by Devin Hunter
“Storm’s coming in thirty seconds,” Kiri said.
“We might be in it for a little bit, but we can handle it.” Grey began to build ramps to get up the mountain faster. He hoped Lam wouldn’t be able to see their building from this far away. As Grey looked toward Dusty Divot, he couldn’t see her tower from this distance. That was a good sign.
Once they got to the top of the mountain, Tae Min said, “Finn, take over building. Do a one-by-one for seven stories and then ramp up toward Dusty until I tell you to stop.”
“On it.” Finn began to build while Grey and Kiri kept close to him so they could jump up to the next ramp he would build in the tower. The storm hit them, and their health began to tick down. After they were seven stories up like Tae Min directed, Finn started on the ramps. He built them three wide so there was less chance of them being shot out of the sky.
Soon they were back inside the safe zone, but they had all taken half their health in damage. They paused to use their one campfire to recover health before trudging forward.
“How much higher?” Finn asked as he switched from brick to metal materials. “I don’t have much left.”
“Almost there,” Tae Min said.
They were so high up, Grey could see nearly the entire island from where they were. Lam’s tower didn’t look so tall from this position, but he worried that Lam would see the sky base. They would hit maximum build height soon—anyone who looked up would spot them.
“Launch pad now,” Tae Min said.
Finn built a flat floor for them, and Grey set down the launch pad. They jumped on it and shot into the air.
“Spread out,” Tae Min directed. “Approach from different directions. If you see anyone, attack from behind.”
Grey deployed his glider and moved away from Kiri and Finn. The closer they got to the tower, the louder the gunfire sounded. There was definitely a battle going on down there because more walls and ramps appeared around the tower. Grey spotted a couple players who still looked like ants. They didn’t fire at him or his squad because they were so focused on each other.
Hazel eliminated Zach.
Hazel eliminated Hui Yin.
Lam knocked down Vlad.
Trevor knocked down Ben.
“It’s a mess down there!” Kiri said. “We gotta hurry before they get Ben eliminated.”
“I got eyes on Hazel,” Finn said. “She’s trying to break a box.”
“There’s one over here on a box too,” Grey said as he dove down closer. “I can’t tell which box Ben and Tristan are in!”
“Doesn’t matter! Get the attackers so Tristan can revive Ben,” Tae Min said with a hint of stress in his voice for the first time. “Finn on Hazel. Grey, get the other attacker. Kiri, back them up from a sniper perch.”
“Right,” Kiri said as she landed on the top of the tower.
Grey swooped down on the player wearing the zombie-girl skin, and the moment his feet touched the wooden floor, he equipped his SMG and opened fire. The player took all their shield damage before they turned around to attack. Grey crouched as Tae Min had taught them to, and the shotgun fire missed.
You knocked down Trevor.
With that notification, Grey knew Ben and Tristan were in the box near him, since that was who knocked down Ben. “Ben and Tristan are by me!”
Finn knocked down Hazel.
“Focus on Finn’s side, Kiri!” Tae Min yelled. “Grey, find the rest of Lam’s squad!”
Grey searched the mess of walls and ramps and floors, trying to see where the other two players were. He spotted movement a few stories above him and opened fire with his SMG. He had to break through the floor first, and the player fell to the next level.
“Push, Grey!” Tae Min commanded. “Finn, get in that box and take them out. Kiri, back Grey now.”
“There’s a player right below you, Kiri,” Grey said as he built up to reach the enemy. “They’re low.”
“One behind you,” Kiri said. “I got his shield off. He’s hiding.”
Finn eliminated Yuri.
Lam eliminated Vlad.
“Another duo down,” Finn reported. “Moving to Grey’s position.”
“I got this one,” Grey said as he reloaded his SMG. The player he was after had boxed herself in, and the SMG would burn down the walls she would build to defend herself. She only built three walls before she stopped—Grey realized she must have been out of materials. She started jumping around with her shotgun, landing a weak shot on Grey. He replied with his own shotgun.
You knocked down Lam.
Not three seconds after that, Finn was able to finish off Pilar, and the entire squad was eliminated. They were down to the final five, but it was a Victory Royale already because the only other two left were Ben and Tristan.
“I feel bad eliminating them,” Grey said as he looked over to the box where they hid.
“Me too,” Kiri admitted.
“I’ll do it!” Finn ran over to the box, but just as he got there, Grey heard the clicking sound of two C4 being placed. Grey realized Ben and Tristan were about to take themselves out instead.
Kaboom!
Ben eliminated himself.
Tristan eliminated himself.
The explosion was just shy of hitting Finn when the Victory Royale was made official. It was only the first game of the day, but it felt good to start out on the right foot.
“On to the next one,” Tae Min said when they all appeared back in the battle warehouse. “But first, more practice.”
“Good thing you guys got there when you did,” Ben said as they gathered together. “We were almost done for.”
“Sorry about that,” Grey said.
“No worries, it was still the best we did since Zach dropped us,” Tristan said. “Thanks for helping even if we can’t be in the same squad.”
Grey smiled. Maybe this wasn’t the exact way he pictured getting to the top five ranks, but at least he was still fighting for it with his friends. He had a feeling it would work out if they stuck together from now on.
