Unreich Royale

Chapter One: 

It smells like old people. It smells like me. I trace the room with my eyes. Old people sit on flannel-patterned chairs, playing chess or reading books. But I sit alone, waiting. As if answering to my boredom, the doors open and an old man comes hobbling in. He stands tall, his long mane flows in the breeze. His broad shoulders look stiff, and he smiles, some of his teeth missing from his goalie days. Ah, Lavie! My savior in this hellhole. He limps slowly towards me, chuckling deeply. “Leeba!” We hug. “You have to come with me, right now. You won't believe it!” I raise a graying eyebrow and slowly stand up from the comfort of the sofa. I'm following Lavie, and it appears we are heading to the game room. I scoff. I know Lavie has a few screws loose, but I follow him anyway. He pushes the door open, and inside, with their backs to us, stand two others. One with long curly, gray hair, and the other with a short haircut. I don't even need them to turn around, “Jazzy! Yoel!” I hobble over to them, and we all embrace. Even Lavie embraces us. We hold tight for a moment, and Jazzy is the first to pull away, “HJLJ reunion!” I laugh, but laugh even harder when Yoel replies with “shut up, Jazzy.” Lavie joins in laughing. Jazzy frowns, her wrinkles cut deep, but not as deep as ours. “Wait, I'm sorry, but what are we doing here?” I ask. “Sit,” Lavie gestures to the large couch. In front of it, a television is propped up on top of a desk, and on the screen, a nostalgic loading sign is awaiting us. The loading screen from Fortnite 2025 stares me in the face. Silence fills the room. “Is this real, Lavie?” Yoel asks as he walks towards the TV and caresses it. The rest of us take a seat on the couch. “I found this while scrolling through the games on the console. This edition hasn't been updated since 2025.” I continue to stare at the screen, the words boring themselves into my vision. The game was stuck in time, just like us. Yoel fishes out three PlayStation controllers and one for himself. He hands them out and sits down between Jazzy and me. I hold it in my hand like a relic. A real PlayStation controller. I haven't seen one of these since my good ol’ days. I've been losing some good memories as my age has been taking a toll on me, but holding the controller seemed to bring it all back. I remembered sitting on the couch with Yoel and Jazzy on FaceTime, spending hours online. We would yell at each other and bicker, but it was all in good fun. We had many good wins, but even more losses. When we got lucky, Lavie would join us and always wander on his own, not caring for the team. Each and every one of us had a role. Jazzy was bait, she was the first to be seen, and most of the time, the first to be killed. Yoel was the front man, he went in and fought, no matter how many players there were. Lavie was the strayer, he always strayed from the group, and most of the time, he got killed in the process. I would like to say I was the brains, devising strategies and plans, but everyone said I was a force. I recklessly drove into battle and didn't stop to ask for help, it usually got me killed. So yeah, on paper, we don't sound like a winning team, but we had our fair share of wins. Sitting here with everyone again made me nostalgic, it made me sad. Seeing us like this reminded me of how active we all used to be, and it showed me that things don't last forever. But we are here right now, and we will get a win. I press the X button on the joystick, and the game starts to load. We all cheer and whoop. “Let's do this!” Lavie says. The screen splits into four quadrants. One for each of us, and we all hit the locker room. Luckily, the person who played this before us has a ton of skins. Jazzy immediately equips the obvious, Yulejacket. Yoel debates, but then chooses his sweaty FNCS skin, Champion Siren. Lavie hovers over Doggo, but picks Sabrina Carpenter. I scroll through the skins slowly and decide to stick with Aphrodite. I look at the screen, everyone in their skins, and it all feels right. I feel young again. We all get ready, and I can feel the excitement in the air, it's crackling. The loading screen appears, and I know a game has been found, but before anyone can giggle with joy, the room around us begins to blur. I worry that my vision has finally gone bad after all these years, but everyone looks just as confused as I do. The walls start to blend with my surroundings, the bookshelf, the windows, and it all blends into one uncomfortable mess. Everything seems to be sucked into the TV. My vision tunnels, and everything turns black. 

