they’re building up to us.”
“Probably. This should be tall enough now. Let’s build out a little.” Ben began to lay down some floors in brick, which was stronger than wood but took longer to be fully built. “Be careful, they’ll try to take out our floors and we’ll fall and be eliminated.”
“They’re building so fast!” Kiri said. “They’re almost at my eye level!”
“My turn then!” Ben ran to where Kiri peered out from behind their walls. He equipped his rocket launcher and let the rockets fly into their structure. The wood splintered to pieces on impact, and then after another two rockets Grey saw an ever-satisfying:
Ben eliminated Hazel.
Ben eliminated Sandhya.
“Yes!” Ben let out a long laugh. “She’s gonna be so mad at us.”
“And I’m stuck in her cabin! Thanks!” Kiri said.
With those four eliminated, it was clear they had taken out all of Hazel’s squad. That was a big deal for a low-rank group like Grey’s. Only twenty people remained on the map, and Grey couldn’t believe that included them.
It also included Tristan’s new squad.
Grey didn’t have much hope for a Victory Royale, but he really, really wanted to beat Tristan’s squad at the very least. He wanted to prove to everyone on the map that he and Kiri and Ben shouldn’t be written off. They weren’t going to give up and accept low ranks.
The eye of the storm began to shrink again, and Grey checked the map to see if they would have to move. To his shock, the next zone was still right on top of them. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
“Kiri, cover us while we go get that gear Hazel and Sandhya dropped,” Ben said.
“Right.”
Instead of going down their tower, Ben just built over to the one that Hazel’s squad had made. Grey gathered the ammo for his weapons and picked up the shields and bandages. Ben upgraded his AR with a better one, and they found several traps and a grenade launcher that would come in handy to defend their tower.
“Incoming!” Kiri called. “From above and below!”
Grey looked up, and sure enough, there was a path in the sky made from wood. Four people ran on it, but they looked like ants from this distance. They wouldn’t be in range for any shots, so they’d have to wait until they came down closer.
They’d have to get the players below first.
Kiri was already shooting at them, since the storm was closing in on that side and their enemies were taking damage. Grey joined in, and together they eliminated three players. The fourth took too much damage from the storm and was eliminated, too.
Tristan still hadn’t been eliminated, and there were only eight players left.
That meant it was Tristan’s squad versus theirs, plus Tae Min, most likely. While Grey couldn’t guess where Tae Min would be, it was obvious that Tristan was up above in the sky.
As the storm indicated it would shrink right over Grey’s squad, he saw Tristan’s squad begin to build down.
“We’re in trouble,” Grey said. “They have the high ground.”
“We just have to be patient,” Ben said. “Wait until my call, and we all unload at once. If they fall they’re doomed.”
Kiri took a deep breath, looking through her scope. “Four hundred meters … three-ninety …”
Ben pulled out his rocket launcher, and Grey opted for the grenade launcher he’d grabbed off Hazel. The eye of the storm was such a small radius at this point it would be hard to dodge. Tristan’s squad began to open fire on them, and Grey took a hit that killed most of his shield.
“Now!” Ben yelled.
Grey launched all the grenades he had, while Ben shot off the remainder of his rockets. Kiri kept shooting, but instead of aiming for the players she went for their floor. The structure crumbled under them, and Grey could hardly believe it as he watched the whole squad fall to the ground.
He couldn’t see where they fell past the hill they staked out, but he knew they weren’t eliminated yet because it wasn’t announced. At least one of them had survived the fall somehow and was probably trying to revive their squad.
“Hurry! We gotta get them before they revive each other!” Ben built a ramp down to the top of the hill, and they rushed to get a good angle on them. Sure enough, one of them had been able to build a ramp that must have saved them from taking full damage. But before Grey’s squad could get them, a spam of eliminations appeared on the screen.
Tae Min eliminated Farrah.
Tae Min eliminated Hans.
Tae Min eliminated Mayumi.
