Betrayal at Salty Springs

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Epic Games, Inc. or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Fortnite name, trademark, or copyrights.

  Copyright © 2018 by Hollan Publishing, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Series design by Brian Peterson

  Cover artwork by Amanda Brack

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5107-4344-1

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-5107-4345-8

  Printed in Canada

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  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.

  CHAPTER 2

  For a second Grey thought he might have gone to the wrong cabin, but as he moved closer to the door, he understood why Hazel was there.

  “C’mon, Tae Min!” Hazel’s voice wasn’t as angry as Grey had thought he heard, but there was still an edge to it. “I know you think you’re above all this, but can’t you help me out? I’ve heard the story from everyone, how to tank your score to stay. I need to get back this season.”

  “Everyone says that,” Tae Min says. “You’re no different.”

  “My dad is dying!” Hazel said. “Have you no heart?”

  Grey’s eyes widened. Hazel hadn’t said anything about her life that wasn’t bragging about how good she was at Fortnite. At least not that Grey had heard, though they had been rivals since they both appeared in this virtual reality a month ago.

  But her dad was dying . . . Grey suddenly felt bad for Hazel for the first time since he’d been here. He hadn’t even felt bad for her when she’d gotten kicked out of her squad a week ago. It hadn’t impacted her rank much. She was still in the thirties.

  “You’re lying,” Tae Min replied. “You’re the one with no heart. And your attempt at manipulating my emotions is another low.”

  “Ugh, fine! I’m lying.” There was a long pause, and Grey wondered how Tae Min had known Hazel was lying. Grey had been fooled so easily. He had to remember there was no real way to know what any of these people did in real life. “But that’s how you pick, right? Whoever has the biggest sob story wins your free pass. That’s what everyone says.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tae Min said.

  “Now who’s lying?” Hazel let out a frustrated grunt. “You’re so selfish!”

  Grey heard stomping footsteps, and he rushed to hide behind a nearby bush. The last thing he wanted was for Hazel to see him eavesdropping. For the last week, it had been nice to have her largely out of his mind. With no squad and a lower rank than Grey, she had turned her trolling ways to other, lower-ranked players.

  He watched as she trudged out of his cabin. Her face wore the usual angry expression as she disappeared into her own lodgings. He waited a few more seconds before he went to his own cabin, just to make sure Tae Min didn’t suspect Grey was eavesdropping either. Though maybe Tae Min still would . . . After all, he could somehow see through Hazel’s lying.

  Grey only glanced at Tae Min as he made his way to his bed. They hadn’t spoken since that one time when Tae Min had told Grey to build smarter and not just faster. It was that one small bit of advice, Grey felt, that had propelled him to the next level in the game. He’d wanted to thank Tae Min for it, but he didn’t know how to start a conversation with the guy. Most people who tried to talk to Tae Min left in a frustrated way like Hazel did. The only time Grey had ever seen it go well was when Tae Min was the first to talk.

  “You’re doing better,” Tae Min said out of nowhere.

  “Trying to.” Grey took a deep breath, since he might not get another chance. “Thanks. You know, for the advice.”

  Tae Min nodded once, his shoulder-length black hair hiding part of his face. “The patch will be annoying. Lots of people will be whining about it.”

  “They already are,” Grey said. Tae Min’s words didn’t sound like advice, but Grey still was curious. It felt like Tae Min was trying to make conversation.

  “Ranks will slip. People will fight. Squads will split up,” Tae Min said. “It happens every time there is a patch.”

  “I see . . .” A twinge of nerves hit Grey. While he wasn’t concerned with his own squad fighting, he hadn’t thought about how hard patches might be. This was his first one. He’d finally gotten close to the top twenty—would that change now? Could a materials nerf and AR damage reduction really change things so much? “I don’t like when people fight like that. It’s enough to fight in the battles every day.”

  “No squad can stay together forever,” Tae Min said. “Either you split up here. Or you split up when you go home.”

  Grey didn’t know how to respond to this. It felt like Tae Min was trying to warn him, which Grey appreciated, but there was no way his squad would split. They’d soared in the ranks. Everyone was working together. There wasn’t anything to fight about.

  But Tae Min did have a point—if Grey’s squad made it out, they’d all be separated. In some cases by giant oceans.

  He couldn’t play with them forever.