Chapter Two: 

My eyelids are still closed, but I can see light seeping through them. I can feel heat on my skin. My bones feel fresh. This doesn't feel like the game room at the nursing home. My eyes flutter open, and I am instantly taken aback. The bright blue sky and animated clouds hang above me, and the air feels clean, almost too clean. I look around and notice that my neck isn't stiff anymore. Something I only dreamt of surrounds me. People stand around me and dance, trees blow in the distance, a large house stands in the middle of the island, blue water runs on the shores, and there they are, Yulejacket, Sabrina, and FNCS stand looking around in awe. I glance down at the water and realize I'm looking at Aphrodite, not my usual wrinkly self. I look up again, and we all lock eyes. Our eyes drift towards the giant blue bus standing next to us. The battle bus. I've only seen this in one thing, and one thing only, Fortnite. We are on Fortnite's spawn island, chapter six, season three. I look at my hands, soft tan skin, no wrinkles, demonstrating my old age. I feel young and fresh, like I can take on the world. I jog to Jazzy, Yoel, and Lavie, who are still in shock. Suddenly, a countdown appears in the sky: “battle bus launches in thirty seconds.” I can see Jazzy’s eyes widen, and panic seeps into them. “Wait, if we are actually in Fortnite, can we actually…die?” Silence. Nobody answers. Playing the game from the comfort of your own home comes with low stakes and no risk. I look up again, and the clock now says fifteen seconds. All around us, players or people file into the giant battle bus. Yoel scoffs, “snap out of it, guys! Life is short! We are all old and decaying anyway. The universe gave us another chance to live our greatest memories.” I nod, and so does Lavie. Yoel walks aggressively towards the battle bus, and we all follow. I pause before entering. I take a breath and finally take my first step onto the bus. Yoel shakes hands with the driver and walks towards the back of the bus. I laugh when I catch my first glimpse of the driver, he truly is a pudgy Latino, Yoel was spot on. I can tell he's hot because his black curls are damp, and he wears a white button-down with black suspenders that happen to have armpit stains. His buttcheeks hang off the small chair. This legend took us to all of our best moments. Unlike us, he hasn't aged a bit. I shake his hand and follow Yoel. I sit on the bench next to him and try to kick my feet to calm my nerves, but my feet are blocked by something under my seat. I bend down, my short silver hair falling from behind my ears. I pull out a black hiking backpack. I unzip it and find a map. Not necessarily an old-fashioned paper one, but a more holographic one. Each landmark has a name hovering over it. Utopia City, Pumped Power, Foxy Floodgate, to name a few. I don't need a map to know where everything is, it's as if it's engraved in my memory. On good days, I can remember what I had for lunch three days ago, but on bad days, I can't. Yet I can remember names of Fortnite landmarks and bots like Mitzuki from when I was fifteen. Yoel looks at me and looks under his seat as well. Lavie and Jazzy on the bench next to us follow suit. I hold the map in front of Yoel, “where should we land?” I ask, but Yoel simply creases his eyebrows, “we don't need this!” But before I can argue, the bus starts to move. I quickly pack the map back into the backpack and hold on to the bench. “This pudgy Latino guy really knows how to hit the gas!” Yoel laughs maniacally. I look to the left, Jazzy looks bewildered, and Lavie looks wide-eyed and lost. I look past Yoel and out the window. Spawn Island blends, and suddenly the bus lifts off the ground, and the island turns into a mere speck in the distance. The air gets thinner, but not because we are so high up off the ground, but because the back door is slowly opening. Some people are starting to stand, backpack slung over their shoulders, and head towards the opening door. The pudgy Latino guy starts to count down in his deep voice, “five, four, three, two, one.” The people waiting at the door jump. My heart skips a beat, but before I can start panicking, Yoel stands up, slings the bag over his shoulders, and heads towards the door as well. “Hello? Are you out of your mind?” Jazzy asks, forced to yell over the roar of the wind. “Guys, come on, it's tradition, I always jump first!” He calls back. I don't want to admit it, but he has a point, so I stand up as well, backpack over my shoulders. Ah, this takes me back to my skydiving days, the best of days. I hold my hand out for Jazzy to take. She hesitates, but finally she takes it. Lavie stands up, not expecting anybody to help him. We all take a deep breath and follow Yoel. He stops in front of the door, and I pat his shoulder. “Lead the way, YoYa,” Lavie says. I can hear Yoel gulp, so I make a quick decision to save us from dismay and push him out the door. I give it a quick second and plunge to my doom. I can hear the wild screams behind me and know that Jazzy jumped as well. Then I hear deep screams and am happy to know Lavie jumped. I focus on Yoel in front of me, and he looks like a wild animal thrashing in the wind. I roll my eyes as best as I can with the wind ripping at my lashes. I dive towards him, and he looks very, very scared. “Arch your back and hold your arms out!” I yell to him. I know he hears me because he takes my advice. I look at our surroundings. People are dropping out of the sky alongside us. I look down and see what appears to be Brutal Boxcars, but Yoel is not directing his body towards it, instead he is dropping straight towards the mountains. Truly the best landing spot. When the ground seems close enough, I feel for something that could be pulled into a glider. I find a loose piece of fabric and yank it. Suddenly, I am physically taken aback and yanked into a slow descent. “Pull the loose fabric!” I yell, hoping Lavie, Jazzy, and Yoel can hear me. Suddenly, Yoel gets pulled back and is falling slowly alongside me. I hear a parachute open, but I can't tell who it is. I wait for the second parachute to open, but the sound doesn't bless my ears. Suddenly, I see someone careening down closer and closer to the ground. Her red heels are hanging loosely from her feet, Yulejacket. It's Jazzy. The realization hits me like a brick, she didn't open her parachute. I hear Yoel and Lavie try to call to her, but their yells get lost in the wind. Suddenly, I remember that when you equip your glider, you can un-equip it to free-fall again. I look for another latch that can curl my parachute back into my backpack. The latch I already pulled was to the left of me, so I felt around the right side of my backpack and found a button. I press it, closing my eyes in anticipation, and suddenly I'm free-falling again. I re-open my eyes and nose-dive towards Jazzy. I start to gain speed, and as I gain speed, the ground comes closer and closer. I yell to Jazzy again, but there is no hope against the howling wind. I dive faster, and finally I start gaining on her till we are neck and neck. I shift my weight to the left to get closer to her. “Jazzy, pull the latch! The one on the left!” She tilts her head as best as she can to look at me, “what’s a latch?” She screams back. I cringe and realize that when we entered the game, it was as if our brains were brought back to when we last played. I was fifteen, Jazzy was nine, Yoel was twelve, and Lavie was thirteen, ah, summer of 2025. So technically, Yulejacket is being piloted by nine-year-old Jazzy. I move in closer to her and find the latch myself. It's dangling in the wind, so it's hard to pull, but after a couple of swings, I grab it and yank it. Jazzy shoots back, I let out a sigh of relief, and yank my own parachute back open. 

