The Gamers & the Cabin

The next morning—everyone in Asher's apartment slept in.

Asher and Olivia snoozed on the couch while Elliot slept in Asher's bedroom, and none of them awoke until around ten in the morning.

The apartment sat still, sunlight bleeding into the room from a distance, the side windows only half-covered by the blinds, allowing a stream of light to wash over all the looted goods that sat against the wall. Asher had turned the TV off last night after returning to the apartment with Elliot, so now, everything was peacefully quiet.

Elliot was the first to awaken, scratching his head of wild hairs and yawning as he wandered into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind him.

The noise made Olivia jump in her sleep, slowly blinking herself awake. She glanced up, seeing that she was resting warmly against Asher's side, smirking and patting him once on the chest before she carefully maneuvered over him, just barely managing to climb off the couch without waking him.

Yawning and combing her hairs down, Olivia meandered into the kitchen, popping the freezer open and grabbing one of the many frozen pizzas she'd looted yesterday, peeling it open and setting it in the microwave.

Just when she turned the microwave on—another noise caught her attention.

Olivia slowly turned, eyeing the short hallway connected to the living room, the bathroom door being right at the edge of this hall, perfectly in her view.

And now—she was able to hear the shower running.

Olivia's heart began to pound, her expression falling uncharacteristically dark, slowly reaching over Asher's counter and grabbing the largest kitchen knife of his collection, sliding it out and gripping it tightly.

Then, as she tip-toed around the bar, she began to hear movement inside the bathroom, the rustling of the shower curtain, followed by the sound of a raspy, throaty voice humming the rhythm of a show tune.

Olivia gulped painfully, pausing at the door and taking a deep breath.

Asher heard the strange and muffled singing, blinking himself awake, then pushing himself upright on the couch.

He leaned back on his hands, swallowing a yawn, then he glanced over—seeing that Olivia was standing directly at the bathroom door, turning a kitchen knife around in her hand and raising it in a stab-ready stance.

Asher smirked.

Olivia braced herself—then reeled back and planted a solid kick to the door—launching it open and bashing it into the bathroom wall. She flew into the room and—

"Oh—SHIT FIRE!"

A naked Elliot began screaming and shouting for her to stop—ripping the shower curtains down and rapidly balling them up against his privates like a protective shield.

Olivia rounded on the bathtub and the naked stranger, grasping the knife with both hands and raising it high—

"Oookay." Asher appeared behind her—snapping his hands around hers and halting her mid-stab. "Easy—Loonybird—easy."

Olivia dropped the knife to the floor, whirling around and giving him a baffled look.

"He's… he's not a stranger. He's a friend of mine," Asher told her, grinning and snickering between every word. "H'oh my God…"

"God fucking 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵, Ash—you couldn't have told her I was here?!" Elliot griped, pressed flatly into the corner of the shower with the bunched-up shower curtain held firmly over his genitals, his eyes wider than ever. "Jesus H Christ—𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘬-𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴!"

Asher exploded into laugher, smacking the bathroom door loudly and repetitively, hunching into it as his face began to fade red.

"Okay… c… c'mon," Asher breathed, grabbing Olivia by the arm and dragging her out of the bathroom, just before pulling the door shut. "Hahaheh… holy 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵, that was amazing…"

Olivia sighed, venturing back to the kitchen and popping the microwave open.

Asher continued to chuckle under his breath, leaning on the bar and watching as she cut her tiny pizza into fours.

"Hey," he uttered moments later, a thought occurring to him. "If you thought somebody broke in here, you could've just woke me up and told me."

Olivia finished cutting the pizza and stared at him.

"You don't have to pick up a knife and run straight at the problem blind," Asher clarified. "I'm the one with the gun. If that ever happens again… or, happens for real… just let me handle it."

Olivia glanced at the bathroom, then back, leaning closer and mumbling. "Did you tell him what I did to Chris?"

Asher blinked. "Who?"

"Chris… my ex," Olivia said. "Did you tell your friend what I…?"

"Oh… well, he kinda asked," Asher told her. "He showed up last night, wondering who you were, so I just… told him what I knew so far. Nothing invasive. He just wanted to know who he's gonna be paling around with now."

