by Devin Hunter
Finn put his hand on Tristan’s shoulder. “I feel ya, dude.”
“Okay, back on task,” Tae Min said. “I haven’t
built all of Tilted—I don’t have the time—but these are the buildings we’re memorizing tonight because this is where I want you to land tomorrow.”
Grey’s eyes went wide as fear shot down his spine. “Tomorrow?”
Tae Min nodded. “You’re ready, combat-wise. After tonight, you’ll be prepared on positioning. We can’t delay any longer. Landing in Tilted means more eliminations, and you might need those if your ranks tie with Lam’s squad. They never get aggressive, so you’ll outrank on eliminations.”
“Right . . .” Grey took a deep breath, trying to convince himself that he was ready. He’d put in the work. He’d trained with the best people in this virtual reality version of Fortnite. There was no reason to be afraid of Tilted Towers anymore.
Or was there?
CHAPTER 3
Grey and his friends practiced right up until the end of the day. He had packed in as much information as he could about chest locations. Tae Min also taught them good positions for landing and they went over their close-quarters combat. It only made Grey feel slightly more confident to hit Tilted Towers tomorrow.
They had to run back to their cabins before the mandatory rest period. Everyone else was already in their beds as they dashed for their own resting places. Grey hopped into his bed just before the countdown ended.
The next day, Grey woke with a new surge of nerves. What if they were eliminated early in Tilted Towers? They couldn’t afford to get a rank under the top five—ranking in the nineties or eighties for even one game would be disastrous. From everything Tae Min and Finn had said, it still seemed like it was impossible to predict how Tilted Towers would go.
“I need to clear my head,” Grey said as he stood up from the bed. “Is that okay?”
“Sure,” Tae Min said. “We’ll be at the usual practice spot when you’re ready.”
Grey nodded and then headed to his favorite forest spot. He hadn’t had as much time to think alone since Tae Min joined the squad, and he realized just how mentally fatigued he was as he leaned on the barrier deep in the forest.
He tried to push Tilted Towers out of his mind for a minute, instead focusing on why he had to do this. He needed to get home. It had been almost two months now. If he was in the real world, he’d be getting ready to go to seventh grade. His mom would probably be taking him shopping for new things, and he’d be trying to get in every last moment of fun he could before being stuck in class again.
It was funny how he wanted to be stuck in class instead of a game.
But classes ended. And it felt like this game never did. So he wanted to go back to school. He wanted to see his family and friends. He wanted to eat food again and go to the real outdoors where he could feel the wind and rain and sun. And if he wanted all that, then he had to stop freaking out about landing in Tilted Towers.
“Hey, Pipsqueak.” Hazel’s voice cut through the silence. Grey was so deep in thought that Hazel startled him. “Sorry. I know you like your alone time.”
“It’s okay,” Grey said, although he was leery about why Hazel might have come to see him. They hadn’t really spoken much since she left the squad, and there hadn’t been any trolling like there was before she joined them. Even with all the friends he had, he still missed her. “What’s up?”
“Not much.” Hazel sat down next to him and looked up at the tree branches. Tears began to form in her eyes. “You guys are coming for my spot home. Feels like I made the wrong choice.”
A lump formed in Grey’s throat. He genuinely felt bad for Hazel, but he didn’t know what to do to help. “I told you we’d make it, but you wouldn’t believe me.”
“I know,” Hazel said as she wiped her eyes. “It just sucks. How was I supposed to know Tae Min would swoop in? You never said anything.”
“I didn’t know he would,” Grey replied.
Hazel leaned forward and put her arms on her knees. “You know, that’s just the sort of luck that sums up my entire life. And by luck, I mean I have none. Now it might cost me everything.”
The guilt Grey felt weighed down on him. Now he knew where this was going—Hazel was about to beg him for a spot in the top five. And he didn’t know how to tell her he couldn’t make that sort of decision. “Maybe your family cares more about you than you think they do. It might be okay.”