Chapter Three: 

I strategically choose to land near the stone statue and porta-potty in case I need a quick escape. I watch as Yoel and Jazzy descend near the other side of the mountain, and Lavie is nowhere to be found. My feet touch the ground, and I instantly feel relieved. I press the button on the right side of my pack and retract my glider. My bag feels heavy, so I set it down. It hits the ground with a clunk, and I open it up. Inside, not only is there a map, but buried deep is a small axe, and below that, a pair of glasses. I lift the glasses carefully and put them on. Suddenly, a text appears: Welcome, Elegy2000. The text disappears, and suddenly I can see a green health bar towards the right corner of my vision, and in the top right, I see the health of PublicKazoo, Yoel1352, and YoYa201316; our usernames. To the upper left side, I see a more condensed version of the map, showing the storm circle. Below the map, I see how many players I've killed, how many are left, and how long till the next zone. I yank the glasses off, and it all disappears. I put them back on, and it's all there again. I lean down and pull the axe out of the bag and head towards the slurp barrels. I wield the axe over my head and strike. It takes a couple of hits, but the barrel finally cracks open and blue powder explodes over me. Suddenly, the blue shield bar above my green health bar increases. It's only at ten, so I try to rack my brain for any valuable Fortnite information. I remember that shield barrels give ten shield, small shield potions provide twenty-five shield, and big pots give you fifty. I also remember the max is one hundred, so I’m ninety away from full shield. Thank goodness there are two more shield barrels in front of me. I axe them, and my shield is at thirty. I do a 360 and realize that between the porta-potty and where the shield barrels were, there lies a chest. It's glowing golden. I kneel down and pop it open. Inside a gun with a green aura, a fury assault rifle, an uncommon one. Jazzy used to love this gun. Also, in the chest lie two cartridges of long ammo and one medkit. I slide my bag over towards me and place the medkit inside. I click one of the ammo cartridges into the gun and toss the other one in my bag. I zip the bag up, sling it over my shoulder, and stand up. I look around and realize that I can see Lavie’s, Jazzy’s, and Yoels usernames hovering above them wherever they are. Yoel seems to be right next to me or below me. I again find myself racking my brain, and remember that under the mountain there should be a tunnel, but how to get there is the question. Before doing another 360, I stop myself and head instinctively towards the porta-potty. I take a deep breath, open the door, step inside, and close the door. Before I could let out a breath, the floor drops, and I'm sliding at immense speeds. It’s pitch black, and I can't help but scream. My hair flails, and my skin seems to expand. After what feels like mere seconds, I am dropped into another porta-potty, right onto a toilet. “Ew,” I gag. I stand up and open the door, and I'm in a tunnel, just like I remembered. I look around, no sight of Yoel. “Yoel?” I call out, but my voice just echoes right back at me. I look for his username and see YoYa201316 hovering over the trash can, and I can't help but grin. I take a step closer to the trash, and suddenly Yoel springs out of the trash and jumps on me. We both laugh. “Ah, the good days,” Yoel says as he looks into the distance. He seems to be lost in a memory. His smile fades, and he just stares blankly, but then he snaps out of it. “Where did you get those sick glasses?” I smile, open his bag for him, and grab his glasses. I hand them over, and he nods his head, thanking me. He puts them on, “whoa, this is wild, it's just like the game.” I nod. “Let's go find Lavie and Jazzy.” I squint my eyes, searching for their usernames. I spot their usernames and head towards them. I hear Yoel's footsteps behind me and hear him loading his gun. None of us has any kills because it counts how many kills the team has, and the counter is at zero. Also, there are sixty-seven people left. I walk a little faster, it's not smart to be a team divided. We emerge from the tunnel, and the sun hits me like a brick. To the left of me, sanctuary! A car, a beautiful red Whiplash. I crack a wicked grin, and I run towards it. I open the door and plop into the driver's seat. I turn the ignition on and the engine roars. The door to the right of me opens, and Yoel enters the car. “Buckle up,” I whisper, and he obliges. I do the same, take a breath, and step on the gas. 

Chapter Four: 

The car takes off quickly, and I watch as the speedometer goes from zero to sixty. I maneuver the car to face Jazzy's username, Yoel1352. We drive on and off the road, recklessly, just like the good old days. In no time, we make it to Jazzy. She is scrambling around Brutal Boxcars in search of good loot. I should probably be doing the same, considering I only have a green fury assault rifle and a thirty shield. I stop the car and get out, not even bothering to close the car door. I head towards the main building and instantly find another glowing chest, but this one has a blue aura, not gold. It's a rare chest. I kneel down and get excited as I open it, and to my delight, I find a Sentinel Pump Shotgun with a purple aura! It's an epic, which is a lot better than green. I also find a Surgefire SMG with a blue aura. My loadout just keeps getting better. But the chest holds more than two guns, it also has a big pot of shield. I drop my fury assault rifle and pick up the big pot. I unhook the lid and quickly scarf down the blue liquid. To my surprise, it tastes like blueberries. I don't really like blueberries. When I finish, I wipe my lips with my arm and check my shield bar. Eighty! I stand back up, carrying a fresh loadout. I have two guns that are perfect for battle, but the question is where to put them. In the game, one has an inventory where they can quickly switch between guns whenever they need to, but this is different. There is no inventory I can put my guns in, so the only place to put them is my backpack. But there has to be another solution. I feel around my body to see if maybe there is a giant pocket or hook I can attach my shotgun to. My hands make their way down to my hips, and I stop. I feel a belt with three hooks. Eureka! I take my shotgun and find a small hole near the handle, and I slip it into one of the hooks, and in my hand I hold the SMG. 