Tae Min eliminated Tristan.
“Dang! I wanted that kill so bad!” Ben said. “Oh well.”
Tae Min stood at the edge of the storm on the ground, and Grey stared at him in awe. He probably should have thought of shooting, but part of him wondered if he’d ever witness this moment again. Like Ben had said, Tae Min didn’t wear any fancy skins. He didn’t stand out, even though he probably had the pick of every skin at rank 1.
What was stranger was that Tae Min didn’t shoot back at them, either. He watched them like Grey watched him. Grey couldn’t guess what Tae Min was thinking, but before he could act, a bullet came soaring out of nowhere and got Tae Min.
Kiri eliminated Tae Min by head shot.
Victory Royale!
Before Grey could even process what had happened, he was back in the cave where they had hidden from Hazel. “Did we just win?”
“Yeah! Kiri just head shot Tae Min!” Ben shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“He was just standing there!” Kiri said. “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
Ben began laughing. “Yeah, but it was Tae Min!”
Kiri shrugged.
Ben only laughed harder. And Grey joined in, as the reality of winning sank in. Maybe half of it was luck, but they actually beat all the other squads. They beat Tae Min. And if it could happen once, that meant it could happen again.
Maybe he wouldn’t be stuck here forever after all.
CHAPTER 10
The remaining three games didn’t go half as well as their second game, but Grey wasn’t complaining. All of them finished the day ranked in the fifties, and that felt like a victory when everyone thought they’d be at the bottom.
The Admin appeared to give her usual speech. “Congratulations on completing Day Two. Your ranks are posted on the wall. All established protocol must be followed unless otherwise indicated. Good night.”
Grey smiled as he looked at his rank of 51. So did Kiri, who had jumped from the nineties to rank 59. It was amazing what a Victory Royale could do for ranks.
“Not bad, ay?” Kiri said. “Thanks for helping me.”
“You helped us,” Grey said. “You racked up the kills.”
“We did better today than we did with Tristan,” Ben chimed in. “That teamwork. So underrated.”
Grey smiled. It felt good to improve in rank, but it felt even better to do it as a team. He was glad he didn’t have to do it alone.
“
You’re going down tomorrow!” Hazel yelled from across the warehouse. “That was luck only!”
None of them said anything back. It was kind of true, but also Grey didn’t want to aggravate someone like Hazel more than necessary. He was relieved when she stomped out of the warehouse instead of coming to confront them more. But then he spotted someone else heading their way, and that might have been worse.
Tristan.
Grey braced himself for more trolling, but then he realized Tristan didn’t look so much mad as he did upset.
“What’s up?” Ben said with a hint of a smile.
“You guys did good today,” Tristan said as he glanced at Kiri. “Everyone is talking about your sniper. She might get recruited.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Kiri said.
“Well, don’t speak too soon,” Tristan said and he looked down at his feet. “My squad kicked me out so they could try to get you instead. Good snipers are rare, and you’re not even trained.”
“They kicked you out?” Ben raised his eyebrows. “After one day?”
“Our rank dropped ten points,” Tristan said. “They’re blaming it on me.”
Grey didn’t know whether to feel sorry or to feel like Tristan got what he deserved. But either way, it was a cruddy position to be in. Grey looked to Ben, wondering if he’d say what he thought he might say.
“Well, if you want to hang out with a buncha noobs, we still have a spot,” Ben said. “But Grey and Kiri would have to be cool with it. And we work as a team, you’re not the boss.”
Kiri raised an eyebrow. “I guess if you can stomach him, Ben, I can.”
Ben looked to Grey. “What do you think?”
Part of Grey wanted to say no, but Tristan was also a good player. Not the most loyal, but maybe he had learned his lesson. Grey hoped he wouldn’t regret it, but he said, “Everyone deserves a second chance, right?”
Ben nodded. “Or a thirtieth.”
“Hey,” Tristan said. “It’s more like twenty. Sorry, man. I just …”
