The Alien Conspiracy Read online

  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.

  Fortnite® is a registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc.

  The Fortnite game is copyright © Epic Games, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

  Sky Pony Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected].

  Sky Pony® is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.

  Visit our website at www.skyponypress.com.

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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

  Cover design by Brian Peterson

  Cover artwork by Alan Brown

  Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4434-9

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-5107-4435-6

  Printed in Canada

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE: JIN

  CHAPTER TWO: ZANE

  CHAPTER THREE: ASHA

  CHAPTER FOUR: JAX

  CHAPTER FIVE: JIN

  CHAPTER SIX: ZANE

  CHAPTER SEVEN: ASHA

  CHAPTER EIGHT: JAX

  CHAPTER NINE: JIN

  CHAPTER TEN: ZANE

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: ASHA

  CHAPTER TWELVE: ZANE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  CHAPTER ONE:

  JIN

  Freefall was the most exciting part of training. It had twice the excitement and none of the danger of actually falling to the ground at 200 kilometers an hour. Even though I knew it was my avatar hurtling toward the ground, I heard the rushing air and felt the wind whipping around my face and hair. I scanned the island below, which looked just like the map from up above, and located my target—Haunted Hills. I adjusted my direction and out of the corner of my eye saw Asha, Zane, and Jax do the same, as if we were playing a silent game of follow-the-leader.

  This was my first launch as squad leader, and I was surprised to find I was not too nervous. I mean, the stakes weren’t that high. It was a playground training session, not a Battle Royale, but still, I was responsible for picking the landing spot and calling the shots. When we were almost in position over Haunted Hills, I pressed the button to deploy my glider. The wind stopped rushing. A calm silence took its place. I had nothing to do but float down and enjoy the ride. This was my favorite part of training. It was the only quiet time I had to myself to think, prepare, and look at the scenery.

  The ground came up beneath my feet too quickly. We all hit the ground running in the northern part of the sector. In all our trips down to the island, this was our first time in Haunted Hills, although I had studied the maps and video replays late into the night to prepare for this moment.

  My communicator crackled to life, and Zane’s cheerful voice came through loud and clear. “Where to, squad leader?” He was speaking his native Australian English, but his words came through in perfect Korean thanks to the universal translator lodged in my ear. I wasn’t sure if Asha heard his words come through in English or Swahili, as both were spoken in her native country of Kenya, and Jax had told me he heard everything loud and clear in English spoken with a Chicago accent.

  “Let’s check these stone buildings and chapels. I heard there may be some good loot chests out in the open here, but stay low. I saw another squad land just south of us,” I warned them. I slinked around the area, keeping my guard up and my eyes open. In the relative quiet of the moment, I had a chance to look around, noticing the low stone monuments that looked like memorials to former residents. If there were any ghosts or mysteries lurking on the island, I got the feeling they’d be here.

  “Payday!” Jax called out.

  “Did you say Mayday?” Asha called. “Where are you? Do you need help?”

  “Your com is acting up again, Asha. He said ‘payday’,” I clarified, worrying that Asha’s com might be malfunctioning again. “And what does payday mean, exactly, Jax?”

  “It means I found a chest. Now get over here and collect this loot before the big guy with the mech suit and the scary pickaxe comes back,” Jax shouted.

  I ran up the side of a nearby gravestone and vaulted to the top of a low chapel roof and crouched down, scanning the area for the cadet Jax mentioned. There was no sign of Jax’s scary pickaxe guy, but I saw Jax just below me and another squad headed toward Haunted Hills in the distance. I jumped down and landed next to Jax, who looked up, startled.

  “Where did you come from?” I pointed up behind me and Jax shook his head. “I’ll never get used to your catlike pouncing and sneaking up on people. I’m just glad you’re on my side, or you could have sniped me ten times over by now.”

  I laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” I looked at the glowing cache of weapons scattered around and gave Jax first choice, then picked up something lightweight and short range for myself. Haunted Hills was a crowded little place, so a long-range sniper wouldn’t be of much use. “What did big pickaxe guy look like? Strange he should be traveling alone so early in the drop.”

  Jax shook his head. “I didn’t get a good look at him. I only saw him from behind. He was wearing a mech suit. As soon as I landed, he threw down a bouncer and took off.”

  Asha came running over and stopped right in front of me without a word. “What’s up, Asha?” In response, she shrugged and tapped her communicator. Her com had gone out again. That suit was more glitchy than a fake highlight reel. I reached out and fiddled with a loose wire at the top of her avatar’s headset where the signal dish was mounted. There was a loud crackling sound, then Asha’s voice came through midsentence. “… think that might have been the problem. Oh! It’s back! Hello!” She smiled cheerfully and leaned in for a hug. “Thank you for the patch, Jin.” An avatar hug is a strange thing—you don’t feel it exactly, but you know it’s happening.

  Asha picked up a weapon and a small chug jug. “You guys mind if I drink this?” We both shook our heads, and she drank it down, activating a shield. “I’ll pop out and see if we have company,” she said and then took off around the corner.

