Page 31 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

His mom got that look, a kind of sad patience.“Maybe,”she said. But she didn’t mean it.

“Just playing,” Blake answered Marco now.

“Play someplace else. That peach is mine.”

“Go fuck yourself, Marco.”

It wasn’t Blake who spoke up. It was Pink. He hadn’t seen her come up beside him. “He has as much right to be here as you do.”

“He has no right to beanywhere,” said Marco.

With one swing of Marco’s machete, Pink disappeared into a cloud of glitter.

Blake might have been next, if he didn’t think to grab his stun gun and blow Marco back into a stone wall where he fell hard, rocks piling on top of him. Marco would have to stay there for a second to recover his energy.

Blake took off into the woods that surrounded the amusement park, hoping that would be the end of it. He didn’t like to fight inRed Worldany more than he did in the real world. He felt bad for Pink: she’d be raging right now. She hated Marco almost as much as Blake did. He’d get her a cookie at lunch tomorrow.

He refocused himself on finding the peach. You were supposed to look for the doors to an underground bunker, hidden near a twisted old oak and a creek.

Blake made his way through the thick trees, using his scythe to clear a path.

“I’m coming for you, Blake.”

Marco in his headset again. Behind him, Marco was running, so Blake picked up his pace.

“Just lay off of him.”

Gregg was back, squaring off as Marco caught up to him at the creek. But then Marco threw a grenade, and Gregg was blown to pieces. Blake was on his own.

Marco’s hulking avatar panted, arms akimbo.

“We used to be friends,” said Blake pathetically.

“Used to be,” said Marco. “Before my mom lost her job because of your dad.”

That was true. A lot of people used to work at Dad’s company. His dad had invented a new kind of prosthetic that was cheaper, lighter, and more comfortable for the wearer. But, according to police, his father had embezzled millions of dollars over the years, hiding money in offshore accounts. Then, just as he was about to get arrested, he took off, bankrupting the company, leaving his family, and disappearing without a trace. A scientist from the company stepped forward to claim that the original prototype had been her invention, that he’d stolen even that.

“He didn’t do it,” Blake said to Marco now. With all his heart, he still believed that.

Marco lifted his rocket launcher, and Blake prepared to return to The Locker Room. He didn’t want to play anymore anyway.

But then it was Marco who disappeared into a cloud of green.

There was a man dressed all in black with combat boots and a shorn head standing behind Blake’s avatar. He had stubble on his cheeks, muscular arms. HisRed Worldname was Charger.

In the real world, Blake didn’t have any truly close friends. But onRed Worldhe had a few.

“Thanks,” he said.

Charger, who was part robot, part soldier and who mostly stayed silent, saluted him. Beside Charger, another player dropped in.

Hugo was an Extremist like Blake, King Killer on the game, and the one who had told Blake about the challenge on the island.

Hugo actually lived on Falcão Island, sharing a house with a bunch of adventure guides. You never knew who was telling the truth onRed World. But Hugo’s tip about Extreme’s hide and seek and how there was an open spot had been true. And Hugo had given Blake some sweet intel about the casitas on the hotel property. Blake still had to verify.

“How’s your mom doing?” Hugo said over Blake’s headset.

“She arrived today,” said Blake.

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