"He's staying with us…?"

"Well… yeah," Asher shrugged. "The guy's kinda paranoid, but he was also a medic in the military, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 he's a hell of a doomsday prepper. He's a good person to have around right now. Plus, he's the only friend I still have contact with from back then…"

"From back when?"

"From back when I was…"

Asher glanced down at the surface of the bar, running a hand down his face and sighing.

"From over a decade ago," he muttered. "When we were younger… like, late teens and early twenties… none of us were well-off, or anywhere near it. Me and my old friends all just banded together and made ourselves into a little street gang, and we pulled a bunch of tricks to get by. El was the only one there who was older than early-twenty-something. Fighting overseas rattled his cage a bit, but… we took him on, too. Big-ass bunch of misfits…"

Asher was staring off to the side now, his gaze distant as he pondered on the past. He let out a faint, breathless laugh.

"There was…" He held out his hand, beginning to count down on his fingers. "Lil' John, the handyman… ended up getting arrested for grand theft auto. There was his little running buddy, Bubba… an engineer who grew all the pot we'd sell on the side. He left Knoxville a long time ago. There was also… um… oh yeah, Dante. Dante was cool, and he was a hell of a cage-fighter, but he eventually left Knoxville, too. Then there was… me, El, and Tammy. All together, we made up Anarchy South."

Olivia surveyed him, mulling over everything he said and feeling a touch of intrigue.

"Lester," Asher remembered, raising a finger. "I forgot… Lester… he was the homebody. Him and his parents became a halfway house for the rest of us when we ended up with nowhere to stay. Hell… their house had people in and out constantly, a never-ending revolving door of vagrants and fuck-ups. Heh…"

Olivia nodded quietly, giving him a curious look. "Why'd you call your gang Anarchy South?"

"Oh, well… it wasn't a 𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘨 gang," Asher chuckled, shaking his head. "There weren't any gang wars, or shootouts, or colors, or any crazy BS like that. We just liked the idea of having a name… like it was gonna make us 𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘴𝘴, or something. It was stupid. But, y'know… we liked to think we were anarchists, and we live in the south, so… there ya' go."

"Okay." Elliot's loud voice entered the scene, marching out of the bathroom and wearing only his old jeans, rustling a towel over his head of messy wet hairs. "If you're gonna tell her all 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, Ash—then you might wanna tell the best story."

Olivia glimpsed over at Elliot, then looked to Asher quizzically.

Asher sighed and nodded sideways, his old signature smirk fighting to emerge.

"Gas station down the road from the hobo bridge… when Lester worked there," Elliot grinned, stopping beside Asher and shaking his shoulder. "'Member? Ahh, you remember."

"Yeah, this… this old gas station was down the road from that bridge, Broadway, where all the homeless people camp out," Asher explained to Olivia. "I don't know if it's still there or not, but… when I was seventeen, my buddy Lester was working there. We popped in and visited him all the time… and, one night, I came by and talked to him for a while. I left for a minute to go to the bathroom… and when I came back, some scrawny little fucker in a ski mask was in there, waving a sawn-off shotgun in Lester's face, trying to rob the store."

"Holy crap," Olivia breathed. "What'd you do?"

"I shot him," Asher replied simply.

Olivia's eyes narrowed, shooting him a look of surprise. "You 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 him?"

"Yeah. I still had my little handgun on me, because we'd all went out shooting earlier that day… so I crept up the side aisle," Asher informed, motioning with his hand, as if gesturing to where the aisle was. "Came up beside the guy… steadied my aim real good… and I shot him right through the hand. Guy dropped his gun and started screaming like holy hell. He ran outta the store, but the cops followed his little blood trail and nailed his ass."

Olivia stared at him for several seconds, then choked out an amazed little laugh. "What is it with you and shooting people's 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 all the time…?"

Asher snickered, and Elliot gave him a double-take, ogling him bizarrely.

"What—you did that 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?" Elliot barked.

"Okay… we're getting really derailed, here," Asher sighed, pushing off of the bar. "We've got a lotta work to do today, and we need to get started."

"What?" Olivia perked up. "What're we doing today…?"