We spent a good chunk of time at Brutal Boxcars, and I know this because there are now thirty-five people left instead of sixty-seven from when I last looked. Lavie finally decided to join us, and Yoel had a good idea. He decided that we should camp at Brutal Boxcars till the next zone. We all met up in the main building and shared our loadouts. Jazzy recited her loadout first: “a green fury assault rifle, a medkit, a blue Oni shotgun, and two minis.” Lavie went next: “a legendary veiled precision SMG, a blue hyperburst pistol, and a green Sentinel Pump Shotgun.” I nod my head, of course, Lavie has a good loadout, he traveled like half the map to get it! Then Yoel went: “I have a medkit, a blue fury assault, a green Sentinel Shotgun, a green veiled precision SMG, and two big pots.” I then recited my loadout to the group, which consisted of a medkit, a purple Sentinel Pump Shotgun, and a blue Surgefire SMG. I looked at the small map in the corner of my vision and noticed we aren't in the zone anymore. “Guys, we've got to go, the storm is coming soon.” Everybody stands up, and we walk out towards the next zone. We passed by the car, Yoel and I drove, but it could only seat two people, so we had to walk, and we walked very slowly. We stop to check our surroundings, the scenery. Everything feels so surreal. I still can't believe I'm here right now and not in the nursing home. The animated clouds still hang above us, and the fake trees sway in the wind. I would expect everything to smell plastic-like, but the air is fresh, like in real life. When I look over at Yoel, Lavie, and Jazzy, I still get taken aback because I'm not used to them looking like their skins. I'm used to seeing wrinkly, short, graying people. We continue to walk and find ourselves trekking up a mountain, a forest ahead of us. Suddenly, a bullet whizzed past my ear with a sharp zip, and I could tell it was a bullet because it made contact with Jazzy, square in the left buttcheek. She stops, but then explodes into a series of reactions. “Something bit me,” she hollers, clutching her behind, blood dripping out. She dashes towards the thicket of trees ahead of us. Before I can follow, more bullets race by me. I instinctively sprint into the woods, and luckily, no bullets make contact. I can hear Yoel yelling in a high-pitched voice, “we are under attack!” I ignore him and follow Jazzy's trail of blood. I find her crouching behind a big tree. She looks pale, like she's about to faint any second. I walk over to her, and she jumps, “you scared me!” she whispers. “Sorry,” I whisper back. I slowly walk over to her and kneel down beside her. I sling my backpack off and pull out my medkit. I pop it open, and inside is a cream. I stare at it confused, then, like a lightbulb moment, it hits me, someone has to rub the ointment on the wound. I hold the cream up, “this is gonna be awkward,” I say, making an apologetic face at Jazzy. 

Chapter Five: 