  Maybe that was what Tae Min was trying to say. Grey couldn’t get too attached if he wanted to keep his eye on the prize, which was getting home. He still wanted that, even if his homesickness had eased up a lot.

  If Grey was being honest with himself, he had gotten attached to his squad mates here in the game. They’d become his friends and the closest he had to a family while stuck here. He didn’t want to lose them once any of them escaped the game. He’d have to find a way to bring that up to them and see if they could stay in contact even after they got out.

  “You are too kind,” Tae Min said. “I’m sorry people will take advantage of that until you learn who to trust.”

  This comment only confused Grey more. He had no idea what Tae Min was really trying to tell him. Maybe he wasn’t speaking about Grey at all, but referring to his conversation with Hazel to see if Grey had overheard. Or maybe, like usual, Tae Min saw something Grey didn’t.

  If that was the case, Grey worried he wouldn’t catch Tae Min’s true meaning until it was too late.

  CHAPTER 3

  The mood in the battle warehouse on patch day was eerily quiet. Grey expected it to be more excited, but things felt different right from the moment his squad gathered together. He felt like he had to offer some words of encouragement, even if he didn’t think this patch would be a big deal. “We can do this, guys. We just need to find the right weapons and farm enough mats, just like normal.”

  Kiri nodded. “Right.”

  Ben didn’t look so sure. “AR was my best weapon.”

  “You’ll be great with anything you pick up,” Grey said. “You’ve gotten a lot better with all our practice against Hans’s squad.”

  “Let’s hope so . . .” Ben glanced at Tristan, who didn’t seem nervous about the patch.

  “We will do great,” Tristan said. “Grey and Kiri are best on shotguns and snipers, so they won’t be fazed at all as long as they get materials.”

  “It’s not like we get llamas all the time,” Kiri said. “It’ll work out!”

  Ben nodded. “Yeah . . .”

  Before they could say anything else, the Admin appeared and they all teleported to the ranking line. Even though the Admin always appeared friendly and smiling, with her nice suit and pinned-up blonde hair, Grey had only grown to dislike her more. He still wasn’t sure if she was a computer program or a real person, but he had a feeling there was someone behind that avatar.

  “Welcome to Day Thirty of Battles, players!” the Admin said. “Today is patch day. The game has been updated during your rest, and all aforementioned changes have been implemented on the island. If you notice any bugs, please notify
me immediately after any battle by using the Report Bug icon available in your vision selection. We will work quickly to correct any issues, if they are valid and not in line with the patch’s intended working order. Good luck in today’s battles!”

  The Admin disappeared, and the familiar deep voice announced, “Thirty seconds until the next battle!”

  “Salty Springs,” Grey said as he leaned in to give his squad one last encouraging smile. “We got this, okay?”

  Ben looked like he didn’t believe Grey at all. “Good luck, G—”

  Grey’s vision went black, something he’d gotten used to as a signal he was teleporting wherever the game wanted him at the time. It never took long, but today it felt a smidge lengthier than usual. Maybe because of the patch.

  When Grey appeared in the Battle Bus, nothing felt different. Maybe it was a new patch, but so far it was still the game he’d been stuck in for the last month. All the boxes for inventory and materials looked the same in his vision, but then he noticed something strange on the left side.

  Only Kiri’s name appeared in his squad.

  Maybe it was a bug. Like the Admin had said.

  “Ben? Tristan?” Grey called out. “You there? Your names aren’t showing in my squad list.”

  “Not in mine, either,” Kiri said. “Weird.”

  “Ben? Tristan?” Grey repeated as his panic began to rise.

  “C’mon, mates,” Kiri said. “Stop joking around. If you’re there, say it. We really can’t see you.”

  There was no answer.

  “Do you think they can’t see us, either?” Kiri asked.

  “I don’t know . . .” Grey’s heart rate skyrocketed as players began to jump from the bus. As much as he wanted to believe this was some kind of bug, suddenly everything Tae Min had said last night began to make sense.

  No squad stays together forever.

  You’re too kind.

  People will take advantage of that.

  This could not be happening. When Tristan had left his former squad in the first week, he had told Ben he was doing it. Tristan didn’t just disappear. If Ben and Tristan had plans to leave, wouldn’t they have told Grey? And why would they leave when their ranks had gotten so high already?