"Ahm…" Asher scratched his brow. "Well, we've got a new home base in mind, and it's safer than here. So…"

Olivia looked as if she was slowly deflating, her shoulders sinking as well as her expression.

"Oh… come… 𝘰𝘯," she sighed wearily. "We have to carry all that stuff 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯…?"

"Heeey… no worries, lil' darlin'," Elliot smiled, rustling her hair. "I'll be doing a lot of that work this time. It'll get done a lot faster now that you don't just have to rely on 𝘩𝘪𝘴 scrawny ass."

"Watch it, whack-job," Asher chided.

Elliot brandished a middle finger barely an inch from Asher's face, making a wild expression at him before he vanished back down the hall.

Olivia giggled. "I like him."

"Yeah… I figured you would," Asher replied. "There's not a single sane person in this house. We should all get along just fine…"

"Asher," Olivia said intently, leaning forward and hushing her voice. "What if we get to this new place… and there's already people there?"

Asher perked his brow, glancing back at the hallway and shrugging. "Then I guess they're gonna get evicted."

Olivia frowned, biting her lip and feeling hesitant.

Asher read her expression, sighing and tossing up a hand. "Okay… well… we don't 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 to kick anyone out. We could see if they want some new roommates, or we could just move on and find another place. But… either way… El's pretty insistent on us not staying here, and he made some points that had me agreeing with him. It's not isolated enough here, and we're connected to the bridge that goes right into the city. It's not really safe enough here. We need to migrate somewhere else today, bottom line."

"Okay… then breakfast has to be fast," Olivia figured, peeling her tiny pizza in two. "Here, split this with me."

Asher ate two of the slices while Olivia ate the other two—and then their workday began.

The three of them spent the late morning and early afternoon carrying all their needed goods down the stairs and packing them into the back of Elliot's gigantic van, which was already filled with loose boxes and bags of his own belongings. Still, they managed to make everything fit—aligning the vehicle's walls with the melons and tucking the game console under the passenger seat, then placing all the firearms neatly on top of the rest.

Once they were done packing all their food, drinks, weapons, and clothes—Asher slammed the van's back doors shut, gazing up at the apartment complex for the last time, feeling oddly unaffected by his final departure from the place.

Then, he turned and stared at the shiny blue convertible. Olivia was leaning against the sleek and stylish car, giving him a look.

"Are we gonna keep the car…?" she mumbled.

"Oh yeah," Asher affirmed right away. "Yeah, we're keeping the car."

"Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust…!" Elliot sang, nodding and dancing around the front of the van. "Heroics are a maybe, and survival is a must…!"

"You know where we're going?" Asher asked him.

"Well, yeah—but I figured you'd just point me the right way if I made a wrong turn," Elliot replied, tossing his keys up and catching them. "You're riding with me, right?"

Asher paused, then turned and raised his brows at Olivia. "You wanna drive the car?"

Olivia stared at him, her mouth slowly drifting agape, her heart making a nervous jolt.

"I… can't," she exhaled.

Asher squinted at her. "You can't?"

"No… I mean… I know 𝘩𝘰𝘸," Olivia stammered, looking down and combing her bangs aside. "I just… I'm not… I'm not good at driving…"

"Okay. El—we're taking the car," Asher decided, jabbing a finger at him. "Follow us and keep us in sight—and when we stop, you stop. All right?"

"Aye-aye," Elliot agreed, making a lazy salute and climbing into his van.

Asher and Olivia hopped into the convertible, Asher starting the engine and rolling out of the parking space. He cruised down the hill, pausing just long enough for Elliot's van to join him, and then—they both set off, driving down the hill and starting their journey toward the north outskirts.

Much of the drive was peaceful, and Asher was surprised to see that everything was still relatively empty, no traffic in the way, and no DJs on the radio. Everything was as clear and serene as ever, and they briefly cruised the vacant highway before speeding down an exit and approaching a more wooded area, distant from the city buildings, thought he buildings were just barely still in sight.

Asher eventually found himself driving up a long, smooth path of concrete, which reached far up the side of a seemingly endless hill, spanning through various trees and open fields before finally bringing them to their destination.

He smirked the moment he spotted it.

There atop the hill, standing seemingly empty, untouched, and welcomingly just as he'd hoped, was the massive cabin that he had longed for for over ten years.