“We have to be better. We can't expect to win this game if we aren't going to fire a single shot at anybody," Yoel says, as we continue to hike up the mountain. “You’re right, we can't focus on the risk of death, we have to focus on the chance of winning,” Lavie says from behind me. I look at Jazzy, who looks just as confused as I am, and it doesn't make any sense. “I almost died today, and you guys just ran off into the woods like a bunch of sissies!” Jazzy adds to the conversation. I roll my eyes. “We ran because we were scared,” I say. Yoel stops dead in his tracks, “I was not scared.” I lock eyes with Lavie and Jazzy, and we all burst out laughing. “I hear you scream like a girl, Yoel,” Lavie chuckles. Yoel shakes his head and continues walking. I look up at the small map, fifteen people left. “Well, actually, us not getting into any fights has maybe been a good thing. There are only fifteen people left, and that's including us.” Everybody nods at my comment, and we continue to walk. When we make it to the crest of the hill, I take in my surroundings yet again. I can see Crime City from where we are, its neon signs glowing ominously, and the flocks of birds fly over the city repeatedly. But something feels odd. As I stand up on this mountain, something catches my eyes. I notice that the sky curves down towards the end of the map, creating a dome. I squint my eyes, trying to refocus them, and the curvature is gone. I shake my head. I must have imagined it. Suddenly, I hear the sound of grass shifting, and not from the wind. I turn around and creep towards the side of the cliff, and there it is, a team of four, right below us. My breath gets caught in my throat, and I wave my hand to signal to Yoel, Lavie, and Jazzy. Yoel appears right beside me, and his eyes widen. Before I can devise a plan, he jumps down, gun at the ready, and starts shooting like a madman. All four players turn around and immediately start to shoot back. I can see in the corner of my vision, Yoel's shield going down. I can't just stand here, so I make a rational decision and jump right in after him. But instead of spewing bullets randomly, I pick a target and shoot. I can feel people shooting me, but I don't feel any pain, only dull bruises. I realize that my shield is keeping me alive. My shield bar is going down, but I ignore it, and instead, I decide to focus on shooting the Midas skin. My SMG shoots quickly, and I feel it shake in my grasp. It's hard for me to control it at first, but I quickly get the hang of it. I train the gun at Midas and fire rapidly, and in mere seconds, he's knocked to the ground, bleeding out. But before I have time to grieve, I feel a blinding pain in my shoulder. I’ve been shot. By now, Lavie and Jazzy have joined the fight, and there are two remaining players from the other team. I again aim my gun at another player and shoot, but I quickly run out of bullets. I drop my gun to the floor, unhook my shotgun, and take aim. I yank the pump and pull the trigger, and the bullet lodges itself right between his eyes, and he is down. Yoel eliminates the final player, “get down, girl!” he yells, and before I can kneel down to try and maybe help the knocked players, they evaporate, leaving their backpack and weapon behind. The adrenaline rush leaves me, and the immense pain in my shoulder returns. I grasp the wound, and blood runs from my fingers. I don't have a medkit, but I remember Jazzy saying she had one. “Jazzy,” I manage to say, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. “I could use your medkit right now,” she turns towards me, looking bewildered. “Oh, right,” she kneels down and fishes it out of her backpack. She opens it up, gets the cream, and hands it to me. I lift up my sleeve above my shoulder and open the cream. I pump out a pea-sized amount and rub it over my wound. I take a sharp breath, and my vision goes a bit blurry due to the pain, but I keep rubbing. Suddenly, my health bar goes from seventy-two to one hundred, and the bleeding stops, and so does the pain. I instantly feel better, and I assess the damage. Both Yoel and I are at zero shield, Lavie's at fifty, and Jazzy is at one hundred. Of course, she is, she probably didn't fire a single shot. All in all, we are in bad