“Abe.” His screen name was GatorAbe24, picked up in part working for an office cleaning company in Tampa and in part from his friends’ insistence on calling him Abraham Lincoln growing up.
“Nice to meet you, Abe. Avery and Abe. The A-Team!” Avery’s enthusiasm was goofy, but it also made Linc relax. Sometimes the strangers you met were weirdos who only grunted into the headset. Avery sounded young, but also human, and that was enough for Linc.
The screen flashed.Would you like to proceed with AveryCNC?
Yes.Linc thought he would.
They started one area away from the furthest dungeon Linc had ever reached. Whatever Avery’s age, he’d racked up an impressive amount of points and gear. His avatar was a human warrior with bright orange hair streaming down his back over heavy leather and mail.
“You’re pretty gnarly-looking,” Avery said. Linc’s was a half giant, dressed in furs and carrying a spiked mace.
“He’s okay.” Linc’s giant took a step toward the path leading into a dark forest.
“I just got new armor last week. Killed this mage on a mountaintop, and this half-naked elf popped out of nowhere and was all ‘would you like his armor?’ I didn’t even know it was part of the area, but I looked it up online and apparently it’s one of those Easter—Hey, where are you going? It’s this way.” Avery the warrior disappeared off the right side of the screen.
“But the path is up here.”
“There’s a shortcut, duh.”
“Really?” Linc followed after him. Navigating through the Wood of Infidels had taken the better part of a week last time, and this kid knew a shortcut?
As it turned out, the kid knew a lot of shortcuts. Over the next two hours, they moved ahead three areas, killed a dragon, stole its hoard, and shortcut their way to Hell’s Garden. Linc hadn’t played this long with anyone in ages, and Avery’s steady narration of tactics and awkward jokes was entertaining. The tension from earlier—Vasquez’s teasing and Lacey’s call—slid off Linc’s shoulders.
“This is as far as I’ve ever gotten,” Avery said as they made their way up a dark path. His warrior was carrying a shiny new shield.
“What happens here?”
Avery sighed. “There’s this zombie mage that keeps freezing me and then eating my brain. I’ve tried everything, all the spells I can find, and I can’t figure out what I need to beat him.”
Linc’s stomach growled. The sun was going down, and his eyelids were heavy.
“Maybe we should stop here,” he said.
“Oh.” Avery’s voice was disappointed. Even his warrior seemed to slump a little.
“For tonight. Are you around to play again sometime?” Linc hadn’t found someone to play with regularly since starting at the SFD, and Avery was a welcome reprieve from the outside world.
“Yeah, sure! I can be here most nights after work.” The warrior did a small dance in a circle.
“Cool. My shifts are a bit all over the place, but what time zone are you in?”
“Eastern, you?”
“Same.” Strictly speaking, you didn’t always ask that. Some people got really uptight about sharing personal information.
Avery was apparently not one of those people, because he said, “Really? That’s so cool. I’m in North Carolina. That’s what the NC in my screen name is for.”
“Oh, yeah?” Nerves prickled down his neck. Asking for a time zone was stretching it. Avery sharing more was unusual, but what were the odds they’d be in the same state?
“Yeah, it’s this really small town. You’ve probably never heard of it. It’s called Seacroft.”
Linc froze, staring at the red-haired warrior on the screen as nervous suspicion shivered over his spine. He played back Avery’s happy chatter. Never mind the poster on the wall in the nondescript apartment on the nondescript street while the guy with the red hair flailed and blustered over his smoking microwave. Wasn’t he the reason Linc turned the game on in the first place today?
“Red?” he whispered.
“What? What’s red?”
Shit, it totallywasthe same guy.
By his hip, Linc’s phone buzzed, and Lilah’s name showed on the screen.
“Abe?”
“I gotta go. Sorry. Maybe I’ll see you online tomorrow?”
“Oh. Yeah, sure. No problem. See you tomorrow.”
Linc hung up and saved the game, shaking his head. This would make the best story the next time Red called the SFD on a cooking mishap.
Or not. Linc stilled. Maybe he didn’t have to say anything. In fact, maybe this was his solution. If he spent time online with Avery, he wouldn’t have to worry about Vasquez’s teasing. He and Avery could be faceless acquaintances, away from scrutiny, and no one would ever have to know.