To call it a cabin was an understatement, though it didn't look much like a mansion, despite its size; the sleek wooden structure sat high on the hillside, its impressive deck reaching out from the home and propped up by a long series of pillars, overlooking downtown Knoxville from a great distance up high. Connected to this deck was the gigantic living room inside, complete with eight glass windows standing tall and wide, all of them dominating the majority of the north wall, which would give all of them a fantastic view once they were inside. The roof stood tall and pointed at a sharp angle, and the upstairs windows were styled the same as those downstairs, though they were considerably smaller. The narrow road craned up the hill to the side, leading behind the house and stopping at the rather large driveway, an endless backyard stretching on for acres behind the home, and nothing but woodlands beyond it.

Asher reached the top of the hill, glancing over and surveying the side of the large house as he coasted past it, Elliot's van close behind him.

The two of them slowed to a stop in the wide parking area behind the home, where a smaller wing of the house resided, connected to two large garage doors, both of them open and empty.

"Nobody home," Asher murmured with a smile, powering off the engine. "𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 yes…"

The van was stopped right beside the car, both of them facing the open garages. Elliot sauntered around the van, approaching the car as Asher and Olivia stepped out of it, all three of them pausing and eyeing the house.

"We're on a streak of 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 right now," Asher smirked.

"Hey, hey… don't jump to conclusions," Elliot advised, raising a finger and stepping toward the garages. "Just because it looks empty doesn't mean it is. Let's sweep the place. C'mon."

Asher nodded and reached around to grab his pistol. "El… you got a gun on you?"

Elliot paused, his expression flattening, giving him a caustic stare.

Asher sighed and pulled his own gun out. "Yeah, okay, never mind…"

Elliot slid a revolver out of his jacket, he and Asher starting toward the house.

"Hey—what about me?" Olivia called from behind. "Is there a gun I could use?"

Asher and Elliot stopped and stared back at her.

"You want a 𝘨𝘶𝘯?" Asher uttered. "Well, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 a scary-ass thought…"

Olivia scoffed out a laugh. "Shut up. I just wanna help."

"You don't need to right now," Asher told her. "Just stay behind me. You'll be fine."

She sighed and shrugged, and then, the three of them started toward the house together.

They entered the garage, Asher slowly easing the side door open, and the three of them quietly entered the home, emerging at the end of a long, wide hallway, the walls comprised of wooden panels and covered with numerous scenic paintings, as well as a few mounted animal heads. Then, they inched into the largest space in their sight—the living room, which was directly before them now, a massive, spacious area with similar décor to the hall.

Asher stood alongside his friends, pausing to marvel at the inside of this magnificent home, and he found himself wearing a half-smile yet again, only just realizing that he'd never actually been inside before. He'd only ever admired this house from afar—but the inside was finally within his reach now, finally all around him.

The living room was a massive and spacious place, and the only portion of the wall that wasn't occupied by the giant glass windows was covered instead by a humongous flat-screen TV. A large leather couch was in the center of the expansive room, two recliners of the same material on either side of it, a sleek mahogany coffee table in front of them and a chandelier hanging from far above. To the left was a wide-open doorway that led into an equally large and impressive kitchen, and behind them was the hallway that contained the stairs, the rooms of the first floor, and the doorway leading outside where they'd originally arrived from.

"Whoooa," Olivia breathed, grinning up at the high ceiling and the enormity of the room.

"Second floor has a balcony," Elliot noticed, nodding up at the edge of the second floor's hallway, which hovered above the living room, separated only by a wooden railing. "That's an advantage for us."

Asher nodded, turning and motioning up to it. "You sweep up there, and we'll look down here."

Elliot saluted and marched off, walking quietly and approaching the nearest stairway.

Asher and Olivia traded eyes, then began down the back hallway, creeping closer to the doors on either side of it.

One by one, they pushed each door open—finding only an empty bedroom, an empty laundry room, and an empty bathroom at the end.

Then—Asher froze, hearing the muffled echo of a voice behind the final door, the one on the left corner, the only one they hadn't checked yet.

He gulped, stiffening up and nudging Olivia back, readjusting his grasp on his pistol and holding it low, hidden behind the flap of his suit jacket.