shape, but we did get into a fight and win. I look at the kill counter, and I have two. I killed two people. Me. I don't know if they were real, or what life they have outside of this game, but I ended it, maybe for good. I feel myself begin to spiral, but Lavie snaps me out of it when he says, “uh guys, look, it's the storm,” and he points behind me. I turn around, and a large wall of purple is moving towards me. I crane my head and still can't see the top of the storm wall. The storm advances so fast that we don't have time to collect the loot of the new deceased. We sprint, but we are at the crest of the hill. I stand at the top and look down, a dizzying drop to the bottom. “What are we gonna do?” Jazzy cries. “Slide,” Yoel says, and he runs past me, sliding on his butt down the hill, a puff of dust following him. Lavie goes next. Jazzy and I stand atop the hill, frozen. Suddenly, the storm envelops me, and I feel instant pain. Acid rain pours down on us, burning holes in our clothes. I take Jazzy by the hand, and we slide down the hill before it burns through our skin, and in what feels like minutes, we emerge from the storm, still sliding down the great hill. 

Chapter Six: 

We emerge from the storm relatively unscathed. The storm dealt Jazzy and me a total of four damage, but none of us wanted to waste any more medkits. As a team, we continue to trek onward and into the next zone. We are in pretty rough shape. None of us is at full shield, but we trudge on, more determined than ever. Yoel leads the pack. I don't know why, but it feels right. I walked directly behind, then Jazzy, and lastly Lavie. The next zone is in Foxy Floodgate. There are twelve people left, we are so close. Not including us, there are only two more teams. If we hide and let me fight, we could make it to the top two teams and possibly win. I recite my plan to the rest of the team, and we are all in agreement. We arrive at Foxy Floodgate, and just in time, too. The storm is starting to re-advance. Yoel takes us down the zipline and into the building. We walk through, and our footsteps echo in the empty bunker. There are open chests with no good loot around. “A corner with a quick escape route is ideal,” I say, breaking the silence, but not breaking the tension. Everybody is stressed, and it's evident. Jazzy is the first to find a good spot. It's a room under a set of stairs, but there is no quick escape, and before anyone can argue, we hear more footsteps echoing. We all freeze up, my heart beating in my throat. I feel my skin ripple into goosebumps, and I quietly take everyone into the empty room under the stairs. Lavie leaves the door slightly ajar, and we huddle in the corner furthest from the door, waiting. The steps continue, the sound swallowing us. I'm a mix of fear and stress, and a splash of determination. I never realized how high stakes this game is. When playing at home and you lose, you are physically safe, far from danger, but here you are in danger. The footsteps get louder, and I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for gunfire, but the steps stop. “All clear!” I hear a male voice yell as the footsteps start to recede. What a weird experience. This whole time, I have not heard anyone speak, aside from us. In the game, you don't hear other teams, but I guess here you do. My eyes flutter open, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I look at my teammates, and they look just as relieved as I do. Jazzy even looks a little pale. I hold my hand out in front of us, "Unreich United on three?” I whisper to them, waiting for their hands to pile on top of mine. Yoel is the first to place his hand, and he is grinning like an idiot. Jazzy joins in “ooh baby here we go!” I giggle, and we all turn to Lavie, waiting for him to join. “Lavie,” Jazzy whispers urgently, life returns to Lavie's eyes, “oh yeah, sorry! I wasn't paying attention.” I roll my eyes, of course, classic Lavie. He slaps his hand on top of Jazzy, and I count us down, “one…two…three,” “Unreich United,” we all whisper with gusto. A new set of determination fills our eyes, like a silent agreement. We all come to the consensus that we will win, or die trying. We sit in the tiny room under the stairs, plotting our victorious plan. 