Hazel’s tears began to fall faster. “You’re right, they might. But that doesn’t mean they have the money to pay the hospital bills. Either their care or their money will run out at some point, sooner rather than later. I’d rather not have to face what happens when either one is gone.”
“There are six of us,” Grey said. “I want you to go home. I wish every single person stuck here could go home. But what do you want me to do? I can’t replace anyone.”
“I know, but . . .” Hazel had more to say, but she kept it to herself until Grey couldn’t stand it.
“But what?” he asked.
“Can’t you stay?” Hazel’s question came out in a whisper. “You’re friends with Tae Min. You could easily get home next season. Your family will wait for you for sure, and you know it.”
Grey was so shocked by what she was asking him to do that he couldn’t speak immediately. She was technically right, but it took a lot of guts to ask him if he’d give up his spot for her. And the truth was that he didn’t want to. He had sacrificed a lot to help his friends already, but giving up his spot . . .
“Hazel, I can’t.” Grey looked down at his hands, feeling like the most selfish person ever born. “I’ve worked so hard. I’ve helped everyone I could. It’s not fair to ask me to do that. Would you ask any of the others? Or are you just asking me because you know how much I care about people?”
“You’re right, I don’t think anyone else would even consider it,” Hazel admitted. “I had to try.”
“I wish you hadn’t,” Grey said as he stood up. He didn’t want to be angry at Hazel. He knew she was desperate. “I already felt guilty enough about it.”
“I’m sorry,” Hazel said.
“I gotta go.” Grey walked away, even though part of him still wanted to help Hazel. This was not the relaxing moment alone he wanted, and now he was more worked up than before. Was that her plan? To sabotage him for Lam’s squad? He hoped she hadn’t stooped that low, but at this point in the competition, any crazy plot was possible.
Once he met up with his friends, they all gave him a concerned look. So he hadn’t shrugged off his emotions as well as he hoped.
“You don’t look so good, mate,” Kiri said. “Did something happen?”
He didn’t want to tell them, but he couldn’t keep this pent up inside. “Hazel asked me to give up my spot in the top five for her.”
“Seriously?” Ben said in surprise. “Who does that?”
“Someone desperate,” Tae Min said.
Finn’s brows were pinched with worry more than anyone else. “And what did you say to her? You’re not gonna do it, are you?”
Grey shook his head. “I really wish I could help her, but I can’t give that up.”
“Of course you can’t,” Tristan chimed in.
“But I still feel bad,” Grey admitted. “I wish we could all go home, you know? It’s not that I don’t want her to be top five. I just can’t give up my spot. That doesn’t make me a jerk, does it?”
“She’s messing with your focus,” Tae Min said. “My bet is that was her real intention—to throw you off your game so you don’t play well today.”
Finn shot Tae Min a glare. “C’mon, Hazel isn’t like that.”
“She was a straight-up troll to us when the season started,” Tristan pointed out. “She could definitely be doing that. You didn’t know her before.”
“People can change,” Finn said. “Hazel is honest, and she would ask because she wants to go home just like the rest of you. There doesn’
t have to be another motive all the time!”
“That is fair,” Tae Min said. “But regardless of her intent, we are being distracted. Can we put this behind us and focus?”
Everyone agreed, and Tae Min went over their plans for the day. He was still trying to fit in all the tactics he wanted them to remember when they were teleported to the battle warehouse.
It was time to see if all their hard work would pay off.
CHAPTER 4
The Battle Bus had a perfect path for landing in Tilted Towers. In fact, it would fly directly over it. This did not excite Grey because it meant there would probably be a lot of other players landing there. Even if those players weren’t as skilled, anyone could get lucky with enough chaos thrown into a fight.
“Grey, I can feel you stressing even without seeing your face,” Tae Min said.
“Sorry,” Grey replied.
“Land on your assigned building, get a weapon, and do what I taught you,” Tae Min said. “Call out if you get in trouble. I will be there for every game because we’re landing there first.”