  “There’s a squad headed this way from the east,” I told her, then searched my map. “Have you guys seen Zane?”

  “I’m all right,” Zane called out. “Found a nice quiet chapel with a fair bit of loot inside. Picked up some bandages and a big fat chug jug, too.” We heard drinking sounds through the com. “Shields up!” he called out.

  Jax stood up and peered out over the gravestone cautiously. “Anyone else see that big mean guy I was talking about before?” I shook my head. “I’m going to head for higher ground, if that’s okay,” Jax asked me. I nodded and watched him run off like a snake, weaving his way around the gravestones for cover. I liked being the leader for once. I felt the responsibility for my squad mates, but there was also a great feeling of freedom.

  Grateful this was just a playground exercise, I decided to throw caution to the wind and explore. I headed to the nearby chapel where I found Zane hacking at the floor. “Found another chest,” he announced when he saw me. I nodded and headed upstairs. The building itself was fairly normal. I peeked out a window and saw the other squad inching closer. It looked almost like they were stalking something. Off to the left, Jax was chopping down a tree for supplies. The fallen tree caught the attention of the approaching squad, and they opened fire on him. He ducked for cover, and I aimed my weapon out the window, regretting that I had chosen the short-range one. Fortunately, Jax hadn’t been hit. He popped up and shot back, scattering the squad. I recognized one of them as she ran closer to the church. It was Blaze, our former squad mate we had unanimously voted out when we had to pare our team down to four members.

  I hoped she wasn’t holding a grudge. “We have company,” I announced over the com. “Blaze’s squad is here, and it seems like their fire is not friendly. Zane, she’s headed toward the church. If you aren’t prepared for battle, I’d recommend taking the western exit.”

  “Gotcha loud and clear, squad leader!” Zane called out, then crashed through the western wall of the building and ran southward. I quickly smashed all the furniture I could find, collected the materials, broke through the upper wall, and threw down an exit ramp. I tucked and rolled down the ramp, did a cat leap, and landed on the ground. One of Blaze’s teammates was running toward me with her weapon drawn. “Looks like they’re using this playground session to sharpen their stalking skills,” I warned my squad. “Too bad for them. Take evasive maneuvers. Remember, our mission today is exploration and strategy. Hold your fire unless it’s for defense,” I reminded them.

  I did a dash vault over a nearby gravestone and ran to meet up with the rest of the squad to the south, just as we had planned. That was when I saw him, the big guy Jax had seen when we landed. From the back, his hulking mass was bigger than any of the other avatars, and he was carrying a scary looking pickaxe I had never seen in the registry. I thought I knew every cadet in the
program, but I had never seen this suit before. I crouched low behind a bush and tried my best to stay invisible, but something must have caught his attention. He turned to look straight at me as if he knew exactly where I was hiding. I held my breath and tried to see his face through the leaves, but something was wrong. Either it was a trick of the light or the leaf cover was too thick, but I could have sworn there was no face looking out at me from behind the helmet. I saw a flash of pink, but before I could look closer, something else caught his attention off to the side, and he bounded off after it, leaving me shaken and confused.

  I heard sniper shots through my com. “Everyone okay?” I asked.

  “Yep. Just fired a warning shot to keep Blaze’s teammate off my tail,” Jax announced. They would be wise to steer clear of Jax. He was a sharpshooter with a sniper.

  I checked the map readout and located my squad mates. They were all nearby in Haunted Hills, but not so close together that we’d run the risk of getting eliminated at the same time again. That’s the kind of mistake a team only makes once. Especially since when it happened to us the first time, it led to public humiliation in front of all the cadets in the program. I trotted over to Jax’s location atop one of the hills to the south. I told myself it was so I could get a good idea of the landscape from above, but really, I wanted to talk about the strange cadet we had both seen.

  I could see the tower Jax was building well before I caught up with him. He was a clumsy builder, putting ramps where he should have used walls and wasting materials by building out. It wasn’t an efficient sniper tower at all, but I wasn’t there to judge him. This was a practice round, after all. “What’s up?” I asked as I came alongside him. “Need any help?”

  “Nah. Just practicing my builds,” he replied, not missing a beat. “It’s not my strong suit, but it’s nice to build instead of destroy for a change.”

  His response surprised me. It was rare to get an opinion out of Jax. He usually just stuck to the facts. None of us knew much about him, other than what we had overheard the day we arrived. That if he hadn’t come to HQ to join the battle training, he would have gone to jail or a juvenile detention center. That was enough to scare the rest of us from asking too many questions. But after living with him and watching him for a few months, he didn’t seem all that scary. He mostly kept to himself, which is why I wasn’t expecting to get much out of him on the subject of the strange visitor we had both seen.

  “Any sign of the big guy with the pickaxe again?” I asked. Jax just shook his head and kept building. I stepped back and looked at what he had created. It wasn’t a sniper tower after all. It was actually a house, and a pretty nice one at that. “What are you building?” I asked.

