With the two corpses posing as my squad in the back of the minibus, I was free to drive along the road with the confidence only a team could bring. Granted, it would be super obvious to anyone who happened to get close enough that my cohorts weren’t capable of firing back, however, with that said, if people were close enough to see that, they were close enough to kill me.

Anyway, my next goal was to find a GPS or, at the very least, a map. Don’t get me wrong, I knew my way around the island, but having a vague idea of where I was and knowing were two very different things.

The good news was that, even without a GPS, I knew where Hermit’s Cradle was in the forest.

The bad news was that the once hush-hush location of Hermit’s Cradle wasn’t exactly a secret, and anyone who knew anything about KillStreak knew that that was the place to go if you ended up getting stuck in the northern section of the island.

I wasn’t about to let that deter me though, and as I saw the house’s driveway, which was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the patches of dirt in the forest, I turned hard, nearly toppling the minibus in the process, but at the same time making it hard for any potential players to keep track of my movements.

The driveway was off to a good start as I hammered my way up it, and had absolutely no sign of footprints or tire tracks beyond the ones I was leaving behind.

“Yes!” I quietly cheered as, after a solid minute of driving, I reached the small clearing where Hermit’s Cradle laid and saw that there was not a single sign of life.

My celebration was short-lived though as my more tactical brain took over and I realized it was only a matter of time before another player decided to try their luck with the veritable treasure trove of gear.

+Car Key (Minibus)

Holding onto the key was a dead giveaway that the minibus wasn’t there by accident, which meant that anyone who decided to poke their head into the vehicle would know that there was someone in the house or, at the very least, close by.

That being said, there were two dead guys in the back, so I doubted anyone would be looking for a key.

The house was about what you’d expect from a place called ‘Hermit’s Cradle’. Two-storey, blacked-out and boarded windows, dry and peeling brown paint, and a front porch where you could picture some backwoods grandpa sitting in a rocking chair with a double-barrel.

Looks can be deceiving though.

After ensuring no one was going to sneak up behind me, I went up to the front door and pushed it open, activating the fluorescent lightbulbs as I did so, which promptly lit up the stainless steel-walled and very, very modern interior of Hermit’s Cradle.

The place was spotless, not counting the dirty footprints I’d trailed in with me, and had clearly been ignored by the players up until that point. I wasn’t about to stick around for someone to show up though.

With my gun raised high, I started moving through the house, checking every doorway and corner with the anxiety only getting surprised by guys with shotguns a dozen times could provide, but found myself relaxing slightly as I reached the stairs at the rear of the loot-laden home.

Don’t get me wrong, there was tons of stuff in those bottom rooms, but I knew that all the best gear was in the far more ambush-ready second floor.

I hated going into places with only one means of ingress and egress, but I found myself able to rationalize it with the Cradle for the simple reason that, push came to shove, I’d be armed to the teeth.

“Ah, shit…” I groaned as I entered what was supposed to be fully-stocked walls and tables of weapons and ammo, but was instead packed to the rafters with backpacks and sets of body armor.

There were benefits to having a decent backpack and protective gear, but I really needed a gun that was capable of at least burst-fire.

+Tier 3 Backpack

-Tier 2 Backpack

+Tier 3 Body Armor

-Tier 1 Body Armor

+Tier 2 Helmet

I was about to buckle and accept that I’d burned through all my luck when, in the far corner of the floor, I spotted a small pile of gear.

“Could it be?” I said with a mock tone of amazement, “Oh! It is!”

I’m not sure why I liked to play-act like a pretty princess from time-to-time, but I did, and it was fun.

+AR-15

+30 5.56mm

+30 5.56mm

+30 5.56mm

+Holographic Sight

+X-15 Drum

+Smoke Grenade

Added Holographic Sight to AR-15

+3 Points (63 Points)

Added X-15 Drum to AR-15

+3 Points (66 Points)

She was, in a word, beautiful.

Granted, when on full-auto the AR-15 was like a fat guy at an all-you-can-eat buffet, but, provided I kept her on semi-auto for the majority time, I was confident I’d be able to make the ammo last.

And then, as if to show me that nothing good happens in KillStreak without consequences, I heard some players.