Then—he heard laughter inside the room, as well as a pair of quipping voices yelling at each other interspersed between the chortles.

Olivia inhaled deeply, grasping the edge of her t-shirt and looking worried.

Asher glared into the door—taking another deep breath before gently turning the knob, easing the door slowly open and quietly peering inside.

This room appeared to be another bedroom, but with far more entertainment equipment; there were two beds adjacent from each other on the far side of the room, and nearest the door was a huge leather couch, a cluttered coffee table in front of it, and a giant flat screen perched on the wall, two young men seated on the couch and playing a two-player shooter game, both of them with long hair, and both of them wearing gaming headsets, yelling and berating each other while they mashed their thumbs to their controllers, not noticing that they were no longer alone.

Asher's eyes narrowed, surveying them from behind and eyeballing them strangely.

Olivia peeked over his shoulder, giving them a similar look.

The men appeared to be adults, but younger than Asher or Olivia, presumably in their early twenties. One was rather slender, and the other had a thicker build with a touch of facial hair. The skinny one had long curly hair, much of it forced down under his headset, and the other had shorter straighter hair that only reached the base of his neck, both of them still lost to their game.

"Oh—𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩!" the larger one yelled, making the skinny one burst with laughter. "Stop stealing my ammo boxes! Fuck—I 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 you!"

"Thanks, Roman," the skinny one uttered in a deadened sort of tone, still chuckling. "That makes me feel all warm inside."

"Fuck you!" the one named Roman shouted, steering his controller to the side as if his movement would affect the gameplay. "Zach—𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭!"

The skinny one, Zach, erupted with laughter again.

Asher and Olivia remained quietly standing in the doorway, trading an odd glance with one another, then looking to the gamers again, neither of them knowing what to say or do now.

Then, footsteps approached them from behind—and Elliot joined them, peering past them and ogling the gamers in bewilderment.

Roman glanced to the side, only just spotting them. "Oh, shit…"

He peeled his headset off and paused the game, waving to Zach and pointing to the doorway. The two of them stared up at the three newcomers from the couch, equally speechless.

"Can we… help you?" Zach muttered oddly.

"Ah… well… I don't know," Asher mumbled. "We're… looking for the owner of the house."

"She's not here," Roman informed, his voice a note deeper than his friend's. "Are you guys Air BnB customers too?"

Asher's brow hardened, totally lost.

"Yup, we are," Elliot answered with a nod. "We got in a bit late, given all the chaos outside, but we got here nonetheless."

"Oh… well, Mrs. Cooke left yesterday when the evacuation notice popped up on the news," Zach informed them. "She said we could stay or go, but it was gonna cost us money either way, so… we figured we might as well use the room we're paying for."

"Do you know when she's coming back?" Asher inquired, assuming Mrs. Cooke must've been the owner of the home.

"She's not," Zach shrugged. "She said she was just going with the soldiers wherever they wanted to take her. So… basically… we have no idea if she's coming back, but if she does, it's not gonna be anytime soon."

"Oh… hey, look at 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵," Elliot grinned, now holding his satellite phone and grinning down at it. "Aw, I didn't think to check my damn messages before we made the trip here. Mrs. Cooke messaged me saying that we could make ourselves at home however we want, even though she's not here. Thank God."

Asher gave him a look, leaning over and squinting at the phone, seeing only its home screen.

Elliot snapped the phone shut and pocketed it, facing the gamers interestingly. "You folks don't mind if we do a bit of unpacking, do you? We paid for a pretty long stay, so we ended up bringing half our house with us."

"Sure, dude… go for it," Zach agreed.

Asher moved behind Elliot while he spoke with the gamers, stuffing his pistol out of sight.

"We might be making a ruckus for a while, so sorry about that," Elliot laughed.

"No worries," Roman replied, lifting his headset. "We're not gonna hear it anyway."

Elliot chuckled and nodded, then waved them off and swatted for Asher and Olivia to move down the hallway.

The three of them marched away from the gamers' room, and none of them spoke until they emerged in the gigantic living room again.