“C’mon, Grey,” Kiri said. “We all know you can do it, so you gotta believe it, too.”
“Okay, okay.” Grey tried to steady himself. He was prepared. He could do this.
“Time to jump!” Tae Min left the bus first. Finn, Grey, and Kiri all jumped right after. Since they were all landing in different buildings, they were already spread out in the air.
Grey wanted to close his eyes so he couldn’t see how many people were landing with them at Tilted Towers, but he had to see where he was going. His heart pounded as he counted no less than fifteen other players landing at the island’s hottest spot. Even if they were all less skilled and there to play for fun, it would still be a feat to make it out alive.
Fights started before Grey had even landed on his designated building—Grandma’s house—that was on the outskirts of the area. It was a smaller blue building that could easily be targeted from the other bigger ones. Tae Min wanted Grey there because he believed he could handle the fire better than Finn or Kiri.
Grey hoped Tae Min was right.
As he landed on Grandma’s roof, someone else did as well. There was one basic AR with ammo there, and Grey rushed for it. If he didn’t get it, then he may as well accept early elimination.
Luckily, it showed up in his inventory instead of in the other player’s. Grey opened fire as the other player ran off the side of the building. Grey chased, determined to eliminate that player before they got a weapon. Once they were gone, then Grey could focus on getting more loot.
The player tried to run inside the front door, but Grey fired at them until a notification popped up in his vision:
You knocked down Selena.
“Lorenzo’s squad is here,” Grey said. They weren’t a top squad, but they weren’t bad either. It wouldn’t hurt to put everyone on alert. “They might come for me after this.”
“We got your back,” Tae Min said.
Grey fired a few more shots at the bunny avatar crawling toward the hiding spot under the staircase.
You eliminated Selena.
Selena didn’t have any materials or items yet, so nothing popped out as she disappeared. Grey moved through the first story of Grandma’s house, breaking furniture with his pickaxe and picking up all the loot he found. This time he had plenty of weapons to pick from, but there wasn’t a single shield or bandage to be found. Grey didn’t like having only one hundred health even in normal battles, but it definitely didn’t feel like enough in Tilted Towers.
“Anyone have extra shields?” Grey asked as he opened the last chest in his building. There was a purple scar and a trap, which was great, but still no healing.
“I do,” Kiri said. She was in the castle tower. Though a lot of people liked to land there, Tae Min picked that tower for Kiri because it was a central sniper position. “Come to me. Top floor.”
Tae Min eliminated Sydney.
Kiri eliminated Diana.
“Okay.” Grey worried about getting to her in one piece. He only had two hundred wood, and the castle tower was not only down the street but at the top. He could get hit from multiple directions as he made the trek. But he had to, so he broke down a wall for extra brick and began the run past the clock tower and through the street.
Finn eliminated Dan.
Shots came Grey’s way almost immediately, and he lost a third of his health. He built walls and ceilings to protect himself as he made his way into the construction site, which was right next to the castle tower. Grey knew Finn would be there and was grateful Tae Min had made a thorough plan. “Finn, I need backup. Coming to you.”
“Just picked up a med kit for ya,” Finn said. “In the basement.”
“I’m bringing a friend.” Grey jumped and built to protect himself as he ran. He still took one more hit, bringing his health down to just thirty. One more hit would take him out.
Grey placed a trap as he ran down the stairs to the basement. He didn’t hear it go off, but it made the players chasing him stop to destroy it.
“Here, dude,” Finn said. “Hurry.”
Grey grabbed the med kit as Finn built walls around them. The med kit took ten seconds to use, but as the enemy opened fire on them, it felt like it took forever. Finn kept the walls up as the SMG fire broke them down, and finally Grey’s health popped up to full. “Got it.”
“Dropping wall,” Finn said.
Grey switched to his shotgun and aimed for the player. When the wall went down, he and Finn fired at the same time.
You knocked down Lorenzo.
“Thirst him,” Tae Min said. “I got the other two in his squad knocked.”
