Pause

“Gavin!” The British lad jumped from his bed and looked at Geoff as he walked out the door. He never slept late, so Geoff never had a reason to wake him up. “Come on dickhead, we have a game to build.”

The sun was just barely up, monsters were burning, still determined to try and rip the flesh off of everyone around. But before they could near, they were reduced to a pile of nothing. “What are we building?” Gavin asked through a yawn as Geoff led them away from the city. A sword was strapped to each of their sides just in case a monster had hidden from the sun under the shade of trees.

“The really long race one. We need to build a few things, I figured out by No Glory Hole would be a good place to start.”

Gavin grabbed his bag and checked the items he had brought with him. He was ready to start the job no one else really wanted. It was long, tedious work. But if Gavin didn’t volunteer, there would be no games to play. Life in Achievement City would be boring. He didn’t complain, much. Most of the time, He and Geoff worked while having a few potions around. And not the kind that speed them up or gave them night vision either.

“We are going to need to go underwater and build platforms up since they are going to be mining down.”

“I think we can manage that. We’ve done worse. Clouds was pretty dangerous.” Gavin stopped at the edge of land by the entrance to No Glory Hole and looked at the water. “You start building up from below and I will collect things to make beds, pickaxes and other things.”

“Things to make things. Got it.” Geoff laughed as Gavin smiled and pulled out a walkie-talkie from his bag.

“Need any building materials while I’m out?” He spoke to Geoff, when he got no answer, he assumed meant no. So he started back towards Achievement City. He pulled out his own axe and started chopping down trees. The first thing he did was make a crafting table and start making sticks.

Slowly he moved through the land and looked for sheep, a pair of sheers ready. You’re an asshole. Gavin smiled as Geoff’s voice came from the walkie. He brought the device up and pressed the button. “You mad I left you to do the underwater work?”

“Naw, I got this. Why? Do you want to come back and do it?” The walkie sent some feedback before the response ended. Gavin realized too late that it wasn’t really Geoff. I’d give a million dollars and my left ball if you…. Gavin shook his head and shut out the voice. “Would you, for a million dollars, spend an entire year in Edgar’s hole?”

Gavin didn’t want to do this now. He just wanted to sheer a few more sheep and get back to his bed, because when he slept, the voices never bothered him. “Would I get fed?”

“A couple steaks a day, but you’d have to drink from a hole in the ground as well.”

“Can’t be too bad, Edgar seemingly keeps coming back.” Gavin laughed and continued, “I guess I would. It’s a million dollars and all I have to do is sit around and eat and drink in a hole.”

Gavin started sheering a few sheep as Geoff spoke up again, “The hole would spell rank after a while.”

“True.” Gavin was at the crafting table now, piecing together the beds that were needed for the game. Come on. Just give me a sign. Geoff’s voice spoke again. Gavin closed his eyes, willing it away, but all he heard were steady beeps and a few more muffled voices he didn’t recognize.

“I’ve got all things set here. Do you have the tools and beds?” Gavin found himself sitting on the ground, all things he needed in his bag, ready for the next step in the plan, but he couldn’t move. Suddenly, his entire body hurt, all the muscles, the bones…everything was killing him. He couldn’t even cry out in pain. “Gav?”

But he didn’t answer, he couldn’t. He cursed to himself and closed his eyes as tight as they would go. Soon, the pain went away, but everything was black. He couldn’t tell if he was asleep, if he was dead, what was going on. But he welcomed it after what he just experienced.

He didn’t know how long he was out. But when he came to, he was back in his bed. Michael was sitting in the corner of the room. His eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly. Gavin didn’t want to wake him, so he stood from his bed and found himself at Ray’s house.

Ray’s house was a piece of crap and everyone knew it. Ray didn’t mind at all, as long as he had a bed, he could live. Over the years, he had made it his own, adding some art and taking on a few pets. Though a prank left him with a secret wall of cakes that could go off at any second. Lucky for Ray, the trap was turned off and there weren’t many people who knew where it was or how it worked. So Ray could live in peace and not constant fear of drowning in the sugary treat.

Gavin found himself with Ray when Michael was away. If Ray wasn’t around either, he would see one of the Gents. But he spent more time with the Lad’s than anything and that was fine.

Ray was on his bed with Percival, his ocelot. “Sup, Gavino?”Pat said, scaring Gavin as he did every time. Pat was just a simple head that sat in the corner of the room as he entered the door.

“Gav! You okay? Geoff carried your scrawny ass all the way back to Achievement City earlier.” Ray pushed the cat off his lap and walked up to Gavin.

Gav shrugged slightly. “Dude, I don’t know what happened.”

“Where’s Michael, he’s been keeping an eye on you all day.” Ray asked, glancing out the door as if the boy would walk in next. “He flipped shit when Geoff told him.”

“Yeah, he’s been worried about me a lot lately.”

Gavin sat on Ray’s bed, reaching down and petting Percival. Ray sat beside him and offered a bowl of mushroom soup. Gavin ate it happily, being hungry after a day of sleeping. “We all have been worried about you lately. What’s up?”

“I don’t know!” Gavin snapped. Ray flinched, surprised. Gavin sighed, “I’m sorry. Really, I don’t know. I think I’m going crazy.”

“Well, that’s not telling us anything new.”

You’re looking better. Gavin tensed at the sound of her voice. He listened for a change. Got some color to you, you’re healing as well. Her face popped into his mind. Perfection was the only word he could think of. Geoff said you moved today, that’s a big step. He heard her sigh, almost sounding hopeless. I can’t do this. I can’t keep coming and seeing you like this. Gavin wanted to reach for her, he could almost see the tears falling from her brown eyes. Come on, come back. Gavin tuned out as Michael started shaking him. He turned to the frantic boy, anger expressed on his face, but his heart only felt sadness.

His face softened as Michael pulled back, “Gavin, this is…this is it. You need to go to the hospital. Maybe we can help you there. But….”

“No, Michael. I can handle this.” Gavin stood and looked at his two best friends before walking out the door. Geoff was at the bulletin board with Jack and Ryan was collecting food for Edgar. Gavin didn’t bother stopping as he climbed into a minecart and started on the journey. He could hear Ryan screaming that night was coming, but he didn’t care.

He closed his eyes as the cart shot across the land. Calm down, Meg. Gavin couldn’t tell who was speaking. Michael and I are here for you, okay? You don’t have to do this alone. Process of elimination told Gavin it was Lindsay. He’ll be fine. He will.

Gavin’s eyes opened as he tried to process what was going on in his head. His eyes fixed on the track, the sun had gone down and straight in front of him was a small group of zombies and there was no time to stop.