¨Have we secured all the convenience stores in the city?" I asked the nerdy boy.
"Yes, all of the stores have been looted." He replied back, his voice still shaky as ever.
"How much of the food was salvageable?"
"Only one quarter, but nobody else has this food, and the stores showed no signs of looting beforehand, so we're assured victory by now."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I've double checked all the maps of the city, and there was not a single convenience store that we didn't hit."
I spent some time thinking after learning this information, wanting to modify some of my plans accordingly.
"And how about Rank 2? Have you found any trace of them?"
"No, her team's earbuds are scattered all over the city, and it seems like her team has gone into complete radio silence."
"Were you able to hack into the radios between the Captains?"
"No, the Minders have made it impossible for me."
"Hmm... That's fine then, let's get moving."
"Where to?" Asked the nerdy guy, looking at all his heavy equipment apprehensively.
"To the tallest building in the area, of course."
...
"Move! Move! Move!" I shouted, a sense of urgency and worry in my voice.
Quickly running out with our guns pointed, we aimed them at the area that the gunshot had come from.
"Captain, there's no one there!"
"Dumbass! They must be hiding, do you think that Johnny died by himself?"
"Johnny could have just shot himself..."
"I'm the Captain and I said that I saw a shot come from over there!"
"Tch!"
I heard the click of a tongue, and by that point, my anger spilled over the edge of the proverbial cup.
You see, over the course of the past few days, I had only been able to hold myself together due to the fact that I knew that the Minders were always watching.
I was lacking food, water, and I hadn't been clean in several days. I was just extremely irritated because of all these factors combined.
"Who did it?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"D-did what?" Asked the scared voice of one of my lackeys.
I walked over to the lackey that had spoken up, but then, I heard another voice.
"I did, so what?"
"What do you mean, "so what"? I'm your CAPTAIN! Disrespect WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!"
Looking at the lackey that had questioned my authority, I couldn't help but raise my gun up and point it at him.
"Even though you're the Captain, it doesn't mean that you deserve to be one." He replied, defiantly, staring at me as if I was below him.
"It seems like you're not getting the message."
I pulled the trigger.
"BANG!"
"Thud."
"Does anybody else dissent against me being captain?" I asked, my voice as cold as ice, the tension in the air almost palpable.
And, at first, seeing that all the lackeys were just standing there, deathly quiet, I thought that my intimidation tactic had worked, so I relaxed, but then, it all fell apart.
"I do!"
"I do!"
"Go to hell Captain!"
"Send your motherfucking dumb brain that's smooth like a baby's ass back to your momma's womb!"
Hearing this, my cold face instantly turned to a face of pure and utter shock.
After all, I couldn't get why they were all so mad at me.
And, seeing my vacant expression, they knew.
"You don't even know why we're mad, Captain?"
"..."
"When was the last time you gave us food?"
"..."
"When was the last time we drank water?"
"..."
"Let's go guys, he's not fit to be our captain."
Turning around, they all left me there, standing frozen, my mind trying to process what had just happened.
'I was the leader, wasn't I?'
'Then... why did they disobey me?'
'I am the Captain, I am always right...'
'They must be punished!'
Making up my mind, I immediately armed my weapon and set off after them.
But, before I could do anything else, I felt a pain in the back of my head, and everything blacked out.
...
Shooting down the Captain of the other team, I felt extremely proud, of both myself and the Captain.
After all, he had predicted this internal unrest in the other teams due to the absence of food from the beginning, and had told us to use this fact to our advantage.
"Captain, I've successfully eliminated a team."
"Oh? Well done."
I could only bask in the glory of his praise as I heard these words. He was an angel in this broken world, our team's savior.
After all, even though I had been skeptical at first, after the rations were delivered consistently to me every two days, my confidence in the Captain knew no bounds.
And, even though the strategy that he had given to us had seemed incredibly dumb and simple at first, by the fact that we had already eliminated 13 numbers, and now, an entire team, we knew that his plan was the best one from the beginning.
Breaking me out of my thoughts, I heard one of the others ask a question.
"Captain, I've been noticing, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of people walking the streets each day."
"Ah, that just means that the "event" is about to happen." Replied the cool, calming voice of our captain.
And, seeing how he didn't mention this "event" directly, it meant that he still wanted to keep it to himself for now, so we didn't prod any further.
Getting back to my job, I started dutifully surveying the surrounding area once again.
...
"Were you able to hack into the system?" I asked the nerdy kid.
"Yes, we should have full access, so you can make your announcement now."
Holding the old fashioned microphone up to my mouth, I took a deep breath before initiating the start of my gambit.
Why was I calling it a gambit? Well, it was because I knew that if this worked out, then I would absolutely win and crush everyone, but if it didn't, I would suffer an embarrassing defeat.
"Attention everyone! I have secured all the food in this city. If you don't want to starve to death, then please switch to my team and come to the tallest building in the area to receive your food!"
After my announcement ended, all I could hear was the ring of the echo as it bounced off the sides of the tall, metal skyscrapers in the city center.
As soon as the echo died down, there was just total silence.
But, as if a damn had broken, I watched from my viewpoint on the 69th floor as dozens of players rushed towards my position.
'I won...'
Observing this beautiful sight, I could only smile.