Asher opened his mouth to speak, pausing when he heard Roman and Zach yelling and laughing from down the hall again, as the two of them had resumed their game. He glimpsed back at the hall, then faced Olivia and Elliot, wearing a befuddled visage.

"What the hell is Air BnB?" he asked.

Olivia and Elliot stared, glancing at one another, then eyeing him in confusion.

"You never heard of it…?" Olivia uttered.

"It's like a motel service," Elliot explained to him. "But more expensive, and nicer, and usually safer. People rent out their homes for travelers to stay in whenever they come into town. Those two gamer guys apparently rented a room here when the collapse came. And… as far as they know… so did we."

Asher slowly nodded, sparing the back hallway another brief look. "So… what… we're just 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 the place with them now?"

"You said we could try and make roommates here," Olivia reminded him. "It's better than trying to force people out or something…"

"Well, yeah… but I didn't see that actually 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨," Asher admitted.

"It's not gonna make any difference, really," Elliot remarked. "They're not the type of people we have to worry about."

"They're idiots," Asher grumbled, glaring back at the hall a third time. "Who the hell just sits around playing video games when there's a goddamn 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘱𝘴𝘦 going on…?"

"People who're numb to the idea of an apocalypse," Elliot replied seriously. "Think about it. With COVID, and the crackdowns, and all the other shit that's swept across the world here lately… they probably think that this is just another big thing that's gonna blow over. They haven't been out there like we have. They have no perspective on how severe it actually is now."

"Yeah—like I said—𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘴," Asher grumped.

"And that's a 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 thing, Ash," Elliot told him flatly. "Idiots are harmless. It's the other people like us who'd be a danger."

Asher's eyes flickered between Olivia and Elliot, and he let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine," he said, tossing up his hands. "Fine… they're harmless right now. Yeah, they are, and that's a good thing… but what happens when a few weeks go by, and nothing's changed? What happens if a few 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 go by, and nothing's changed? If they're stuck here with us for that long, then they're gonna start bugging out eventually. They're not gonna be able to find a ride or a flight out of town, and they're not gonna be able to find food, either. Not to mention the electricity. If the power goes out, then we're gonna have to use your little backups, El… and I'll be 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘥 if we're gonna waste generators and solar powers on their godforsaken video g—"

"𝘈𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳," Elliot whisper-yelled, cocking his head and glaring at him intensely. "You're thinking 𝘸𝘢𝘺 too far ahead with that. A lot more can change in that amount of time, and if we get to 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 them in that time, then maybe we can 𝘶𝘴𝘦 them later on."

Asher dropped his hands by his sides, giving him a deadpan stare. "Use them 𝘩𝘰𝘸?"

"The same way you did 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦," Elliot said pointedly, jabbing a finger to his chest. "You remember? Anything to do with fixing up a sick or a wounded person who didn't have medical insurance—you called me for. Anything to do with fixing a car for a friend who couldn't afford to go to the auto shop—you called Bubba for. Anything to do with fixing up a house for cheap—you called Lil' John for. You remember how we all came together and learned shit from each other? You brought in the person with the needed skill, and they taught the rest of us whatever needed to be done in that moment. You used everyone to the best of their own skillsets. And God knows what we're gonna have to do in the future now—but having extra manpower is 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥."

"We grew up on the 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴, El," Asher reminded him, swatting the air. "We had skills because we 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to have them. But those two—I can't imagine they have 𝘢𝘯𝘺 skills we could use. We don't need gamers."

"We need 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦," Elliot stated. "And they can learn the skills from us, just like we all used to learn from each other."

Asher huffed out a massive breath, glaring at him and looking agitated.

"That sounds like a pain in the ass," he growled.

Elliot laughed. "Probably. But it's a slow process, not something we'd have to do in a day… and we don't have to worry about it right now, anyway. That's a problem for another time. For now, we all just need to play nice and make ourselves at home. Now c'mon. We got a hellova lot of unpacking to do."

He waved a finger through the air, marching away and motioning for them to follow. Olivia joined him, the two of them heading toward the back door connected to the garage.

Asher hesitated, glancing at the hallway, where the distant echoing ambiance of Roman and Zach's yelling and laughing was still perfectly audible on the air.

Then—groaning out a sigh and rolling his eyes—he followed suit.