Imposter System

Chapter 17: Battle Royale (2)

As soon as Matt got a visual of the area around the main path, he determined two locations to use as cover. He instantly chose the second location, a building with two floors. He dove through a broken window and tumbled back to a crouching position. The reason he chose this spot was because he had been watching it from the alley for a while. It was the least likely to be occupied by someone. However, he knew he couldn't wait around.

Although no one shot at him when he ran, Matt could feel he was being watched as he ran. They probably wanted to surround him. Since four people were already eliminated, they didn't want to take any chances. If Matt eliminates just two more people, all of their effort will be in vain. Matt checked the back wall of the building and saw it was impassable.

The only way to go from here was up. Matt carefully climbed the stairs and saw the empty floor with a wall missing. He approached the edge and looked around. They wouldn't go out into the open to attack him, and this building is practically impossible to enter unless you go through the front. This would be a good last stand. However, Matt wasn't interested in being the hunted. He looked around the edge of the second floor and spotted something strange.

To a gamer, this would look like clipping. One of the pieces of rubble was intersecting with a metal wall. The jump looked safe, but since one of the two objects was a projection, he couldn't be completely sure what was underneath. No one was in any obvious hiding places. However, he couldn't be certain. Matt was not an expert marksman and he only had his instinct to rely on. There could be a spot he wasn't seeing. While he considered jumping or not, he heard the loud horn blare and one of the candidates get eliminated.

Matt didn't try to make sense of the situation and used the moment the horn rang as a distraction to jump. At the end of his arc, bullets hit the rubble above him, but he was already passed the projection. It turned out to be the concrete rubble that was the projection. When Matt fell through it, he almost got skewered by a real metal rod sticking straight up. A few inches to the right and he would be seriously wounded.

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It turned out that someone had in fact been watching him. However, they must have checked the list of names to see who was eliminated. For that split second, Matt had a window to jump. Now that he was relatively safe, he started thinking about that elimination. The first thing he thought was someone was convinced to give him a helping hand. However, that likely wasn't it.

Whoever manipulated things to this point wants to see Matt's skill. Therefore, whoever just eliminated someone was either extremely paranoid or had a personal falling out. Matt couldn't see past the projection so he wasn't able to check who was eliminated. This was good news for him, though. A double agent would create chaos among the others and make them easier targets.

Matt began to check his surroundings with the barrel of his gun. He needed to figure out which sections were projections and which were real. Soon, he discovered a way out of this spot and by his estimation, it would take him back to the outer area of the stage. Once he reached that area, he could come up from behind those in hiding looking for him. He climbed the wall and jumped over to the path on the other side. He had essentially gone all the way across the stage from one end to the other.

When Matt looked around the area, he saw signs of someone that had walked this path. Since they were on the complete opposite side of him, they likely didn't both covering their tracks or being stealthy. He followed the trail and saw it led into a building that was mostly intact. He couldn't find any windows, but he was certain someone was hiding in there. He walked over to the door that was barely on its hinges and gave a standard knock. Afterwards, he ducked around the corner and pointed his gun.

"Marco, you're late. Did you see where he went?"

The door was pushed open just enough to reveal an arm. Matt rolled to the side and shot toward where his chest would be and heard the guy curse. Now wasn't the time to revel in his elimination though. He turned toward the path that continued onward around and started running. The sound of the horn of elimination covered the sound of his feet pushing gravel around him. As soon as the horn stopped, he came to a stop and ducked under a broken metal wall.

Once he learned there was a second person, he knew staying at that house would be dangerous. He used the cover provided by the loud horn to reposition. The trail didn't show any signs of having been used, but that could just mean whoever went down this path was very cautious. Matt waited in his hiding spot for a while. Whoever was supposed to come and meet with the person he just eliminated didn't seem to be coming.

As he was watching the path in front of him, Matt suddenly had a realization. There was no one on the list named Marco. He cursed to himself and quickly left his hiding place and ran back to the building. He wasn't sure what the man was planning by lying and then getting himself eliminated. Once he entered the building, he looked out the window and saw two people in hiding spots aiming down toward the central path. He only saw the hint of metal from their guns, but he now knew their position.

The person who sacrificed himself here seemed to have some disagreements with those two. It was likely that when there were six left, he was told he still wouldn't get a position in the agreement. He probably couldn't directly act against them, so he ousted himself to lead Matt to them. Then, this means the last person was the betrayer. If he could take out one, he could take out three. There was a high chance that the betrayer took this as an opportunity to get first.

Matt determined the path to take for either building the two marksmen were hiding in and decided to go for the one on the left. This one had a clear shot to the building in the right. His goal was to take both out before the other one ran. He crawled through a gap in the rubble that led to the back of the house he was aiming for. Once he came out, he quickly went up the exterior stairs. He saw the man completely focused on the road below and not even considering someone sneaking up on him.

'This must be why you have been training for two years and still couldn't get into the Strike squads.'

He came up close behind him and released one painful bullet to his back. At this range, it would certainly leave a welt. As soon as he was eliminated, he started cursing in pain. Not giving him a second glance, Matt pointed toward the opposite window and released several bursts. Two horns played back-to-back and Matt was relieved. However, he didn't expect the person he just hit to be out of his mind.

Matt heard the distinct sound of the PL91 increasing in strength behind him. He turned around and saw the man he just eliminated give him a smug look. Matt had no reason to doubt that he just set his weapon to maximum strength. His eyes went red and his pupils dilated. The color of his iris changed from brown to a sickly green. Before the man had a chance to fire at him, Matt tackled him. He hooked his hand around the man's neck and took him down the side of the building in that grab.

"M-monster..."

In his last conscious moments, the man fired a burse of fully powered rounds, grazing the side of Matt's leg and obliterating the building behind them. A large hole appeared in the pillar that was holding up the building and it began to collapse. Meanwhile, Matt was bleeding from the slight graze of his leg. The man he tackled from the second floor was completely unconscious. Matt checked his pulse and it was very weak.

'It seems I may have broken his neck What got into me? Did the fear of death bring out the monster that I am?'

Due to the blood loss, Matt was unable to continue this battle. He cursed at himself for leaving his back to an enemy. He had considered this stage as a contest rather than a real fight at the very end. He was too excited for winning that he forgot his instincts for a second. He expected to hear the sound of his elimination but instead saw the various projects turn off and the rubble shifting. The screen still showed Matt O'Connely and Lee Jackson as active.