  He stopped and looked at me before throwing down a floor and four walls. “Haven’t you ever seen a house before?”

  I felt my cheeks redden back at command center and hoped my avatar wasn’t blushing as well. I should have expected a snide comeback. “Looks good,” I stammered. “It’s a shame it will disappear as soon as we leave.” It really was shaping up to be a nice house.

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” he snapped, then took a deep breath. “Sorry. Forgot this was a team exercise. We don’t get any time to ourselves in this place, and it’s starting to get to me.”

  “I know how you feel,” I replied. As a boarding school kid, I was used to being around people day and night, and most of the time, it was pretty awesome. But even I needed to get away sometimes, which is why I started doing parkour. Being able to climb up unreachable rooftops gave me the escape I always needed back home. Here in the HQ bunker under the endless sand dunes, the only rooftops were down on the island, and they all went away once the storm closed in. “Take your time and meet up with us down in Pleasant Park when you’re done. Looks like the storm eye won’t be closing in for a while today.”

  “If you guys are done with your coffee break, I think we should head down to the next stop on our island tour,” Zane’s voice broke in. I had forgotten face-to-face chats were broadcast to the whole group. We didn’t have any secrets from each other in our squad, for better or for worse.

  “I hear you, Zane, but sometimes it’s nice to take advantage of playground mode to get in a little me time. Let’s all meet up at the main church when you guys are ready,” I replied.

  I ran down the hill and speed-vaulted over the gravestones, reaching the chapel in record time. It was great using an avatar for parkour. I wasn’t out of breath but still felt the thrill of overcoming obstacles and clearing my head as I ran. I had located and cleared out all the loot in the chapel while Zane and Asha were still making their way over, so I climbed to the roof and looked out across the landscape. Two moving figures caught my eye. I vaulted down to get a closer look. It was Blaze’s teammate—a girl who looked like an office-worker-turned-spy—and she was running away from the mysterious player in the mech suit. He was in hot pursuit, and the girl kept tripping over obstacles as she ran. He was closing in on her so quickly that she didn’t have time to draw her weapon. She threw a grenade behind her to slow him down, but he leaped over it, avoiding the explosion without breaking his stride. As he got closer, he didn’t draw a weapon. Instead, he jumped into the air and pounced on her, knocking her avatar to the ground. A drone appeared overhead almost immediately. The mysterious player looked up, shielding his face from the light, then disappeared into the forest.

  I waited for the girl’s avatar to parachute back down after her suit reset. I scanned the skies but didn’t see any sign of her. Could it be her suit had been damaged so much she couldn’t come back from a playground elimination? I didn’t wait to find out. I ran back to the chapel and waited for the rest of the team. Zane, Asha, and I arrived at the same time, and we sat down in the main room to regroup. We hadn’t been there long when Jax sauntered in and sat near us without a word. I nodded to him and then addressed the squad. “Did anyone see the drone beam that girl up?” I asked. They all nodded. “Did anyone see her parachute back down?” They looked at each other and then back to me. They hadn’t seen her either.

  “She probably took the opportunity to explore another part of the island,” Zane suggested.

  I shook my head. “Blaze would never stand for that. She likes her team to stick together in close formation,” I reminded them. She was a stickler for the rule book, even when it got her and her squad in trouble. I was glad she wasn’t on our squad anymore, even if that did mean she was now our mortal enemy on and off the battlefield. “I think that mysterious pickaxe guy damaged that recruit’s suit. That’s why we didn’t see it come down.” I paused and decided to share what I thought I saw, no matter how strange it seemed. After all, we shouldn’t be keeping secrets from each other. “I don’t think that guy is a cadet. I got a look at his face and … and … well, there wasn’t anything there. Just a pink blob …”

  There was a pause, then the three of them burst into laughter. I guess telling them wasn’t the right call after all.

  CHAPTER TWO:

  ZANE

  We all had a good laugh at Jin’s expense. A blob for a face? That was funny. Everyone’s eyes played tricks on them sometimes, but Jin was always ready to believe the unusual explanations over the rational ones.

  “So, who do you think it was, really?” I asked, opening the floor to other theories. I hoped that Jin might take the opportunity to come up with another, less-wacky interpretation.

  “I haven’t seen the guy, but maybe someone’s trying out a new avatar,” Asha suggested.

  “Or it could be Velasco experimenting with new training obstacles. Or a new way to keep an eye on us,” I offered.

  “I don’t think it had a face,” Jin said. I fought the urge to start laughing again, but Jin was deadly serious. He really thought he saw some kind of inhuman being.

  “Maybe it was a mutant,” Jax chimed in from the corner. I had forgotten Jax had seen him, too.

  I wondered if he knew about the mutant theory or if it was just a guess. “What makes you think that?” I asked cautiously.

  Jax shrugged. “He seemed big. And strong. He had faster reflexes than any cadet, and he pounced on that girl with all his strength instead of using his weapon.”