Year 2 – Shift 23 – The True Nature of Sara – Mark
“How long do you think it’ll take?” Cody paced back and forth in front of the rock Mark sat on.
“They should be here any time,” Mark said. “I mean, we can hear them.”
The sound of the approaching machine was drowned out by the drills plowing through the mountain that separated the ocean from the little fishing hamlet of Martha Stewart’s Athletic Cup.
“So, are you sure you know what the artifact is?” Cody asked.
“Pretty sure, yeah.” Mark fidgeted with their ring. “You know what’s easier to talk about?”
“Your gender.” Cody knew the answer.
“My gender.” Mark shook their head. “Infinitely easier.”
“Damn,” Cody said. “Must be really bad.”
“So.” Mark didn’t take the bait. “I was thinking about Alyssa.”
“Milano?” Cody asked.
“No,” Mark replied. “For my name.”
“Always had you pegged as a Fanny,” Cody said stone-faced.
“Uhhh…” Mark stared at him.
“Pretty, though.” Cody leaned against the huge rock Mark sat on. They wore a new, looser-cut, airy pale-yellow robe. “Any other contenders?”
Mark paused and hid a blush. “Thanks. I also really like Wynter.”
“That was the blood elf shadow priest, right?” Cody fired back.
“My first deliberately female character.” Mark shook their head and released a deep sigh. “I even give some credit to Sheri for the female avatar that started the fantasies.”
“Girl.” Cody stepped back, put one hand on his hip, and mimicked a Thiccolus-branded pose. “You don’t owe her shit after what she did to you. You were the other person to an eighty-three-year-old farmhand who inherited his boss’s daughter with the property.”
“Yeah.” Mark sighed. “I’m very aware. I just…to this day, I still don’t know how I got off to pixels.”
A long breath followed. Two hundred yards ahead, the rock began to glow red as the drilling team neared the other side.
“I want to do it, dude.” Mark exhaled, and their mind somehow felt easy. “I just…I’m scared to go back like that.”
Cody placed a grounding hand on their shoulder and looked straight into their eyes.
“Then you’ll have all of us. You’ll have me. You’ll have Simone and Sara. Whoever else comes with us. But even if it’s just us, what more do you need? I know the three of you are all I need.”
Mark lowered their gaze and took a deep breath as tears dripped down their cheeks.
“I’m…I’m scared.”
Cody climbed onto the rock and scooped them into his arms, pulling them against his chest.
“I am too. That world is a fucking meat grinder. It’s designed to keep as many people trapped as possible, because the more people on the bottom, the more people there are to exploit for profit. I thrive here because I’ve had a say over my own life. Not outside Etokuso, but in there? The way Sara set everything up is like nothing I’d ever even considered.”
“I asked her how she did it last week,” Mark said. “What do you think she said?”
“Probably something like, ‘Just Monster and cheese Buldak.’”
Cody gave a perfect imitation of Sara’s shrug and weary tone.
“Raven, because I gave up caffeine and I’m never tired anymore.” Mark settled back into reality. “And no, she hates cheese Buldak. She loves Quattro Cheese.”
Cody snapped his head toward Mark. “No, she hates Quattro Cheese.”
“Nah.” Mark shook their head. “She hates seaweed, and there’s seaweed in cheese. Quattro isn’t as spicy.”
“Huh.” Cody nodded in understanding as the tip of the massive drill cracked through the mountain.
He jerked his head toward the wall of stone.
“Should we name the tunnel the Great Gash?”
“I was thinking Tunnel A.” Mark rolled their eyes. “I’m tired of shit coming back to bite us.”
“I get that.” Cody nodded. “Who named the Wesley Wyndam-Pryce Highway?”
Mark raised an eyebrow and stared directly into Cody’s eyes. “Who do you think?”
“Of course it was Sara.” Cody chuckled. “I don’t know if she wanted to fuck Wesley or Fred more.”
Mark laughed. “Ask her that. That’s a fun answer.”
CRASH!
The drills finished their work and burst through the mountainside. The massive military M1977 Common Bridge Transport followed directly behind them and rolled toward the two.
“This is our ride.” Mark hopped down from the rock. “The wrong kind of CBT for me, but I’ll take it.”
“That bad?” Cody asked, concern crossing his face.
“Since second grade, I think,” they replied.
The massive bridge transporter came to a halt at the edge of the ocean, the giant new island looming in the distance.
“Damn.” Cody sighed. “Fucking world, man. We catch this shit when they’re young so they don’t have to wreck their bodies and live with dysphoria this bad. Them? ‘Fuck you, you’re a dude or a chick, but you’re not that!’”
Chino climbed out of the driver’s seat and approached.
“Are you ready, Mark? You need to cast Enlarge just after the bridge tips past halfway. We built the stabilizers into the front, so we should be good.”
“We have to wait on the backup, though,” Cody said.
“Rob’s just a little behind with the Beckys,” Chino replied.
“Unless there’s hostility waiting at the door, I don’t want to walk in ready to fight,” Mark said. “If we can get the artifact and get out, then we don’t have to worry about the mirrors right now.”
“Probably a good call.” Cody scratched his chin. “But you know it’s gotta happen.”
“You’re probably right,” Mark said. “Do we have any recon?”
“It’s completely obscured from the crew.” Cody watched as the large stabilizers were secured around the CBT. “We’re blind.”
“Of course we are.” Mark sighed as the bridge began its slow unfolding process. “A girl puts in all that work to build a reveal structure that wows her players, only to have it weaponized against her.”
The bridge slowly tipped forward.
Mark raised their hand and cast.
The bridge shot high into the air, then quickly fell forward and landed in the distance just beyond sight. The Shafted snapped into action, securing it while the Rainbow Militia filed through the tunnel in their war paint.
“We’re secure.” Chino checked the CBT’s panel. “Sensors show a lot of movement on the other side.”
“Hostile?” Mark asked.
“They’re only proximity sensors,” Chino reminded them. “They’re humanoid, though.”
“The island’s populating people?” Cody pulled out his tablet and tapped at it. “Still fogged. Shit.”
Mark reached toward the spot where their goatee had been, then yanked their hand back down and took a deep, centering breath.
“Let’s go.”
Cody looked them in the eyes, nodded, and put away the tablet. He started across the bridge with Mark at his side.
“I have no idea what we’re gonna find, but if I die, look out for Thiccolus. He’s a good dude. He just…can’t be lonely too long.”
Mark nodded and continued forward.
What waited ahead came into view like cold water poured down their back.
A massive wall surrounded the island everywhere except the front gate.
It was even worse than they had thought.
“Dude…what the fuck?” Cody stared at the town name on the sign with a mix of cold, hollow confusion and absolute glee. “Williamsburgland? How did Crotchduster get here?”
The full realization of how much shit they were in hit Mark at once.
“Cody, if I die here, tell them to put Wynter on my tombstone.”
They swallowed.
“Wynter Green.”