Chapter Seven: 

We crouch on the floor of the jeep, careful not to be spotted by the other teams. After our close call with another team, we decided to have a new approach to winning this game. We sit in the car, subtly, and when the zone changes, we hit the gas and drive away, getting the high ground before the other two teams. I've never sat on the floor of a Fortnite car, and it's as uncomfortable as one would expect. I'm forced to tuck my knees in like a ball and duck my head so I won’t hit it on the steering wheel. Yoel sits on the floor next to me while Jazzy and Lavie crouch in the back, giggling. I stare at the map in the corner of my vision. The next zone will be revealed to us in ten seconds, and sadly, there are still two teams aside from us left. The countdown for the next zone continues: five, four, three, two, one, a new zone appears. I shoot up from my uncomfortable position, my knees cracking, and plop down into the chair. I don't even give everyone else a chance to sit up before I hit the gas. This car doesn't take off like the Whiplash, but I still slam my foot on the pedal. As the car roars to life, so does the radio, the Vengaboys, We Like To Party! starts playing and I lock eyes with Yoel, both of us cracking a wicked smile, Lavie and Jazzy laughing in the back, and honestly, it's the most cinematic moment of my life, and that says a lot. The scenery blurs, and it's just us and the music. I've lived through my fair share of moments, and I've appreciated all of them, but not like this. As age creeps up on you, you start to notice the things you should have appreciated, for instance, playing Fortnite with your cousins. I will never forget this moment. I tighten my grip on the steering wheel and hit a hard left, and I can hear Jazzy and Lavie go flying in the back. We are on a straight shot to the next zone, the music blasting in our ears. None of us try to lower the volume and ruin the moment, even though we all know the music is giving away our location. Luckily, the next zone has a small hill in the distance, and I direct the car that way. The wheels struggle a little going up, but we make it safe and sound. “Guys, oh my gosh! One more team! The other team probably died in the storm.” Jazzy yells from behind me. My heart starts to beat faster, blood pumping, adrenaline rushing. We have the high ground, this should be an easy win. I look at Yoel, and I can tell he knows what I'm thinking because he says, “when we do good, we do bad.” He's right. We love selling, and Yoel loves pointing out the fact that we can never finish. Suddenly, something caught my eye. People! They're emerging from the fields. I point at them, “guys, they're here.” I have to yell over the music, but again, nobody lowers the volume. “Guns at the ready” Lavie says as we all load new ammo cartridges into our guns. “Wait!” Jazzy screams, and we all look at her, concerned, “does anyone have long ammo?” We all smack our heads in unison. Of course, this girl never has long ammo. Lavie hands her a cartridge, and she locks it into the gun. I pat my shotgun at my hip and take a long, deep breath. “For the win!” Yoel yells, and we all holler. We step out of the car looking very battle-ready. This would have been an amazing scene for a movie. But the first gunfire breaks our fantasy, and we duck behind the car, We Like To Party! still blasting. Gunshots ping off the metal of the truck as we take cover, trying not to leave any body parts exposed. Yoel is the first to move, he sprints towards the nearest tree and takes cover behind it. “They’re coming closer!” He yells, warning us. I decide to unfreeze, and I sprint towards a nearby tree, getting a better angle of the people coming. I lift my gun up and take aim, but before I can fire, I see Lavie out of my peripheral vision run towards the oncoming team. “No, Lavie!” I hear Jazzy yell, but I take advantage of this moment. Lavie dove headfirst into battle in order to give Yoel and me an opening to shoot someone. I step out from behind the tree and start firing at the person closest to me, and they’re knocked down. “One down,” I yell over the roar of the gunfire and the music from the car. I don't hear Yoel yelling about killing anyone, so I assume he didn't take advantage of the opportunity Lavie gave us. As I’m about to call Lavie to take cover, I watch as a