“Yes, sir!” Finn fired again.
Finn eliminated Lorenzo.
Tae Min eliminated Coco.
Tae Min eliminated Julio.
“That was too close,” Grey said as he grabbed the small shields Lorenzo had been carrying. He used them both to get to fifty shields. “Sorry about that, guys.”
“You’re good, don’t worry,” Kiri said. “My building is clear, but there’s two in the big red brick next to castle. One moving to the building south of clock tower. Another in the office building.”
“I’ll get the office,” Tae Min said.
“We’ll go big brick,” Finn said.
Things were beginning to quiet down—Grey could tell just by the lack of gunfire in comparison to when he first landed. He and Finn made their way out of the construction site and across the street to the building Kiri called out. Grey made sure to look at the ceiling when he opened the door, and sure enough, there was a trap there. Tae Min had warned them to keep an eye on traps in Tilted Towers—with all the chaos it was easy to not pay attention and get spiked.
Finn shot down the trap and they moved inside. With all of the training they had, it wasn’t hard to find their opponents and take them out. Tae Min eliminated the one he was after, and by the time they started searching for the last player, she was gone.
“We’ll run into her later,” Tae Min said. “Loot everything before the storm comes.”
Grey’s squad already had pretty good loot, but there could always be better stuff in an unchecked chest. They moved through the remaining buildings, but some of them were still foreign to Grey. He followed Finn, who knew Tilted Towers nearly as well as Tae Min.
“There’s one here, too,” Finn said as he used his pickaxe to break the ground outside near a park area.
Grey could hear the shimmering sound of the chest, but he never would have guessed it was underground. Once it broke, Grey and Finn jumped down to open the glowing, yellow chest. Out popped a stack of C4 and some other items they didn’t need. Grey sacrificed his blue sniper for the C4. “We have four C4 now.”
“Nice,” Tae Min said. “Let’s get moving.”
After the fast-paced play in Tilted Towers, the rest of the game didn’t feel nearly as stressful. Facing one squad or duo didn’t seem scary after what they’d s
urvived. Grey liked that side effect of landing in a high-risk zone.
The storm circle would be over the south part of the map this battle, so Grey’s squad built up to the mountain looking over Tilted Towers. They could get to Shifty Shafts from there. He hoped they would find someone in the mines because they already had everything they needed to fight. He worried he wouldn’t have many materials, but he had more than he expected.
“Stop,” Tae Min directed before they even got close to Shifty Shafts. Tae Min held up his sniper so he could use the scope to get a closer look. “Hazel’s there. Time to give Lam’s squad an early loss.”
Normally Grey would be happy about that, but after what Hazel asked him to do, he could only feel guilty.
Finn sighed. “I guess we have to take the shots, huh?”
“I will,” Kiri said as she equipped her purple sniper. She took aim, and even though it was still hundreds of yards away, a notification read: Kiri knocked down Hazel.
“Push now!” Tae Min said as he let more shots fly.
“Bouncer?” Finn asked.
“Do it,” Tae Min said as he laid down a wall for Finn to place it on. Tae Min took it without hesitation. He didn’t shoot at Hazel but at someone even farther away in the houses across from the mine.
Grey and Finn went next. As Grey flew through the air, he spotted one of Hazel’s squad members on their way to revive her. He unloaded his AR firing at the person, but they didn’t get knocked down before they boxed themselves in. “The one on the road is white,” said Grey.
“I have the one in the house,” Tae Min said.
“Taking the snipe on Hazel,” Kiri announced.
Kiri eliminated Hazel by head shot.
“Ouch,” Finn said. “She won’t be happy about that.”
“I know,” Kiri replied. “But I need the rest of my mates in the top five. I can’t be the only one.”
Grey pushed the guy in the box with Finn, and they both used their SMGs to burn down any walls the guy built. When the enemy tried to build up ramps, Grey didn’t waste his materials, instead shooting down the ramps. The guy fell, and Finn was ready and waiting.