CHAPTER 1

After a week of practices with Hans’s squad, Grey knew he’d gotten better at almost every aspect of Fortnite Battle Royale. As he dueled Hans in building practice, the walls and counter-ramps went up almost without Grey thinking. It was already becoming second ­nature, though Hans always gave him a tough battle.

Even now, Grey struggled to get the high ground on Hans. They remained even, both having gotten a few shots on each other.

Grey could have gained the high ground quicker, but he was challenging himself to use fewer materials than usual. He had to learn how to be more efficient in times when he was starved for mats, which would likely be more often now because there was a patch tomorrow.

And that patch was nerfing material drops in llamas, among other things.

Now instead of getting five hundred wood, brick, and metal from a llama, there would only be two hundred of each. None of the one hundred players stuck in this virtual reality version of Fortnite Battle Royale were happy about it. But the Admin only announced changes, and there was no way to argue with what had been decided.

They would all have to adapt.

On top of the materials nerf, some of the favorite weapons were getting altered as well. Many people trapped here had long preferred the AR weapons, but this patch would bring a big damage and speed reduction to them. People were already trying to rely more on their shotguns. The patch was also buffing the submachine gun category, so people were practicing with those instead.

The Admin also announced there would be “trouble” on the map. No one was sure exactly what that meant, but the players who had been stuck in the game for several seasons said it was probably a hint for map changes.

Grey was growing impatient with Hans, so he dropped a bounce pad and built a floor under him to get higher. It put him in an exposed position, but he aimed right for Hans. Grey’s shotgun connected, and he dropped another bounce pad on his newly made floor to jump even higher.

The best part about bounce pads, according to Grey, was that you didn’t take fall damage when you used them. Instead of building higher, he wanted to use the structure they’d already built below instead of burning through more materials.

Grey let off several shots, but only a couple of them hit Hans as Grey was dropping down over six stories. He expected Hans to follow him, so he switched from placing bounce pads to placing traps and put one on a wall. Hans was probably too smart to fall for it, but Grey still wanted to try. It could fool a less skilled player.

Hans jumped away, but Grey quickly threw a bounce pad on the opposing wall so that Hans bounced right back into the trap.

“You!” Hans let out a surprised laugh. “Good move! I’m calling that a win for you.”

“It was a good fight,” Grey said. It always felt good to win in practice, but he didn’t want to act too confident. “It could have easily gone the other way.”

“That extra bounce was clever,” Hans said. “Did you plan that?”

Grey shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly in the plan.”

“You are good at thinking on your feet.” Hans looked up at the giant build they had made together. “If I didn’t already know your answer, I’d ask you to fill my last squad spot.”

Grey felt his face grow warm. It was a huge compliment, and he still hadn’t gotten used to people asking him to join up with them. But Hans was right—Grey had no interest in leaving his squad behind. He, Kiri, Ben, and Tristan had made so much progress together he couldn’t imagine flying into battles with anyone else.

Besides, they were closing in on the top twenty in rank.

As it stood today, they were in the top twenty-five, and Grey had high hopes of breaking into the twenties this week. They already had gotten several more Victory Royales, and that had earned them practices with not just Hans’s squad but also Zach’s squad.

People complimented Grey on his tactical skills, Ben on his close-range fighting, Tristan on his in-depth game knowledge, and Kiri on her exceptional aim. In fact, she’d grown so notorious for her sniper shots that some even whispered she’d be better than Tae Min in no time.

Tae Min did not agree, making sure to personally take Kiri out at every opportunity.

“Grey, I won!” Kiri yelled as she came running from her own build battle with Mayumi. “Can you even believe it? I never win!”

“Nice!” He held up his hand for a high five.

“She got lucky,” Mayumi said with a sour look. “I had nine shots on her.”

“But I still got ten first!” Kiri bounced around. Building had never been her strong suit, but she had gotten a lot better through practice.

Not looking nearly as excited, Tristan arrived from his build battle with Farrah. He’d obviously lost, because he ignored the topic in general and said, “Where’s Ben?”

“Not sure. Just finished up.” Grey scanned the busy practice area. They had already finished games for the day, so there were a lot of people outside the practice warehouse building. Grey never thought he’d belong here—they used to go out much farther to practice—but most people now greeted their squad with a smile and wave.

After a few seconds, Grey spotted Ben chatting with Zach. They weren’t doing anything in particular, so Grey called out, “Ben! Your turn!”

Ben nodded at Grey, running over with a big smile on his face. “Who do I get to duel?”

“Mayumi and I lost,” Hans said. “So take your pick.”

“You lost?” Ben looked at Grey. “Nice job, Grey.”

“He played smart,” Hans said.

“Or you picked up some bad luck,” Ben said. “I better duel you to make sure.”

Hans smiled. “All right, then.”

“Rematch?” Mayumi asked Kiri.

“Yeah, mate!” Kiri said with a smile. Mayumi was actually pretty nice, a high school girl from Japan who had just moved to Australia before she got sucked into the game. She’d been stuck there for three seasons.

Tristan and Farrah, a college student from Turkey, also set up a rematch, so Grey was the odd one out for this round.

They didn’t have much more time left before everyone had to be in their cabins, so Grey figured that would be his last practice run for the day. It would have been nice if they had even numbers in both their squads, but Hans’s squad still often beat them as it was. Grey couldn’t imagine how it would be if Hans had a full four.

Grey headed back to his cabin, the mental fatigue of the day weighing on him. While he’d gotten more used to leading his squad, it was still hard to accept at times. He wished he could take a break from it. From the whole game, really. It had been a month of his life now, and it was exhausting.

As he approached his cabin, Grey paused before he went inside because he heard voices. One unmistakable voice in particular:

Hazel’s.