bullet enters his head. I gasp. He stands limp for a mere second and falls to the ground, crawling on his hands and knees, blood pouring from his skull. My heart beats faster, like it's trying to escape this battle scene, and honestly, running seems like a pretty good option. But I can't run, not because I'm brave, but because I'm shocked, frozen to the spot. The other team is not in any state of shock because they continue to fire without hesitation, and by some miracle, I was not hit. A bullet lodges itself in the tree, inches from my head, and I take that as my cue to wake up and get moving. We have to win this for Lavie. “Leeba, they're advancing towards me!” I hear Yoel yelling from the other side of the car. I have to act fast, and luckily, I do. I run and jump into the driver's seat, step on the gas, aiming the steering wheel at the other team, and make direct contact. I knock them over like bowling pins. One manages to jump out of the way, but the other two get hit, and I know I dealt a good deal of damage. I feel pretty good with myself, but then I remember, Jazzy! I left her completely exposed, and she tends to freeze up in times of danger. I roll out of the car and start shooting at one of the players still recovering from the hit. I can see Yoel shooting up a storm at the others, but I can also see his health get lower and lower, and so is mine. With all this adrenaline, I didn't notice the bullets lodging themselves into me. I unhook my shotgun and blast it into the guy's head, and he's done, crawling on the ground, bleeding. Two more people left, and they are destroying Yoel. I run and shotgun one of the players, and they turn to face me. A Peely skin. Before I can fire a shot, they return the favor, and a bullet lodges itself into my chest. The wind is knocked out of me, my health at ten. One more hit and I'm done for. I grimace. I won't let this banana make mincemeat out of me. I fire my shotgun one more time, and, unluckily for me, so does Peely. The bullet hits us both in the chest, and we fall to the ground. As I crawl on the floor, I feel the adrenaline slowly wear off. The pain from my open wounds washes over me. I ignore the pain and watch as Yoel battles the final player. I know Yoel can defeat him, but with only fifteen health left, our chances are not looking too good. As my vision starts to dim and the pain starts to take a toll on me, I remember it all. You know that theory that before death, people have seen their lives flash before their eyes? Well, that's what is happening right now. It all comes back to me. I remember pushing Yoel in a stroller down the halls of his old house, screaming and yelling with joy. I remember filming Jazzy's first steps on my iPad in upstate New York. I remember when Lavie and Yoel had their first performance in front of the bus stop in Montreal, and I wanted to be a part of it so bad. I remember our first HJLJ performance in Vermont, and I remember planning in the bathroom two minutes before the show. I remember our light shows and our dance parties that we would have. I remember it all. I remember going to Montreal by myself just to see them and going to La Ronde. I remember the feeling of pride that swept through me when Yoel and Jazzy rode their first roller coaster with me. These memories have stood by me my whole life, and as the doors of old age opened, I thought the doors to these memories had closed, but they all came rushing back. I welcomed them with open arms and an open heart. These memories matter. I watch as Yoel gets knocked to the ground, helpless. It all rests on Jazzy's shoulders, but it's not the outcome I'm worried about. I'm more fulfilled than I have ever been, and we didn't even win. But we didn't need a win to enjoy this, and that's what we have been missing this whole time. In the moment, we're so caught up about whether we're going to win or lose, but in the long run, we don't remember the wins and the losses, we remember the memories and who we made them with. I watch as my health bar gets lower and lower, and as my vision gets darker and darker. I don't know what will happen when we die, but I do know that I've lived a good life with good people, and I wouldn't do anything differently. As my vision comes to complete darkness, I know the game is over, but the memories we have made will last forever. 

THE END