For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,121

wanted to prove themselves so they could become pros. Everyone was playing with all they had, because this was the PLG. It was a big fucking deal, and Rhaven was not going to throw it away for a little stupid glory.

The metallic taps of guns proved that pistols were a favorite weapon. The rattle of heavier weapons made it clear that not everyone was using them. Rhaven? She was moving quickly, trying to keep from being spotted, but her luck only held so long.

A guy dropped into her current trench, right in front of her. He shot, spotting her immediately, but there wasn't room to strafe. She still tried, jigging back and forth in the narrow space, all while watching her crosshairs cover and lose the enemy's head. Too much. Too fast. Giving up, she dropped her sights to his chest and let loose.

Five shots. That was what it took to kill a person with body shots only. Unfortunately, this guy didn't suck. He got three off on her before the last one took him out. Hurting, knowing she was now vulnerable, Rhaven bolted. The tinging of her med pack rang out, the sound likely carrying on this map. For all she knew, it had marked her as prey, and the herd would be coming.

Hopping up, she left the trench and hit prone again. Crawling was slow, and it made her heart race, convinced that any second, someone would pitch a grenade at her, but it didn't happen. Instead, she seemed to be all alone. On her mini map, the markers were far away, and enough that it seemed like the fight was centralizing over there.

QQ would've run in. Void would've found a good line of sight and trusted his aim. Psyc would throw grenades. Murder would pick off the fools at the edges. She knew them all. Rhaven knew how they'd play. The problem was that she had to be careful. Maybe too careful, but so long as that timer was still counting, there wasn't any room for a stupid risk. Twenty seconds left.

She used the time to crawl toward a converging trench. Slowly, watching for someone to spot her. Rhaven's eyes darted from the landscape in the distance to the mini map in the corner, looking for a silhouette or a dot to let her know she should just run. Instead, she got nothing. The timer at the top reached zero, but the guns didn't stop. In three more paces - since she couldn't really call them steps - she reached the trench she wanted.

And it was filled with bodies. Players who'd been defeated were still in the world, unable to respawn. Rhaven reloaded her weapon, made sure she was ready, and then checked the leaderboards. There were only a few of them left. Everyone at the high table, it seemed, and one person named M0us. As ready as she could get, Rhaven moved in.

Almost immediately, M0us went down, killed by Void. A split second later, she turned the corner to see why everyone had ended up here. Four different trenches converged in a rounded area, almost like a gladiator arena, and all the big names were there. All of them were shooting. Rhaven got a hit on someone even as she backed up. QQ did the same, her dot moving well back in her trench.

A burst of gunfire proved they weren't all playing it safe. Rhaven wanted to rush in, but she needed the stats. She also couldn't win hiding around the corner. Playing it safe hadn't worked. Risking it all was what got her ahead. That was what had convinced her to come to her first PLG tournament, to dress like a woman when she did it, and to start embracing who she really was.

And even a loss didn't have to be a bad thing. Just look at her getting outed. She'd gotten a boyfriend out of it - and another guy hitting on her. Every instinct in her body said not to be stupid, but her experience said that sometimes stupid was smart. Sometimes, it really was better to go big or go home, and Rhaven had no safe home left for her.

She spun around the corner with her gun up just in time to see PBJ drop, killed by Knock. Void rushed in, only to have Murder focus fire on him. Rhaven turned and shot, helping her outfit mate out of habit. A barrage hit her side, proving that QQ was in the mess.